Photos of the haulout in Tahiti

These photos show our adventures in Port Phaeton during our haul0out.

Hello from Baie Phaeton

 

Hello from Baie Phaeton,

 

Well it's been a good seven months since our last update.  We left Tahiti on September 2^nd, 2009 and flew home.  We spent six months in the USA, mostly in the Monterey Bay area of California.  Kristin and grandson Aidan live in Monterey and we house-sat in Aptos so were close enough to commute and got to see them a lot.  David and Jenny flew out from Cleveland and Charlotte (NC) for Christmas and we had a grand old time at Kristin's itsy bitsy apartment.

 

Mary got involved with the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers, did some gigs, met some great people and in general had a great time.  We paid a short visit to Texas and some property we own there, saw our accountant and went bicycling on a great bike path in Austin. The month of February found us in San Diego buying – what else – boat parts and supplies.

 

We arrived back here on March 2^nd at 11pm and by the time we got the car rental, checked through Customs and Immigration and arrived at our hotel for what was left of the night – it was 1:30 AM local time or 3:30 AM San Diego time.  It had been raining but stopped just long enough for us to find the hotel.  A wall of humidity was greeted us.

 

We drove to the boat, an hour away (40 km), in the rain; and for the next 3 ½ days all it did was rain.  Buckets and buckets and buckets!  We found the boat fine but full of mildew.  We extended our hotel reservation another night just to give us enough time to clean out enough of the mildew to set up house keeping.  For ten days we cleaned mildew.  The sun came out on March 7^th and the weather started to change – after all it was getting close to Fall here (March 21^st).

 

We were in the Marina here in Baie Phaeton.  It is considered the best Hurricane hole in all of Polynesia.  Hurricanes rarely occur here – only when and sometimes if it is an El Nino year.  Well this year was an El Nino and Hurricane Oli did come awfully close – passing just south of Tahiti.  The winds only got up to 50 kts (it takes 64 to be considered hurricane strength).  But of course that was not all.  This year Tahiti experienced two tsunamis – one from Samoa and the other from Chile.  The water rose and fell 20 cm from the Chile quake.  But the boat did fine – just lots of mildew.  Just to add to the experience though, the summer here was the hottest on record for the last 52 years and one of the rainiest on record.  The heat cooked the glass in about half of our outdoor instruments which will make navigating more interesting for sure.

 

We spent three weeks cleaning mildew, doing boat chores, and adapting to the heat, humidity, bugs and prices.  At the end of the first week a local "marina cat" adopted us and welcomed herself to our meal leftovers.  In return she slept on board, left us more fleas, and killed a wandering rat one night and of course left it for dining pleasure the next morning.  The marina had two identical restrooms but only the "hommes" was ever open and unlocked.  Each contained a shower, a toilet (with no seat) and a sink.  But they did have hot water.  We'd shower off the sweat each night.  Two nights Mike had to share the shower with a 6 inch land crab who had wondered in under the broken door bottom and did not like getting clean with fresh water.  He kept aiming his one big claw at Mike the whole time.

 

After having the boat damaged in six places during our haulout in Guaymas, we were very worried about coming out again here.  But the staff here really know what they are doing with catamarans and all went fine on March 23^rd when we finally came out to have the bottom painted.  The last bottom paint job in El Salvador had been a big disappointment, as the bottom paint came off just days after being put on.  Eric, Mary's nephew was with us for two weeks, dove in the water and came up asking why the bottom of our boat was red on the sides and white on the bottom.  So for the next nine months we'd dive on the bottom every 10 days scrapping off barnacles and waiting for the next haulout. 

 

All went well with this haulout.  The French love sailing so they know what they are doing but when you work 7 ½ hour days and 4 ½ days a week things can take a while to get accomplished!   We found damage in the kick-up rudders, damage in the daggerboard, and bridge deck paint from the Mexico job falling off.  All was fixed and we were back in the water on March 6^th.  But we only went 8 meters – 'cause we had to wait for the finishing touches to the daggerboard.  At 9am Tahiti time, on March 8^th, we officially left the marina and tied up to a mooring ball where we put up the screecher, put on the dingy outboard and tested out the water maker.  So basically, it ended up taking six weeks to get the boat ready for another season of sailing and this is only two weeks more than what we told everyone (never really believing it ourselves of course).

 

Of course no story of Tahiti is complete without mentioning the cost of doing business here.  Our radar was fixed locally while we were gone and the total cost for the fix was more than the cost of a new one.  It included 26% in local taxes!!  And that is with a strong US dollar.  We can tell the dollar has strengthened.  A six pack of Budweiser that sold for $23.40 last August (and was the most expensive beer sold here) is now only $13.20 (and is now the cheapest beer sold here).  Just couldn't bring ourselves to buy Budweiser though and bought a six pack of Heineken for $15 and have been savoring one beer every three days to make the six pack last!  But real shocker was buying 16 gallons of gasoline and paying $91.  Ouch!!

 

Our last hurdle is checking out of Tahiti via the port captain and being permitted to sail on to Moorea and then all the other islands.  We anticipate a hard time of it, since we left and the boat didn't.  Just might be too complicated for officialdom.

Io Arna from Tahiti

Io Arna (hello) from Tahiti

Io arna (your ah na)! It seems like a long time since the last update, but since our PC went down last week there is no way of knowing just how long it's been. This is being typed on our Apple – the backup. Its speakers quit working months ago; so no more music or movies.

Anchorage in Ahe, Tuamuto Islands Anchorage in Apataki, Tuamoto Islands

We left Nuku Hiva plenty ready to move on. Taiohae, the capital of the entire Marquesas, was disappointing. Two grocery stores, one hardware store, one restaurant, and one snack shop for a population of 2,100 was it had to offer. The anchorage was crowded and rolly so it was great to be sailing again as we headed for Ua Pou 30 miles south and with good winds. Unfortunately the area had one of the strongest currents we had ever encountered and we could not go upwind enough to make our destination of Hakahau.That island's capital, with a population of 1000 had 5 grocery stores, one hardware store, one bakery, a computer store, a couple of boutiques for locals and tourists and friendly people. We arrived on July 11^thand were hoping that we'd find some sort of Heiva celebrations going on. Heiva is basically anywhere from two weeks to a month of singing, dancing, games for kids, etc. where each of the islands groups and islands within those groups celebrate their heritage. It also happens to center around July 14^th, Bastille Day, the French Independence Day.

The celebrations had been going on for a week already we were informed and the night of the 13^th we sat with six French cruisers, ate BBQ ribs and watched local dancers from around the island strut their stuff. It was a fun family atmosphere, with kids wondering in among the dancers and a female dog almost in heat leading a pack of "very interested" males in and out of the dance area. We had a great time. The 14^th was a bust. The French put up the flag and had a speech and then provided a live band and a free breakfast/lunch to anyone who turned out. Most of the town did. That was it.

A retired French teacher who taught English swam up to the boat and asked if we'd like a tour to the wild side of the island (the east side). We said sure and two hours later we were in an old jeep heading over the mountains and to the windward side. No one cruises the east side of any of the islands, as the trade winds always make very rough and dangerous. We ate lunch besides huge crashing waves on an isolated beach and then were invited to his house for coffee. He talked the whole time and we learned a lot about the natives and the French government. It is so easy to take advantage of the French that almost all do it some way or another. One example: you want a house; the French pay 90% of the cost; find/make you a job and pay you so you can pay the final 10%. So, you work for a year, living in your house, and then it is yours!The job is over and you go back to doing whatever you want.

The island is known for its giant, solid rock, monoliths and one of the most striking islands anywhere. On our trip we saw some of them but, as with most island climates, the tall mountains are almost always shrouded in clouds. From the anchorage we could see a couple of big ones and early one day before the clouds formed we saw one more. As we were leaving for the Tuamotu island group, the clouds parted for a minute and we got a picture of lots more.

Sunset looking at Moorea, Society Islands Mary climbed the mast to look for coral heads

As had been the case ever since the Galapagos, we had crazy seas and strong winds. The sailing was tiring as the slamming under the bridge deck really got to us. It had taken five different tries at fixing the autopilot but Mike finally won and we had "auto" back helping again. So we could sleep, read and eat a meal together again – it was great. We were flying at 8-9 knots but the boat was taking a terrible beating so we slowed down and life was better. Our goal was a small atoll named Apataki and as we turned southwest from south the winds and the seas conspired against us. With 40 miles to go and sailing as fast as we could on the course we would arrive in 8 hours dead tired. So we changed direction and went to Ahe. It was also 40 miles but now a down wind run to the NW and we made it in 5 hours.

The Tuamotus are a long island chain of atolls – old mountains that have sunk over the millennium leaving the fringing coral reef behind. The water inside can be crystal clear and depending on how fast and how far the mountain sank the inside can be deep or shallow and full of coral heads that are extremely sharp.Anchoring can be a real problem cause you don't want to get your anchor wrapped around a coral head – you'll never get it back!

None of the atolls where the cultured Black Pearl industry was in gear had good water clarity and, due to an ever-expanding population, the much advertised over abundance of fish to be seen and caught, etc. is no more. The big allure now is snorkeling in the passes that lead inside the atoll and the ability to have an anchorage all to yourself.

In Ahe, we anchored inside a lagoon, which was a lagoon inside the atoll, which is very rare. The water was clean and clear and we did some snorkeling. But the locals have grown very used to cruisers and the tourist industry over the years and so we were observed by them and nothing more. Ahe once was known as a very crusier-friendly atoll with lots to see and lots of fish. We met a cruiser that been there 36 years ago and he could not believe the change in the environment. The people remembered him and celebrated his return so that was great but nothing could bring back the "choose which fish you want and throw the fish hook in front of him" era.

The weather turned in the right direction and we left Ahe and again headed for Apataki. We went to the first anchorage and settled in with three Belgian boats. They left two days later and we had the place to ourselves. Went beach combing, snorkeling, swimming, etc. We were protected from the 30-knot winds so life was good. But as in all things sailing related, the list of stuff to fix never went down. The port engine had decided it didn't want to start and the radar the same. So, while we were planning on spending six weeks in the Tuamotus and hauling out at a brand new facility in Apataki, we instead headed for Tahiti where we thought we could get everything we needed done.

White dresses and straw hats in church - Papeete Local guitar player - Papeete

For the first time we had nice winds and nice seas and we had a great pleasant sail from Apataki to Tahiti. Having read the biography of James Cook, it was inspiring to see Point Venus, Cook Bay, etc and think he'd been here in the late 1700's. Tahiti is the largest island in all of French Polynesia, is bordered by its own fringing reef and is slowly sinking. Papeete is the capital of the entire group as well as that of the Society island group. It is a big city almost like any other. But unlike most large cities we found everyone here helpful and friendly – despite the fact that we were in essence tourists. Due to the worldwide recession and some stupid decisions by the government here the tourist trade is way down and many hotels have 80% vacancy. So all is not well in paradise. Word has spread everywhere about the extreme cost of coming here. A six pack of Bud = $20; grapefruit = $1.5 each; small watermelon = $40. A simple lunch is $20. So, it has lost its allure and tourists in the know are hitting other islands – the Samoas, the Fiji, etc.

We spent two weeks or so on a mooring ball outside of the major marina and the water was crystal clear down to 15 meters. It was especially amazing at night when the moonlight would light the bottom and it seemed we were floating on top of a gigantic swimming pool. We met our friends from the Marquesas and they gave us an "around the island tour". But like they said, once you've done this there is basically nothing else to do. The beaches are far and few between and far fewer locals go the beach than you'd expect. Don't know what they do but it isn't what the tourist brochures advertise.

We'd heard about the great singing at Polynesian churches so we went to the major Protestant church (actually known as the birthplace of Papeete). The women mostly dress in white and wear straw hats. The singing was as advertised – it was awesome!

We are now in "wind-down" mode as we get the boat ready for the cyclone season and get ourselves ready to head back home to avoid the cyclone season (and, of course, to visit lots of family and friends). We return in March of 2010 and will continue the journey and adventure then.

Hello from Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands

Hello from Nuku Hiva, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

 

The last update was from Hiva Oa in the same island group so what's up with that?  It sounds like we are still in the same place.  Well we are – sort of.  The Marquesas have six islands that are inhabited with 3 in the south east and 3 to the north west.  We started at the main island in the southeast – Hiva Oa.  Took our time getting used to paradise and then went to the other two islands: Tehuata and Fatu Hiva.  The anchorages were spectacular and the famous no-see-ums (named "no-no's" here) never appeared.

 

We anchored beneath vertical cliffs in a small bay called HanaTefau on Tehuata just a dingy ride away from the village of Hanataponi.  We went here because of the great protection from the big east winds and southeast swell that was making Atuona unbearable.  The swell was so big in that bay that a big steel barge broke loose and destroyed the landing dock all the boats and tourists use for entry.  Anyway our first night in Tefau was pure magic – all stars, no swell and no wind.  We went dingy snorkeling the next day.  That is where you put your face in the water over the dingy and your partner drives you around the bay.  It is easy and fun.  Saw some great corral and some interesting fish but not the amount you think you're going to find in paradise.  The weather changed and for the next couple of days the winds were coming in over the mountains from all directions.  One moment we'd be facing north with 25 knots and just a minute later the wind would have clocked around and we'd be facing south.  This went on and on and on……

 

So, we decided to move to Fatu Hiva.  The French say this is the prettiest anchorage in the world so we had to check it out.  Well it was more awe-inspiring than pretty to us.  It was drop dead gorgeous.  With multiple volcanic plugs sticking up right at water's edge, catching the fading sunlight, etc. it was a sight we will remember a long time.  The early French named it the Bay of Verges (penises) but the moment the missionaries arrived they added an "i" to the name and changed it to the Bay of Vierges (virgins) and that name has stuck.  The people of Fatu Hiva – all 700 of them seem to have been tainted by the various cruisers that have come to visit.  It is the only island where the children beg for candy and the local men want to trade anything for Rum while the women want candy or for you to buy some Tapa from them.  We traded for nothing as we were warned that the men once drunk on rum beat their wives.

 

While the anchorage was unique in its looks, it shared a trait with a lot of the other islands – the anchorage is at the bottom of a great volcanic valley.  Thus every night we'd get winds from 35 – 40 knots blasting down on the 8 boats that were there.  We endured about four nights and said heck with this, let's go north to those other islands.  We left at 10 am one day and arrived at the same hour the next day on the north side of Nuku Hiva.  We had very rough seas, 30 knots of winds the whole way and even though we drifted behind Hiva Oa and Tehuata to escape the winds (a nice reprieve) we still did the 140 miles in less than 24 hours.

 

Anaho Bay is rated the finest anchorage in all the Marquesas.  It was a good one with no swell from the big seas at all.  But, the east winds still managed to blow like crazy and so we had it a little better; no fetch; no swell, good holding but lots of wind.  This anchorage is one of the few in the islands with a sand beach and here is where we finally came to know the famous "no-no's".  We anchored outside the coral and took the one pass into the beach where Mary got eaten and Mike went unscathed.  We traded a home made coffee cake for 13 grapefruit on steroids called Pomplemose.  These things are so big that we could only eat half at a time and then had to use our steak knives to cut them up into edible pieces.  And boy, are they good eating. 

 

We hiked east to an isolated beach one day and then, the next day, west to the adjoining bay and town of Hathieu.  In Hathieu we met two locals and an American who was scoping out the area for a nano-technology based fertilizer plant.  One thing led to another and soon we were being fed every kind of fruit known to the Marquesans, given a bed to "rest" on, and a shower – a real shower (the first real shower in over 5 months).  We saw the "sacred mountains" and visited an old ceremonial site before heading back.  On the way back, we picked 33 mangos growing wild.

 

The next day our new friends plus the governor of the entire island and two more came to visit us on our boat.  It was a great experience and what all cruisers dream about; or at least we do.  We now have locals to visit in Papeete and relatives on the island of Huahine when we get there.

 

The winds were still howling but we grew restless anyway, so out into the winds and downwind the coast to a little known anchorage of Hakaaehu Bay off the Pua Valley where no oceanic plotting has been done.  It was perfectly protected from the winds and just a little swell and we had it to ourselves for two whole days.  While we were hiking a pickup truck stopped and basically said "how'd you like to take a ride to our watering spot over in the next valley?"  We said yes, and climbed in back with two guys and a 10 year old girl and for the next 30 minutes saw the countryside from the back of the truck.  We got to the springs and Mike joined in the bucket brigade to fill buckets while Mary talked with the wife of the driver.  Once the water was all loaded the driver proceeded to find papaya and fill our backpack.  Then back to his house where he showed us his almost completed solar house and gave us more papaya, some pomplemose, a coconut, some mantioc (tapioca root), a breadfruit, and some stuff we have yet to name but it makes great French fries.  With another great experience under our belt we headed for south side of the island and the anchorage with Hauii Falls, the world's third highest waterfall.

 

The winds were still fierce and the ride around the west end of the island and up the south side for the last 2 miles was brutal.  We arrived in Hakatea Bay tired and ready for a good drink.  Up and early the next day found us hiking up the Hakaui valley for 3 hours to the waterfall.  After getting lost once we asked for the correct path and found it and just kept going – there are no arrows, no signs, etc like there are in the States and Canada.  You can see the whole waterfall in thirds but never the whole thing all at once.  Anyway we made it and Mike took a celebratory swim in the pool at the bottom after being warned that even pebbles falling straight down from 350 meters can really hurt.  Then back to the boat and off to our last stop on this island – the Capital of the Marquesas – Taiohae.  The town has a whopping population of about 2,000 (that's one fourth of the entire Marquesan population) with two grocery stores, one restaurant and one hardware store.  The folks aren't nearly as friendly here as in the outlying areas probably because there are so many boaters that come here and the cruise ships stop here too.

 

We'll be here for just a few days to do some small re-provisioning and then head to the last island – Oa Pou and then on to the Tuamotus.   We really mean small re-provisioning!  A can of Coke is $1.60 and a can of beer is $2.90!  So getting a six pack is a major purchase.  We spent $8 for two loaves of bread and $5.5 for a small cauliflower and a small bag of tomatoes today at the local veggie stand.  The grocery stores don't even attempt to sell fruit or veggies.   We'll try to get some water and some fuel and be on our way.  The next internet location is 550 miles away so it will be some time before we finish our story on the Marquesas Islands and begin the story on the Tuamotu's. 

 

Mike and Mary McCluskey
S/V Carpe Vita
www.mikemarymccluskey.blogspot.com

Hello from the Marquesas Islands

Hello from Hiva Oa, Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia

 

We made it!  It took us 23 days of seeing nothing but water but we made it.  We officially left Isla Isabela, Galapagos at 1030 on May 1, 2009 and checked into Atuona, Hiva Oa at 830 May 24^th.  We also crossed three time zones only to find when we got here that these islands decided to give themselves another 30 minutes of time so make that three and a half time zones.

 

Some may think that life would be boring on such a crossing but not for us.  We always seem to pick a way that is always interesting or at least life seems to pick one for us.  This time on Day 2 of the crossing, we were discussing watch schedules around 2 in the afternoon when the autopilot alarm went off and we rushed to take the wheel and find out what went wrong.  Well it failed, pure and simple and we hand steered for the next 22 days!  We set schedules for 3 hours on and 3 hours off for sleep, rest, eating, etc.  Raymarine was no help in solving the problem (as expected) so even as we are now safely in the bay and anchored, Mike has it torn apart again and trying to get it to work again.

 

Other that a sailor's worst nightmare, hmmm, what else could go wrong.  For us it was the solenoid to the propane tank that quit on Day 3; then there was the bat car that shattered in a violet gust spraying the boat with torlon bearings; followed by the spinnaker ripping as it was just coming out of the sock.  For three days we sailed with no mainsail and finally, by moving bat cars, we were able to sail with a triple reefed main.  Then a week later, once again by moving bat cars, we were able to finish the last part of the trip with only a single reefed main.  We replaced the solenoid on Day 4 and only went without hot coffee for one day.  We cut up an old pair of Mike's pants of rip-stop nylon and turned them into mending seams for the spinnaker.  It took about 5 full days to find enough time and especially energy to glue the spinnaker back together but by then the wind was on our beam and we heading the final leg to the islands.

 

Days 20 and 21 we had no wind and chose to motor even though we didn't have enough fuel to motor the whole distance remaining, we figured the wind would eventually fill in and it did.  But by then we were too close to the islands for a day time finish and had to sit 34 miles off Hiva Oa waiting for daylight.  But of course even that was not easy as the wind really piped up and we were sitting across the huge swells being generated by the now 25 knot winds.  Sick of rolling (we catamarans aren't used to this) we started up the motors at 3am and started a very slow trek toward the island.

 

The trip, other than tiring, was really quite nice.  The various sunrises, and sunsets, the squalls dropping rain and wind, the various cloud patterns never let us get bored.  We ran out of eggs, fresh fruits and veggies about Day 10 so we ate out of the numerous canned goods we bought in Panama City for the next 13 days.  We were so occupied with hand steering that energy to fix stuff was limited and there was none available to try our hand at ocean fishing.  When we arrived in Hiva Oa, our friends on the boat Mainly gave us some of the their freshly caught tuna and boy was it good.

 

We've been here a week now and are fully rested and ready to continue on with this adventure.  The island is beautiful and pictures have shown up of this anchorage many times.  It truly is stunning with vertical green cliffs dropping directly into the sea.  The people are nice, not overly friendly.  The prices on everything are pretty darn high.  Diesel is $ 6 a gallon, but baguettes are $ 0.60 as they are subsidized by the French Government. 

Hello from the Galapagos Islands

It took a full seven days (and 1.5 hours) to make it from Panama City to Isla San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands. Overall it was a good passage with extremely light winds - but still good enough to sail 67% of the time. We could not have motored the entire distance so we absolutely had to find some wind some time somewhere. And we did, so all ended well.

On, this our first real open water passage, we stayed amazingly busy and never felt bored. We adopted a modified cruising watch schedule that we learned of from friends on "Shilling of Hamble". Mike does the watch from 7pm to 1am and Mary does the watch from 1am to 7am. We both get enough sleep (you learn to fall asleep immediately) and then only need a small nap sometime during the day. During the remainder of the day, we sort of alternate looking around at the big blue ocean. After crossing the shipping channel in Panama (which took about 3 hours) we saw no one else except a couple of days later we saw two more ships heading for Panama and one heading for points north most likely coming from South America. One whale surfaced about 50 feet from the boat for about 15 seconds and that was it for sealife.

The Galapagos are on the end of the Cocos ridge which runs all the way to Costa Rica and of course the famous Cocos Islands (home of the movie Jurasic Park). At the end of the ridge is a "hot spot" that remains stationary and slowly builds new islands with volcanic outbursts. San Cristobal is on the eastern side of the island chain and is therefore one of the oldest islands. That means it has had about a couple of million years to erode, form grasses and shrubs, etc. So it took us by surprise at how green it was as were expecting all the islands to be desert islands. While it is not tropically lush (like Tahiti, etc) it is green, does have a fresh water lake (in an imploded volcano) and supports a wide variety of wildlife.

The sleepy town here at the harbor is quite nice and the people friendly. It seems they actually like sailors and view them in a different light than the bigger groups of tourists and backpackers that find their way here. So, that has been a pleasant surprise.

There are sea lions everywhere. They are part of the ecosystem and everyone treats them that way. They are on the same beaches with everyone. Children play around them, and they in turn play around the children. It is amazing. We went to Lobos Island, a sea lion rookery, and swam with about a dozen sea lions. One tried to nibble on Mary's fins and one tried to take her camera. They were literally inches away sometimes; making for emotions from slightly scarred to incredibly happy.

Then we saw a Galapagos Tortoise preserve/farm where they have been breeding these giant creatures since 2002. They protect them from rats and cats until they are about 30 cm across and then they can fend for themselves. Over 100,000 were slaughtered in the years past and obviously the island population is now pretty small.

Finally we went to a beach by the airport and swam with sea turtles. We respected their environment and only got within a couple of feet but others we know actually grabbed onto them and took a ride underwater. They are big and graceful and look like they could just open their mouth and snap your hand right off. But they are very gentle actually. That same day, in the same bay, we were standing in the shallows and three baby sea lions came up and started playing around us. We gave them a stick and they took it from each other. One swam round and round Mike and took little play bites from his ankles. Mike moved fast as it wasn't fun to him.

That is it for fun and recreation. On the work side of life, the new feed pump to the watermaker seems to overheat at one hour of use, so we'll make water more often now, and the VHF decided to quit transmitting so Mike might have to re-wire it. For shear bureaucratic bizzarness (?) it will nice to get out of latin America. We've been told "all paperwork will be ready tomorrow at 9am"; only to just begin the paperwork at 10:30, then take the next four hours to move about town and pay for taxis so that our state-required agent could process other peoples paperwork along with ours. We were "done" with everything when we realized that did not have our Autographo. "Oh, that, well it will be ready tomorrow or the next day -trust me". It did come the next day and it allows us to visit two other islands. So, we'll let you know about the other two after they are done.

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Look mom no shadow!

Today we officially passed directly under the sun. The only shadow was straight down. We put out our hands and every shadow was straight down. It really works! We are at Latitude 03 10.24' North. Tomorrow we'll be further south and the sun will be further north. We will start casting shadows southerly for the first time in our lives.

It is funny how the little things seem so amazing now. Life is much simpler than in the old days back in the States. Of course so much stress is gone from the daily life of working and earning and paying bills and that makes a big difference but still - it is the little things that we notice most nowadays. Casting a new shadow; having to choose between practicing music or reading; etc.

We are in the ITCZ and about to move out of it - well unless it decides to move south and envelope us once again. We think we've moved through it twice now. Formerly known as the Doldrums, it is the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone where the north winds of the northern hemisphere meet the south winds of the southern hemisphere meet. All goes quiet, storms brew - mostly thunder heads or squalls. We motored between two enormous ones two nights ago; it was an eerie feeling - knowing that we could be hit with super gusts, heavy rain, etc enough to rip sails and everything off the boat if we were unlucky. We weren't and just got to look long and hard at potential disaster.

We did find our first squall ever on April 1st. We were just putting along when a dark cloud - nimbostratus - formed and came right for us in less than 15 minutes. It was not a thunderhead so we knew it was just rain but man was there lots of it. We went up on the foredeck and had our first "squall shower". More than enough fresh water, and warm water to boot. It was great.

We are now less than 400 nm to the Galapagos Islands. We've found rain, thunderheads, no wind, lots of wind, and strange currents in differing directions. In about four days we'll see the strange sites of the famous islands.

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