Panama to Galapagos

We left Panama on 4th May with a good sailing wind and considered taking out the reef in the main sail. One hour later, we were recording 28-33 knots of wind and putting a second reef in the main. I regretted not having taken Stugeron and had some with the little bit of lunch I could force down. Once the squall passed and the sea slowly calmed down, that was the last of any wind for 3 whole days. We were in the ITCZ or the doldrums. We realised first hand how crews of the old sailing ships could die of thirst as they waited a month or more for wind. We put our engine on and motored.

Jeremy checked the new prop shaft at regular intervals. It did get hot, but soon it settled down after numerous adjustments, and gave us no further trouble. It was very pleasant even though it was noisy motoring along in calm seas. Dolphins came to ride the bow wave in the evening, the stars were beautiful at night and distant lightning flashes lit up the sky.
There always seems to be lightning around in the ITCZ.

For the first time since we set out in July 2008, Jeremy managed to get our radio to receive Single Side Band (SSB) transmissions and we picked up the daily Pan Pacific Net and learned that 6 or 7 other boats were sailing to the Galapagos. There was wind further south, we heard, so we headed south for a day and found wind along with tropical rain, which hammered down. At least we could sail and conserve our dwindling supplies of diesel.

Jeremy had mentioned a “funny smell” and I occasionally was aware of it but we couldn’t find out what it was, until he opened the veg locker. All the carrots had gone bad and some had turned to liquid and they were only 4 days old. Over the side they went and our bad smell went with them.

Once again it rained heavily while Jeremy was asleep below. I considered getting my coat and collecting our full water bottles from the roof and decks, when naked Jeremy appeared straight out of bed, collected and changed the bottles, had a shower and shaved. We collected enough water to fill our tanks and we were able to do some washing of clothes with the excess. Many yachts have water makers, but ours comes from the sky.

I had a practice one day using the sextant to plot the meridian passage of the sun. We’d learnt this on a course and I’d just about forgotten how to do it. I was 10 minutes late taking the sights and the sun was bouncing along the horizon in the swell, but I was only 27 miles out working out our latitude, which is quite close in a journey of 1000 miles. I think my teacher, Alan, would be pleased with that.

Soon all time for hobbies came to an end as Sal Darago sprang a leak. The bilge alarm went off after we had tacked one day and there was far too much water in the bilge for comfort. The bilge pumps soon cleared it but where was it coming in? Not through the prop shaft of stuffing box or anywhere obvious, but it was definitely sea water and we were 300 miles from land. Jeremy emptied the bilges of all our stores and after much tearing out of his hair (he’s bald now!) he found a crack in the pipe which takes the bilge water out. As we heeled, the exit hole was going under water, the sea was pouring in and our bilges were filling. Once this was repaired we still had sea water coming in the same way as the non-return valve wasn’t working. Then Jeremy found the anchor locker was awash as the rust from the chain had blocked up the drain hole. Once that was unblocked dirty, rusty, gungy water flowed into the bilges. Jeremy’s been finding leaks ever since but we now have a sea cock on the bilge pipe so we can’t have a repeat performance on our next passage.

We made it to the Galapagos safely and anchored in Wreck Bay, San Cristobal at night on 13th May. We had crossed the Equator at 0024, shared brandy, biscuits and nuts with Neptune, thanked the God of all things and entered the southern hemisphere for the first time. Wow! The next day was my birthday and I was treated to lunch ashore.

Since then we’ve explored San Cristobal and seen giant tortoises and marine iguanas. We’ve had a day trip by fast boat to the island of Santa Cruz, seen the Charles Darwin Foundation and visited the giant tortoise called Lonesome George, because he is the last of his species. He looked fit and well and he’s only about 250 years old. We would have liked to have seen the island of Isabela but it’s too far away for one day and we’re only allowed to anchor here in San Cristobal.

In a few days we should be on our way to the Marquesas in French Polynesia, a passage of 3000 miles. It will probably take us a month, but this time we should have the trade winds and the current going with us.