Galapagos, here we come
13 April 2010 | On Route to the Galapagos
Jay
Turtle. Tick. Shark. Tick. Dolphins. Tick. Sailing, motoring, lightning, calm seas, rough seas. Tick Tick Tick. It can't be said we haven't had a varied trip after leaving Panama with a bit of everything in the last 3 days aboard Ghost.
After leaving Panama we decided to spend a few days exploring the Pearl Islands before heading to the Galapagos. A school friend of mine, Claire, who now lives in Panama, also came along. Two nights exploring some picturesque bays, swimming, playing late night cards and trying out Brad and Kat's latest purchase of a Wakeboard went by quickly. On the last day after dropping Claire off at the tiny airport by dingy (one of the more novel forms of airport taxi I would say...) we headed south.
After catching another fish for dinner, we stopped for a quick swim at the most Southerly island and after dinner enjoyed a fast night passage with winds gusting up to 30 knots. These contributed to a good first day's run of 160 miles, during which we had two large pods of dolphins following us for a few hours at a time, both by day and night. Seeing them by night for this long was a first for me aboard Ghost and something I'd been hoping for. It was a dark night and the bioluminescence of the water as the dolphins swam and jumped adjacent to the boat was very bright and we could hear them breathing alongside the boat as they played.
The night led in to another good day of sailing in 10-20 knot winds during which we saw turtles, another large pod of dolphins and our first shark cruising near the boat. Unfortunately, as expected with this part of the world the wind didn't hold up and by early Monday morning the engine went on and deliberations started on our best course of action. We have now motored for a day and a half south, and seem to have picked up some good southerly winds and are beating SW with roughly 480 miles to go.
Other time has aboard has been spent reasonably studiously. Including, catching fish, Steve starting work on his first novel (yes Ghost will be the birthplace of a literary phenomenon we have no doubt), Kat cooking up some great dishes, Kat bugging me to write this blog, Kat bugging Brad to write any blog and many an IPod game and book being read. Hopefully the wind will hold up and we can look forward to crossing the Equator and arriving in the Galapagos Islands at the end of the week.