ships log
30th June 10
09:30
Anchored Puerto Lucia Ecuador
Arrived back at Puerto Lucia! We are going back on the hard for 3-6 months whilst George fixes the non skid and we take care of chores back in Key West.
28th June 10
01:30
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Toasted king Neptune whilst under a moonlit starry sky. beating along at quite a clip. Special.
28th June 10
08:00
Sailing offshore Ecuador
The sea state coupled with the wind, being light and against us, makes for comical scenes watching each other trying to move about the boat down below. My bruises now have bruises. Spirits are still good. Fairly tired though. We try and do two ish hours on and two off. It is pretty flexi and sometimes we get a break of a few more. When on watch we use the watch commander, a little device that audibly alerts you to push a button - failure to do so sounds a deafening alarm. So the routine is to push the button and then scan a full 360 around the boat. Armed with this little device you can actually grab a few minutes of sleep comfortable in the knowledge that you will be awoken to perform your duties on watch.
27th June 10
08:00
Sailing offshore Columbia
Been sailing all night close hauled in 15 to 20kts of apparent wind. The seas are fairly confused and the motion a tad interesting. The genoa furling line parted at dusk, seems to be the opportune time onboard for a problem that requires being on deck. Doubly annoying as it was a brand new line chafed through. It took an hour and several good dunkings on the foredeck to first get the sail furled and then install a replacement line. It was necessary as it has been reefed for the entire time since. All quiet on the spotting front just an infite grey sky and a grey sea.
26th June 10
08:45
Sailing offshore columbia
Whoo hoo. A night without starting the engine. So far we have 10hrs of engine since Isla San Jose - we are really happy with that. We are close hauled and taking advantage of the little wind we can find. The ferocity of the squalls has definitely died down, thankfully. Full moon last night made it easier for whomever was standing watch. The catnapping ability is getting better - as a consequence we are feeling much better today. With the boat heeled over at 20+ degrees just trying to move about burns the calories - not quite the gym though. Sea life has quieted down considerably. just the occasional pod of dolphins. Seen no ships for a day. Spotted one satellite, one shooting star and a military transport aircraft. No more rowing boat/white goods to get exited about. Chicken ish stew with tons of veggies in the pressure cooker is proving to be a bit of a star.
25th June 10
07:00
Sailing offshore columbia
After an decent night sail today was a frustrating day of chasing a very light wind. Whilst we were dodging a big thunder storm I spotted what looked like a white rowing boat with two people in it. Given that there is a penal island near here... there was a conversation discussing picking up two men on the run and possibly armed to the teeth.... We decided the proper thing to do was to head into the storm and investigate. It turned out to be two boobies on a fridge. The fridge was open - heaven knows how it was still floating. That was a big storm it showed up as 4 miles by 8 on the radar. What a pair of boobies. We are tired and are still trying to get into the shift rota.
24th June 10
09:00
notor sailing bay of panama
finally run out of thunder and lighting storms. a moonlit night with light wind on the nose. motor sailing. motion is hideous so i'm going to keep this short.
23rd June 10
03:30
Anchored Isla San Jose
Dolphin pods galore - many flipper wanabies, mantas performing somersaults and sundry other fish. Got nailed by a rain shower just prior to anchoring. Windlass is playing up again. Switching it on and off gets it to play. This is now tomorrows project. Beautiful bay. We are the only boat, in fact the only human presence. The moon is out and the odd planet, a few stars and some rather ugly clouds replete with lighting. We are hoping that they will avoid our little island.
23rd June 10
10:00
Under way Panama Bay
Caught and released a bull dorado - too big for the fridge - as per normal. The rain has stopped and the sun is out. We are drying everything and as a consequence look like a floating Chinese laundry. Tons of debris in the water - some of it large enough that we have to be on constant log watch. Many pods of dolphins.
23rd June 10
06:15
Under way Balboa Panama
Under way! Left Balboa after a major lightning storm and 6+ ish inches of rain. AIS is working a treat able to easily plot the vectors of the big ships. Takes some of the guess work out. Motor sailing in the rain. fun.
18th November 09
10:15
Tied up Balboa YC Panama
Arrived! We are at Balboa Yacht Club. Eventful day beating into the wind (20kts plus). Putting reefs in and then having to shake them out. The new boom worked a treat. Rails buried in the water as we pointed as high as possible. J enjoyed the sailing. Tons of massive shipping. All behind us now as we celebrate with a cold glass of bubbles.
17th November 09
11:53
Sailing offshore Panama
As dusk fell we found ourselves pushing through a band of trash - including the odd tree. Really odd just a line of trash for as far as the eye could see - quite sad. We then spent the entire night in various massive lightning storms. Plus the wind picked up (on the nose of course) triple reefed and close hauled. The new furling boom worked a treat. Tons of shipping to make life a little more entertaining. No sleep at all (for c) so we have decided to put into isla San Jose for a little r and r. Trouble is that the wind has now almost died...
17th November 09
09:30
Anchored Isla Jose
At anchor Isla Jose Las Perlas. We will be able to grab some sleep and it will also allow us to arrive in Panama in daylight when we leave in the wee hours from here. The bay is verey pretty with tropical rain forest running down to the beach - we are admiring it from afar as we have not cleared customs into the country. It is hot hot hot and humid - more like the tropics I remember.
16th November 09
05:04
Motor Sailing offshore Panama
We have changed course to avoid a southbound current for two reasons: one some of the debris is in the form of large logs - we have seen 8 foot logs - and the current is reducing our speed over ground by just over a knot. J seems to think that an ice cream parlor must have been washed away as there was a ton of Styrofoam cups a while back. Caught another Dorado. This one the smallest of the bunch but still too big. No fish for tea again. Very wet on the boat - even after having dodged all too obvious squalls.
16th November 09
12:43
Motor Sailing offshore Panama
Phew - Uneventful night - at last. Excluding the lightning.... Wind has died and we are now motor sailing. A lot of lightning activity with many rain squalls - none with any serious wind though. Much more shipping. We are using the radar to spot shipping and avoid the uglier squalls. Spirits are good.
15th November 09
07:54
Sailing offshore Columbia
Had wind all night - what a break. Morning broke and we dove on the prop and retrieved parts of the old spinnaker sock and dowser line. We are now fully mobile again. Just as well we found this one now rather than the end of the passage - could have been ugly. Caught another big bull dorado - this too was way big. So it was cheese and crackers for lunch.
15th November 09
06:31
Sailing offshore Columbia
Stars are trying to break through. Wind has swung 180 and we are now close hauled. There is some lightning ahead. In trying to fix the wind direction instruments we managed to break a shackle attached to the main sheet tackle (it was not correctly attached) - sods law came into play and we do not have a shackle that would fit (we have tons but this one needs a wide mouth and a narrow pin). To make matters a touch more interesting we are unable to get any forward or reverse motion from the engine - it is now dark and that one will have to wait for the morning. Fabbed a shackle using an old one and a clevis pin. And then filed down the tackle to allow it to fit. Hoping that the wind stays with us all night.
14th November 09
10:20
Sailing offshore Columbia
Cloud cover is breaking. Lots of little rain systems but not terribly squally. Seen one ship all day and that was eight miles away. Building a list odf all the parts we need when we get to Panama - it is growing. We are currently skirting a Columbian penal colony island...
14th November 09
12:30
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Cloud cover might be breaking but that may just be wishful thinking. J is in good spirits despite having been cold and wet - seen no sun and seen a sum total of one dead turtle and one dead squid.
14th November 09
06:30
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Spinnaker ported company with the halyard. Huge problem as the sock was now acting like a sea anchor and the hole thing was wrapped under the hull (prop/keel). We eventually got it back on board - but it will be the last we see of it on this trip as it is headed to the sail loft for repairs. These things, though rare, always happen in the middle of the night - this one 2am local.
13th November 09
05:00
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Still grey. Hooked our second fish - the first made off with an old but tired favorite squid lure - A big bull dorado. Too big to keep. He spat the hook just as we were trying to get him aboard to remove it. Tinned tuna for lunch.
13th November 09
02:00
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Crossing the equator! J. had a baptism and then shared a drink with the good King Neptune as her initiation ceremony.
13th November 09
09:05
Sailing offshore Ecuador
Cold and damp. Thermals Uggs and foulies. This global warming sucks! Another 28 nautical miles to the equator - at this speed it is a long long way. J is doing well - enjoying both the sailing and the night watches!
7th November 09
04:30
Anchored Puerto Lucia Ecuador
So she floats after a 30 month sabbatical. George and his mob have done a ton of great work and she is looking beautiful in the water. The checkout process has started. And we have a few loose ends to clear up - head included - yuk!
28th May 07
07:06
On the hard Puerto Lucia, Ecuador
We have been hauled! By the very competent crew at Puerto Lucia. This looks like a really great yard - really quite professionally run. I'm a happy Hector! The bottom doesn't look that bad - given that the paint is nearly four years old. I've lost some paint along the waterline due to it receiving an extra heavy scraping by Santos in Bahia Del Sol - and I've lost some on the keel where it has flaked off exposing he lead. All in all much better than I expected and certainly much better than I deserve! Spent the entire day and about a zillion gallons of fresh water cleaning the topsides of all remnants of salt. Think I've finally got most of the El Salvadorean bat shit as well! Today the boat gets moved again out of the industrial end of the yard to the residential end. Good news as both the trawlers on either side are having copious amounts of spray painting done. Quite amusingly the boat has not been stowed level - it is listing slightly to port and most definitely bows up stern down - so it's quite weird; I occasionally experience a mild panic attack and then remember I'm on the hard.
22nd May 07
05:30
Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

 

Made it!

 

Puerto Lucia!  and in a med mooring for the night.  The shore is tantalizingly close - but just out of reach.  I'd have to launch the dinghy to get there - it's simply too much work - so I'm going to have a bite to eat and a good nights sleep.  It's kind of weird as there is absolutely zero movement.

 

Tomorrow they haul me out and the work should, might, hopefully... begin!

 

 

22nd May 07
01:30
Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

 

Scattered Winston's ashes.

 

A pod of dolphins were frolicking in the bow wave.  I sat on the pulpit seat, told him I loved him and let him go.  The dolphins then turned and left.  I'd like to think he was with them.  I certainly felt a much lonely person when he had gone.  I was gutted.

 

22nd May 07
07:50
Motor Sailing offshore Ecuador

 

Finally sighted land! Isla de la Palata a small island off the coast of Ecuador.  I was on deck cleaning some of the rust stains (it's amazing what 10 days of saltwater over the decks will do to a boat - the amusing thing was that rust stains on my windward side ran up the deck (against the camber) a feature of having been pointing to wind for the last 900 miles ish!)

 

There is next to no wind and the sea state is quite flat - so it's a pleasure being able to easily move about below!

 

It's going to be touch and go wether I make my destination by nightfall - I'm optimistic that I'll have enough light to anchor by else I shall just wait offshore for the night.

 

21st May 07
06:30
Sailing offshore Ecuador

 

Finally crossed the equator at dusk.  Not quite sure what the protocol is.  So we (winston attended in casket) had fancy dress (I seem to recall that it is necessary)  - I came as a scruffy bloke wearing a ladies hat - Winston also had a ladies hat.  We asked the king for permission to cross the equator. We offered a drink to the King of the sea - raised a glass.  Then a symbolic dunking of the equator virgins (looked more like a christening). And we were on our way.  It was quite fun - we'll i guess you had to be there.  I guess we didn't quite get it right because shortly afterwards the wind finally died....

 

 

21st May 07
07:47
sailing offshore
Still at it! The wind picked up yesterday and was a good solid 25kts. The sea state did also - made for a wet day. A minor holding tank problem... It seems it wanted to fill itself through the pump out cap being slightly loose. That not being sufficient it then decided to exit via the breather pipe on deck. To compound matters it doesn't seem to want to empty - the pump runs but... Oh joy... If I could have found a way to get the bloody thing out and in the oggin without destroying a good chunk of carpentry - it would be gone! Lots of flying fish on deck this morning - Winston would have liked that. This morning the wind has dropped significantly so it's much easier going. Got to get cracking I've got a couple dozen eggs to eat... Oh and the sun has come out...
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