Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Arrival at Fatu Hiva
Our final week at sea was frustrating — we had been averaging 136 miles a day and all of a sudden the wind dropped and we did 101 one day and 116 the next—gone were our hopes of a Tuesday arrival and now we had to slow down so we did not get in until dawn on Wednesday. Oh well what is one more night!! We did lose the wind totally on our last night so ran the engines and recharged our batteries.
Twenty two days after departing the Galapagos we saw the island as the sun rose and could actually smell the earth!! Quite a thrill and as this very small mountainous island arose from the sea we motored around into an idyllic bay which has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful in the Marquesas. The bay is sheltered and hills go straight up from the village with wonderful craggy rock formations.
This is by far the most beautiful place we have sailed and even Cutty Wren who had the crossing from hell has been able to justify it.
We are here with them and a number of boats we had met in the Galapagos and a number of European boats—they outnumber the US boats now.
Que Barbara—another catamaran hosted a harbour happy hour our first night, reminiscent of Mexico --the social groupie thing-- and a lot of fun.
We spent the first day cleaning the tarry substance which has attached itself to the boat—we had thought the open ocean was clean but unfortunately it is not—it is really hard to get off--we still have outside of one hull to finish-- and sleeping.
The next day we went ashore to try and restock our fresh fruit and vegs. You trade for everything and US dollars are not desired in any way. The hottest small trade item is perfume!! I had opted to buy lipstick and nail polish which although acceptable seems to be what everyone else has brought. You just wander up and ask where to “exchanger fruit” or they will just offer as you walk the streets. They are very good at it and although you get a lot of bananas (way too many--banana bread again!!), limes, oranges, papayas and the best of all the HUGE super sweet grapefruit they have managed to get several nail polishes, lipsticks shirts and ball caps. They all trade a little so you end up trading with lots of different people hence the quantities of trade products--I have to remind myself I only paid 50c for the nail polish and$1 for the lipstick it is just that my trading supply is diminishing. There are no vegs on the island but we are enjoying the fruit. I think in the Tuamotus that will diminish as they are just coral atolls and will not be green and fertile like here.
One of the choice trading items has turned out to be the extra jerry cans we bought for $15 in the Galapagos when we bought our extra fuel for this passage and now that the fuel is $7-$9 we will not replace it. As we walk down the street carrying one every man will stop and offer us whatever he has. We have learned to be very frugal with these—no fruit-- and traded one for a tapa—the local craft which had a sell price on for $45 so got a deal with the jerry can. Rum is also valued so will use that for chicken or fish.
Ken wore his fake rolex which he had paid about $45 in China in as he knew that as soon as someone saw it they would want it. Sure enough a man we had been trading for fruit the day before saw it and wanted it. We got two lovely carvings which are worth about $100 each. We tried to tell him not to take it swimming but as it says on the face it is waterproof they were insistent they could so hope it lasts more than one swim!!!!
We are not officially here as this island is not a “port of entry” but if you do not find the local policeman you can stay for 5-6 days and then go on to Hanamoenoa Bay on Tahuatu where you can buy another few days as you are only allowed 90 days in French Polynesia your 90 days becomes100.
We are on our way to the second anchorage now and will do an overnight to Nuku Hiva on Sunday night and check in on Monday when we meet up with Ashley and Aaron.
One highlight was to go with a group of 16 of us--arranged at Que Barbara's happy hour--to Kathy's restaurant for dinner. It was $25--she takes $$$--and you get a pile of food and they play their guitars and sing and the atmosphere was well worth the money. A must do she will cook for up to 16 cruisers.
We went for several hikes in the beautiful lush valley. The flowers are beautiful--the frangipanis at night have a pervasive smell which is wonderful and the sunsets are incredible. One hike took us up to the top after a couple of hours and the view is lovely.
Aaron and Ashley are now in the air coming to join us—I had a last minute SOS to Ashley to get some perfume samples from the Bay and Sears as well as some more lipstick from the dollar store and apparently she got 25 free perfume samples—what a way to a future mother in law’s heart!!!!—lots of brownie points for that effort!!!
Hope you are having some warm weather--it is around 28C here and the nights are cool and the sea warm--what more could you ask for?
I will post photos whenever we find an internet—so far Kristen is putting these on from my sat phone email connection.
Au revoir---oh the French is sooooo dificult after so long in Spanish!!!! My two word sentences have one spanish word and one french!!!
Twenty two days after departing the Galapagos we saw the island as the sun rose and could actually smell the earth!! Quite a thrill and as this very small mountainous island arose from the sea we motored around into an idyllic bay which has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful in the Marquesas. The bay is sheltered and hills go straight up from the village with wonderful craggy rock formations.
This is by far the most beautiful place we have sailed and even Cutty Wren who had the crossing from hell has been able to justify it.
We are here with them and a number of boats we had met in the Galapagos and a number of European boats—they outnumber the US boats now.
Que Barbara—another catamaran hosted a harbour happy hour our first night, reminiscent of Mexico --the social groupie thing-- and a lot of fun.
We spent the first day cleaning the tarry substance which has attached itself to the boat—we had thought the open ocean was clean but unfortunately it is not—it is really hard to get off--we still have outside of one hull to finish-- and sleeping.
The next day we went ashore to try and restock our fresh fruit and vegs. You trade for everything and US dollars are not desired in any way. The hottest small trade item is perfume!! I had opted to buy lipstick and nail polish which although acceptable seems to be what everyone else has brought. You just wander up and ask where to “exchanger fruit” or they will just offer as you walk the streets. They are very good at it and although you get a lot of bananas (way too many--banana bread again!!), limes, oranges, papayas and the best of all the HUGE super sweet grapefruit they have managed to get several nail polishes, lipsticks shirts and ball caps. They all trade a little so you end up trading with lots of different people hence the quantities of trade products--I have to remind myself I only paid 50c for the nail polish and$1 for the lipstick it is just that my trading supply is diminishing. There are no vegs on the island but we are enjoying the fruit. I think in the Tuamotus that will diminish as they are just coral atolls and will not be green and fertile like here.
One of the choice trading items has turned out to be the extra jerry cans we bought for $15 in the Galapagos when we bought our extra fuel for this passage and now that the fuel is $7-$9 we will not replace it. As we walk down the street carrying one every man will stop and offer us whatever he has. We have learned to be very frugal with these—no fruit-- and traded one for a tapa—the local craft which had a sell price on for $45 so got a deal with the jerry can. Rum is also valued so will use that for chicken or fish.
Ken wore his fake rolex which he had paid about $45 in China in as he knew that as soon as someone saw it they would want it. Sure enough a man we had been trading for fruit the day before saw it and wanted it. We got two lovely carvings which are worth about $100 each. We tried to tell him not to take it swimming but as it says on the face it is waterproof they were insistent they could so hope it lasts more than one swim!!!!
We are not officially here as this island is not a “port of entry” but if you do not find the local policeman you can stay for 5-6 days and then go on to Hanamoenoa Bay on Tahuatu where you can buy another few days as you are only allowed 90 days in French Polynesia your 90 days becomes100.
We are on our way to the second anchorage now and will do an overnight to Nuku Hiva on Sunday night and check in on Monday when we meet up with Ashley and Aaron.
One highlight was to go with a group of 16 of us--arranged at Que Barbara's happy hour--to Kathy's restaurant for dinner. It was $25--she takes $$$--and you get a pile of food and they play their guitars and sing and the atmosphere was well worth the money. A must do she will cook for up to 16 cruisers.
We went for several hikes in the beautiful lush valley. The flowers are beautiful--the frangipanis at night have a pervasive smell which is wonderful and the sunsets are incredible. One hike took us up to the top after a couple of hours and the view is lovely.
Aaron and Ashley are now in the air coming to join us—I had a last minute SOS to Ashley to get some perfume samples from the Bay and Sears as well as some more lipstick from the dollar store and apparently she got 25 free perfume samples—what a way to a future mother in law’s heart!!!!—lots of brownie points for that effort!!!
Hope you are having some warm weather--it is around 28C here and the nights are cool and the sea warm--what more could you ask for?
I will post photos whenever we find an internet—so far Kristen is putting these on from my sat phone email connection.
Au revoir---oh the French is sooooo dificult after so long in Spanish!!!! My two word sentences have one spanish word and one french!!!
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Near collision in the Pacific
I was asleep last night and was awakened by Ken talking—in my half awake stupor –to himself?? Or did we have someone who had dropped by??
We had been sailing wing on wing (where you have your main sail out to one side and your front sail out the other—you need to be sailing straight downwind so you don’t’ backwind one of the sails) as night fell we had seen a light of another boat. We had only seen 2 vessels in the previous 15 days. As the night wore on it became obvious to Ken—I was not awake—that it was on a collision course. We had made sure we were well lit up and he called us on the radio. He was on a southerly course and we were on a westerly—Ken was tracking him on the radar and they talked as the other boat turned and went behind us 1/10 of a mile behind us. It is amazing how difficult it is on a dark night with no moon and no radar (he did not have one, but luckily we do) to estimate whether you are far enough away when you change your course to pass.
What a coincidence that we should have a near collision in the middle of the ocean. The name of the vessel was Spectacle and it certainly would have been all of that!!! We have been wondering how we come up with pictures of our crossing—lots of ocean and sunsets—that would have given us another topic!!
They had hit a weather buoy a couple of days earlier—these are huge structures 7 feet wide and weigh 500lb. Apparently they are padded and they were sailing full speed but slid off the side of it. We dread to think of it ending up between our amahs under our catamaran—it is a shipping hazard one doesn’t think about—we would have a permanent anchorage—we do have a list of locations of some but boats seem to be finding them elsewhere. They are meant to be lit but I am not sure of the maintenance schedules. We did hear the location of one on the SSB radio which was 10 miles from us one morning but never saw it.
Next entry, bar new excitement will be from Fatu Hiva.
We had been sailing wing on wing (where you have your main sail out to one side and your front sail out the other—you need to be sailing straight downwind so you don’t’ backwind one of the sails) as night fell we had seen a light of another boat. We had only seen 2 vessels in the previous 15 days. As the night wore on it became obvious to Ken—I was not awake—that it was on a collision course. We had made sure we were well lit up and he called us on the radio. He was on a southerly course and we were on a westerly—Ken was tracking him on the radar and they talked as the other boat turned and went behind us 1/10 of a mile behind us. It is amazing how difficult it is on a dark night with no moon and no radar (he did not have one, but luckily we do) to estimate whether you are far enough away when you change your course to pass.
What a coincidence that we should have a near collision in the middle of the ocean. The name of the vessel was Spectacle and it certainly would have been all of that!!! We have been wondering how we come up with pictures of our crossing—lots of ocean and sunsets—that would have given us another topic!!
They had hit a weather buoy a couple of days earlier—these are huge structures 7 feet wide and weigh 500lb. Apparently they are padded and they were sailing full speed but slid off the side of it. We dread to think of it ending up between our amahs under our catamaran—it is a shipping hazard one doesn’t think about—we would have a permanent anchorage—we do have a list of locations of some but boats seem to be finding them elsewhere. They are meant to be lit but I am not sure of the maintenance schedules. We did hear the location of one on the SSB radio which was 10 miles from us one morning but never saw it.
Next entry, bar new excitement will be from Fatu Hiva.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Half Way There!
Well here we are at day 14 of our crossing and all is well. We are at S08 40 and W121 12 and are on a heading of 256 degrees which in theory in 1039 miles will have us arrive at Fatu Hiva on Tuesday of next week unless the winds get too light and it will take us another day.
Now that we have accepted the actualities of this passage we have got into a rhythm of managing the watches and sleeping whenever we can. The time goes by easier than I had anticipated—enjoying reading lots of books, doing sudokus and we have a daily scrabble game. Those combined with our efforts to diagnose the best point of sail to cope with the light and easterly winds—involves raising, lowering and letting out and pulling in the sails. Then putting up and bringing down the spinnaker all which takes time and effort—we are still looking for the passage where you do not change the sails for days but perhaps would be bored.
We had a great couple of days when the winds turned a little and came from the SE which boosted our westward progress a lot but they have returned eastward and lightened up, we are hoping they will strengthen again. We have had squalls at night where they were up to 31K. Our friends on Cutty Wren who are 450 miles ahead got winds of 40K in a squall the other night which we are hoping will have moved on before we get there. We have never had anything more than 30-35 which we decided was enough---20-22K for our boat is the optimum. We are talking to boats both ahead and behind us on the radio daily and learn from those ahead and give advise to those behind.
We bought a lot of extra jerry cans with fuel--$1 05 a gallon in the Galapagos as opposed to $7 in the Marquesas—but as we have had good winds we have not needed to motor and so are a very heavy catamaran. The cardinal rule of catamarans is not to overload it but we already had broken that rule when we left Canada and have now compounded it. Another catamaran ahead of us had done the same and then found they were bow heavy and too slow so they just motor sailed like crazy for a week till they burned up the extra fuel. They were then lighter and sailed the rest of the way and got to the Marquesas in 14 days. We will take the extra time, be heavy and hopefully will get to Tonga or beyond with our fuel.
We see flying fish on a regular basis, they are very cool. They are in schools and will fly through the air for hundreds of feet, often landing on our deck. Ken cooked some but they are too small and bony so will await the squid which we prefer. He caught a 3 foot dorado ((mahi mahi) yesterday so that was a nice treat for supper. Our freezer had emptied somewhat so had room to freeze the rest. We are down to potatoes, onions, garlic lemons and a pathetic looking cabbage and are starting on the canned stuff. Yes the Bimbo bread is still surviving, although we are at the last loaf so will not be able to do the 4 week test and the eggs are still OK.
All in all it is not painful and besides the alternative could be that we had to go to work and cope with snow.
Hopefully when I update this next week we will be looking at palm trees and sandy beaches.
Now that we have accepted the actualities of this passage we have got into a rhythm of managing the watches and sleeping whenever we can. The time goes by easier than I had anticipated—enjoying reading lots of books, doing sudokus and we have a daily scrabble game. Those combined with our efforts to diagnose the best point of sail to cope with the light and easterly winds—involves raising, lowering and letting out and pulling in the sails. Then putting up and bringing down the spinnaker all which takes time and effort—we are still looking for the passage where you do not change the sails for days but perhaps would be bored.
We had a great couple of days when the winds turned a little and came from the SE which boosted our westward progress a lot but they have returned eastward and lightened up, we are hoping they will strengthen again. We have had squalls at night where they were up to 31K. Our friends on Cutty Wren who are 450 miles ahead got winds of 40K in a squall the other night which we are hoping will have moved on before we get there. We have never had anything more than 30-35 which we decided was enough---20-22K for our boat is the optimum. We are talking to boats both ahead and behind us on the radio daily and learn from those ahead and give advise to those behind.
We bought a lot of extra jerry cans with fuel--$1 05 a gallon in the Galapagos as opposed to $7 in the Marquesas—but as we have had good winds we have not needed to motor and so are a very heavy catamaran. The cardinal rule of catamarans is not to overload it but we already had broken that rule when we left Canada and have now compounded it. Another catamaran ahead of us had done the same and then found they were bow heavy and too slow so they just motor sailed like crazy for a week till they burned up the extra fuel. They were then lighter and sailed the rest of the way and got to the Marquesas in 14 days. We will take the extra time, be heavy and hopefully will get to Tonga or beyond with our fuel.
We see flying fish on a regular basis, they are very cool. They are in schools and will fly through the air for hundreds of feet, often landing on our deck. Ken cooked some but they are too small and bony so will await the squid which we prefer. He caught a 3 foot dorado ((mahi mahi) yesterday so that was a nice treat for supper. Our freezer had emptied somewhat so had room to freeze the rest. We are down to potatoes, onions, garlic lemons and a pathetic looking cabbage and are starting on the canned stuff. Yes the Bimbo bread is still surviving, although we are at the last loaf so will not be able to do the 4 week test and the eggs are still OK.
All in all it is not painful and besides the alternative could be that we had to go to work and cope with snow.
Hopefully when I update this next week we will be looking at palm trees and sandy beaches.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
More Myths Debunked...
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.
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.
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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