Into the big wide open.
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Thu 8 Apr 2010 17:19
We are now back out in the big blue Pacific Ocean on our way towards
Galapagos. It took us 9 days of frantic provisioning and preparation but we
managed to escape the heat and bustle (and hustle) of Panama City just in
time for the Easter weekend. I think we completely knackered the suspension
on our taxi driver Frederico's car (can you imagine how much tonic we need
to carry for Lucy for a 7 month period!) but we were certainly good for
business keeping him almost permanently busy in our quest for bulk supplies
(i.e. 50 chicken breasts and 120 tins of sweetcorn) and certain trickier
items (red and green Thai curry paste, and pickled ginger and wasabi for all
those tuna we are going to catch).
We spent a long weekend amongst the islands of Las Perlas around 50 miles to
the south out in the Bay of Panama where we gave Bamboozle a few days of
shakedown to make sure most things (and nearly all of the important things)
were working and then on Tuesday morning (6th April) we picked up the wind
(very little) and the current (lots) and set off towards Galapagos. By an
extraordinary coincidence looking back in our old log book we can see that
the 6th of April was exactly the same date we left for the Galapagos back in
2006.
Our plans are, as always, subject to change but we are aiming towards
Villamil on the Island of Isabella which is about 903 miles (as the seagull
flies) from our departure point. Our route is actually taking us a little
south of the rhumb line to try to cross through the doldrums in an effort to
pick up a bit more breeze and a better wind angle once we have crossed the
ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) which is the confused area where the
differing weather systems of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres collide
causing a windless but thundery and squally band around the world.
We have made good initial progress but have now completely run out of wind
so are motoring along with about 620 miles to go rather hoping we find a bit
more breeze between here and there! We are in SSB radio contact with 3
other boats who are making the same trip, one of which is Calypso from South
Africa with whom we did our first ever ocean passage from Cape Town to St
Helena in December 2004. Paul and Maureen spent a little more time
exploring the Caribbean than we did but are now on the move westwards again.
The four yachts all swap positions, weather and fishing stories twice a day.
It is always nice to have someone to talk to and to know somebody else is
out there over the horizon of our big patch of blue.