So Savarna is now in the southern hemisphere for the first time and only around 7,000 miles from Auckland - we look forward to the day we sail around North Head into Auckland harbour but many adventures yet to come before that day arrives.


Savarna at anchor in Academy Bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos

The plan to depart Panama City on Saturday 10th April did come to fruition but only just as the lost at sea refrigeration man turned up late in the morning so we now have both fridges and the freezer working well again. Thank goodness - Pam was threatening several weeks of vegetarian diet although that would not necessarily be a bad thing!


Pam in the galley en route

The Pan Pacific leaders conference was on in Panama City on Friday the 9th and POTUS (Obama) was attending so the city basically closed down for a long weekend. The canal was closed, the famous Bridge of The Americas was closed, military helicopters aplenty, an aircraft carrier on station in the Bay - the big show was on. The major problem this caused meant that some things we wanted to buy before departure were not possible - nothing was open (not even petrol stations) as the city decided to make it a long weekend.

We were planning to leave a couple of hours after David and Jill, the Sydney couple on board their Buizen 48, but the booking they had for diesel was not fulfilled and they had to wait until Sunday morning before topping up which resulted in them being around 100 miles astern and out of VHF range.

The passage was remarkably uneventful and took us a long 7 days to cover the 931 miles we logged up. This stretch of water took us across the Equator (just north of Galapagos), no wind over 10 or 12 knots other than the first few hours out of Panama and consequently a sea state that mostly was suitable for long distance water skiers. We carry 400 litres of diesel plus we had a further 80 litres in 4 containers tied on deck. At our cruising revs we burn a litre a mile so when we motored we kept well under cruising revs with the result that we only used a total of 280 litres overall. Basically we sailed for a little over 50% of the time and motored or motored sailed for just under 50% of the time and used 2.8 litres an hour so quite economical (although slowish) when motoring. We ran with a watch system of 1.5 hours on and 6 hours off which worked well with 5 on board and resulted in the watch times changing each day.

>
The only other boat we saw - 400 miles offshore!

The daily weather updates from the "weatherman" Bruce Buckley in Perth were always looked forward to if only because we were hunting down any wind we could find. Big red (the 2200 sq ft) genaker made an appearance for several days and hauled us along at close to the true wind speed in flat water. So looking closely at our tracking shows several twists and turns as we generally headed SW.


Sunset in the Pacific


Same sunset a few minutes later

The other issue was the presence of thunder storms and Bruce managed to keep us well clear although we saw plenty of distant electrical activity on several nights. We did have one daytime storm heading for us with a broad front and very threatening with very black high rolling clouds.


Squall approaches

Our interpretation was high wind, so we dropped all sails, and we motored to the south to try and outrun it and in the event it dissipated somewhat but we got some heavy rain and no increase in wind speed. The rain gave us the opportunity to scrub the decks of all the dirt and grime that covered the boat while we were on the Balboa YC mooring.


Yannick on night watch


Keith about to go on watch

We had Dawnielle get all the harnesses out for the equator crossing as we were told her we were very unsure of the extent of the drop off as we crossed into the southern hemisphere and were anticipating something of a bump! I think we had her concerned for a while!


Dawnielle nervously awaits the drop off

Fortunately the sea was kind and the only bump was the clinking of champagne glasses at 2230 hrs on 16th April.


Training for the equator crossing in a few hours time

We trolled with a lure all the way and only got one strike a few miles off Santa Cruz when we lost a very big tuna right at the stern after a lot of work by Yannick on the rod - the loss quelled the sashimi discussion. Quite a bit of other sea life though with whales, dolphins, seals and shark sightings although this did not deter us from a dive to clean the hull about 30 miles out from Santa Cruz in order to ensure we complied with the stringent regulations.


Santa Cruz comes into view

The arrival in Academy Bay, Santa Cruz was fortunately in daylight at 1430 hours followed by a phone call to our agent, Ricardo Arenas, to try and arrange the check in. For a while it looked as though we would not be permitted ashore until Monday when the officials were available. Dawnielle (abbreviated to D on board) and Yannick in part have been really put to the test as English is not spoken so their ability to communicate in Spanish has been essential. About 6 officials eventually turned up at 1900 hrs and we completed the very detailed check in process - engine, flares, first aid kit, biodegradable soap, diesel spill absorbent cloths, electronic gear and so it went on but all was examined. It had taken us several hours to compete and assemble all the documentation required such as type of antifouling paint used, when last applied, fumigation certificate etc. As it happened on a Saturday evening, and with the boat looking very clean and tidy, this resulted in a record clearing in time and they described it as "perfect." So a good outcome. We were then able to head ashore for what was an excellent dinner at a waterfront restaurant (recommended by Mark off Por Dos) and then crashed for an all-night continuous sleep. Auckland yacht Matelot is here so we will catch up with Richard and Pippy as are Mark and Marta on Por Dos so could be quite a social time here. There is one other NZ yacht here and overall only 8 yachts in total in the bay.


Pat in photographer mood under the LED cockpit lights

Still hot with 35 or so every day and water temp around 29 although a 2 metre shark passing by the stern a few hours ago and treating us to a jump that even a dolphin would have been proud of will slow down swimming off the boat we think - although as we write this Pat has just emerged from a very quick dip (read I didn't even get my hair wet!).

All in all a momentous occasion and really a privilege to visit, explore and learn. Albeit that the privilege comes at a cost of USD1500 for the few days we will be here.

Cheers for now
Pam & Keith