Land Ahoy

 

It is 1800 UT, 10 am on my watch, and almost certainly a different time on Marion’s. We have been admiring the mass of rock ahead of us 20 miles or so since just after day break when it appeared. We were not surprised, in this day of GPS we know exactly where we are all the time, the element of surprise and delight on arriving at a new destination and knowing that your sextant calculations were correct has gone out of sailing a long time ago. Nonetheless it is a delight to see our destination finally after 20 days of nothing but deep blue, and not always blue.

 

Yesterday was Marion’s birthday. It’s not every girl in the world who gets taken across the Pacific Ocean for her birthday. She woke up to lots of candles all over the cabin (for her shift I may add) and lots of Happy Birthday greetings paper. The weather was kind and I had promised to do all the housework so that she could enjoy a nice relaxing day, well under the circumstances.

 

 

We had a dinner of Fe Benthos and mash with peas, how romantic is that. Oh! for another tuna, talking of which they are still stealing my lures and I am down to my last two now. I hope I can buy some more on these islands.

 

The daily net on the SSB still goes on and there are still boats leaving the Galapagos. Marion does the Net most days and it is nice to have a bit of chat with the other boats on the water. We track their positions and see how well or badly we do against others. We have had no major incidents on our trip and we have had very little sail adjusting to do generally. For example since the very strong winds of some days ago we have been on a port tack, broad reach for you sailors, for four or five days now. Very few squalls have come our way and those that have have been gentle in comparison to what we had in the Atlantic. We have also had very little rain although I believe that this is about to change when we get to the Islands. The night s have been colder and we are now wearing our heavy clothing again while on watch in the cockpit. We have settled into a pattern of three hours on and three hours off during the night and so get our sleep in short bites. Works well and we are both happy with the arrangement.

 

 

Engine goes on for at least two hours a day to charge the batteries, make bread and water and charge our gadgets including the computers etc. Our water maker is engine driven and produces approximately 70 litres every hour. Our bread maker, thanks Catherine, is very convenient and mixes proofs and bakes a loaf in 2 hours all at the touch of a switch or two.

 

Must go, rock ahead.