Here are the journal entries for our passage. Some of the May 5-10
information will be a repeat of the last sailnews letter.
May 5th: Left Galapagos 1:20pm. Spent morning getting Vegetables and
fruit. We have loads of supplies. 3 other boats left same time. Soon
lost them. Two headed South. One behind. Saw big whale spouts in the
distance. Good wind. 2 head sails & reefed main. Radio schedule
with Candidus and Star of the West (New Zealand boats) at 6:45am &
5pm. Lots of birds...petrels & boobies. Dolphins. Felt seasick in
the night. Small vomit and OK after. 4 small squid on deck this am.
Will be good for hors d'oevres. We have over 2,900NM (Nautical miles)
to go! Bit rolly, getting used to the motion.
May 7th: Trade winds blowing. Doing 175NM a day. Dolphins. Petrels,
boobies, & one red billed tropicbird with long tail. 5 squid on
deck. They do taste good fried in olive oil with garlic and a touch of
lemon. Glenn (Candidus) caught a mahi mahi. Perigrinata, a Canadian
boat, broke their inner forestay and tore sail. Not seen any other
boats. Couple of rain showers in the night.
May 8th: Into our 4th day. Making good progress. 1.5kn of current.
14-16kn wind. Probably averaging 7kn. Only 1 squid today. Dave put out
a fishing line. Lots of flying fish to see. Less birds. Dolphins.
Played scrabble. Read a lot. Doze a lot. Email from Mark....still
undecided on bank training. Wants our advice.
May 9th: Caught a mahi mahi at supper time. Gave it liberal amounts of
rum in the gills to still it but one big jump and it was back in the
sea! Must have smelt the pork chops cooking. The wind has got up to
18-25kn. More rolly ride. Whisker pole broke this morning when jib
backed. Glad I was not on watch. Using Otto (auto-pilot) to steer as
Sally (wind-vane) cannot manage. Caught a bigger mahi mahi this morning
but it did not quite make it on to the deck! 5 squid and 2 tiny flying
fish on deck this am. Did 206NM in 24hrs at midday today. A record for
us. We have stayed further North than other boats. We are getting a
1.5-2kn favourable current.
May 10th: Got the third mahi mahi catch into the cockpit. Had some for
supper. Sally steering again. Still good wind 18-22kn. Rolly at times.
First sighting....large, blue, plastic barrel floated past. Dave saw a
ship pass 12NM away on his night watch. Eating our second home made
salami. I marinaded the meat for 2 days and hung it in the rigging for
5 days. Tastes great. Still got loads of fresh fruit and veg on board.
May 11th: Into 7th day at sea. Rain squalls in the night. 8-35kn wind.
Lumpy seas. Dave's arthritic leg bothering him. Gave way on him a
couple of times. He is brushing up on French. Seeing masses of flying
fish.
May 12th: First day with not much to say. Seas smooth. wind steady
14-18kn. Less current, .5kn. Reading the guide to the Marquesas. Sounds
lovely but insects may spoil it.
May 13th: Engine would not start when we wanted to make water. Dave
fiddled and we shall try again tomorrow. Wind dropped in the night and
sails flogged noisily. Today, great...steady 16kn wind from the East.
Only made 156NM in 24hrs. We are nearly half way. This am engine run
OK. Made water. Captain says "No duplication." My small solar shower
does not seem welcome on board! Must both use same large bag. What
petty issues to worry about....but I shall make a stand for myself.
Stay clean my way!!
May 14th: Caught a small yellow finned tuna this am. Found catapillars
in the Ecuadorian porridge!! Good sailing conditions. Chafed through a
spinnaker sheet being used to keep pole out. We are using the spinnaker
pole in place of broken whisker pole. About 1,400NM to go. Neil had a
good trip to the Columbia icefields. Did not quite make it to the top.
Doug fell and lost his camera. Neil & Laura broke his fall and
lowered him on return. Sounds exciting.
May 15th: Racing along at 8kn GPS speed. 170NM in past 24hrs. A ship
passed 5NM North of us on my night watch. Saw a sailboat in the
distance in the early hours. Sutemon (Australian boat) is 17NM from
Fatu Hiva.
May 16th: Squalls last night. Made for uncomfortable ride. Otherwise
great trade wind sailing. I lost scrabble once again! Put the clocks
back one hour.
May 17th: Trolling along well. Nearly caught up with Candidus (2NM
longitude ahead). They are on a ?27ft boat that left 2 days before us.
We got some squalls with strong winds and some rain showers. I think we
are both tired and touchy with each other. Dave thought I woke him 7
minutes before 2am instead of 5 minutes before! He said he felt
unreasonably upset about it. 3 hour watches never give you enough time
for a decent sleep. We are now on day 13.
May 18th: Dave rigged up broken/bent whisker pole to hold out big head
sail. I did laundry after we made water. We have 685NM to go. A black
(? petrol) seabird joined us for the night sitting on top of the dodger
and making a mess! Kim on Star of the West caught a 2.3m sailfish.
May 19th: Flying the spinnaker today. Winds expected to get lighter
here on in. Passed Peregrinata, a Canadian boat, with 2 teenage
daughters on board. They are somewhere South of us. They left mainland
Ecuador 30 days ago. They tangled in fishnets; headed too far South and
got no wind; rigging problems. They are a slower boat. They still
sounded cheerful. For us this continues to be a fast passage.
May 20th: Losing wind. Motored part of today. Made water. Laundry. A
60ft British boat passed us. They have only taken 12 days to our 15!
Rain squalls. Put up spinnaker. Took it down 5 minutes later....that's
sailing. 2 fishing lines out. Reading Da Vinci code in the day and
listening to Maeve Binchy tapes at night. Recorder will not stay on. I
have to hold button down while listening.
May 21st: Estelle gets married today. I won second scrabble game in a
row. Caught big, fat, 27inch skipjack tuna at sunset last night. The
cockpit and cushion still smell fishy! Squalls and light airs through
the night. Chafed line broke and the pole came down. Rain. Quiet and
sunny today.
May 22nd: 160NM to go. Should get there tomorrow night. Wind blowing
again. Long weekend in Canada. I wonder what Mark & Neil are doing.
May 23rd: Victoria day. Dave just sighted land. 18 days at sea. Should
get in this evening (that will be 18 days 8 hours to be precise).
Dolphins round our bow early this am. Spinnaker flying. One frigate
bird came out to greet us. Dave made a great tuna curry with coconut
milk.
We arrived 9pm that evening. Dark, but a full moon shining. The light
on the radar was not working and the reverse gear did not work on
arrival. We still managed to anchor with the help of a flash light for
the radar and Dave racing up and down from the engine room putting
Harmonica into reverse gear as needed. We are in a beautiful anchorage
on Hiva Oa. Surrounded in high mountains with thick green vegetation.
People are very friendly. We are now catching up on sleep.
Jan Dave & Harmonica