OCEAN PEARL BLog 2
MANY VARIED FACES OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN The entry to the Pacific Ocean is very dramatic . Sitting high in the Miraflores Lock, the last of the Panama Canal locks, we caught our first glimpse of the great ocean stretching out to the horizon. It feels like a hugely significant step, leaving the huge, but somehow familiar Atlantic Ocean for the Pacific - the other side of the world. The Pacific crossing will be the longest of all our sea passages in our circumnavigation of the world so its vastness makes a huge impression - a feeling of awe mixed with anticipation of the wonderful places in Polynesia and beyond that I never ever thought I might sail to. But as someone said ‘Anyone can eat an elephant, just mouthful by mouthful.’ So it is with sailing the Pacific - our first stop was the Galápagos Islands, a first Pacific passage of 5-6 days. Embarking on the Pacific crossing was quite daunting. All the other boats in the fleet were also feeling a little pressure. Everyone knows it to be a big, big ocean. Although we are part of a fleet, all boats take slightly different courses, always seeking the wind and trying to avoid getting stuck in Doldrums -areas with no win - more about this later. So at any time each boat could be hundreds of miles from the one nearest to them. The tensions are fuelled by many considerations: * Provisioning for all crew , in our case a total of five for 3 meals a day for an indeterminate number of days * Having enough fuel, coping with weather uncertainties, and not knowing how much motoring will be needed * Being out of touch with friends and family for a few * Fear of mechanical problems in a big, big ocean. Our first Pacific experience on leaving Galapagos was that the Ocean felt different from the Atlantic. There was a lack of familiarity and an uncertainty in trying to define the differences. Factually, the Pacific is tidal. This tidal element was immediately evident in the Flamenco Marina, on the Pacific side of Panama City, with floating pontoons on high poles with a ramp to the dockside that varied hugely in its steepness reflecting 5.5 metres of rise and fall of the tides. Managing trolley loads of provisions down the steep ramp made us very tide-aware. Beyond this, my expectations were of a totally benign, turquoise ocean, which was vast but promised a happy, relaxed, comfortable crossing with lots of happy sunny picnic style meals in a sunny cockpit. This is the relaxed sunshine cruising face of the Pacific Ocean. We had lots of weather forecasts on different weather apps to guide our passage planning. The big element that featured in all forecasts was the position of the moving areas of ITCZ, these are the InterTropical Convergence Zones, commonly known as the Doldrums. It is a region of high temperature and low pressure along the Equator. It’s width can range from 50 miles to 300 miles or even more. The conditions are very light winds and calms persisting along its length accompanied by hot and sultry weather. It sounds OK and is benign but no good for sailing. The sea was like a mirror, not a ripple, so this means motoring if any progress is to be made in this the beginning of our passage of 3,010 nautical miles! There were compensations - we stopped for a swim. The water was beautiful - turquoise, felt like velvet and a temperature of about 28 degrees - a contrast to memories of swimming off our boat in .Cornwall But swimming aside - this is the tedious, frustrating face of the Pacific Ocean We ‘suffered’ about 3 days of this, praying for wind - in retrospect, not much considering the distance covered. One of the features of the Oyster World Rally is the twice daily Radionet connections during the passages from one stage to the next Each passage one of the yachts undertakes to do a roll call of all members of the fleet, primarily to check that everyone is safe, to check their latitude and longitude positions, get an account of their weather and wind conditions and any excitements or indeed dramas they might be encountering and reports of any wildlife encounters eg visits from pods of dolphins, a whale or shark siting, flying fish - or indeed any success in catching fish. This constituted two highlights of each day. I was Ocean Pearl’s Radionet operator and loved the twice daily chats until ……….the distances between us all became so big, reception deteriorated seriously and some days it was a struggle to even register our position on lat and long A regular glimpse of the Pacific wildlife is the sight of flying fish These are small fish 6 to 10 inches long, with extended fins which act as wings as they take to the air, perhaps to flee from predators or to get out of our path. Sometimes we see one or two, sometimes a whole shoal of 20 or 30 take flight at once their silver scales glinting in the Pacific sun. Sometimes, they land on our decks - and if not removed become very smelly. One radionet report described one arriving through her open hatch to land in her bed! A highlight of any day is a sighting of dolphins. One afternoon we spotted a pattern of a line of splashes on horizon. As we got closer we saw a line of about 500 metres - a pod of dolphins frolicking and somersaulting together. It was a joy to behold this, the playful face of the Pacific Ocean. We gathered on the bow of Ocean Pearl and watched this amazing sight for about half and hour. Then this morning at 8am ish there was a cry of ‘pilot whales!’ from Will on watch. All around the boat were large black pilot whales, most around 2-3 metres long, a few with young swimming alongside. There were probably about 20 in the pod and they stayed with us swimming around the boat for about 15 0r 20 minutes, some alongside, others 20 or so metres away, The exciting face of the Pacific Ocean - spotting its wildlife playing in their natural habitat. The weather changed - clouds gathered, multiple squalls showed on the radar screen of our navigation instruments. The wind blew (hurray!) but it also rained and rained and rained a bit more for 2-3 days. This was definitely the downside, sailing in the grey, stormy face of the Pacific Ocean. Today we are in our 10th day of sailing, since leaving Galapagos, and we still have 1534 nautical miles to go Our current radionet leader, Irish Louis Goor, set us the task of choosing which Desert Island Disc would represent our mood. We chose , to the tune of Tipperary, “it’s a long way to Niku Hiva. (destination in the Marquesas Islands) “it’s a long way to go it’s a long, way to Niku Hiva but it’s where we have to go We’ve said Goodbye to Gala-pa-gos, Farewell to Pa-na-ma, It’s a long, long way to Niku Hiva, but we’ll make it there one day” We went on to find a few boring, tedious, never-ending faces - finding ever more first world problems that come with long distance crossings of the Pacific On Day 19, however, with great relief and excitement, we sailed into the beautiful Bay of Taiohae on the island of Nuka Hiva, the main port of entry to French Polynesia. About 10 of the Oyster fleet were here already and we were greeted by a cacophony of horn blasts, cheers and flag waving - an indication of the great support and camaraderie of the Oyster World rally Sent from my iPad |