BLOG. Passage to Salvador
Oceanpearl
Thu 23 Feb 2023 11:13
We enjoyed our planned three and a half days in St Helena. We could have spent longer there as there were a few activities available that we would like to have done , notably snorkelling with whale sharks, but as we are already about 3 weeks behind the rest of the fleet. However, we spoke to several other yachtsmen who had gone out to the appropriate sea area but had seen no whale sharks.
We all enjoyed swimming off the back of the boat which we did each day in between frequent rain showers. One evening David dived in and was enjoying a carefree swim without the constant shark fears he is accustomed to in his native Durban. There was suddenly violent splashing and panic noises as a large fin came past him. A much feared shark?!?! No! It was a huge manta ray, about 2 metres across, who then swam around David and Paul and the boat for about 10 minutes. David captured great video footage on his GoPro.
Another ‘ activity’ we missed out on, I have only just learned about.
After we had the ‘audience’ with the governor, Nico had got a taxi to see a few ‘attractions’ including the 190 year old tortoise called Jonathan at Plantation House, the Governor’s residence. While he was there, he knocked on the door and, explaining that he had just met the governor he was was invited in by Emma, the governor’s wife. He was treated to a tour of the public rooms and explained that he was a sailor but as he was Italian he was also a cook so invited her on board for his speciality dish Pasta Carbonara made with authentic guanciale and pecorino! However, as we were setting off the next day, it was not possible to agree a mutually convenient date!
Having completed all the required ‘clearing out’ procedures with, in turn, Immigration, then Port Control, then Customs, We had a final lunch and short access to internet, during which I launched the last blog
We returned to the boat, all had a final swim , sadly unaccompanied by any local marine wildlife we were aware of.
We set off at 4.30 pm for Part 2 of Ocean Pearl’s South Atlantic crossing. Our next destination, the Port of Salvador, a distance of 1990 nautical miles, our third longest passage since we set off from Home, second to our Pacific crossing from Galápagos to The Marquesas islands, (3020 nm) third behind our North Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas to Antigua(2,600 nm).
So, we are on the Ocean again. We eventually lost sight of land several hours later (St Helena’s highest point c800 metres). Not another boat in sigh as we are so far behind the rest of the fleet
Observations of crew members :
Nico - “we are back at sea with a renewed spirit of adventure. It’s easier this time because we each have an established routine on board and the knowledge that we have completed the first part and ready to embark on part 2 knowing that at the end we will have completed an important crossing of a huge Ocean crossing between two major continents, an ambition I have dreamt of for more than 40 years. I have read numerous books of other sailors’ accounts of their experiences. My experience so far has exceeded my expectations, confirmed by the the performance of Ocean Pearl’s twin head-sail sailing rig for down-wind sailing. And the Oyster experience provides a more luxurious life-style at sea than a Prada handbag!
David, (23, mechanical engineer graduate, planning a career in the marine industry) . “Having been on land in St Helena for only a short while, the second passage seemed a lot more challenging,. To start off with the slow sailing, it felt as if we were getting nowhere in the context of the 1990 miles we had to do. Although, the routines start establishing again so day by day, you find your feet again. What has been the best part of being on the Ocean for me is the serenity, allowing me to disconnect from the outside world and feel more connected with God.
I don’t think I had clear expectations, but it has definitely been the most amazing experience of my life and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone to have this experience .
Paul (m owner of 2 motor boats) remains ‘Overawed by the vastness and tranquillity of the Ocean and the starry starry sky at night, amazed to have seen only 2 boats at sea in the crossing to St Helena and none so far en route to Brazil.
Amazing how quickly we fall into the routine of day and night watches and gradually get more comfortable with what’s going on around you - Solo night watches in particular are a very contemplative time with no distractions from modern media. Whilst not sure what the big white curtains are upfront or the myriad of knitting connections holding them in place, it is comforting that on the rare occasion when the wind doesn’t blow strongly, the familiar sound of a Diesel engine can help us on our way. Whilst my sailing skills are still negligible, it is good to hear and read on board of other sailing adventures and destinations.
I’m also glad of skills I have learned in other lives, are useful one in the galley and the other providing tech support to our skipper.
A wonderful experience I would recommend to everyone. Standing by……..
So , having set off on Wednesday afternoon, it is now Saturday, with 1515 nautical miles to go. We anticipate a passage of 12-14 days, which means 60 breakfasts, 60 lunches and 60 dinners! We had a very successful provisioning process in Cape Town, stocking up on all basics - breakfast cereals, flour, brown rice , basmati rice, pasta of all shapes and sizes, long life semi skimmed milk , eggs etc as we had little expectation of availability of fresh fruit and veg.
Eggs are a special challenge. Galley experts make sure they buy egg that are stored ambient and have not been refrigerated. They keep them in purpose bought plastic egg containers in galley cupboards. Once refrigerated, one needs to keep them refrigerated to extend their use by time.
We operated a combined storage policy, with two boxes of eggs in the fridge, and the most recently purchased in the cupboard. Eggs are much sought after in isolated destinations. Miss Jane , who managed our cafe HQ in St Helena, sold us some of her supplies as a special favour, so we set off with a total of four and a half dozen eggs. Eggs are a great boost on a damp morning as everyone comes to after a tricky night - or even just a treat communal breakfast on a treat Sunday! Bubble and squeak , not known in Italian or South African cuisine, came up in food conversation last evening, so a bubble and squeak and poached egg breakfast treat is planned for tomorrow.
Paul and I had also visited the Cape Town equivalent of Covent Garden and stocked up on a flat bed trolley of long life stuff like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, et and large boxes of fruit - apples, donut peaches, sack of oranges, some green mangoes, green bananas, green pineapples. Tomatoes
All of the above involves careful daily management!
Our cockpit fridge is currently not working ( just another first world problem!’. We used it as refrigeration of short life fruit & veg, by putting a large bag of ice from the ice-maker at the base , replacing it every 2 days.
We managed to get a few provisions in St Helena
After 4 hours sleep after my night watch of 2 -4 am, I came up to the sunny cockpit to find a food preparation workshop with Paul and Nico chopping fruit and Vegetable for lunch (Nico, salad - carrot, onion, tuna, lime, lemon juice, almonds, croutons (from home baked bread)
(Paul - beef bourguignon - beef, onions, carrots potato + daily fruit salad with remaining fruit -apples, oranges, pears.
DAY 7 - 985 Nm to go
In the last 12 hours we have passed 2 significant markers on our passage - 1000 miles to go and our half way Point. - definitely justification for celebration at sundown today .
Progress has been slow.
Now experiencing days of floundering along at around 4-5 knots with ETA measured by date rather than hour. We had anticipated a 12 day passage and it was looking like 15or 16 days!
Weather forecasts advised us to head North and thus had resulted in better winds. The last two days we have averaged 7 - 8 knots with 14 to 17 knots of wind.
The weather is glorious! Bright, hot sunshine from dawn to dusk. One day follows another but the view on all sides remains ……….but there is little or no traffic. In the 7 days so far we have only seen 2or 3 tankers or container ships, each at a distance of 8-10 miles.
We have seen only a few sea birds, and a few flying fish but sadly, so far no dolphins.
The sea is reasonably calm, but with enough swell to maintain a constant rolling, not too uncomfortable BUT enough to send stuff flying out of galley lockers if the doors are left open and enough to make food preparation very challenging. A sudden lurch as we remove something from the oven and everything g, shelves and all hit the floor. Leave a jug of stock unsecured for 5 seconds and it too can hit the floor. Soooo hard to deal with.
We have had huge excitement though. Roger has proclaimed that Paul has changed his life for ever!
However did he do that?
Paul is an IT wizard and took on the challenge of sorting out computer and Audiovisual systems. As a result, Roger’s laptop can now communicate with the Boat computer, hugely time saving and avoiding hours of frustration as we can only get emails on the boat computer.
Paul has also sorted out the sound systems so we have music …….AND
He has discovered a HUGE collection of movies, documentaries and all sorts of stuff which we can watch on each of the three TVs, one in the saloon, one in the master cabin and the third in the guest double cabin .
DAY 8 - 808 nautical miles to go
Everyone building up a level of tiredness now after a full week of sailing 24/7, running a rolling watch system so that everyone shares the highs of the dawn watches and the lows of 2am -4am or 4am-6am. However with the highs and lows comes a daily change of sleep and wake times. It’s tough because we still have to produce 3 meals a day while monitoring the fresh stuff making sure it is consumed while it is edible….and keep all the boat systems going, like charging the batteries, running the water maker, and checking all equipment like fridges and freezers are working efficiently ……and keeping clean the galley, heads and the boat in general.
I spent the whole morning doing a thorough clean of the galley, rewarding myself after lunch with an hour of David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II. It is doubly enthralling watching the amazing footage while we are actually crossing a vast Ocean, imagining it all going on in the blue waters beneath us!. And all we see right now is the odd flying fish!
We have not seen much more than flying fish so far on this crossing.
Today it was amazing to watch a huge school of manta rays leaping into the air. We have actually seen such a display from our dinghy, when seeking to swim with them in Fiji so doubly fascinating to watch this footage.
On our penultimate day at sea, we were rewarded with a visitation of a pod of dolphins about 20 strong. They were continually crisscrossing in front of the bow obviously having great fun and they stayed with us or about 3 hours. A huge joy, so difficult to capture on camera and do justice to their brilliant and entertaining display.
We finally arrived in Salvador at 3pm on the 21st February- a 13 day passage . The Oyster Serendipity. sailed over to us as we approached the harbour welcoming us as they departed for the island Fernanno de Noronnho , their next destination, and ours too after a few days in Salvador.
We were direct to Dock D in the marina and we’re greeted by a cacophony of horns from Susan and crew of Makara and Callum and Kirsty of Intrepid welcoming us , all aware of our frustrations of our delay
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad