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



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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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....

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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.

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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...

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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?

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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

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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.

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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....

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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.

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Las Perlas

Yesterday we left Panama and headed offshore to the islands known as Las Perlas. They are about 36nm from where we were anchored off the causeway in Panama. When the Spannish first arrived here the indians tried to give then pearls for their safety and freedom. The Spanish took the pearls and wiped them out. Today the islands are a weekend get away for those that live in the City of Panama. Weekend the place can get busy but at the moment it is all very quiet. We are anchored off Contadora where there is a small village on the island. It is the largest village in the islands, but there is not much here. There is a runway and planes arrive all day. Looking at some of the houses there are a few very rich people that have their weekend "Cottage" here with pools etc all over looking the sea. It is very dry at the moment and the trees have not yet decided to sprout even though its so hot. I guess that they are waiting for the rains to start.

We motored all the way over as there was no wind untill we almost got to the islands. We unfurled the jib and motor sailed the last hour or so. We caught two great tuna on the way over... within the first two hours... so pulled up the lines for the rest of the trip. We shared some fillets with some friends on another yacht. Fish for supper, lunch......

As slow as a ... Sloth

One of the animals we really wanted to see was a sloth. The one day we walked to the chandlery and on the way back contemplated going into a small reserve to see if we could find a sloth. It cost $5each to go in and while we were trying to establish if there were sloths to be seen I spied one down the road next to nthe parking area for the chandlery. So no need to enter the reserve and off we went to see the sloth. As we got to it we found another sitting at our feet on the ground. So a double strike and we had the camera. We got some good shots but unfortunately on very weak wifi connections the photos go funny. So here it is... Note the claws on the feet and hands. They spend their life hanging upside bdown and as a result their hair hangs theopposite way to allow the water to run off.

Panama... the City

Well what a difference to Colon. The city is liberally scatterred with 100 story or there about sky scrapers. The shopping malls go on for ever. One of the malls ...Multiplaza Pacifica... has all the top end shops and was not that busy. We enjoyed walking around there as it was really different and bigger than anything that we have been in for a number of years. The other centre we went to was even larger with many more shops with very cheap clothes etc. It was interesting to see that these shops actually had many clients unlike the other one where we looked at a shoe shop and a pair of not so great looking shoes but with the right lable on cost $1250.00. Getting around is easy as there are many taxi's and one can usually negotiate a fair  fare to where you are going.

We paid the fresh produce market a visit that is open every day. The prices are totally unbelieveable and we went to town on stocking up with fruit and veg. 3pineapples $1...4kg of bananas $1.65 just great stuff and fresh from the growers. When we got there we hired a Kuna Indian with his trolly to cart all our stuff(only $2) He was very good and with his limited English he showed us around and made sure that we got a fair deal. We often got him to get the price and pay. What a great experience!

The anchourage where we were was not the best and the water was filthy. We could not use our watermaker and the sides of the boat became real grimey with oil and other dirt. The wind carried a fine soot that it deposited on the boat.... on everything and everywhere.... YUCK

It is time to get out of here

Colon

Looiking down the centre of the main road in Colon looks pretty but is not the safest place to be. Walking down on either side of this street is not advised. There are markets everywhere with everyone trying to eke out a living. These photos were taken from the safety of the bus

One road back and you find the buildings falling down and filth everywhere. you would not be able to venture down any of the side streets at all. There are plenty of poplice... almost on every corner all armed ready to start a war. most buildings are locked and only let you in once they see you at the door.

As for the anchorage nothing much better... broken down wrecks dirty water shoreline etc



Very glad to leave this place!!!!!

Crossing over to the Pacific

Since Sunday things seem to have happened in a rush. We were told that we would get through the canal on the 19^th but still needed to phone in to see if there were any changes to the schedule. Come Sunday night and we were told that we would be going through the canal the next day. From there we were flat out reorganising the boat for three more people to sleep as well as doing shopping for food for the trip and sorting out the boat. We left the anchorage at 2:30 and went around to the flats to wait for our pilot/advisor. He was due at 5:00pm but they do sometimes move you earlier so we had to be there ready and waiting. Our advisor arrived on time and we headed off to the first of the locks. As we approached the first lock we rafted up with two other yachts. We entered the first lock behind a small ship and tied up. It was still light and was amazing how fast the lock filled. The currents are incredible and the water boils all around the yacht. We repeated this exercise another two times as we climbed up to the Gatun Lake.  From the top lock we motored about a mile to where we all tied up to two large buoys. We spent the night here and at six the next morning our advisor for the trip across the lake and down the other side arrived. The lake is full of islands covered in rainforest. We took a shortcut called the “Banana Cut” which goes through between lots of the islands. It takes around 3-4 hours to motor through to the first of the locks on the other side. The first lock is stand alone after which you have to motor over the Miraflores Lake to the next two locks. While waiting to enter the next lock a large crocodile swam by. It was the only one we saw on the lake but they are pretty common. By 1:00pm we exited the last lock and were finally in the Pacific Ocean. After dropping off our advisor we headed all the way down to the sea and around the causeway where we anchored with a great view of Panama City. Roy and Margaret that came with us as line handlers returned to Colon and the next day Che who helped us as well went back. We went into town with Che and walked around the old city. The next day we returned to Colon by bus to line handle for Roy and Margaret on Barnstorm. The first day was long as we were supposed to leave the flats at 3:30pm but finally got away at 7:30. We only reached the lake at 1:15am. The advisors arrived at 6:00am the next morning, so all in the trip was very tiring. We have been through twice now and are now focussing on the road ahead to Galapagos. We will try updating photos when we get a good wifi connection Till then....

San Blas Islands.... Photo's

Porvenir was where we signed in to the San Blas Islands 

This was the first time I had seen a dugout canoe and they are truly amazing craft

The Kuna ladies dress in beautiful traditional dress but do not like being photographed

The islands are all small and the dwellings on them blend in well being made of palm fonds.

in the larger islands there are many concrete structures but not on the outer islands

Many small islands are unoccupied and covered in palms.

But every palm has an owner, so.......

Sign on tree at Porvenir.

A typical dwelling out on an island in the Holandes Cays.

This is the view from our anchorage in the "Hot Tub" in the eastern Holandes Cays

Barbeque Island and the "Swimming Pool" Anchorage

Daily one is approached to but molas... this is the master mola maker showing us his excellent work

Besides molas they sell fish, veg and anything else they can. The crayfish, crabs and octopus were great. we kept them alive in a large "spanish" bucket so that they stayed fresh... and tasty

The canoes are shaped out of a single log. They are paddled and sailed.

Leaveng the Coco Bandero Cays

Another small island full of trees

Lemon Cay the only place there is a "pub" ashore.

His father was selling fish and he climbed aboard, but no smile

Bye for now