Over and under

Over the line. Last night at 23h44,19GMT/UTC we crossed over the equator into the southern hemisphere. Hauled out all the goody's and had a party... so much so we did not cook any of the Mahi Mahi for dinner. From there it was one long night into the wind that was coming straight at us from Galapagos. The wind fluctuated from nothing to 25kn and switched direction continuously. Eventually we only had up the main with a reef and the motor going... another expensive diesel night. In between all this it poured with rain.
Today at 13h00 local time( we are now six hours behind GMT)we dropped anchor. Our position for the next week or two is: 00° 44'S and 90° 18'W. This is Academy Bay on the island of Santa Cruz in Galapagos. We contacted our agent for here and he will be out shortly with the navy etc in tow to sign us in and inspect the boat. After that we will go ashore and walk around...get the ol legs stretched. We will try updating the blog etc with photos if we can get onto the internet. Till then...

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Birds, sunsets and flying fish.

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 19 April
Course: 240°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 111 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 153nm
Position 0°32 N 087°57 W

Well the number of birds is definitely improving and today we even saw a Frigate bird all the way out here. Did a check and he is 87nm from land. They cannot land on water so have to fly time. Many others out here park up on floating trees, logs etc if they feel like a break. Last night a Booby made many attempts to land on board his worst attempt being a bum slide over the solar panels, feet out front heading for the wind generator.... luckily he fell of the back. At four this morning some other bird made friends with the wind genny with a thump from the first blade and a twick from the second as it cast it off to the water below with a splosh. A little later there was another flying around us and hopefully it was the one that got whacked coming back to see what had hit him.
When the wind does not blow then the sea turns to glass. Some of the most magical sunsets happen when the sea is like this. The other evening we had been motoring all day and the sea was flat. As the sun set the sea turned yellow and then to a yellow to green metallic colour. This then turned to an orange to green colour and the orange to blue and on to purple. These metallic colours are so beautiful and yet they never come out as such in the photos. So close your eyes and picture a slow moving ,wavering mirror and begin with yellow, then....
There are many flying fish around and in the mornings we throw them overboard. Around here the squid also land on deck and those are for the pan. Unfortunately with the full moon the squid are not around. Since being in the Pacific there is another fish we should enter into the category of flying fish. That position must go to the rays. Time and again you see them break the surface heading for the sky and the wings beating rhythmically ... but to no avail... gravity hauls the back with a splashing belly-flop. Some are persistent and will try over and over again, one going for the record jumped twelve times. Life is always a celebration.
Tday we are making good progress with a nice wind. We put out a line and took it past a large floating log and Bingo... Mahi Mahi. They are so beautiful in the water. As you reel them in the whole family comes along to say goodbye. Today we had over 45 of them around the transom when we pulled our catch on board. Great for supper tonight.... the last for a while in the northern hemisphere. We should cross the equator at around seven this evening. So our first islands in the southern hemisphere tomorrow... it's been a great 8 days. For now it's off to flush the toilet a few times before it changes direction and swirls around the other way... so till Galapagos....

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Light winds and slow progress

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 18 April
Course: 240°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 109 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 279nm
Position 01°28 N 086°16 W
Not much happening out here. We spent a lot of time motoring and the wind is still very light. Looks as if we could get in to Galapagos on Wednesday.... hopefully it will not be too late as then we will have to hove too for the night. A little more wind would help... it is light and from the south so we are sailing very close to the wind and the swells roll the boat causing the sails to flap about. Last night we took all the sails down and motored all night till we got some wind at 4am. Otherwise all is going well.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Having a whale of a good time

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 17April
Course: 240°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 86 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 382nm
Position 02°23 N 084°43 W
Well we are having a whale of a time out here.... never mind the floating rubbish, it's the large night time visitors that are a worry. In the early hours on Sandy's watch there was this blowing noise. After some checking, the whale/s were spotted. That was the end of Colin's sleep as he was hauled up on deck to check this lot out. The one far larger than our yacht, was on the surface a few meters away. We are 13m that would make them 15 - 20m...WOW (what a whopper). At times they were rather close with one blowing off the bow and his tail churning the water right next to the boat. Being full moon... okay almost... one could see them clearly but could do nothing to move out of their way as they seemed quite content to make our boats acquaintance ... must have been the music.
Sailing wise it's not going so well as the wind is not blowing and we are not going. Only 86nm is rather low even though we milked the breezes all day yesterday with genaker. This morning we had a massive rain storm and the wind did 180° shifts. We saw it in the dark just before the moon burnt out and left us in the dark. It was massive on the radar screen and we had no wind to sail away from it. It rained for about three hours and the left and we were sailing a glassy sea without a ripple on it. So on with the engine and burn up the diesel... very sad... seven hours of motoring and a light breeze is only now trying to push through... so off to see what we can catch in the sails. Till next time...

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Rolling of the miles to Galapagos

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 16 April
Course: 224°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 123 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 470nm
Position 03°28 N 083°40 W
Well another good days sailing with the wind remaining changeable. The night was most pleasant with flat seas and a fairly steady boat, so we all managed to get some good sleep. Our friends on the other two boats, Sharkita (NZ) and Fidelio (Austrian) are in close range and enjoying similar conditions. The wind has been really good and the longer it stays like this the less time it will take to get there and the less very light breezes to no wind cost a lot in diesel.
All's well on board and we have the genaker up at the moment with the wind on our beam. We are just managing to keep along the rum line and do not wish to get out to the west of it.
It is amazing the amount of tree trunks etc out here. Even though we keep watch all the time we mostly see them when they are on our beam. Some of them are double the length of our yacht that easily puts them past 20m. Some have small diameters like the palm trees and others that could be a meter plus in diameter. May our bow stay clear of all of them and any other junk floating out here?

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Two great days so far

Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 15 April
Course: 224°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 01h00 UTC: 157 nm
Distance to Galapagos: 590nm
Position 04°45 N 082°12 W
The sailing so far has been really good and we have had more wind than expected. Yesterday the wind was 20-25kn from the N and stayed like that most the day. Overnight we had a mixed bag of wind and did a few sail changes. Today the wind has been a mixed bag as well with it slowly moving all the way to the SE. It has been cloudy today which has kept life on board a little cooler... no rain as yet. Last night was a lovely night under the stars with a fair size of the moon lighting up everything. The stars are like sitting in an old shed with all the sun peeping through the rusty pin holes. Today we had a large striped marlin jumping around the boat celebrating his life and freedom. We had no lures out which is good as he would weigh around 70-80kg and with us doing 5-7kn downwind he would demolish our fishing gear. Many people always want to catch big fish ... great for the photo album... but then how much fish can you keep and eat. We like the little 4-8kg fish.
So that it for now ...we hope that this wind lasts

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

On our way to Galapagos

Well we have finally left the beautiful Las Perlas islands and are on our way to Galapagos. We left in very light conditions and spent the day milking the breezes just to keep some air in the sails. At times our best speed through the water was 1.5kn with another 1.5kn of current in our favour. It was a long very hot tiring day. In the evening the wind came up and has climbed all night to above 30kn.we are storming along and have two reefs in and some jib out to balance it all and with the current are keeping above 8kn and surfing up to 12.5kn. The yacht is all over the place and sleeping has not been easy. Even though we had such a light day yesterday, we will have done over 150nm for the last twenty four hours. Our position at present is: 06deg25'N and 80deg12' doing 7-8kn on a heading of 225deg.
Plenty of dolphins yesterday but guess that we will not really be seeing them today as well as the odd swallow. Had a lovely curry last night and looking forward to a good day today.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Still in Isla Espiritu Santo......Las Perlas Islands

Well we are still here in the Las Perlas islands. The islands where we are are sparsely populated if at all. The anchorage that we are in is surrounded by islands that are unpopulated with large trees and rainforest, little streams and plenty of birds. At low tide there are beautiful white sand beaches that disappear again when the tide comes in. The trees go all the way down to the water's edge with some mangrove types growing in the water, and at very high tide, get covered with sea water. Many of the trees on the islands are sprouting and the various colours of green against the darker evergreens is stunning. As the sun traverses over the anchorage the colours all change as the angle of the light and shadows change.
The water around us is full of fish (and sadly many jelly fish) and there is always some activity going on. The tuna and trevally/jacks bail up a shoal of smaller fish and then have a great feed jumping out of the water in their exuberance to catch them. The fish have little peace as they are also subjected to an aerial bombardment by the pelicans who hit the water at a fair speed. Their head goes in to scoop the fish as the rest of the body flick-flaks over the top. They then sit on the water as if stunned but are actually getting all the water out of their pouch (the bottom half of the beak). A few stretches of the neck and down go the fish and its take off time again. It's just wonderful to watch them as they skim along the water surface with the tips of their pin feathers millimetres above the water. The terns are also in for a feed and many of them skim over the water and then catch a fish as they go. They then get chased by the frigate birds who hope that they will drop their catch. Some of the frigates manage to catch their own food but most seem happy to take it off some of the other birds in great displays of aerial combat.
So you may ask when we are going to move on!!! At the moment the wind is light or totally in the wrong direction. There is some stronger wind on its way but directly from where we want to go. There is nothing on the grib file to show any change at this stage and believe me when there is a change there is going to be a whole flotilla heading off as there are a lot of boats sitting and waiting. Some have decided to go and have had a mix of fortunes and have motored, sailed and sat adrift waiting. Some have had some current help them... others the current has been against them. So for now we will enjoy the islands and slowly change from fresh to tinned food.... but hey, the scenery is worth it.
That all for now till we write again....

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com

Isla Espiritu Santo......Las Perlas Islands

Yesterday we left Contadora and headed south through the Las Perlas to a lovely anchorage between Isla del Rey and Isla Espiritu Santo. The islands are beautiful and covered with large trees. It is beautifully quiet here with only four other boats. As we are close to the islands we hear all the birds calling. As the evening closed in the birds slowly went to sleep, all the night life got going. There is an owl that stays up and we heard him clearly all evening. The fish around the boat were lighting up the water around us because of all the phosphorescence in the water. It was beautiful to just sit on deck and take it all in. The sail down was more of a motor down as the wind was very light. The water was a dirty brown colour and the only thing that we could think of was that it could be an algae bloom as there are no major rivers that flow into the sea here. No fish this trip but with the colour of the water that was no surprise. We will spend a day or two here and then will move on south around to the bottom of Isla del Rey. Hopefully the water will be cleaner down there as we need to make some water. Yesterday we had the engine on for 4-5 hours and only made about 20 litres before we sailed into the dirty water. We can generally make 45 litres an hour. So today we will dinghy around the islands and see what we can find. At the moment we are waiting to get going to Galapagos but there is little to no wind for the next week. Some boats are tired of waiting and have decided to go on, but they will be heading into a light wind on the nose and very little promise of any decent wind. The problem with this is that one tends to use up all your diesel and replacing it at the Galapagos islands is costly...like everything else there!
Well that's it for now from these lovely islands... till we write again.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com