Quick Update on passage from Galapagos towards the Marquesa Islands. Thursday 17th April 2014

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Thu 17 Apr 2014 21:44
03:31.022S 093:08.902W

Third day at sea and all is well. We have had light, but mostly useful
winds so have been able to sail either using the cruising chute or the main
and genoa for most of the time. We are now running the engine to power the
Watermaker and 240 volt fridge rather than add any speed. Although we have
plenty of diesel we don't have sufficient to drive all the way (why would
we?!) so we use it carefully. We know from experience that running the
engine in neutral at 1200 rpm kicks lots of power into the batteries without
using much fuel.

There is some swell, up to about 2 m, but it comes and goes a bit and is
sufficiently well spaced for the boat not to be too rolly or uncomfortable,
certainly not when compared to the Atlantic. Overall the conditions are
fabulous and we are having a fantastic sail - long may it last! We are
heading south west for the time being because we need to get to a latitude
of about 5 degrees South in order to pick up the south easterly Trade Winds
that should then blow us steadily west.

Unfortunately our buddy boat, Dancing Bear, had to turn back within a couple
of hours of leaving Galapagos because their auto pilot was not working. In
fact they were back in the anchorage before we had left. We speak to them
on the long range radio each morning and it looks as though they will be at
least a week waiting for a part that then has to find it's way through local
customs. We really feel for them having experienced the frustration of two
unforeseen and significant delays ourselves. Once when we were about to
leave Lanzarotte and our chart plotter stopped working and then when we
tried to set off from the Cape Verde to cross the Atlantic and we found that
the fishing net we had picked up on the way in had done considerably more
damage than we had initially found. We will keep in touch with Dancing Bear
of course and follow their progress and there will be more boats leaving
over the next couple of weeks so they will still have company.

As do we. Peter and Carol on Jack Tar, who we met in Panama City, left at
the same time as us and there are several others we speak to twice a day on
the Mosi Net. The Mosi Netters are mostly those boats who were part of the
Magellen Net on the 'other side', (ie the Atlantic side rather than the
Pacific) plus a few new ones and once again we are enjoying the contact and
listening to others experiences as they make the crossing.

We have not started fishing yet because we have a fridge full of food,
including some fish that we bought before we left. The large bunch of
bananas is ripening so fast I doubt we will keep up so there looks to be
Banana Bread on the horizon before too long. And banana pudding. And
banana muesli. And banana anything else we can think of in order not to
waste them. I do have several in the banana bag in the fridge that will
last a lot longer so we won't be getting low on nutrients just yet.

We have seen whales twice. Pilot whales yesterday sauntered past going in
the opposite direction but today two False Killer Whales came to check us
out. One took a very close look and came right alongside to ride in our
wake for a few minutes. Killer whales sounds very grand but they are not in
the same league as Orca's. We know this because we have the Dorling
Kindersley book of whales and dolphins which is a fantastic reference guide.
Apparently these guys eat mostly krill and small fish but will occasionally
take a small mammal. They are curious and will ride in the bow wave or wake
of a boat for the fun of it. We have a couple of reasonable photographs so
will upload those when we make landfall.

So, Tashi Delek is sailing extremely well and all is well on board.