What a Difference a Day Makes

Day 7 – Current Position 02.59.41 South by 92.35.97 West (as of 0835 Fri., March 30, 2012

Go to our position report and see what our track has been and you'll see that in the first five days we didn't move very fast or far. In the last day, however, we at least made progress – in fact, making more progress in the last 24 hours than we did in the first five days. The winds have started to pick up for us a bit and we are FINALLY out of the adverse current (or at least we hope so). The current seemed to change around 2 am this morning. There were lots of big fishing boats in the area – so we're guessing that the current change might be a hot fishing zone.

We did see six fishing boats last night – quite large and lit up like Times Square at New Year's. They looked to be netters and all similar. There was a group of three and then a few hours later another group of three. Our fishing fates haven't been very good though we were optimistic about yesterday because we actually were at fish catching speed (at least 5 knots) for a little while. Perhaps because its Friday - we'll catch a fish dinner tonight. Optimistic thinking!

It's been cloudier – and a few light squalls nearby – but nothing substantial. We are getting really good and fast at sail changes. Life aboard is settling into a good pattern and we seem to be adjusting better with the three hour chunks of sleep time at night and some daytime napping. We're luckily still enjoying some fresh veggies and are eating quite well.

Not much else to report – we hope the breeze stays steady. We are trying to head more west as we don't want to get south too quickly. We understand you lose the good current if you get above 4 or 5 degrees. And we just got the good current. We'll get across 3 degrees south today and hope to ride west for awhile. But the winds will make that call!

The Doldrums

Day 5 – Current Position 02.26.37 South / 091.07.55 West (as of 1640 Weds., March 28)

The Pacific Ocean, largest ocean on the planet, has a watery area greater than that of all the earth's land masses combined. That's a lot of water! And smack in the middle of the planet is the equator. Around this line is a weather area known as the doldrums or horse latitudes. It has a lot to do with the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone). Right now, we are feeling the effects of being in the doldrums. No wind. A glass slick of water.

We sail at every opportunity we can and have changed sails more times than we care to count. It's turning into a good upper body exercise routine. Because there is an ocean swell, our sails - when not filled with wind, collapse in this swell. This is not good for the sails, the rig, or our ears. It is noisy. So when there isn't enough wind to fill sails and they start this noisy collapsing ritual, we usually pull some in or take them down. Then we drift. The current has been against us – that is not supposed to be the case – but we are sent back the way we traveled – often giving up the hard earned miles.

We carry 90 gallons of fuel and have been stingy about using it – after all we have more than 3000 miles ahead of us. But we did resort this afternoon to a dose of motoring to at least make some headway. As soon as we see "cat's paws" on the water – we shut off the engine and start sailing again. We have allotted ourselves about 10 gallons of fuel for the first 500 miles or so.

The good news with having a glass slick of beautiful clear water is that you can see the various sea creatures quite well. We've had two very large mahi (dorado) circling our boat. They seem to be taunting us. Michael fixed our small rod and reel and has tried casting just about every lure we have in our tackle box. They seem to look at them, follow then and even went after one and bit (but shook it off). But then they ignore them and continue showing off their beautiful colors as they swim round and round Astarte.

We've seen huge schools of dolphins – these are a smaller dark variety with whitish sides, and they are masterful leapers. They usually travel in huge packs (or pods) and leap with great frequency and altitude and then slap their tails as they re-enter the water. They are a beautiful sight – and even at night, we can hear them slapping the water. We've had sea lions close to the boat doing their weird fin wave thing and lots of sea birds. (plus the pod of whales). So, though we are frustrated with not moving the boat through the water at a better pace, we do enjoy the sights.

Now if we could just get the equatorial heat to let up!

Going Backwards

Day Three on the trek across the Pacific...and we are making very little forward momentum. The current is all wrong for us and the wind is non-existent so we are simply taken by the current eastward. Of course our course is southwest! No wind is predicted for the next several days and if we chose to motor and use some of our limited fuel supply – we would have to go a long way to find wind. The motoring we did do over the last three days has not gained us anything after we shut off the engine. So our theme is "it is what it is" and we'll just drift along forward, backwards or sideways.

The water is a glass slick – at night you can see the stars – which are very bright – reflected on the surface. In the daytime, you can see through the clear water to a good depth. In fact, this morning, it was so flat and clear with absolutely no wind chop on the surface, we actually saw two huge mahi swim by the boat. We dropped a lure in and they came back to check it out – but we couldn't interest them in the delicacy!

Yesterday afternoon, we saw a pod of whales – pilot whales we think. They were small as far as whales go, but quite large so close to the boat. They were moving quite quickly, but very close to the surface and came along the port side and then swam off behind the boat. It was great to see. We also spot lots of sea lions – they do this weird thing of lifting one of their flippers out of the water – either like a synchronized swimmer's hand held aloft or the sea lions just waving. When there are lots of them it does look like a synchronized swim team with all their flippers out at once.

We saw a few sea turtles and a large shark. We are now outside the 40 mile Galapagos limit so we can fish – that is if we had any speed. Michael worked on our little rod and reel and perhaps we'll kill some time with casting.

So after three days – our current position is: 01.48.65 S by 090.48.75 W. That's as of Tuesday, March 27 at 0900. As our friend Markus on Namani said on the radio last night – at least you aren't drifting backwards FAST, We like positive people.

It is what it is.

Slow Like the Galapagos Tortoise

But, we'd rather be speedy like the Galapagos penguin in the water.
Position as of March 25, 2012 – 1300 (1 pm) 01.28.39 S/091.18.70 W.

It was a VERY slow day. We started out great. Anchor up just after noon on Saturday. March 24, 2012 and we left the anchorage of Villamil on Isabela under power. We had our pet sea lion "Stinky" on the back swim platform – it seemed he wanted to come along. He stayed there until we got to the channel markers where we scooted him off – we could see us being arrested for kidnapping a sea lion from the Galapagos National Park!

We were able to get the sails up right away and scooted off with the main and head sail right on a course of 240 degrees. We would head west more than south – trying to stay above 3 degrees south for the first 1000 miles.

After a few hours of good sailing, the wind died and we had an unfavorable current of bout 2 knots against us. Burning our precious fuel so early didn't seem like a good idea, but we thought if we could get away from the island more, perhaps the current and the wind would be more favorable. So we motored for several hours. Neither the wind nor the current improved with distance, but it was safer being further from the lava rocks and shoreline.

Through the first night, we drifted – backwards. Everything we gained by motoring was lost.

It continues to be a glass slick. At night, we could even see reflections of very white birds in the sea because it was so smooth. Not a great start. We've tried every combination of sails and even tried to rig our head sail using the boom as a pole...but nothing can make the wind stronger.

The good news is the Polynesian fleet of sailboats that left several hours after us took a more southerly course and seemed to do better for awhile – but watching them on our AIS – they too are not going the right way nor are they going fast.

There just is NO wind. We continue to drift and motor every so often – but with only 90 gallons of fuel and 3000 miles – we can't do much motoring. So perhaps it'll take us 60 days at this rate – not the 30 we were hoping for.

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Today, Saturday, March 24, 2012 we will begin our long passage to the French Polynesian island of Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. Its a bit over 3000 miles across the "puddle" as the Pacific is lovingly called. A mighty big puddle!

 

We really loved the Galapagos and our first stop in the Southern Hemisphere was definitely worth making. It was costly with the clearance fees here – and we did it as cheaply as you could (at least to stay more than four days). But we are glad we did it. It is a unique and very special place. We are particularly happy we made the decision to come to Isabela – rather than the other more traveled ports.

Now, we are getting the boat topsides and below the deck ready for an ocean passage. It should take us at least 30 days. The winds right now are pretty light to non-existent, but our twenty days were up so we have to go. It is a clear, quite pretty day so it is a good way to start.

 

We will have a little company out there. Also leaving today will be six very traditional Polynesian catamarans. They are from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Solomans and French Polynesia and are trying to prove that these boats can go east and west so their forefathers were plying these waters well before the famous "explorers." They have no fossil fuels on board and navigate by the stars only. They will most likely be much faster than us, but it should be quite a sight out there when they are fully rigged and flying sails and we look forward to being In their company.

 

We have a few a radio nets set up with other boats who have already left or will be leaving shortly after us. So we will have folks to chat with and check in with so that will be good.

 

We will try to post a daily position report(check the "Where are we" page) if all our systems continue to work as planned (SSB radio and computer). No internet or phone. Hopefully good winds, flat seas and no storms.

We are excited, nervous and thrilled for this next big adventure.

 

So sign up today and make your pledge to the Astarte Pacific crossing pledge drive - a buck a mile?

Tortoises, Sea Turtles and Sharks

It's been a busy few days as we try to get in as much as we can before our twenty day stay in the Galapagos is over. Plus, we've had to get boat projects done before the next long passage so we've been juggling exploring and working.

On the working side, we managed to get propane and diesel – both turned into the typical "island challenge." The diesel got delivered in jugs to the boat late at night and the hunt for propane was equally complicated until a cab driver named Pedro (and his family) came to the rescue. Astarte was the propane filling station for us and a few other boats one afternoon. And we cleaned the bottom of the boat.

In between all those boat projects, we did get in some more exploring of the Galapagos. We took a cab to "muro de las lagrimas" or "wall of tears." This is just outside of town and is a wall of lava rock that is 100 meters (300 feet) long by 7 meters (21 feet) high. The wall was built between 1946 and 1959 when there was a penal colony on the island. The prisoners were forced to build their own enclosure. Many died in the process. The views were incredible. We then hiked back (about 7 miles) and got to see the famous "Galapagos" tortoises in the wild. The two we saw were not as large as those we saw at the breeding center – but it was fun to spot them in the wild. We also stopped to see the "tunel del Estero" (tunnel of Esero) which is a volcanic tunnel that is right on the water. The outer lava cooled as it hit the sea and the interior hot lava continued creating the core of the tunnel.

Today, we went to an area called Los Tuneles. We went with Captain "Gato" (which means cat in Spanish). He came highly recommended by our friends on "Stolen Kiss." The "tuneles" is an area about 45 minutes by fast boat from where we are anchored. On the way we saw giant manta rays leaping, a huge shark, lots and lots of sea turtles, some sea lions and various birds including the masked boobie and blue footed boobie.

Once we got to our destination it was exciting – like an e-ticket ride. Gato had to get his boat over a huge surf break to get to the area inside. The seas were quite big today – so it was more than exciting. He made sure we all were in life jackets and he waited...and waited...and waited. He counted waves and watched (like a cat). Then he went for it and it was masterful boat handling and quite scary. Once inside the surf, he wove his way through very narrow, shallow spaces between lava rocks. It was beautiful to see the formations of lava – lots of natural bridges, arches and
swim-throughs. The water was very clear. Then we tied up to the lava and got out for a walk around a lagoon area where there were lots of huge sea turtles gracefully swimming by. It was like being at an aquarium. Only these creatures weren't captive – they were free to come and go as they please. Then we got in the water in another area for a snorkel through caves, tunnels, overhangs and interesting rock formations. The water was chilly and not all that clear, but the caves with the light coming through were as beautiful.

After that snorkel, we headed out – and now Gato had to get out of the surf that he had worked so hard to get through. Same routine, life jackets and watching, watching and then going for it. Then we went to another snorkel area so we had to do the e-ticket ride one more time. In this area, we got in the water again for a snorkel and saw white tipped sharks and giant sea turtles – both within arms reach. The water was a bit murky and a few of our fellow snorkelers (there were six of us) weren't very graceful in the water so they tended to kick up some of the silt and algae on the bottom making it tough to see – especially the sharks. The turtles though, would swim right under you and a few were longer than us and very large around. It was a great trip.

So it's been a few boat projects and some Galapagos adventures – with only a few days left in this island paradise. The time flew.

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Off to the Races

 

We continued to enjoy the festivities of the XXXIX Celebration of Isabela by going to the horse races on Friday afternoon. Now this was no Kentucky Derby – not a fancy hat in site! There were seven races many with repeat horses and/or riders. The "jockeys" were the local caballeros – the cowboys and most of the saddles were a homemade contraption of a few padded strips with stirrups hung on them with rope. The course was down the main street of town with the race starting a few blocks away. You could see this cloud of dust as the horses were heading for town. It was a bit frightening at times as young children, dogs or people would just cross the street nearby when the horses were either getting ready to run or on the run. At one point, a young girl playing in the street was grabbed away just seconds before a somewhat wild horse decided to rear near her. But it was a blast to watch the horses, the people and the event. Several men were walking around with wads of cash obviously taking bets and you could always tell the winners because of the big smiles.

The party continued with music that started at around 9 pm and lasted until 6 am the next morning.

On Saturday morning, we awoke at daybreak (just as the music in town was wrapping up) to head into town to find the farmer's market which is supposed to happen every Saturday morning at 5 am. Now, because of the fiesta – we weren't 100% certain it would happen – but we got an early start to see. The open air place where we were told it's held was empty when we got there. So, it really is over by 6:30 am or it didn't happen. Luckily we did run into a farmer selling some fresh stuff out of a pickup and picked up some fresh tomatoes, a new "dulce "(sweet) cucumber, some choclo (corn on the cob) and some fresh basil.

We came back to the boat by 8 am and Michael got to work on sewing repairs of the headsail. We needed to restitch most of the sacrificial cover. It was a big project that took him most of the day set up on the aft deck with sewing machine. That was a big project completed. We got the sail back up on Sunday morning.

More boats have come into the anchorage so it is now quite cozy.