Galapagos to Marquesas

We left San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands on Tuesday 25th May. Soon we were sailing a gentle beam reach but the wind died at night and we motored for the first three nights. Slowly, we returned to the cycle of eating, sleeping and being on watch 24/7. We had some great sailing once we picked up the trade winds and a current of one and a half knots going with us. Mostly, the wind was on or just behind the beam, the swell was long and easy to ride, the moon shone at night and the sun shone by day. That was all we saw for 2 weeks: sun, moon, stars, sky – no ships, no yachts, no planes. We felt very small in a huge ocean.

Then the weather changed. It became squally, the winds were stronger, the swell was bigger and irregular and breaking waves began hitting the boat. Our fresh meat ran out and we had to start making bread, eating bean stew/soup and either tinned or dried fruit. Now, should dried apricots from a sealed pack be black? We didn’t think so, either. We hope the fish liked them.

We were 600 miles from the Marquesas when the propeller started making a loud, vibrating noise when the engine was put in neutral. We hove to and Jeremy leaned over the stern, wearing a harness and attached to a line which I had wrapped round a winch. He tried to take photographs of the prop with my underwater camera, but we couldn’t see anything in detail. The only option left was to go into the water. Just before Jeremy went in I noticed a number of dark fins – cue “Jaws” theme tune. Fortunately, they were dol - fins, a whole pod of them and they remained stationary in groups watching, all the time Jeremy was in the water. Almost immediately after going into the sea, he came up the back steps and said, “I’ve been stung. Get the vinegar.” A bluebottle jellyfish had got him on the arm. He went into the sea again, reeking of vinegar, and found that the nut holding the propeller on the shaft had corroded almost all the way through. The prop was being held on by a split pin and a small nut at the end of the shaft. We got underway again with the engine in gear to stop the prop shaft turning and discussed what to do. The dolphins swam alongside for a while and played in the bow wave. It was agreed that Jeremy would try to fit a shackle or a Jubilee clip behind the prop as doing nothing meant risking losing the propeller at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The next day he wore a long sleeved shirt and put on the harness attached to a long line. Wearing a snorkel mask, he worked underwater and managed to fix a Jubilee clip in place, tightening it with a screwdriver; all this in a two to three metre swell with breaking waves. We didn’t run the engine again until we’d taken the sails down in Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands.

There were a few other repairs along the way. The mast started to creak and groan as it moved on its big metal plate on the roof. Jeremy made some small wooden wedges and fixed them under the base of the mast. He’d already tightened the rigging screws. Then the sacrificial strip ripped about a third of the way along the foot of the genoa. Jeremy sewed this with his hands above his head standing on the bows as they moved up and down in the swell. He broke two needles.

After 21 days 4 hours and 45 minutes, we anchored in Taiohae Bay. We’d averaged 6 knots and covered 3,068 miles. Overall, the trip was much better than the Atlantic crossing which took 23 days for 2,800c. It was good to see land again and be able to sleep through the night for the first time in three weeks.