Galley myths
Myth 1: Fish are there for the catching at any time.
Actuality: Only when the freezer is full.
Myth 2: Carrots will last forever if they have not been previously refrigerated.
Actuality: One week is all I got—is it because I put them with the beets?? I have learned to separate potatoes and onions—is it the same for beets and carrots??
Myth 3: Green bananas will ripen slowly and if you refrigerate them they will be fine.
Actuality: They all ripen at once and go mushy in the fridge—banana bread again!!
Myth 4: Limes will last forever in a cool dark place.
Actuality: Where is a cool place in the tropics?? How did Captain Cook manage??
General Actualities: All produce will ripen (much quicker than anticipated—see actuality 2, 3 and 4) and go rotten on the same day—refrigerated or not. You are left having a mega veggie meal and are facing canned vegs starting tomorrow (today’s actuality)
Myth 5: If you make yoghurt from a culture you will only need to remake it every 4 or 5 days.
Actuality: You need to do it at least every second day and even then I have “killed” 4 different lots of culture—I am getting too embarrassed to ask for new culture from my cruising friends.
Myth 6: Sauces and condiments need refrigerating.
Actuality: Most will last forever not refrigerated—that is the North American sterile myth
Myth 7: Vacuum packing will prolong life of food and keep out weevils.
Actuality: Vacuum packing will crunch up cookies and pasta into many pieces at the same time as it punctures the bag and negates the seal. Flour will go hard and need sieving—woops when was the last time anyone saw a flour sieve?
Myth 8: Crackers if put in an airtight container will stay crisp.
Actuality: Crackers will not stay crisp in the time it takes you to put them in an airtight container.
Still to be tested---eggs if rotated regularly last for weeks. Bimbo bread lasts forever.
Mechanical myths
Myth 1: If you have lots of “spares” you will be able to fix everything.
Actuality: The rule of “spares” is that whichever part you need it is not one of the huge numbers of “spares” you do have. Short of towing a “spare” boat you cannot have enough “spares”.. Besides you need to bring the mechanic, electrician and plumber in the “spare boat” as well.
Myth 2: If you get the boat all fixed and ready before you leave you will have no problems.
Actuality: You would never leave if you waited for everything to be fixed and if by some miracle you feel you have accomplished myth 2 it only holds true until 30 feet off the dock.
Myth 3: If you can’t fix it yourself you shouldn’t have it on your boat.
Actuality: We would have to have a canoe.
Myth 4: Electronics make your life easier.
Actuality: Electronics are evil.
Myth 5: Computer navigation makes your life easier.
Actuality: You still need paper charts as back up and the computer reminds you every minute that you are sailing too far south and the current is against you. If you project our current heading we will hit NZ next, miss the Marquesas totally and if we miss NZ will probably stop at the Antarctic.
Myth 6: Single side band radio is obsolete
Actuality: The value of the single side band is that you can feel better when you hear that the boat in front of you lost his autohelm, the other one had a propeller come off and the others have no engine or transmission and all that you have is a blocked toilet. (We have actually heard all of the above and more)
Common misconception---we do NOT anchor each night and take turns "watching" 24 hours a day.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Week one of our crossing
Myths of crossing to the Marquesas
Myth 1: The winds will be from the south east and you will never have to change your sails for days on end. You will also be at your fastest point of sail and sail at your top speed.
Actuality: The winds are from the east south east and will not allow you to sail in the optimum direction. You need to set a spinnaker each day to head west as you are sailing too far south. That is of course if actuality 3 is not occurring and you can't set the spinnaker and so you sail south for another day. The winds are behind you--not your fastest point of sail.
Myth 2: The currents will be in your favour and quickly take you where you want to go
Actuality: The currents are in various directions and can be against you, taking you back from whence you came.
Myth 3: The weather is settled and the seas are steady once ‘the season” has commenced—April.
Actuality: Squalls can still happen and seas can be confused and rock and roll you in all directions.
Myth 4: Seasoned sailors do not get seasick.
Actuality: Many cruisers we know never get over it—especially in the actuality of myth 3--why do they continue to sail??? Luckily neither of us do.
Myth 5: Single sideband radios are obsolete.
Actuality: It is nice to talk to others who are ahead of you by a few days and find out what you may expect—forewarned is forearmed--also that other voice is very comforting and to know you are not all alone out here.
Myth 6: Grib files will tell you what the weather is going to be.
Actuality: The weather seems not to pay attention to them.
Myth 7: Catamarans are not as safe as monohulls.
Actuality: They are equally as safe and far more comfortable when coping with actuality 3.
We have 2000 miles to go---our position is S 05degrees 43 minutes and W105 degrees and 07 minutes and all is well.
Myth 1: The winds will be from the south east and you will never have to change your sails for days on end. You will also be at your fastest point of sail and sail at your top speed.
Actuality: The winds are from the east south east and will not allow you to sail in the optimum direction. You need to set a spinnaker each day to head west as you are sailing too far south. That is of course if actuality 3 is not occurring and you can't set the spinnaker and so you sail south for another day. The winds are behind you--not your fastest point of sail.
Myth 2: The currents will be in your favour and quickly take you where you want to go
Actuality: The currents are in various directions and can be against you, taking you back from whence you came.
Myth 3: The weather is settled and the seas are steady once ‘the season” has commenced—April.
Actuality: Squalls can still happen and seas can be confused and rock and roll you in all directions.
Myth 4: Seasoned sailors do not get seasick.
Actuality: Many cruisers we know never get over it—especially in the actuality of myth 3--why do they continue to sail??? Luckily neither of us do.
Myth 5: Single sideband radios are obsolete.
Actuality: It is nice to talk to others who are ahead of you by a few days and find out what you may expect—forewarned is forearmed--also that other voice is very comforting and to know you are not all alone out here.
Myth 6: Grib files will tell you what the weather is going to be.
Actuality: The weather seems not to pay attention to them.
Myth 7: Catamarans are not as safe as monohulls.
Actuality: They are equally as safe and far more comfortable when coping with actuality 3.
We have 2000 miles to go---our position is S 05degrees 43 minutes and W105 degrees and 07 minutes and all is well.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Santa Cruz
We have spent the last week in Santa Cruz, the most populated island of the Galapagos. We had low expectations as we have enjoyed the less commercial islands and had had a great two weeks in the wonderful Isabella with the penguins but were pleasantly surprised when we arrived here. It has a very picturesque town, very “Banff like” with lots of trees, and upscale buildings and stores. Some of the restaurants and hotels have “Banff like” prices—we did enquire the cost of a room in a gorgeous hotel on a beach which was $250 a night –but that did include breakfast and taxes!!! After never paying more than $30 anywhere we went in Ecuador this was definitely another world.
The island is more lush and tropical than the other islands as the volcanic activity was much earlier.
We traveled from Isabella with Betsy and Richard on Qayaq—our traveling companions on and off since Mexico.
We did a tour to the highlands to see the tortoises in the wild—I promise no more tortoise pictures after this blog—the large one with Ken shows the size of these amazing animals It is about 90 years old. We had a guide who we feel was having his first day on the job, firstly he left several of us behind for an hour or so as we looked for the tortoises and then as we walked to the tunnels which was the second part of the tour he took off up the hill on his own at warp speed. We finally found the tunnels ourselves—no guide?? After we walked through the tunnels the wrong way in the dark—the light switch was at the other end he arrived in great consternation having been lost himself. Luckily boy scouts Ken and Richard had flashlights so we were able to make our way through the huge tunnels which had been created by lava flows. We found out later that the more than one hour walk we had taken to the tunnels was meant to be by taxi.
We spent a lot of time in the typical search of all stores for supplies to take us to the Marquesas—yeast was found after searching many tiendas—the last lot I had bought looked suspiciously like it was growing bugs!!! Chicken breasts were found by walking into many stores as was ground beef. The market on Saturday morning starts at 6am and we got there by 7 30am which to us seemed an ungodly hour to shop but apparently is picked over by 8 30am. We are taking advantage of the last of the cheap prices—we have been told that a bag of limes is $15 --$1 here. We filled all of our jerry cans with fuel—at $1 02 a gallon. We bought enough jerry cans to give us 50 extra gallons--$7 in Polynesia!!
We bought a small generator as ours needs a new part—Polynesia??? We had an electrical mechanic on board to clean up our solenoids of out starter motors so everything is working at present.
We took a trip to Los Griettas which involved a 30 minute walk from a gorgeous beach through the salt flats to a series of lava tubes. You swim through the beautiful land locked canyons with a mix of salt and fresh water which is incredibly refreshing and wonderful.
The mechanic who had come to do our solenoids had invited us for lunch with his family on Sunday. We, along with Betsy and Richard were picked up at 10am and taken to his house where he with his wife and lovely 12 and 16 year old daughters live. It is a little out of town in a lovely garden setting. We chatted with him while his wife spent the next 2 hours in the kitchen preparing lunch. We felt a little embarrassed but they were determined to be incredibly hospitable. After lunch we all piled into their truck and along with a nephew drove to a lovely beach. The lagoon nearby had 6 flamingos so we were excited by that, our new record. As we had not realized that the lunch invitation was to include an outing we had not bought bathing suits. After paddling longingly in the clear warm water we could not resist so went swimming, as a lot of the locals do, fully clothed. When we were ready to leave we were taken back to their home where they harvested a pile of oranges for us to take with us. It was a lovely day and a fitting end to our last day in Ecuador which still remains my favorite country to travel. This family only solidified my faith in these warm, generous and gentle people.
We are now readying ourselves for the next part of our voyage—the approximately 21 day passage we have to get to the Marquesas. We have been listening to the Single side band radio and most vessels on their way are getting good winds so we are hoping they will sustain. They are the trade winds which should give us both a favorable wind and current for the 3000NM crossing. We hoped to leave tomorrow, we had planned on getting the boat ready today but our lunch invitation got us back at 5pm so we may not get going until Tuesday.
Aaron and Ashley will be there in 4 weeks so we need to leave—we are looking forward to sharing a small piece of our world with them and I know they are excited and looknog forward to coming.
The next blog entry will be in the Marquesas and probably a month from now so by then all of the snow in your part of the world and the leaves will be opening---until then. Hasta luego Spanish culture and bonjour to the French.
The island is more lush and tropical than the other islands as the volcanic activity was much earlier.
We traveled from Isabella with Betsy and Richard on Qayaq—our traveling companions on and off since Mexico.
We did a tour to the highlands to see the tortoises in the wild—I promise no more tortoise pictures after this blog—the large one with Ken shows the size of these amazing animals It is about 90 years old. We had a guide who we feel was having his first day on the job, firstly he left several of us behind for an hour or so as we looked for the tortoises and then as we walked to the tunnels which was the second part of the tour he took off up the hill on his own at warp speed. We finally found the tunnels ourselves—no guide?? After we walked through the tunnels the wrong way in the dark—the light switch was at the other end he arrived in great consternation having been lost himself. Luckily boy scouts Ken and Richard had flashlights so we were able to make our way through the huge tunnels which had been created by lava flows. We found out later that the more than one hour walk we had taken to the tunnels was meant to be by taxi.
We spent a lot of time in the typical search of all stores for supplies to take us to the Marquesas—yeast was found after searching many tiendas—the last lot I had bought looked suspiciously like it was growing bugs!!! Chicken breasts were found by walking into many stores as was ground beef. The market on Saturday morning starts at 6am and we got there by 7 30am which to us seemed an ungodly hour to shop but apparently is picked over by 8 30am. We are taking advantage of the last of the cheap prices—we have been told that a bag of limes is $15 --$1 here. We filled all of our jerry cans with fuel—at $1 02 a gallon. We bought enough jerry cans to give us 50 extra gallons--$7 in Polynesia!!
We bought a small generator as ours needs a new part—Polynesia??? We had an electrical mechanic on board to clean up our solenoids of out starter motors so everything is working at present.
We took a trip to Los Griettas which involved a 30 minute walk from a gorgeous beach through the salt flats to a series of lava tubes. You swim through the beautiful land locked canyons with a mix of salt and fresh water which is incredibly refreshing and wonderful.
The mechanic who had come to do our solenoids had invited us for lunch with his family on Sunday. We, along with Betsy and Richard were picked up at 10am and taken to his house where he with his wife and lovely 12 and 16 year old daughters live. It is a little out of town in a lovely garden setting. We chatted with him while his wife spent the next 2 hours in the kitchen preparing lunch. We felt a little embarrassed but they were determined to be incredibly hospitable. After lunch we all piled into their truck and along with a nephew drove to a lovely beach. The lagoon nearby had 6 flamingos so we were excited by that, our new record. As we had not realized that the lunch invitation was to include an outing we had not bought bathing suits. After paddling longingly in the clear warm water we could not resist so went swimming, as a lot of the locals do, fully clothed. When we were ready to leave we were taken back to their home where they harvested a pile of oranges for us to take with us. It was a lovely day and a fitting end to our last day in Ecuador which still remains my favorite country to travel. This family only solidified my faith in these warm, generous and gentle people.
We are now readying ourselves for the next part of our voyage—the approximately 21 day passage we have to get to the Marquesas. We have been listening to the Single side band radio and most vessels on their way are getting good winds so we are hoping they will sustain. They are the trade winds which should give us both a favorable wind and current for the 3000NM crossing. We hoped to leave tomorrow, we had planned on getting the boat ready today but our lunch invitation got us back at 5pm so we may not get going until Tuesday.
Aaron and Ashley will be there in 4 weeks so we need to leave—we are looking forward to sharing a small piece of our world with them and I know they are excited and looknog forward to coming.
The next blog entry will be in the Marquesas and probably a month from now so by then all of the snow in your part of the world and the leaves will be opening---until then. Hasta luego Spanish culture and bonjour to the French.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Isla Isabella
We had our autografo—our special permit allowing us to go to 5 ports—we were one of the last boats allowed that this year—the Galapagos rules, being Ecuador rules and in keeping, change day by day for no apparent reason are no longer issued—boats now go to all kinds of trouble having to invent boat problems which will allow them to go to a second port.
We headed to Floreana for a few days. It is a small island with only 100 inhabitants and no tours set up to the major attractions—we were promised a trip to the Devils Crown which is meant to be one of the best snorkeling areas in the Galapagos but the panga never came. We did get to go to the highlands and see more turtles but were disappointed with our trip there so headed back to San Cristobel after 2 days to deal with our latest issue—our tax reassessment. The Canadian government had decided to audit our rental property for 2005 and 2006 and as we had not been able to come up with the receipts in time had reassessed our taxes!!! We had our neighbor from Saltspring go through all of our things and locate the relevant receipts and are now in the process of trying to have an accountant get it all together and represent it to Revenue Canada. Definitely not what we needed when all we want to do is retire and sail into the sunset. After many phone calls and emails we felt it was under control enough to go off to Isla Isabella where we are unable to get internet but is the sailor’s choice of islands.
We had an overnight sail and anchored in a very sheltered lagoon beside the town. This is the largest of the islands but with a small population and not visited as much by the tourist boats. We had our morning cup of tea to the sound of the boobies dive bombing into the sea right beside us, the sea lions and the cutest penguins swimming around our boat all fishing for their breakfast.
There were 20 boats in the harbour---9 of them catamarans—the percentage of catamarans has astonished us since we arrived in Panama—they come through the canal to continue to Polynesia. We had been the exception previously on the Pacific side of North and Central America. More and more monohulls owners come onto our boat and are very envious of the space and easy lifestyle our boat affords us and talk of “their next boat”. The flags of the boats are much more varied, lots of Dutch, German, Danish, Swiss, English boats and a few New Zealand and Australian boats on their way home after circumnavigating the world.
We joined with an Australian boat and did a tour of the reefs behind us—they are alive with blue footed boobies, penguins and of course sea lions—these are less aggressive than those on the other islands and we have been able to do away with the spike belt system we had been using to keep them off our boat. We went snorkeling and saw white tip reef sharks and rays. The walk onshore was past many iguanas—these are smaller than the other islands—seems each island has totally different species of most animals—this led to Darwin questioning and come up with his theory of evolution---the adaptation is very apparent here and quite amazing.
The next day we joined them and a British boat and took a panga for a fast 45 minute trip to the volcanic tunnels. These have been formed by flowing lava which hardens on the outside and allows the molten lava to continue to flow through creating a weird system of tubes and tunnels. We explored these—other than sea turtles they are pristine and barren but are an amazing sight. The water was very cold but we donned our wetsuits and snorkeled under and through the tunnels. He then took us to a warmer lagoon which was full of more turtles and rays that we have ever seen in one place. We snorkeled and suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a school of about 12 eagle rays. It was amazing to be amidst so many, the largest was about 8 feet wide. There were a huge number of turtles as well and I swam right up to one who was sleeping on the surface before he realized and slowly descended as I watched him. As seems to be the case with most Galapagos creatures these were larger than any we have been close to before.
We spent the next couple of days doing boat projects and then went exploring some of the other island attractions.
The walk to the giant tortoise centre was interesting—there are 4 varieties of tortoise there and the largest are 150years old. ET’s face was copied from them—obvious when you know. Godzilla was filmed using the local iguanas—it is the land of cartoon characters.
One lagoon has a lonely flamingo—they are migratory and I think he missed the leaving date. He is very beautiful and we enjoy seeing him each day when we go to town---update on the flamingo—Betsy from Qayaq saw 4 yesterday so we have to go check them out—hope they haven’t migrated somewhere else before we get there!!---saw 2 the next day.
We took our bikes and did a bike ride to the Wall of Tears. It was built when the island was a penal colony and the convicts were forced to build and take down the wall to serve their sentence—it is a very desolate hot area and one wonders why the labour was not put to better use and they could have built water systems or housing. There are many small side trails on the route which lead either to lovely little pristine white sandy beaches with iguanas on the sand on the one side and wetlands with some birds on the other. The road sign for the iguana’s crossing is very cute—we did have 3 crossing the day we went to the volcano.
Another major trip was to the volcano—an hour by bus and then 8 of us from various sailboats mounted the poor underfed tired looking horses to ride to the top for the next hour. We then walked around the rim of the volcano which is the 2nd largest crater in the world to a smaller crater of a nearby one. The whole area was desolate and made one think of a moonscape. There are a number of vents which are still venting warm steam and it is all quite eerie. After lunch we got back to our horses and rode them back to the bus and back to a welcome beer and milkshake at my favorite milkshake place---she is out of blackberry now as I had made the mistake of telling other boats about how great they were and so I am forced to have banana—we also made the mistake of telling other cruisers where the $1 cans of beer were and they are all sold out too!!!!
Shopping in these islands is interesting---one day they will be out of everything and then a supply will come in and you are inundated with a particular item but something else will have sold out. The planning does not seem to be systematic and even though yogurt has suddenly become prolific –none the first week we were here---the beer (bottled is still available) will not be in for another week or two. Flour was out the other week so the bakery could not bake!! To buy 10 items you go to the 15 tiendas (stores) and you may find 8 of the items but only one item at each store.
The number of the boats has thinned as they head off to the Marquesas and as the number decreased the camaraderie increased. We became friendly with many other sailors and our friends Qayaq who we first traveled with in Mexico are right beside us.
Our SSB (single side band) radio has proven to be one of the furthest reaching for the boats in the region and Ken has been relaying positions of the boats as they head south and check in each morning to report their progress and weather—we all follow this as we will be going soon and track them to get the best routing for ourselves when we leave. He hosts the “net” on Mondays and has become quite the expert at keeping the net controlled and moving quickly. We enjoy hearing from our new and old friends in this way.
Our generator has stopped producing power and so we are recharging our batteries with our engines which takes a lot more fuel so have bought more jerry cans and can now carry almost 200gals. Diesel here is $1 04 a gallon (Ecuador subsides it---French Polynesia at $7 a gallon does not!!!) We will try and find a small generator in Santa Cruz but if we can’t we will be running as little as possible—we need our autopilot and 1 fridge.
Santa Cruz is our last stop here where we will restock, make sure our tax situation is under control and then head to the Marquesas which will be a three week 3000 mile passage—one of the longest we will undertake on our ongoing voyage.
We headed to Floreana for a few days. It is a small island with only 100 inhabitants and no tours set up to the major attractions—we were promised a trip to the Devils Crown which is meant to be one of the best snorkeling areas in the Galapagos but the panga never came. We did get to go to the highlands and see more turtles but were disappointed with our trip there so headed back to San Cristobel after 2 days to deal with our latest issue—our tax reassessment. The Canadian government had decided to audit our rental property for 2005 and 2006 and as we had not been able to come up with the receipts in time had reassessed our taxes!!! We had our neighbor from Saltspring go through all of our things and locate the relevant receipts and are now in the process of trying to have an accountant get it all together and represent it to Revenue Canada. Definitely not what we needed when all we want to do is retire and sail into the sunset. After many phone calls and emails we felt it was under control enough to go off to Isla Isabella where we are unable to get internet but is the sailor’s choice of islands.
We had an overnight sail and anchored in a very sheltered lagoon beside the town. This is the largest of the islands but with a small population and not visited as much by the tourist boats. We had our morning cup of tea to the sound of the boobies dive bombing into the sea right beside us, the sea lions and the cutest penguins swimming around our boat all fishing for their breakfast.
There were 20 boats in the harbour---9 of them catamarans—the percentage of catamarans has astonished us since we arrived in Panama—they come through the canal to continue to Polynesia. We had been the exception previously on the Pacific side of North and Central America. More and more monohulls owners come onto our boat and are very envious of the space and easy lifestyle our boat affords us and talk of “their next boat”. The flags of the boats are much more varied, lots of Dutch, German, Danish, Swiss, English boats and a few New Zealand and Australian boats on their way home after circumnavigating the world.
We joined with an Australian boat and did a tour of the reefs behind us—they are alive with blue footed boobies, penguins and of course sea lions—these are less aggressive than those on the other islands and we have been able to do away with the spike belt system we had been using to keep them off our boat. We went snorkeling and saw white tip reef sharks and rays. The walk onshore was past many iguanas—these are smaller than the other islands—seems each island has totally different species of most animals—this led to Darwin questioning and come up with his theory of evolution---the adaptation is very apparent here and quite amazing.
The next day we joined them and a British boat and took a panga for a fast 45 minute trip to the volcanic tunnels. These have been formed by flowing lava which hardens on the outside and allows the molten lava to continue to flow through creating a weird system of tubes and tunnels. We explored these—other than sea turtles they are pristine and barren but are an amazing sight. The water was very cold but we donned our wetsuits and snorkeled under and through the tunnels. He then took us to a warmer lagoon which was full of more turtles and rays that we have ever seen in one place. We snorkeled and suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a school of about 12 eagle rays. It was amazing to be amidst so many, the largest was about 8 feet wide. There were a huge number of turtles as well and I swam right up to one who was sleeping on the surface before he realized and slowly descended as I watched him. As seems to be the case with most Galapagos creatures these were larger than any we have been close to before.
We spent the next couple of days doing boat projects and then went exploring some of the other island attractions.
The walk to the giant tortoise centre was interesting—there are 4 varieties of tortoise there and the largest are 150years old. ET’s face was copied from them—obvious when you know. Godzilla was filmed using the local iguanas—it is the land of cartoon characters.
One lagoon has a lonely flamingo—they are migratory and I think he missed the leaving date. He is very beautiful and we enjoy seeing him each day when we go to town---update on the flamingo—Betsy from Qayaq saw 4 yesterday so we have to go check them out—hope they haven’t migrated somewhere else before we get there!!---saw 2 the next day.
We took our bikes and did a bike ride to the Wall of Tears. It was built when the island was a penal colony and the convicts were forced to build and take down the wall to serve their sentence—it is a very desolate hot area and one wonders why the labour was not put to better use and they could have built water systems or housing. There are many small side trails on the route which lead either to lovely little pristine white sandy beaches with iguanas on the sand on the one side and wetlands with some birds on the other. The road sign for the iguana’s crossing is very cute—we did have 3 crossing the day we went to the volcano.
Another major trip was to the volcano—an hour by bus and then 8 of us from various sailboats mounted the poor underfed tired looking horses to ride to the top for the next hour. We then walked around the rim of the volcano which is the 2nd largest crater in the world to a smaller crater of a nearby one. The whole area was desolate and made one think of a moonscape. There are a number of vents which are still venting warm steam and it is all quite eerie. After lunch we got back to our horses and rode them back to the bus and back to a welcome beer and milkshake at my favorite milkshake place---she is out of blackberry now as I had made the mistake of telling other boats about how great they were and so I am forced to have banana—we also made the mistake of telling other cruisers where the $1 cans of beer were and they are all sold out too!!!!
Shopping in these islands is interesting---one day they will be out of everything and then a supply will come in and you are inundated with a particular item but something else will have sold out. The planning does not seem to be systematic and even though yogurt has suddenly become prolific –none the first week we were here---the beer (bottled is still available) will not be in for another week or two. Flour was out the other week so the bakery could not bake!! To buy 10 items you go to the 15 tiendas (stores) and you may find 8 of the items but only one item at each store.
The number of the boats has thinned as they head off to the Marquesas and as the number decreased the camaraderie increased. We became friendly with many other sailors and our friends Qayaq who we first traveled with in Mexico are right beside us.
Our SSB (single side band) radio has proven to be one of the furthest reaching for the boats in the region and Ken has been relaying positions of the boats as they head south and check in each morning to report their progress and weather—we all follow this as we will be going soon and track them to get the best routing for ourselves when we leave. He hosts the “net” on Mondays and has become quite the expert at keeping the net controlled and moving quickly. We enjoy hearing from our new and old friends in this way.
Our generator has stopped producing power and so we are recharging our batteries with our engines which takes a lot more fuel so have bought more jerry cans and can now carry almost 200gals. Diesel here is $1 04 a gallon (Ecuador subsides it---French Polynesia at $7 a gallon does not!!!) We will try and find a small generator in Santa Cruz but if we can’t we will be running as little as possible—we need our autopilot and 1 fridge.
Santa Cruz is our last stop here where we will restock, make sure our tax situation is under control and then head to the Marquesas which will be a three week 3000 mile passage—one of the longest we will undertake on our ongoing voyage.
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