On our way to Galapogas
Moxie - Beck Family Adventure
Mike, Denise, Asia and Aranya Beck
Wed 2 Apr 2014 17:19
Local Date/Time 02 April 2014: noon
Wind NNE 5
24 Hr Run 180
Course 205
Speed 8.4
Baro 1010
Temp 29
We left the Panama anchorage on the 31st of March in company with Sudoeste for a short hop over to Isla le pearlas just 30 miles out. What a perfect introduction to pacific sailing it was as we spotted a humpback whale and a very large school of pilot or false killer whales (we are not sure which). One group of whales surfaced immediately ahead of us on a direct collision course and a few of them seemed to go right between the hulls, I guess they were teenagers playing aquatic 'chicken'.
We stopped overnight on Chapera island which was used for a survivor series a while back. The tide right now is 22 feet and 2 feet below datum at low! It is quite a shock being in tidal waters again so suddenly, 40 miles away on the Atlantic side of the canal there is only around 2 feet of tide. A direct (un-locked) canal link Atlantic to Pacific cannot work.
We need to enter the Galapogas with a clean bum, divers may check the boat and there are stories of visiting boats being sent 80 miles off to clean up before being granted entry. Of course we didn't have any concerns having been back in the water just 6 weeks or so but inspection proved otherwise. Moxie was covered in tiny barnacles, with such huge tides the rip was about 2 knots and visibility very poor so scrubbing off had me shattered after an hour and 30% complete.
We had a beach bonfire with Sudoeste and formally met Nathan who has flown out from NZ to join Sudoeste to the Galapogas.
April fools day had us saying happy birthday Emily and goodbye once again. Moxie went in search of calmer water to complete the scrub off and Sudoeste set sail for Wreck Bay, St Christobel. Well we didn't manage to find any better water but with Asia's help we completed the hull clean and set sail that afternoon, Sudoeste are quicker and have a head start so we will meet up again in Wreck Bay in 6 days or so. Hopefully our plan for keeping the seal lions off works out, fingers crossed everyone. Yes the photo and story would be cool, but the reality very much less so.
More amazing sealife spotted last night we sailed through a school of small manta rays, there must have been hundreds of them often leaping in groups of 10 or so, cool. We have the parasail up and have been getting along very nicely, averaging over 8 knots since we left. Galapogas is right on the equator, read doldrums, looks like we have another 24 hours of this good northerly but after that for the remaining 600 miles chuggsville is on the cards.
Weirdly the generator temperature warning light has decided to come on now that the pump is fixed, I'm fairly confident about false alarms here as it comes on immediately we start up, nevertheless it's another maintenance job.
Mike, Denise, Asia and Aranya Beck
SV Moxie
http://blog.mailasail.com/moxie