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Enroute to Galapagos

Galapagos

I am not HOT!!!! Can you believe it? It is perfect here! The average temperature is....are you ready for this.....22 degrees!!! This IS the promise land.

Ok, so do you remember me saying that I couldn't imagine life getting any better? Well it has. We arrived in Galapagos early Friday morning. Amelia won the coin toss and got to hail GROMIT on the vhf. It was so surreal to hear them respond and know we were so close. The last 3 miles seem to take forever. Finally they were in sight.

We brought Artemo right up beside them. They had a huge banner strung up that read, "We love you Artemo!". It was so heartwarming. We were all smiling and yelling back and forth. I tell you it is wonderful to arrive in such a beautiful place but it is even better to arrive in a beautiful place and have friends to greet you. Gromit had their friends Don and Dennis on board too. Don is an independent film maker. We looked over and there was this high tech camera filming our reunion! Just what I wanted after 12 days at sea with only 1 sponge bath....a camera on me! Ha. I am hoping the high def didn't pick up the Amazon like underarms.....etc!!! It will be really cool to see what he puts together.

Once we had the anchor down the Gromits all hopped into their dinghy and over they came for hugs, banana bread, coffee and croissants. You can imagine that there were a few tears shed. It was just so unbelievable to all be together again. Happy, happy, happy. We had a huge reunion dinner on Gromit that night. They invited another really great couple from Canada. All together there were 13 of us on board their 47 foot boat but you never would have known it. Cornelia and Mike made a fantastic meal. Graham and I cracked a good bottle of wine and I kept thinking to myself that I didn't want the day to ever end.

We have jammed packed our days full with seeing the sites. Galapagos is soooooo my kinda place. There are so many trails all over the island. There are lots of great park facilities to hike around and read about the history of the Galapagos and the best part is that everything is free?? So nice. Eating out is really cheap to. You can go for a huge lunch for $2.50!!!

There are so many cool animals around that we are constantly in awe. There are sea lions and seals everywhere. The morning we arrived as we were all having coffee in the cockpit the cutest seal jumped up into the Gromits dinghy. He looked so cute with his flipper pushing himself up to look at us all. Again I was just hoping I didn't wake up from this really fantastic dream.

Yesterday the kids swam and snorkeled with the seals. Alex and Amelia played for quite awhile with this young pup. He was jumping up and twirling all around them. He would swim right up to their faces and zoom away. We got such a great underwater video. We all hiked to another beach to meet up with Gromit and the kids went for another snorkel. As Cornelia and I were chatting on the stone dock we look over and there is a blue footed boobie bird!! I so wanted to see one of these birds. The Galapagos are known for them. They are so strange with their very blue feet. We let out a hoot and holler and clapped our hands!! I am thinking of getting Graham one of the t-shirt that reads..."I love boobies"! ha

We have seen tortoises and turtles and lizards. We have also visited the volcano and hiked around it. I seriously love it here. The girls are in town right now on their own. Amelia has $12 and is so excited to be poking through all the shops and finding treasures. The town is so pretty and clean. The people here are very kind and respectful. There is a fantastic little bakery and great little juice smoothly places and all so affordable. We haven't had to spend any time trying to figure out where anything is. The Gromits have been fantastic tour guides. Oh I forgot to mention one of the best parts.....you can just drop your laundry off (bags and bags of it) and then come back later that day and it is all clean, fresh and folded!! LOVE IT.

We are going to be looking to head off across the South Pacific next weekend. We have a few jobs to finish before that.....our removable inner forestay broke underway, our steering needs a permanent fix, the engine needs some maintenance and our front hatch is still taking in way to much water. Even in paradise there is still much work to do! Cornelia and I are going to restock up with fruits, veggies, meat and drinks. We have to organize propane, diesel and water to. Oh such fun! None of this seems like work though because of the GLORIOUS TEMPERATURE!!!!

ps....I am grateful for the GROMITS!

South Pacific Adventure has begun

Here we are only a few hours away from our arrival at Galapagos. We did it, we did it, we did it. I keep thinking about how scared I use to feel about taking off to sea for an extended period of time and now we have overcome this fear! It is such a rush to feel this sense of pride and accomplishment together as a family. Today at various moments we all just kept saying, "Wow, I can't believe we did it!".

We have learned alot on this trip about sailing, about Artemo, about routing, about the weather, about ourselves and about each other. Learning comes fast and furious when it is hands on! This trip has given us all something to chew on and improve on for our next voyage.

I know things are going to be a mixed bag out here. I get that so clearly now. I am getting better with this. I have always been the gal who buys the surprise bag of stuff at the cash register without knowing what is inside. Always willing to roll the die and hope for somethin amazing. Unfortunately, also always the gal to complain when I don't get exactly what I wanted. LOL.

Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed this voyage across the sea with us. Our South Pacific Adventure has begun......

ps...Gromit has emailed and said that they are sleeping with their VHF radio and to call no matter what time we get in. We will all be fighting over who gets the radio to say......"GROMIT GROMIT GROMIT THIS IS ARTEMO ARTEMO ARTEMO"!

Equator Crossing

We are about 35 minutes away from crossing the Equator. It is May 26th, 8pm Panama Time. We are about to officially become Shellbacks!! Amelia has just finished assigning noise makers and we are just writing our notes to offer the gods. We will toss in a bottle out to sea. Our apple pie is ready, the champagne is chilled, the music playlist is ready and.......Here we go!

Euphoria

I am trying to think how I can describe what I am feeling. It is similar to when I had the kids. I felt so proud of myself for not only enduring childbirth but embracing it and then finally after all the hard work I got to hold this beautiful perfect baby in my arms. I realize that no other moments in my life will ever equal those but this morning sure came close.

Early this morning Graham and I made some tea and watched as the sun slowly rose over the beautiful ocean. The ocean has calmed way down and now all we are left with is this really really beautiful slow rising pacific swell. The sun glistens and sparkles across the water. The sky has scattered fluffy clouds and is really blue. It reminds me a bit of the "Simpson's" sky. There are a few birds that are traveling with us and this morning on the front of our boat at the bow sat a very large Albatross.

As we were chatting I looked behind Graham and there was a large migration of whales. I was awestruck. We watch as they started to pop up all over. Just bits and pieces of them. Once they had moved close enough I realized it was time to break the silence and wake up the kids. They came running up on deck with looks on their faces similar to Christmas morning. We all had huge smiles as we watched them move by and then as we were thinking it was over, in moves a huge pod of dolphins! Somebody pinch me. I wish I could attribute my emotions to being out here for so long but you know me better than that. I am just plain ol sappy. I stood with tears coming down my face just basking in sheer happiness. This is so much better than I ever imagined. I feel like we have broken through some huge initiation and now are reaping the rewards. I want this feeling to last forever.

Artemo is going so fast. We are riding a wonderful current and since the seas are calm we are cutting through the water at an alarming rate. We are all so excited by each new thing we see or find. Alex found a squid on deck yesterday and we all closely examined it. Looks very similar to his lures. Alex even tried putting one of the flying fish from the deck on his hook but all he caught was a bird.

I can't imagine that it could get any better than this but we will see what the rest of the trip brings.

ps...We got some great pictures and I can't wait to share them with you
pss..Thanks for all the blog comments. My sister has been forwarding them to our SSB and once a day we read through the well wishes and comments together. Really means a lot to us to know you guys are watching our progress.

Hola Senior

So many things to tell you all. I have been waiting a moment where the boat isn't heeled way over and smashing through waves to write you. Unfortunately this moment hasn't happened yet but remarkably what has happened is that we all seem to be adjusting to this uncomfortable point of sail. (took a couple of days though)

Every movement you take you have to think about. Where you place your foot, what you grab ahold of, if Artemo is at the crest of a wave and about to drop down or just building up. My body is sore from clenching up and using all my muscles. We all are living on the starboard side of the boat (the low side). The stove is on the low side so we had to rig up a rope about a foot in front of it that we could lean against to make our meals. We have a couple of attachment points so we can move it to lean against it to do the dishes. We have taken to wiping all the dishes down with paper towel in the cockpit to minimize the time we need to spend in the kitchen. Remarkably Graham still manages to make amazing meals. He has only the sinks to use to put stuff in so it doesn't fly as he prepares the meals. He props himself against the ropes and tries to move in rhythm with Artemo. He made us all Salisbury steak, mash potatoes, beets and gravy last night. We were all so craving comfort food.

Here are a few interesting things that have happened the last few days:

The other day we thought we noticed another rigging issue. Graham decided he should go up the mast. The wind was about 18 knots but the swell was huge. I hoisted him up. It felt so strange to have him up there as the boat lurched back and forth. Murphy's law though was ruling that day and as soon as I had him up there Alex starts yelling at me, "Mom, mom the mizzen sheet has come undone!". This means that the mizzen boom at the rear of the boat is swinging wildly back and forth. I couldn't let Alex go back there and risk getting hit trying to catch it and hold it in place, so I locked the rope I was holding Graham up with and I headed back. I managed to get ahold of the sheet and hold it steady. Alex took over lowering Graham and luckily there weren't any serious issues he could see. Then Graham came back to the mizzen and reattached the sheet (permanently this time!).

Yesterday I was in the back room having a nap and Graham was up on deck. All of a sudden I hear, "Hola Senior"! I was in shocked. You could hear that Graham was in shocked. We all ran up on deck and there right beside us is a open boat with a huge outboard and three fishermen. Can you imagine Grahams surprise as he looked up from his book and there are three guys beside him! Anyway, all was ok. They just wanted us to alter course a bit to avoid their fishing lines. We got all this from their sign language. We did back some letting them know that the motor wasn't on and our boat was round on bottom and wouldn't get caught on the lines. Not sure if they got all that through the four of us making motions like holding wheel and like no and rounding motions. I am sure they got a kick out of it though and we veered off and watched as their line went under us with no issues.

We were a little scared when we heard the boat because a couple of days before this the kids and I had been sitting at night in the cockpit and staring off the port side at the glow in the distance from the Columbian coast and then all of a sudden right in front of us this spot light goes on (it was very close). We could see so clearly the faces of these two guys. The guy in the front was wearing a bandanna on his head. They saw the kids and I and then they turned back off there light and left??? We were so freaked out. We had been in contact daily on the SSB with other boats who are also making this passage and one of them had warned us about pirate attacks off the coast of Columbia. This added to the fear we felt. Graham was sleeping at the time. Looking back it was kind of funny. Alex equates it to the "Office" episode where Ryan starts a fire and Michael flees the building leaving everyone behind. Alex shot down the stairs below before Amelia and I could even scream for Graham. He forgot to unattach his teether so there he hung down below as Graham came running from the back. Amelia and I were scrambling over each other to get down below to. Poor Graham he was in such a daze and we were all really worked up. Our hearts were beating so fast. Graham saw the tail end of the boat as he went off into darkness. It took us all quite a while to come down from this. We were all pretty shaky. It was just so freaky to have been looking directly where the light came on and then men's faces so clear.

Last night on watch Graham got hit in the arm by a flying fish. Thank god it was him and not me. He managed to grab it and toss it back in the water. The nights are really cold. It is so strange to be cold. We have been wearing socks and fleeces. We have a strawberry shortcake fleece blanket on deck that Amelia got for her 8 birthday from her best friend Amy, that we all use. It is so funny to see Graham all wrapped up in pink when I come to trade off shifts with him.

We are finally on our track and hopefully not needing to do to many more tacks. Looks like if the weather holds we can stay pretty true to our rum line. We did 6.5 to 7 knots for many hours last night. I was incorrect in the last blog the distances etc. Our route is about 1465 nautical miles. We have about 370 nm left. Our ETA right now on the chart plotter is showing that we will arrive Friday morning some time. I so hope our winds hold and this is true. We have been out at sea for 9 days so far!

We are planning to cross the Equator very close to the Galapagos, since we are riding a nice current right now. For sailors I guess it is a huge deal to cross the equator; momentous. You are suppose to have a huge party and celebrate. I think they have a couple names for sailors who haven't crossed and those who have.....shellbacks and pollywags?? I can't remember...maybe someone could look it up. I bought a bottle of champagne (non alcohol) for us all to pop and enjoy. Amelia has made party hats and we have our new years eve noise makers. We are looking forward to this!