Its wonderful

Atuona; Hiva Oa
Well so far so good. The islanders are ever so friendly and the little village is neat and tidy. There is a beautiful aroma of the tropical flowers as one walks along. The shops in the village are well stocked and have an interesting assortment of goods. The hardware is great with some amazing carving tools etc as that is a popular occupation on the islands. It is a long walk to town and we have done it a few times, but a lot of the time someone will stop and give you a lift. The island is very green with lots of beautiful trees. As it is winter many of the large trees have lost their leaves. It is amazing to think of it being winter with high humidity and around 28deg Celsius. It has been raining a lot and the last two days we have had the boat closed up. You no sooner open a hatch and the rain starts up again. It is very hot and sticky down below. The front is supposed to pass over by tomorrow (Sunday) and the sun should be out again. Tomorrow we are going on to the next island and as the peaks are lower there should be some sun. We desperately need to do some washing etc. Speaking to one of the locals, she said that the village gets lots of rain now, but the eastern side of the island is sunny. Later in the season when the winds change this end becomes sunny and it rains on the other half. There is a massive peak and mountain around the town but we have not seen the top of it yet. We have seen some of the lower peaks and ridges in the mist and they are totally awesome.

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Day 20 and a bit

Atuona; Hiva Oa.
Tues 24 May
Land at last after 20 days and six hours. We pushed like crazy on the last day to make up enough time to arrive before sunset and got in just after five. The anchorage is not very large and the boats are packed in rather tightly. If arriving after dark we would have had to anchor outside the break water where it would have been very rough. The anchorage is rolly but it's good to be in here. Tomorrow we will sign in as the gendarmerie. Later we will go into town and look around. The bay and harbour are surrounded by massive peaks that disappear into the clouds. These clouds that form against them also cause a fair bit of rain here in the anchorage. Coming in the sun was shining over the top of them and it was black below. One was looking over the silver water into the sun and could see nothing in the direction we were going until we got in below the clouds and out of the sun. When we got in, some friends from another yacht came across to assist us in getting out a stern anchor. Many of the people here we know as we have met them in previous anchorages or on our radio net coming over. It was great having land around us again and having people etc to chat to. On the whole of the passage we only saw two other yachts at night... at least their lights and we were able to call and chat to them on the VHF radio. We saw two fishing trawlers during the night over the last week and that was it. Now we look forward to a good rest... a full night's sleep and to do some walking. There is a lot to explore over the next few weeks as we travel through the islands and will keep you posted. HF radio contact out from between the mountains is tricky but we will see how it goes, till then....

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Day 21/21 the last day today

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
19h00 UTC 23 May
Course: 253°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 163 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 51nm
Position 09°45' S 138°10' W
Well this is it... hopefully our last day on this leg. We are pushing like crazy to get in before dark tonight. It is 10h00 local time and sunset will be at 18h20. So the race is on. Our friends in front of us saw the islands from 35nm away this morning when the sun came up so we should see them starting to rise out the ocean in about ten miles.
Yesterday was frustrating trying to keep up the speed as the wind was variable and light (8-10kn) and at times the breeze was not enough to keep the spinnaker full as the boat rolled on the swells. As a result we had the spinnaker wrap around the forestay a few times. This is always a worry as it pulls tight and can be very difficult to get free. Lucky for us most times it came free easily. Once we had a real battle with it.
The entry into the bay tonight is a good one as there are navigation marks/lights and there is open water all the way in. We will have to anchor out of the harbour area as we do not have a second anchor to deploy off the stern to keep us facing into the swell that rolls into the bay. As the other boats will have theirs out, we cannot swing around in circles on a single anchor. If we get in early enough we will be able to sort a stern anchor out...so it depends on time of arrival.
Yesterday our autohelm gave up the ghost and Colin needs to remove the wheel to fix it. We think that the gearbox has failed... the same thing that happened to us as we approached St Lucia after the Atlantic crossing. So that will have to be done at anchor. We have a spare gearbox as well as spare cogs to rebuild this one if necessary/possible. The wind is too light for the Aries to give us an accurate course as it wonders around all over.
So here we are a full day to steer and watch the peaks of the Marquesas rise out the ocean.
Till next time...

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Knocking off the miles

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 20 May
Course: 255°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 161 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 460nm
Position 09°29' S 131°11' W
We are still rolling along merrily as we knock the miles off the clock. We had a good day yesterday with tha spinnaker up all day. The evening run went well until we ran into a rainsquall that caused the usual problems. About an hour later the wind returned to normal and we got back on course. Since then we have had to make no changes. If the wind stays as it is, we should make Hiva Oa on Monday afternoon or with less wind Tuesday morning. We had a yacht pass us the other evening doing 2 or so knots more than us. They had taken 10 days for what we had done in 16. They were a large cat and the weather was really suited for them, a close reach. The tin food is going well and trying to keep a variety of things on the plate is not the easiest. With the tins being mostly the same size you have lots of one thing and nothing of the other. We find that the tin stuff does not keep that well once opened so you eat what you open. Colin has not been fishing as it is not the easiest to process the fish up on deck with the boat rolling from side to side. One lands up getting fish and blood all over the place.
Otherwise life on board goes on... hanging on. We were going to bake bread rolls today but put that on hold till the sea settles a little. Fuel wise we are also doing well as we have only motored for four hours so far and the other times we have run the engine have been to charge the batteries and to make water. Just heard this morning that Hiva Oa is out of fuel again till the supply ship arrives. We won't need to worry and will top up our tank later on at one of the other islands.

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Just sailing along

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 18 May
Course: 257°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 142 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 740nm
Position 09°13' S 126°24' W
We have had a pleasant night and days sail today. The rain has moved off and the seas are slowly settling. Running downwind in 12-16kn and doing around 5-6kn. All's well on board.

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Hanging on

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 17 May
Course: 255°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 155 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 899nm
Position 08°56' S 123°53' W
Well the winds up and so are the seas. We have been having some fun and games. In one of the rain squalls we had a massive wind change and gybed. The boom took down our tent over the cockpit that we use for shade. When the boom gybed back the shackle that holds the main sheet on flew off. (These shackles are fastened with pliers and then get a zip tie through then to prevent them coming off). Trying to retrieve the boom when running in a rainsquall is not the easiest of party tricks.
Later while we were running with the jib poled out we needed to gybe. We furled most the jib away in the process. Unfortunately what was still free formed a wrap around the forestay and slowly wound its way to the top of the forestay as the flogging bit of sail unwound the furled sail and rewound it on at the bottom. Of course these things always happen in the dark. At least it was full moon last night. It took forever to get it all free.
Today it was really rough and hanging on was the order of the day. Sleep tonight will be short as you get bounce clean out of any dream every few minutes. We are putting in a second reef and having a conservative night tonight, everything is set and the Aries is steering, so hopefully it will keep up with the wind changes and we will not have to make any changes. Tomorrow we will correct the course. We are still heading to far south and may need to gybe and head a little more north as we are level with the islands now. If there is more southerly direction in the wind we will be able to head up on a broad reach, but the grib files have the wind from the east. OK so we only have to pole the jib ....
Oh well we will see what tomorrow will bring, till then...

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Having an up and down day

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 15 May
Course: 255°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 112 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 1177nm
Position 08°13' S 119°13' W
Having an up and down day today. Some large 3-4m swells rolling through the neighbourhood today. So it's up a few meters then down again. Apparently they will be with us for the next few days. They come from a storm way down south somewhere. Meanwhile we are still trying to make the best of our 8-12 knots of wind. When it is from behind it is difficult to get going. It swings to the SE for a while and the change of angle really helps. Tomorrow we are supposed to get wind from the SE at around 15kn that should help us get going. It lasted for the whole of the grib file which is 72 hours. The yachts ahead of us this morning all reported very light winds and some have cranked up the old motor. We are lucky that we have managed to keep moving so far without resorting to polluting the atmosphere. We are slowly getting through some of the many tins of food on board. Some are nice and we should have bought more others..... Hey! Time to go make supper!!
No... too early, but some tea will do. Then we can sit up in the cockpit and watch the big swells make us go up and then down, up then..... .... ... .. .

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Getting it the right way around

Moving from one hemisphere to another can really mess with ones internal mapping. OK, so I'm no homing pigeon, but for years now I could not understand certain things from when our family traveled overseas to the northern hemisphere. It all has to do with the sun changing sides. So we headed along a coast in Italy and the sun said that you were heading up the coast to the north. Firstly your brain is confused as the sun is coming up and yet it is where you would expect it to be if the sun was setting. Only years later did I notice that our trip was to the south and a rising sun, it's just that my brain had not changed hemispheres with me.
Now sailing along many years later as the Big Dipper sinks into the sea and can no longer point to Polaris, we cross the equator again into the southern hemisphere. At zero degrees Polaris glides below the horizon never to be seen again should we not venture north. Now it's time for the southern sky to rise up out of the ocean as we slowly head south. The moon is still lazy and is lying on its belly. It still needs to stand up and bend out and reach towards the southern constellations. At least it is now no longer the wrong way around. And if you are coming south from the north... remember, you are now down under so your world will be upside down.

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The otherside of halfway

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 14 May
Course: 255°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 132 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 1307nm
Position 08°16' S 117°02' W
Well we are now on the other side of the middle of the ocean. It is still a hell of a long way to go, but feels very different. You are no longer heading out...rather you are heading back in. Funny how the mind works. Already we have a new mark to pass and that is 1000nm because then there are only hundreds to look at and they go down a little faster than the thousands. Whatever keeps one happy?? Winds still very light only made 3knots at times last night but overall we still managed an average of 5.5kn. Had the spinnaker up yesterday and today but not overnight as we do not want to be bouncing around on the foredeck in a 45kn squall trying to change sails. Nothing like a peaceful night. With the calmer weather we have had better night's sleep but today the heat is sucking off any extra energy you may have got from a better three hours sleep. Otherwise all is going well.

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The middle of the ocean

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 13 May
Course: 246°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 139 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 1439nm
Position 07°42' S 115°18' W
The middle of the ocean. I guess that been halfway between Galapagos and the little island of Hiva Oa that we are headed for means that at this point we are furthest from dry land that we will ever be on the yacht. We celebrated this milestone by baking some chocolate brownies... Immm yummy!!! The winds are light and variable so we will not be zooming off from here at high speed. Its hard work chasing the wind and changing sails as the rain squalls come and go but our average speed is doing ok. We are a little further south than we wanted to be at this stage as we have been trying to stay on a broad reach. As the wind has gone to the east it pushes us further south. At the end one turns down and poles out the jib... result... drop a knot or two in speed and role from side to side. Oh well such is live out in the middle of the ocean.

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Almost halfway

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 12 May
Course: 276°
Distance covered last 48hrs until 18h00 GMT: 310 nm
Distance to Marquesas: 1547nm
Position 07°55' S 113°04' W
All's well on board as we near the half way mark. So far we have had good wind and made steady progress. Over the last two days the wind has swung around a little so we go from a reach to a run with the jib poled out and back again. Another day of washing but the rain has kept it rather wet so now we have to hang it below deck as it has dried a fair bit but there are rainstorms luring out on the horizon. So at least a little damp is better than totally soaked. The seas calmed down nicely last night, but have now returned to rolly. One of the boats on our radio schedule arrived in Marquesas this afternoon much to the "wish we were there too" from the others on the net. They would have started out about 10 days before us. We will be the last in the group as we left three days after them. We may catch one boat as we reel them in a little each day. The other group of bats we are with ball left together and we are all within a 200 mile radius of each other. We should be halfway tomorrow.

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Changing winds

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 10 May
Course: 243°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 136 nm
Distance to Marqueses: 1856nm
Position 07°03' S 108°02' W
So another mixed bag of wind. During the night it dropped below 10kn and needless to say we slowed down(more to a waltz). The sea was a little kinder to us, so some of the chores could be done and we now have a colourful assortment of garments blowing in the breeze on the aft deck. We have had quite a few birds with us today, many Boobies and Paradise birds as well as a bird that looks like a swallow, but a little bigger that skims along the water's surface.
The radio propagation at the moment is very bad and yesterday it took 4min to upload the update and 8min to get the grib files. That is after numerous times of connecting and loosing the connection. It took almost an hour to do mail. Even our radio schedule with each other today was weak and one battled to hear the other yachts. On a wifi connection the same info would have taken around 5-8 seconds. Would it not be lovely to have broadband!!!
Looks like we are heading towards a quiet night... could still do with flatter seas seen that the winds gone. Bye for now... need to check the sails that are flogging themselves and the rigging

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Dancing on waves

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 09May (nothing sent yesterday)
Course: 235°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 165 nm
Distance to Marqueses: 2001nm
Position 06°27 S 105°43 W
Still dancing around on the waves. The wind has been stronger so the seas a little more lively. We are coming up for a third of the way and are pleased with our progress. Still a very long way to go. The question always is... will the wind last? A little less and a calmer sea would be nice but at the moment all of the boats out here are having the same conditions. Our one contact group has 12 boats that are scattered between ourselves and 124°W. We left three days after the last of them. There are two other boats that we keep contact with as they left at the same time as us. We are about 100nm apart. Hopefully the boat will give up on these South American dances and settle for a slow waltz so that we can get on with a few boat chores like washing etc. That's it for today.

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Still rocking and rolling

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 UTC 07 May
Course: 255°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 GMT: 167 nm
Distance to Marqueses: 2332nm
Position 05°12 S 100°42 W
The wind is still blowing in from the south at 18-22kn and we are making good progress west but have slowed down in making any distance to the south. Last night was a beautiful clear night with a great view of the stars. The Southern Cross is slowly spending more time above the horizon. Had some lovely avo's for lunch today. It is a pity that they all ripen at the same time. We only bought four, so more for lunch tomorrow and then they are finished. Typing is not the easiest at the moment as the keyboard moves continually below ones hands so one continually gets the wrong keys. The grib files show this weather for another two days and then hopefully it will head a little more easterly. At least we have wind so we cannot complain. Sleeping is the only problem... so before I dose off here at the keyboard let's get this posted.

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Another good days sailing

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
21h00 Utc 06 May
Course: 235°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 Gmt: 173 nm
Distance to Marqueses: 2499nm
Position 04°33 S 097°59 W
Another good run... long may they last. Last night the wind got up so we put in two reefs for the night as well as a reef in the genoa. We had a little rain and then some more this morning. The rest of the day we have been doing well in a S-SE wind around 12-18knots. We are still waiting for the wind to come around to the east a little more and the seas to flatten down. I guess that the rain squalls don't help much as they can create waves in a very short period of time. Well it's Friday afternoon so we will clock of early for some drinks on the aft deck....Cheers!!!

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Going well

Colin and Sandy Cruising with Papillon
15.00 Local 05 May
Course: 230°
Distance covered last 24hrs until 18h00 Gmt: 156 nm
Distance to Marqueses: 2668nm
Position 03°43 S 095°28 W
The winds have been good again for the last 24 hours. They have stayed a little more to the south than we had hoped so we are heading further west at the moment but are going well. This morning the boat was full of small squid between 80 and 150 mm. There were also a few flying fish thrown in. In the morning with the sun behind us the flying fish look spectacular as whole schools of them take to the air on front of us and they are all lit up by the sun. It has been a little bumpy today with the wind on the beam and getting up to 20kn. We have a reef in the main with a full genoa and are doing 6-8knots. It may be a tiring night tonight as the movement of the boat is irregular with the odd bounce enough to move you around the bunk.
Till next time...

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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...

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Walk to Las Grietas; Santa Cruz Island

Well it started off as a walk in the hot sun. the path was volcanic rock. We were told about the walk but no one recommend good shoes. The path starts at the jetty on the southern shore of the bay. From there it headed to Finch Bay

 and then into the interior.





The country side is made up of lots of rocks and the plants are mostly hardy scrub and cacti. the walk is not that long. About halfway it clouded over and became cooler... thank goodness for that. Then the rain came. The end of the track leads you up hill to a fizzure that is fairly deep.




This is full of water but has small vents that travel underground until they reach thge sea. the water is mostly fresh from the rain water, however as the sea water pushes through on the tide minute larva of the parrot fish are push through into the caynon. As these then grow they becme trapped as the vents are too small for them to return tothe sea. This is a popular swimming hole and as we went there on a holiday it was very busy.

The rocks were sharp and the flat areas muddy, and with sandals and crocs on it was a slip sliding affair.

Acadeny Bay

Well we finally got the port captain on board , checked the boat in and were able to get ashore to strech our legs and have a walk around. The water taxis run a 24/7 service so there is no need to launch the dinghy. the main pier is wonderful and makes a lovely arrival area for those comming ashore by boat.

As you get to the root of the jetty there is a squal where the locals get to gether each evening and play three aside volleyball. This seems to be a challenge game where the winner takes all as they play against each other for money.


The tourist area along the main streets is neat and the buidings mix from modern




 with some interesting designs to older need a bit of paint ones. the backstreets have plenty of buildings under construction with the people build a litte and then waiting to carry onat a later date. Many of these are being used but with steel rods sticking out all over for the next storey etc. Generall the town is clean and the roads good.


The next place that we visit almost daily is the fish market where the fishing boats tie up. The sea lions are there to get what they can and compete with the birds. Some of the pelicans occassionally get up on the table and steal a whole fish when they get the opportunity.



Excuse sir..... can I please have some fish?





The local swimming hole....






 The front street is all aimed at the tourist and so are the prices. However as soon as you venture down the back streets you enter  the locals territory where you get a good meal or services for a fraction of the price you would pay along the front roads.

Las Perlas to Galapagos

The beautiful islands around the anchorage in Las Perlas

There were always plenty of trees around in the water that the birds would sit on. Sailing around we would often spot the birds and then see the log and avoid it

Running downwind in a fair breeze with the genoa poled out

The rain squals that we tried very hard to avoid.

Crossing the equator the log jumped down from 002north to 001south so we did not get all the zero's, but who cares we are now south of the equator.

Arrived!  Academy Bay; Santa Cruz; Galapagos