Saying Goodbye
27 April 2010 | En Route to the Galapagos
Cornelia
Sunday, April 25, 2010. Change happens. I keep saying that. It has now proven itself again. It was with very heavy hearts and tears of sadness that we said goodbye to our buddy boat 'Artemo' Sunday. They are heading back to Las Perlas Islands and then Panama, to do some very necessary boat work. Substantial rains, with water leakage into their boat, caused electrical damage that can not be dealt with out here.
All day Saturday to Sunday night, the weather and winds were such that we couldn't continue on our ideal route. We ended up having to go further east than we wanted. Finally, very tired, the two crews decided to 'heave to'. This means that you set the sails and rudder in such a way that you make very little forward movement. It is a way to sit out a storm, make repairs or just rest. This worked very well, except there was such a strong current (the Humbolt Current) where we were, causing us to drift at around 2 knots/hour towards the Columbian coast. With only about 70 miles between us and the coast, we had to make a decision. At about 10:30 pm Sunday night, after many, many tearful good byes on our VHF radio, Artemo headed north and we started the motor and headed south west to make up the miles we had drifted in the wrong direction.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
We are now within about 180 miles of the equator. Winds are light to moderate and in a better direction than the last couple of days.