6.33N 79.55W
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Thu 7 Jul 2011 20:00
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We have now set our course for the Galapagos
Islands after leaving an absolutely beautiful anchorage off Isla Pedro
Gonzalez.
We anchored along a two hundred metre stretch
of beach lined with coconut palms. In the late afternoon we took the dinghy
(Jane swam), with our brand new $3 machette purchased in Panama to the beach.
Not long after we arrived two of the locals turned up in a long dinghy, jumped
out onto the beach and started climbing the palms to remove coconuts. The guy
that did all the climbing went up the palm tree as quick as a squirrel. At
the top he sat in amongst the coconuts and just spun each one until it
snapped off and fell to the ground. They gathered about twenty coconuts and then
sliced one open to give us a drink. It was cool and slightly sweet, not at
all like I remember coconut milk to be.
We set sail before 7am the next morning (yesterday)
and were met by a healthy 12 knot breeze blowing at 90 degrees to
starboard. There was a very dark band of cloud on the horizon so we went
with the first reef in the mailsail and full genoa. Not long after
we started moving we saw several humpback whales breaching, and dozens
more in all directions, just past the last island in the Las Perlas group. The
cloud moved closer and we could see lightning so we took the sail to the second
reef and did the same with the genoa. Our memory of sailing into Aruba was still
fresh in our minds so we erred on the side of caution. Eventually the storm
squall ran us over and was packing 30+ knots and torrential rain. My
watercatcher worked a treat and we were very glad to have reduced
sail.
Unfortunately the wind had swung to the south-west
following the squall so we downed sail and started to motor towards Malpelo
Island some 250NM away.
Our fishing has definitely taken a turn for the
better since entering the Pacific. The reel is regularly starting to sing and
our food stores have been considerably bolstered. Today we have had three
strikes by sailfish. The first two escaped but the third was landed, kissed, and
returned to the ocean. These really are magnificent fish and the one that was
landed [by Dean] was at least five feet long.
This afternoon we are well off the coast of Panama
and after a long night of motoring we finally have a sail up in wind of 8-9
knots from close to the west. This is giving us a good angle to sail directly
towards Malpala. From Mapala we hope to be able to turn west towards
Galapagos.
It is likely to take a considerable amount of
motoring to make the islands so any chance to sail we will take. We are not
breaking any records but we are moving.
Andrew Partington.
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