Barnacles and hairy growths on the hull.
John sanding the hull again
We were taken off Sara Jane and returned to her by boat
After 3 days
on the hard in Flamenco marina, surrounded by sport fishing boats and
restaurants, we launched once more with a clean and re-painted hull. A day with a taxi got our laundry and last
food shopping done and the last pieces needed for the water-maker installation.
On the 26th February we left
La Playita anchorage and sailed off to
the Islas Perlas. They are in the gulf
of Panama and the ‘Survivor’ TV programme was filmed on the island of Chapera there (we were lulled to sleep by the humming of the generator for the navy
base at the end of the island – so they weren’t entirely alone!).
The islands are home to thousands of frigate birds, pelicans and cormorants
All the insects are huge - several of these grasshoppers landed on board at night, attracted by the anchor light - the blade it's on is 6 inches across
After a
couple of days we caught up with Chaotic Harmony and enjoyed spending time with
friends – Harry had a sleepover with his friend, Gill, on board and they talked
all night! We were sad to see them sail
for French Polynesia and look forward to catching up with them there.
 |
| Fitting all the watermaker parts into a small locker is a 3D puzzle |
John spent several days finishing off the
water-maker and Yay! We can make 75
litres of fresh water an hour from sea-water, no more rationing (as long as we
have diesel for the generator that powers it) and in celebration I did some
laundry!
We met David and Gitte from
Scotland & Denmark on Aros Mear, who are on their way back from
Mexico. We made friends quickly with
them, enjoyed their company and are sorry they are headed back through the
canal. They bought their boat from a man
who left everything on board and they are now selling off all the things they
don’t want. We bought a great ocean
kayak from them to replace Harry’s inflatable kayak that we had just got rid of
– very lucky for us.
Exploring ashore in the Islas Perlas
Once the
water-maker was up and running, the water tanks full and the washing dried we
set off in the early morning on the 9th March to sail to the
Galapagos Islands, over 800 miles away.
Early morning farewell to the Islas Perlas
Harry
started to do watches immediately and on his first night, with John, they saw a
red distress flare and altered course to investigate. When they arrived at the scene there were
other, bigger vessels there ready to help, so they got back on course.
After the first night Harry did his own night watch from 11pm – 1am and an afternoon watch as well. This meant that we all got more sleep and made the crossing far easier.
The seabirds appreciated the ocean forest
On day 3 we hit the doldrums and ran out of wind completely so we drifted along seeing the occasional log float by and watching the seabirds fishing. Soon the occasional log turned into hundreds and hundreds of bits of floating forest – all gathered in the same place by the tide, currents and winds & covering at least 2 square miles.
We had to fend off some big logs that tried to wedge around the bow and were glad to be going through here in daylight.
After the first night Harry did his own night watch from 11pm – 1am and an afternoon watch as well. This meant that we all got more sleep and made the crossing far easier.
The seabirds appreciated the ocean forest
On day 3 we hit the doldrums and ran out of wind completely so we drifted along seeing the occasional log float by and watching the seabirds fishing. Soon the occasional log turned into hundreds and hundreds of bits of floating forest – all gathered in the same place by the tide, currents and winds & covering at least 2 square miles.
We had to fend off some big logs that tried to wedge around the bow and were glad to be going through here in daylight.
Each morning
we tuned into the Pacific radio net on the SSB to report our position and to
get weather reports - and so kept in touch with Chaotic Harmony and other boats
setting off across the Pacific. It was
good to have Eric & Dee on Sirena of Oare just 30 miles away as we paced
each other all the way and we are now anchored near each other.
School, bread-making, fishing and dolphin watching filled the days and the nights were mainly overcast and very, very dark. One night we had thousands of bioluminescent blobs, like pale green lightbulbs being switched on & off under a black veil of ocean, as far as we could see. Some were several metres across (shoals of fish?) but most much smaller than that (jellyfish?). It was very eerie with just a light wind as we sailed slowly along, the sky overcast so just a faint difference in blackness to define the horizon, and surrounded by strange, moving, glowing shapes.
School, bread-making, fishing and dolphin watching filled the days and the nights were mainly overcast and very, very dark. One night we had thousands of bioluminescent blobs, like pale green lightbulbs being switched on & off under a black veil of ocean, as far as we could see. Some were several metres across (shoals of fish?) but most much smaller than that (jellyfish?). It was very eerie with just a light wind as we sailed slowly along, the sky overcast so just a faint difference in blackness to define the horizon, and surrounded by strange, moving, glowing shapes.
When the
wind picked up it was not the expected NE’ly trade winds but came from the
south-west, the direction we were headed.
It eventually veered to the south and we sailed, still slowly, the rest
of the way. On the 16th
March, at the longitude of 88 35 west, we crossed the equator, poured a
libation of champagne into the ocean to thank Neptune, and returned the little
mermaid that graced our beautiful farewell cake, made by Hilary Butler, to the deep.
We anchored off ‘Chatham Island’,(San Cristobal is the Spanish name), on Sunday 17th with sealions diving and playing around us. Good to see many familiar boats including Irie with Mark and Lisbet, who we last saw in early December.
