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April's Log

April 1, 2003
We didn't have any fools days opportunities and continued to provision for our eventual voyage north to the States. Our only April's Fools joke was from Moonshadow. Jackie called over at 7:30 am to tell us they had had it and they were pulling anchor. Of course it was April's Fool, but I fell for it. Allan who was sleeping in said he knew it was a joke all along.

April 2, 2001
We had planned to leave Wreck Bay today, but the computer hard drive died. We had another hard drive on board but the many of our documents were lost. The good part was that I backed up our pictures and logs the day before. The logs were sent to Tom and received. The pictures are looking for an opportunity to be sent to Tom.

April 3, 2003
Today, Allan spent from 7 am until 10:30 pm reloading software and getting our important navigation, weather, email, etc programs back in working order so for our trip home. He had help from Rob on Evelyn Roberts, a Seattle boat that used to be owned by the owner of Elliot Bay Books in Pioneer Square. Also, Jeff from Vesper came by to help with the navigation software.

April 4, 2003
Today we lifted anchor to Academy Bay and motor sailed as we had very little wind. We arrived just in time to catch a Mexican Bonito that we thought might be an edible tuna. We decided to give part of the meat to Moonshadow for their cat and make jerky out of the rest. The jury is still out on the jerky. Allan likes it, but I think it is far too fishy. After arriving, Charlie and Steve took a water taxi over and helped us deploy the necessary stern anchor for this anchorage. We went into town and looked around, had dinner and back to the boat about 9 pm. This is one rolly anchorage.

April 5, 2003
Academy Bay is a tourist town, with lots of shops and local guide services and tie-shirt stores. We hiked to the Darwin center and looked at the facility that is bringing the turtles and iguanas back from extinction. They are bred at the center, and then held until they are old enough to survive on their home islands. The shells are large enough to be used as a bath tub.

April 6, 2003
Jackie and Steve suggested we hike out to Tortugas beach for boogie boarding. It was a beautiful beach with lovely white, sugary sand. The waves were great and the walk was good too. Allan and I decided to have dinner on board as we had some things that needed to be eaten or they would perish. Acturally most of the things we eat are dead, but we didn't want those things to stink. We have been eating meals out a lot because we will be using our stores for the next 6 weeks and the lunches are $2 and the dinners are $3. We cannot cook for that little.

April 7, 2003
Today we hiked to the seepage pools past the hotel on the point, to swim in the half salt and half fresh pools. It was very pretty and lots of fun. The water clarity was over 100 feet and the saltwater fish stay deep in the denser and warmer saltwater. Then into town for lunch, visited a local Pharmacia to buy more Cipro antibiotics and anti inflammatory drugs. Allan has had a re-occurrance of an infection in his elbow. We finished up email and did final shopping of more vegetables and found a local barbeque restaurant that served great hot sauce and they gave some to Allan. (Damn hot)

April 8, 2003
We got the anchors up very well, especially the stern anchor. We were a little concerned about recovering the anchor as the last time we deployed a stern anchor we ended up with the rode around the prop and almost sunk the boat. See February 2002 log. Allan let out chain on the forward anchor as we pulled in the stern rode. We then had to motor sail to Isabela, as the wind was very light and variable. We did take a side trip to Isla Tortuga, which is the ring of an extinct volcano. It was very interesting. The cone is shapped as a tight C and the waves come in from the south and then reflect back out and the location we choose to go through was like being in a washing machine. The swell from the south and the waves from 3 directions from NW to N to NE. We arrived to a very crowded and small anchorage on Isabela and were reunited with many boats we have seen throughout the Galapagos. When we arrived we were invited to go to shore to eat at the beach restaurant owned by Henry. Henry and his family are very enterprising with their restaurant and bar and fueling and water services.

April 9, 2003
In the morning, we set off for town to get a feel for the area. Moonshadow checked in with the Port Captain to find out what was appropriate to share with him in regards to paperwork. We should not have any problems as we have a cruising permit. We went to the hotel Azul Ballena to meet Dora, a Swiss woman who runs the place. She also sets up tours for cruisers, does laundry, serves food and in general is a wealth of knowledge about the island. Tourism is very tough here, the average occupancy rate is below 20% and the season is short. According to the new port captain some of the large tour boat have been stopping, but they only dinghy in and watch from the boats or do a horse back riding trip. Most never venture into the town of Villamil. Villamil is great all sand streets, tienda's (restaurants, bakeries, cervesa diposito's, butcher, and hardware stores) are sprinkled here and there. We really enjoyed the people.

April 10, 2003
There are a variety of interesting sights close to the boat in our anchorage. We were able to see penguins and blue-footed boobies on the rock reefs in the lagoon. We also ventured with Moonshadow to see the sleeping white tipped sharks in the lava tub pools. It was very interesting. The tubes are about 120 feet long and connect to the sea at both ends and are about 4 feet deep at low tide. There were about 15-20 sharks either lying on the bottom or after I aroused them were swimming about. This area has such a microenvironment of the development of the species to their surroundings that once you travel a short ways there is another subspecies. We heard on the 12 or so volcanoes on Isabela - that distinct subspecies of turtle exist around each volcano.
 

April 11, 2003
It was recommended that we take a horse back riding trip up to two volcanoes on the island. The horses were very adept at the trails and with the exception of being slow when they wanted to be and fast when they thought they were close to the barn, they were well behaved. The volcanoes were very interesting and the forests up to the volcanoes we fascinating. On the way back to the boat, we stopped at our guide's friends farm and got some fresh fruit. We came back to the boat, unpacked and Allan went out fishing to see what he could catch. He caught a barracuda which he let go, but only after it bit him. That is a change in evolution, huh?.

April 12, 2003
We headed into our special spot for lunch, Restuarante Isabela with Merlyn. Merlyn made Allan special salsa picante fresca for us to take to the boat. We also met a new boat in the anchorage, Frank and Marilyn on Elaine Marie from Scotland and they joined us for lunch. We gave Merlyn our CD and took her salsa that she had made for us. Later in the evening we had 5 boats meet for dinner as we were saying goodbye for now to three of them. Vesper, Moonshadow and Neva are off to the South Pacific via the Gambier Islands. They also hope to make a stop at Pitcairn if the weather is suitable.

April 13, 2003
We got up knowing we would be saying goodbye to friends, special friends; Moonshadow, Vesper and Neva. The day was low key. Jeff and I went ashore to the beach nearest the port captain and we got a shot of adrenalin. Once we were past the two reefs we cut in between those reefs and the stone pier. We looked back and a breaking wave over took us and cradled us for the next 150 feet. The dinghy was surfing and we were mostly observants. It wasn't until we were at the beach that the dinghy turned sideways and took on some unwanted water. We were lucky because if the dinghy had turned sideway it would of flipped. We walked ashore and smiled and hit the Internet.

Later in the day Liz and I delivered some special gifts to Vesper and Moonshadow. Later we watched them haul in the anchor and head south. It is sad to be left behind, but we know they are good friends and we will see them again. Vesper's daughter is interested in public relations, and I said I would open my contact list to her. Also, we said we would check on her to make sure she was doing ok after graduation all on her own in the big city. Liz and I used our camera and misc software to record a movie for Moonshadow - we had to have 3 takes for 63 seconds of material.

April 14, 2003
We transferred fuel today from the deck canisters to the fuel tank in preparation for buying for fuel for leaving. Frank and Marilyn from Elaine Marie came by to have Allan show them how to use some weather and navigational programs. They invited us for dinner for the following day. Both Frank and Marilyn are Scotish and know what Slainte means, they have great accents and interesting ways of saying certain things. Example is sex or their words "throwing a leg over."

April 15, 2003
This morning we practiced what other have done for us and so we showed Nanjo around the town and later had lunch with Bardoo. Bardoo are from Mooloolaba, Australia and are nearly completing their circumnavigation. After a nice lunch we arrange for our salsa lady, Merlyn to visit our boat tomorrow morning. We will try to send an email for her to Rigo. We had a lovely evening with Elaine Marie. Marilyn prepared a lovely pasta and salmon loaf. The dinner was very delicious dinner and great company. They are Scottish and both have a lovely sense of humor as we said before.

April 16, 2003
I spent a tough night as a sailboat anchored much too close to us. Tin Tin is an aluminum sloop and perhaps should be renamed as Tin Horn. They arrive back to their boat after 10 pm and I asked them to lower more chain and put a stern anchor out. They did but my sleep was impaired as I could picture them swinging into our wind vane. I also have a bug and with bad sleep it was and long but short on sleep night.

Allan helped Elaine Marie with software today, while I stayed in town to get fresh bread and vegetable. We were to have gone to a barbeque on the beach restaurant for the people heading to the South Pacific, but whatever bug invaded Allan's body yesterday, had mine today, so we took a pass.

April 17, 2003
Today, we have to change the oil, check the roller reefing and have the Port Captain for dinner. A boat next to us gave us some Wahoo fish so we will have that. We are sending out emails to let people know that we are leaving on Saturday for the long trek home. We will send about 5 or 6 people our latitudes and longitudes so that people will know where we are. We are getting mentally and physically prepared to head out. I am cooking meals ahead and we are checking everything on the boat to make sure all is well.

The dinner was great with the Port Captain as the guest. As long as we spoke slowly he understood our English. It didn't matter what speed he talked to us as our Spanish still sucks. Oscar stay for about 4 hours and I took him back at low tide. At one time I have to get off the dinghy and walk around the rock I had come arounds on. Oscar promised not to tell anyone as he was navigating.

April 18, 2003
We have had a problem with the coming of Easter as on Islabel Island as no one sells meat on Good Friday and the butcher stores don't until 4pm Saturday. We were leaving Saturday morning, but we would like some new meat for the passage. So we maybe leaving Easter Sunday.

Today we went swimming with Iron Horse (Brits we got to know in Bahia de Caraques and then another week in Salinas, Ecuador). We motored to the head of the bay and swam with two dolphins and 6 seals. I touched the dolphins as they were in shallow water and that was really cool. Then a manta ray swam by with a wind span over 6 feet and only 3 feet from us. We motored over to the extremely rugged lava shore and watched Blue-footed Bobbies and Penguins.

We talked with Moonshadow on 8167 at 23Z on the single side band radio. They are traveling south with Vesper and Neva. Vesper caught a marlin and it took over an hour to release the fish. Moonshadow has decided because of the swell to head to the Marquises and pass on the Gambier.

Last night we had the port captain for dinner and he speaks English as long as we talk slowly. He invited us to breakfast at his casa and it was wonderful. Oscar is 26 and has been in the Navy for 8 years including a time on Ecuador's tall ship Quays. He also spent time at the USA Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. He fixed special fish soup for breakfast with fresh pineapples and a local fruit drink (matacunga). I wish my Spanish was better so we could be even more locals. Today was a lady that we met birthday. Merlyn had made me some special salsa and Liz broke the first jar, so she made us more. She turned 19 and we caught up with her and gave her a purse and some CD's. What a lovely person.

April 19, 2003
It is early in the morning and the only sound is the water maker filling our tanks and empting our batteries. Everything is a compromise. We had a great dinner and talked with a couple leaving to the Marquises today. Our friends on Moonshadow had left some of their clothing and Bob and Laura on Shearwater (originally from Colorado) will be taking those articles to Moonshadow after a 3000 nautical miles sailing.

Liz and I got going and did the inspection jobs that are necessary to keep your anxieties down with regard to making sure the rig/mast/shrouds/etc is prepared. It is better to head to the top of the mast with a small swell as opposed to at sea with big waves. Liz slipped a bit of diesel into the tank; I sewed webbing on the mainsail headboard, we tighten the roller-reefing unit, and finished several other projects. We headed to shore and finally purchased some meat and cheese. At the butcher shop he only had two hunks of meat, one, which had been out on the shelf since yesterday and the other hunk, was a rump so we bought most of the rump. It will be jerky if nothing else. Due to Easter we had a bit trouble finding any vegetables. We are back on the boat and Liz is getting several meals prepared for the coming days. Just as we were leaving town, our friends on Volontis (French couple) had just arrived. We did a fast download of local knowledge and hope to see them for a drink later.

April 20, 2003
For the day of leaving the Galapagos Island, I would say it was a good transition. Liz and I did some small chores, reattaching the solar panels with wire and not tie wraps, we put on wind indicators on the genny, tied on the fuel jugs and loaded the dinghy. We hauled anchor about 10:30 and we on our way. After about two hours I had a hissy fit; lost two lures, caught one yellow fin tuna, the water system messed up, knocked my lunch over and my fresh egg salad had a bunch of hair on it and the broken plate and sandwich took a long swim.

There is no wind and we are motoring and maybe after 2 days we will be in the ITCZ. The ITCZ is the inter-tropical convergence zone, where the north easterlies and the south westerlies mix. The winds are unstable and fluky with considerable thunderclouds; convection occurring here depending on the season. The ITCZ is always moving north and south and stretches around the world, taking on different properties when it is over or near land. Normally this time of year the ITCZ is from 3 degrees North to 8 degrees north, that is at total of 300 miles thick. Everyday this zone widens and narrows. The narrow it is the faster we can move north of it and into the 10-20 knots of north easterly winds.

We motored through the night each taking a longer watch and the moonrise was wonderful and the stars were great, but no wind. Dinner was great as the boat was nearly flat and the sushi was yummy.
 

April 21, 2003
Liz gave 5 hours of sleep and we put the fish lines out as we listened to the "Amadon Light" weather net. Gary has been doing a good weather net for those heading to the Marquises and also weather for those in other places such as us.

We just crossed back into the northern hemisphere, the GPS reads 00 degrees 00 minutes point 012 NORTH. Yeah! I will make the sacrifice to King Neptune later - Liz is asleep. I finish breakfast of more yellow tail tuna and some bread. I have come to the conclusion that when I was working on the pressure water system I pumped into our bildge about 35 gallon of fresh water. We live and learn.

April 22, 2003
The motor was shut down about 9:30 am and we sailed with full main and full genny. The sailing was great and the sea continued to be flat. Liz fixed a great chicken dinner in the pressure cooker. The watches were fine and there were some stars but clouds diminished the effects of the moon. The night went pretty quickly, boy on 2-3 weeks more. That is satire.

April 23, 2003
Today was good sailing, we are board reaching in 15 knots and moving along about 5.5 knot on a course of 295. We oscillate 25 degrees and the genny goes pop when there isn't enough wind to keep it full. I was reading a book on my watch from 12:30 am to 6am. I tried to relax and listen to the weather net but sleep came in only short naps. It is 3:30 pm and I'll need some more naps. The waves have come up and receded and when they were up they pushed our stern about and these were close together. We have been playing cribbage and Liz is now down 24 to ZERO. Success is fun.

April 24th 2003
I checked in the German net last night and heard Stephan. My German isn't good enough to figure out when I am suppose to check in but Günter was very helpful. The autopilot's shear pins did just that and it took 5 hours to jerry rig it, but we have to watch it as the pins slip out. I amazed of the construction of the shear pins, engineers for proprietary part. Well I figured out a way since we cannot find the expensive (10 dollars for two f-ing bolts with break away nipples) proprietary parts. Sailing was a little tough and both of us are tired and we didn't get into a rhythm until after midnight. I started the engine and motor through a light wind pocket - about 9 hours worth. The alternator didn't switch on and we didn't charge the batteries during that period. That makes me mad because we missed a lot of energy. Dinner was Kraft's Macaroni and Cheese - it may have been the worst dinner fixed in 2 years. The "born on date" was very old and we just bought the package 3 weeks ago.

April 25th 2003
We got Slainte moving and the wind cooperated and we reached off at 7-7.5 knots for hours and things were very comfortable. It rain very hard as we are in the middle of the ITCZ. Tonight we hope to sail out of the ITCZ and into very light winds. We are hopping the winds last another 400 miles and then we have more choices on our destinations. We through the balance of the Mac and Cheese over the side - it smelled like yeast, probably were. I mentioned we should save it and have yogurt in a couple of days. Liz gave me a courtesy laugh and that was all. Dinner was great and I put the second reef into the main and went down to slipped off to sleep. We worked the sails around midnight as the wind piped up with gust to 25 knots. Liz went down and I hand steered for 1.5 hours as we sailed out from under the squall.

April 26th, 2003
At 2:30 am Liz relieved me and I headed to the bunk. A sleep in seconds. The autopilot is a wonderful piece of equipment and you really enjoy it after hand steering. Hand steering is great as I really have the feel of the boat, but I have turned lazy and also have had a lot of time to hand steer.

We are running the engine from 8am to 10am to charge the batteries. The night-lights (compass, tricolor and Davis reading light), radar, GPS and SSB suck a bunch of amps.

April 27th 2003
I took over at 5am this morning as Liz let me get a few extra winks. I was listening to Arm Forces Radio and the NBA playoff and discovered that Seattle had traded Gary Patton. Those really important facts just pass us by sometimes.

Slainte was very good in the light wind. It was blowing about 3-7 knots and we average 2-4.5 knots. The autopilot keeps a good course with only a few booboos when the pin disconnected the drive. There was a light swell that didn't help matters as the motion from the swell would flip the sail back and forth and empty the air and drive out of the sails.

We have had and expect to have - very light wind, meaning we will sail and not make much headway. Most of the night we move along at 2-3 knots and the sails were slapping a lot. At about 8am we started the motor and spent the calm conditions pouring another 26 gallons of diesel into the tank. We have the ability to motor about 3 days or 72 hours after emptying most of the fuel that was stored in jerry jugs on deck. After those hours we'll be on fumes and the gunk that resides in the bottom of a fuel tank. Seventy-two hour times 5.5 knots gives us 400 nautical miles. We are 440 nm from Acapulco, 520 nm from Zihuatanejo and 680 nm from Barra de Navidad. It is just over 1,000 to Cabo but with the winds from the north we'd have to tack to the west and then back that would extend the 1,000 to over 1,500 that might try our patience.

I just unhook a boobie, it was caught in the bill and in the chest. It took a bit of time but he was unhooked and tried to "bill" me. I set him free and off he flew. I can fool the boobie birds but no fish.

April 28, 2003
Today Liz and went through all the boxes, bags and other compartments of screws and nut and bolt and we found the spare shear pins for the autopilot. What a relief as my fix-it job was only OK and not great.

I caught Liz's snoring on the recorded and it proves she snores, but not as bad as her parents. I guess Liz needs more practice - oh boy.

April 29, 2003
Long day and this boring, Liz and I can't see how Moonshadow is doing it. They will be out on the sea about 28 days before they arrive at the Marquises. We have been gone 9 days today. I wrapped the fishing line in the prop and we had to take down the sails and I went swimming for about 20 minutes. The water was as blue as it could be and just faded into darkness. It is over a mile deep here. I kept looking around me for the sharks. The water is very warm and on the depth sounded is say 89.7 degrees. This is the warmest since El Salvador.

The event of the months of Feb/March and April - - Liz won her first game of cribbage. I nearly cried and the total score is 28 to ONE.

April 30, 2003
The ocean is very flat and the wind is not cooperating like I had planned. We have about 140 miles to go and should be in Acapulco about noon on May 1st. We got an email from Moonshadow and they expect land May 3rd. This is their email:

We are currently (22:00 Zulu, Greenwich Mean Time, 4/29) at the following position:

S 08 deg 56' W 128 deg 56'
Distance traveled: 2383 nm
Distance to go: 604 nm
Estimate arrival date: May 3
Heading / Course 252 deg
Speed 6 - 7 kt
Wind 16 - 23 kt
Waves 9 - 11 Ft
Fish caught: 13 (2 sailfish on deck, 4 Mahi-Mahi too small too keep, 2x 40 lb Tuna)

The shaking continues. We compare our ride with being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland except we need to cook, eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, take showers etc while being on the ride plus the ride has been going for 16 days. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday Charlie made baked bananas with brown sugar and rum for dessert so we are not hurting for culinary treats.

Liz and I are really happy for them especially Jackie.