03:05.70S 095:53.95W
Whale watching breakfasts and the Diva’s Return. The Early South Pacific.
Sailing south of the Galapagos the ocean is alive with life. The only tropical (Waved) albatross and swallow tailed gulls swing by us and two types of tiny petrels, Elliots and the White Vented, with its white chevron from wings to tail are numerous, but surprisingly no one knows where they nest.
Zoonie moves out from under the grey gloom into an ocean of blue with more help from the South Equatorial Current than the wind.
Distant spray and sunlight glisten on leaping dolphins and the frenzied flight of chased flying fish are testament to the life beneath.
The ocean sighs. Inhaling and exhaling it lifts and lowers us so at night we spot a single light from a fishing boat on the rise and lose it in the trough. A gannet flies so low I can see the reflection of its white belly in the water.
At 10.30 on the 19th June, Day 6 we have reached our Galapagos waypoint with 570 miles done and just 2993 to go!
At tea time a big turtle bumps along our hull and feet away a giant ray leaps from the water and flops back in a pool of spray. I wondered if they were travelling companions, Rex the ray and Tex the turtle.
But the greatest treat so far was to be sailing gently across a sea of sperm whales. On first glance they look similar to humpbacks but they have long ridges along their backs and a long, flat and wide head. They blow from a vent only on the left side of their head, and that is what confirmed their identity to us. We could see them breaching on the horizon a good safe distance from us, thank goodness! My photos did not do them justice as they stayed mostly just below the surface.
They filled the water from horizon to hull on our starboard side and were happy to be making their languid, 2 knot progress just feet away from us.
The next morning they were still all around us at breakfast time and Rob spotted pygmy sperm whales at our stern that did not blow visible spray. We make our identifications from Hadoram Shirihai and Brett Jarret’s excellent book, Whales Dolphins and Seals, A Field Guide to the Marine Mammals of the World.
Progress is good in light winds and we have exceeded 120 miles on a couple of day runs. The grib file suggests there is more wind on its way but until then Zoonie is sailing well.
21st June Day 8 Brexit Referendum Day minus 2.
I spoke too soon, last night the wind fell light and we motored till 8.04 this morning, when the Diva (cruising chute) returned, fresh from her sojourn through the opera houses of South America. She is now pulling us along at 5+ knots in a light wind, welcome back ma’am.
So far we have used around 68 litres of fuel and are nearly a quarter of the way across. We are carrying around 500 litres so we feel comfortable with our consumption so far.
Today’s ocean is bringing only petrels our way so maybe we are out of the whale migration route for now.
The fresh food is holding up well. One fermenting pineapple had to be jettisoned as it looks as if it was about to explode but we still have the other pineapple, papaya, apples, limes and oranges and plenty of vegetables.
22nd June Day 9
At 5.10 this morning we arrived at the SE Trades proper, 13 knots of wind at present. The Diva came offstage after a magnificent performance lasting 21 hours and giving us 112 miles at an average of 5.3mph. The stout genoa has replaced her and our speed remains similar at 5-6knots.
We are passed the quarter way mark. The True Wind, Boat Speed and Current Direction displays worked for a brief moment before going on strike again. We will do a factory re-settings job when we are safely at anchor to see if we can clear the glitch that way.
03:58.58S 100:09.97W 24th June 2016 Day 11
Brown footed shearwaters and yellow fin tuna.
Who says the oceans are just a mass of grey blue colour variations, the birds and fish come up with some lovely surprises.
A couple of days ago this plump brown bird sits itself comfortably on the water right beside us as would aunty on the settee as we watch Children’s TV. It then proceeds to study us as we move past, I wondered if Zoonie had her slip showing or something. It turns out it was a brown footed shearwater, as distinguished from a flesh footed shearwater, (I couldn’t see its feet at the time) by its range, all over the South Pacific from its nesting sites on New Zealand and Australia.
We sit in the cockpit for long periods of time trying to take it all in, enough to remember after it’s all over in two weeks’ time anyway. The experience is a little like the Atlantic with occasional big rollers grown to a size a big ocean will allow. But it’s not quite as boisterous at the moment and long may that last.
We are on the cusp for flying the cruising chute and as the genoa alone is giving us around 6 knots and doesn’t have to be watched much of the time we are happy to pootle along at around 120 miles a day.
A squall passes through every now and then just to keep us on our toes!
Yesterday we were sitting in the saloon reading when the fishing line whirred out astern. A beautiful little yellow fin tuna became our supper for the next two days. Funnily in the morning I said to Rob, “We shall have egg, chips and beans for supper tonight, although that could become fish and chips if we’re lucky.”
In the end I gently fried some pine nuts, sliced spring onion and grated white cabbage in sesame oil, put it aside and put balsamic vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce in the warm pan to give a rich brown glaze and rapidly fried a tuna fillet in the liquid while some Chinese noodles were boiling in the pan alongside. It was tasty!
Tonight we will have fish and chips!
We are well past the third of the way mark now and I’m wondering if we are still part of the EU or standing independent again.
05:49.13S 108:47.66W Tuesday 28th June Half way Day 15
Today the 28th June we are half way across and on day 15 of the voyage. To celebrate I am going to attempt to make flapjacks, thus following in the hallowed footsteps of many cruising ladies before me. I say attempt because of the way Zoonie is moving at present.
Imagine running (keep up now, she’s doing 5.9mph!) down the pavement beside your nearest main road and rolling from side to side, so your shoulders almost come into contact with the ground. That is Zoonie’s motion at present. So this could be interesting. Thank goodness the cooker is gimballed!
A few days ago Rob said “Come and look at this Barb”. Spinner and Pantropical dolphins had broken away from their team activity of fishing and were streamlining Zoonie’s bow. Just as playful and agile as their Atlantic counterparts they inspired one to call to them and cheer them on in their joyful antics.
That night I climbed into the moonlit cockpit to check on things and felt I was intruding on Zoonie’s relationship with her surroundings. My efforts to tweak her heading back on to course failed, she seemed to know where she was comfortable on the silver shimmering ocean under her quilt of stars.
Another time she was bowling along beautifully over the sun sparkling sea and as I entered the cockpit I could see, in my mind’s eye, bearing down upon us from the stern a fine, white hulled square rigger under full sail, such as Montague Dawson used to love painting.
Another distortion of the mind is on the Chartplotter. 3,600 miles is reduced to 6 inches and Zoonie is similarly reduced to a pasta bug, crawling across in search of its next meal. This little pasta bug is now halfway across the screen, which is very pleasing.
The other bugs are in decline, unless they have buried themselves in another food bag to lay their eggs. Yesterday we found some more in a pasta bag that had been slit underneath and sellotaped shut again?! Rather than throw it all away I cooked it and as the little bug…s floated to the surface I scooped them up and put them down the sink.
We also emptied that cupboard (again) and sprayed it with RAID so I think we might have got rid of them. But we have to stuff ourselves with cooked pasta for the next few days.
It feels a little odd pootling along out here in the middle of nowhere while history is being made back home. Paul has kindly kept us in touch with the news but it is too early to clearly see the way ahead for GB isn’t it.
Two new birds, a grey backed storm petrel and a pink tailed, red billed tropic bird both witness our passage west into their waters as they are from the New Zealand, Australia and the West Pacific area. A big part of our enjoyment is scouring our reference books to learn about these lovely creatures. The books nearly cover one half of the table and are full with great photos.
To cap all this we have just caught what we think is a blue fin tuna, so that helps me with the “Hm what shall we have for supper situation, fried tuna and pasta!”
20:02.45W 07:00.82S 1 White flare and perfect evenings. 2nd July. Day 19
Between them the Diva and genoa are ensuring Zoonie makes good progress. Neither of us got much sleep last night. If we weren’t on waking watch, which was more waking than sleeping, keeping an eye on the Diva lest she got her skirts tangled up around some of the stage props, we were rolling about in the sleeping berth, getting tied up in the blanket and generally dreaming of a trans Pacific roller coaster ride. Wonder where I got that idea from.
A couple of days ago, when about equi-distant from the nearest shores, Rob decided to see if our old, out of date last December, flares do still work. Sitting on the downwind side so the flare would explode well away from Zoonie, he was there one minute and gone the next. With an almighty bang and whizz Rob disappeared in a cloud of pungent white smoke (“Are you still there dear?”) while the flare shot away into the sky, burst into a very bright light and sank slowly in the SW. Yep they do still work.
Had we been in the liferaft we would have sent it into the wind so it would drift back over us, giving a good idea of our position but we didn’t want that with all our precious gear hanging above us did we? The diva’s skirts aflame, oh dear me no.
So that was a bit of short lived fun.
For our evening’s entertainment, after a drink in the cockpit to watch the sun set and a simple supper, we slip the London Spy DVD into the computer and sit back to enjoy the on board entertainment with a little bar of chocolate. Well all the fresh fruit is gone!
The lettuce is now gone too, but we still have a tomato (wow) white cabbage, onions, spuds, and I found yesterday during a curious fridge rummage, perfect aubergines and avocados and a near perfect cauliflower.
We caught another tuna yesterday and last night, having marinaded strips of it in lime juice, I flash fried it and we had it with, yes you guessed it, the last of the cooked pasta. It was so tender, think I’ll do the same tonight.
During my watch while watching the diva’s performance I spotted a white light on the horizon. Another tuna long liner I guess. We sat in the cockpit yesterday as shoals of smaller, bream-like fish leaped from the water all around us for ages. I guess the tuna were chasing them and the fishermen were chasing the tuna. The fish finder software on their plotters shows them where the shoals of fish are. Maybe the bream were chasing baby squid as we found one on the deck.
4th July Day 21
Since that sleepless night we have flown the genoa. The Grib weather files have manifested themselves with promised winds above 20 knots for most of yesterday and last night. We stayed down below most of the day as the seas had picked up to grand sizes, well they would with a fetch of 2500 miles to run across wouldn’t they.
Last night we slept better during our waking watches, wedged comfortably in the corner of the saloon, than in the berth where there is too much room to roll around.
Zoonie is rocking and rolling along with her kerchief genoa calling “Come on I know it’s this way”.
Two nights ago we had a ship, yes a whole ship, on a parallel heading to ours and travelling at 20 knots. The AIS didn’t give his name and destination. Rob said I should have called him up for a chat. Maybe next time. Or maybe not unless they identify themselves, it is not as secure and friendly a world as it was.
At night Zoonie’s pathway is clearly set, the same as that of countless vessels making the passage over thousands of years. The upside down Plough to our right and the Southern Cross, confident and prominent amongst its peers to the left.
I have a quandary at present. We have read that no fresh fruit or veg are allowed into French Polynesia and I have lots of onions, potatoes, carrots, aubergines, an avocado and limes left. So I have asked Jane of Nora J, who helped us through the panama and has preceded us by a number of weeks, if this is still the case and what were her experiences on arrival in FP.
Both ways its quesadillas, as in The Nuevo Mundo Lima, for supper last night and tonight!
Every 15 degrees of Longitude west we put our clocks back one hour, so at the moment we are 9 hours (120 degrees west) behind you and GMT and there will be one more correction before we make landfall at 135 degrees west. In French Polynesia we will be 10 hours behind you all.
At lunch time today we will celebrate being two thirds of the way across to Hiva Oa, Marquesas. Also we haven’t seen any pasta bugs for two days so that definitely should be acknowledged with a beer don’t you think!
It’s a bit lively for fishing at the moment. Don’t fancy filleting a fish on the aft deck with a nine inch blade knife in these conditions, could be more than the fish that gets filleted!
The wind is up in the mid 20’s now so we’ve just reefed the genoa. Maybe the grey clouds will bring some rain to clean salt off the windows, its certainly a Superclean service out here when it happens.
Whale Strike at night? You decide. 5th July Day 23
Two nights ago while Rob was on watch and sitting in the saloon suddenly a loud bang filled the cabin as Zoonie was shifted sideways by something very solid. Items from the centre part of the table shot to the floor when usually the wooden fiddles would have kept them in place and, mysteriously, there was no accompanying splash after the bang that would confirm it was a wave or a wall of water.
I have often lain in bed wondering if this would be the night of our close encounter of the leviathan kind. We were under sail so only it’s in built sonar would have warned it of our coming within its range and if it was asleep then impact would have been a complete surprise. There are clearly plenty of whales out here, judging by the ones we have seen being only a small representation of the whole population.
It did not retaliate and attack us so hopefully that means we didn’t hurt it, only shock it from its slumbers.
Maybe we will see a less weedy patch on Zoonie’s hull in the vicinity of impact that would confirm it, until then what do you think? Was it a wave, a wall of water or a whale?
6th July. The flapjack is smelling nice in the oven. I used honey today as I have to use up the last of the Spanish honey before we get to FP. (French Polynesia) Zoonie is speeding along at 6+ knots goose-winged and on course, I think she’s as keen to get there as we are to start exploring the archipelago.
We are 10 miles from the three quarter mark, 903 miles now and 893 at the mark. Should be another week at sea.
I woke up this morning missing Toby our French Springer Spaniel. So I thought it through again. We have met people who would not do what we are doing because of the dog/cat. We have met people who do what we are doing with the dog/cat, and we have met people who did what we did and gave away their beloved dog/cat to a good friend or relative and keep in touch as to how the dog/cat is doing, and that’s us. Little in this world is ideal is it?
For the first time on this passage we have started seeing fish and shark swimming alongside us. Yesterday a tuna and a shark with a white tip to its pectoral fin. Unfortunately we don’t have a book on sharks, so we’ll have to Google him when we have Wi-Fi. Apparently sharks like the FP archipelago so when it comes to sitting in the dinghy to clean off Zoonie’s waterline we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled.
I’ve been reading Jeffrey Archer’s prison trilogy from when he was incarcerated back in 2001. He finishes his sentence in an open prison in Norfolk, where he comments that the prisoners have more freedom than the inmates up at Butlins in Skeggy because the latter are locked in at night. Love it. What a harrowing tale though. So many cases of men and no doubt some women who should never have gone to prison at all, including himself of course.
Tonight in the Zooniedrome we will start watching the third series of Vikings. We tried last night but for some reason this computer would not play the DVD. So we watched an episode of Fawlty Towers, you know the one where the hotel guest dies in his room and the doctor will do nothing till he’s had his sausages. The main prop was the laundry basket!
I fired up the ancient Dell computer, set it charging and found that Vikings plays fine on it. So tonight’s performance will continue on schedule! Bring out the ice creams! I wonder why it doesn’t work on the Samsung.
Countdown Marquesas 8th July 2016 Day 25
Our estimated date of arrival is the 13th so we are on the last 5 days of this mega passage across the vast and beautiful South Pacific.
Jane from Nora J (our Panama friends remember) tells us that no one is checked for what fruit and veg they have on board so we won’t be jettisoning anything in the near future.
Fishing boats at night are becoming the norm, always in pairs, so likely to be seiners with a net between them. Interestingly they are always off to one side of us, so I wonder what are the chances of a pair being dead ahead. We’ll keep a good look out.
We are on a dead run at present. Not Zoonie’s most comfortable angle to the wind as she is free to roll, side to side as we go along. Curtains and clothes swing to and fro, and cupboard contents need re-arranging at times but its great for agitating the washing in its white tub!
Last night her roll was less extreme and we both slept well but some nights she rolls so far we cannot prop our prone bodies firmly enough and when she exceeds herself we are suddenly woken up, pinned against the lee cloth. Oh for a hammock.
Our evening entertainment starts with a small glass of wine in the cockpit from 5.00pm until sun set, followed by supper, again a small affair as we are not getting much exercise to stir an appetite and then The Vikings, series 3. Surprisingly un-bloody at present, compared to the first series, but then I sense something horrendous is brewing between the king of Wessex and Ragnar!
8th July still. We are the Perpetual Centre of our horizon.
The wind, raised sea state and three metre swell left us two nights ago and now we have a light breeze, a well-rounded ocean and one to two metre swell pushing us forward as the Diva leads us at around 4 knots in a wind of little more strength.
Fish are eluding us so it was corn on the cob and a toasted garlic roll for lunch yesterday and stir fry with noodles last night.
Thanks to Zoonie’s calmer motion we were able to move the stern anchor from deep within the lazarette into the mooring line locker ready to deploy it in our first anchorage. It is recommended to keep a yacht perpendicular to the shore so she faces into any swell from the ocean. So the bow anchor is dropped and the chain laid out as we reverse towards the shore, then the stern anchor is dropped once Zoonie is stationary. Then the stern line is laid out while pulling in on the bow until the vessel is nicely placed in sufficient depth and distance from the shore.
That’s the theory anyway. We will see of other yachts have done the same when we get there.
Meanwhile Henry and the Diva are working so well together I wonder if they are married. Zoonie feels like a machine with finely tuned steering at one end and an efficient power source at the other, using every ounce of available breeze.
For the last 24 hours we have been jibing the Diva from one side to the other, sailing a zig zag course down our rhumb line.
12th July
The fish are wily around here, that’s two that have escaped from our line, so its bangers and mash for Rob tonight.
We have just been wrestling with a squall that came up behind us just after breakfast. The breeze rose to 31 knots in heavy rain so we reefed the genoa. The mainsail is safe inside the mast. Zoonie was pushed smartly around at 90’ to our desired course and Henry was out of his depth, so Rob took over and we briefly had 6 knots of speed taking us in the right direction.
The moon is waxing in our night sky reminding us that it was a month ago we set off and the moon was full and bright at night then. The ancient cycle continues.
14th July 2016 08:56.95S139:28.69W Arrived in the Marquesas Day 31
We have Baie de Hane, Ua Huka all to ourselves. Goats grazing on the rocky ledges around us stopped mid chomp for a look at this solitary yacht arriving to anchor.
The area is neatly manicured and a dead level football pitch tells how seriously the game is taken here. Four by four pickup trucks pass along the road that clings to the hillsides and in the curve of the caldera a fine stand of palm trees sway gently in the breeze. Rooftops of a few homes confirm we are not the first, nor will we be the last.
It is lovely to be rocking gently on water that is not flying past but just plopping against Zoonie’s very foul hull. Apart from the orange stain there are millions of tiny muscles and barnacles clinging on. We will scrape them off at our next anchorage tomorrow, but today we relax.
3670 miles in 30 days one hour and five minutes, our longest journey under sail yet. The South Pacific has been kind and Zoonie her usual comfortable and keen self. We are indeed fortunate.