Sailing in the Pacific – Sailing with Saphir

Galapagos part 2 visiting Isabela

We set sail just before sunset and head towards the largest island in Galapagos although it is only populated in the south East corner . Our instrument is not with us…. No wind, depth or speed again… grrr. Hope we can (Edgar) can figure out the problem soon. It is very nice to know where the wind is coming from ( yes you can see it )and the strength and also when we arrive to an anchor place it is much easier if we know the depth under us and not only rely on what the plotter/map is saying.

It was a calm night sailing or motor sailing is more correct. Not much wind after the first 2 hours so the iron genua had to work. We arrived early morning to Isabela. Lots of Arc boats was already there. After we had anchored we had some breakfast and then both of us needed some sleep. Before exploring the island.

Once again we had to rely on taxi boats since we was not allowed to use our dinghy due to our 2 stroke engine. Here there was less taxiboats and double price (2$/per person) compared to San Cristóbal. Glad we are only two of us and not 7 as on Blue Sunshine. Although they can and are using their dinghy. Luckily for us it would show a bit later in the afternoon.. We went in later in the afternoon to look around and to get something to eat. It is carneval time so it was a big celebration going on on the beach with food tent, loud music, beach volleyball game and lots of people enjoying them self. In the middle of this it started to rain and we tried to find a place to have food. Lots of places was closed and just when we found one place the phone rang. It was Annie on Maroro. Our boat had made a huge turn in the water when the wind blew up and hit the big yellow buoy. When we came back to our boat Clas from BlueSunshine was onboard and keeping her not to hit the buoy again. It was a bit caiotic as it was raining heavily also and some other boats had changed the anchor place since the drifted. We moved us far out to be safe and stayed on the boat rest of the evening and played rumikub.

This is how it looked the day after the rain in town

The next days we explored the island together with Petra, Michel and Fluer from Pippin. We saw some Flamingos, the Turtel Center where they help to bread up the turtles and but them back out to the wild when they are around five years old , we rented bikes and biked to the wall of tears. On the way out there we saw many turtles in the wild and at the wall of tears in the rain we meet a lonely turtle walking along the wall. This wall was built by prisoner during the years between 1945- 1959 for no purpose and the cost many lives.

Not as many seal lions here as in SanCristobal but much more leguans. These are the black leguans. They where everywhere hanging around or swimming .

The last evening on Isabela we had a sundowner together with Petra,Michael, Fleur and Britta,Thomas and Ann(Cepa) at the beach. Our great funny waiter taking photos . To the drinks we was served popcorn and roasted bananas. Very nice.

Hugs Eva

Galapagos Part3 Santa Cruz

Early morning we left Isabela and steered to Santa Cruz. Not much wind (so the iron genua had to work)and a quiet sea and sun fog? dis? We have Pippin behind us and Pec ahead of us whom we passed later. There was some small island north of Isabela and one of them looked like a turtle

Most of the times when you see land after been sailing a day or more it feels like you are not getting closer and that it take so long time to reach the harbour. It felt like that this time as well. Finally we have the anchor in the water and head in to town to meet the other from the fleet.This time our meeting point was a bar/restaurant. Really nice food . Had lunch there few times.

We was warned that it can be rolling a bit so a stern anchor cold be good to have. We didn’t do that since nobody else did. After a few nights we moved the boat and it made a ugh difference. We actually felt almost sea-sick on the boat and it was hard to anything when you was thrown around on the boat. Always needed one hand holding on when you moved on the boat as if we was sailing.. Here is a movie from one of the nights.

Edgars knees was very swollen and heart when he walks so I took a day walking around the area. It was very nice to have land under my feet and not being on this rolling boat. I ended up walking 18 215 steps. Passed some different houses, a dis market where the seals, iguanas and birds was begging for some fish. I saw this lovely arch made of mosaic. I walked in and saw the fantastic wall and the lovely chair. Time to save the broken plates,cup ect to a further project…. Here they also have a a turtle breeding( didn’t visit that one)a Charles Darwin institute, where you can read about his work on the island. I walked down to the beach that we could see from the boat. It was next to the Darwin institute. It was low tide so the lava rock was shown a lot. Had a lovely swim there later with the crew from Solana V.

On our wedding anniversary we went out for dinner only the two of us. They have the same sushi restaurant here as in San Cristóbal that we really liked. Next to the restaurant we had a live music. According to our waiter this was the most famous band on the island. It was very nice to have live music and extra great that they where really good.

We had sundowners every evening together with the rest of the fleet before going out to dinner. They organised one men /ladies evening which was very nice. For the price giving evening I help Sara of Sweden to decorate a jacket that is a honouring prices moving around the fleet. I had a sewing lesson with Alex and Inez and I finished it up with the two Swedish flag in the end

Doing the last shopping at the market, some washing. At the pier we saw lots of white tip and black tip sharks and also very small mantra. Even the sea lions was here but not that many. They did have a bigger pier for all the taxi boats here and they operated more frequently, so it was easy to go back and forward to the boat.

Time to say bye bye to Galapagos and get ready for the longest sailing for us, 3000 NM crossing the Pacific Ocean. So time to sleep.

Hugs Eva

Crossing the Equator and getting to Galapagos

Tjohoo we have wind and depth , lets hope it will work all the way. (It did for a while) Now we are ready to sail to Galapagos and cross the equator along the way! Even the birds are ready for our start.

It is quite exiting and fun to have this start together with the fleet. The first day we can see more or less the hole fleet on the Ais but next day less and less. Good we have SSB radio call twice per day and gets reports every morning from the Rallycontrol so we know where all are and that they are fine.

We pass our friend Jörgen and Louise on their boat Sara of Sweden. This time our boat was faster… maybe because we had new paint or?? The wind is really good and also the current so we sail between 9-10.5 kn for 2 days. It is a bit rolling but not to bad. Following days I watch the sunrise during my watch and some are better then others. Sunset is also very nice and can be a bit fun when a ship comes along.

Then the wind dies out and the Wales on the sea. Now I know why we call it Stilla havet and not Pacific Ocean. It is totally calm no winds no waves. It is actually fantastic to see this big ocean so calm it makes me want to take swim. First day was a bit scary I held on to the boat. Next day I dared to swim a bit and the third I went around the boat and cleaned it. Sorry no pictures proof since my dear husband kept an eye on me and didn’t take any pictures. Might be coming some later on the next leg.

Now there is not much to do so we relax enjoy the calm sea, trying to fish but no luck, looking if we can spot any dolphins,wales or some life. The one we see is this small fly fishes and birds near us. We did spot some dolphins but they came briefly and might spotted wales on far distance. We heard from an other boat that they had around 50 dolphins coming towards them and some of them past them very close. One morning I had company by a bird who slept on our spinnaker boom. Tried his wings when the sun came up but decided to stay a little longer on the boom. A bit cold in the morning hours so the bandanna kept my ears warm. Once in a while we spot our friends on the plotter even if we can’t see them with our own eyes.

We starting to get close to the equator so it is time to prepare us and celebrate that we have crossed it by our own boat. There is a photo competition in the WARC fleet who takes the best photo so we thought we also will contribute to that.

We heard on the radio that many of the boats have had problems with birds pooing on their boat. We have been okay until the last night before we getting to Galapagos….. the boat was covered in bird poos. I do understand why ,since they where flying around us during night for many hours trying to find a place to sit on the boat and get some fly fishes that flies in front of the aft when we come sailing.

We see land and can also smell the soil or what it is. Lots of turtles are swimming around but they are very shy and dives as soon as they hear us coming to close. After five day’s on the sea it is nice to be anchored and see some of the other fleet boats. We came in as the sixth boat so it is quite empty here so far. Guess that most of the fleet will be here before sunset. There is a reason why we should not use our dinghies… lots of sea lions here trying to get on your dinghy or your boat if you haven’t blocked the bath jetty on the stern of the boat.