On Our Way.<\/p>\n
We pulled up our anchor this morning and set off for the
\nisland of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French
\nPolynesia. We left at 10:40 am local time (same as Mountain
\nDaylight Time) and have been motoring through gentle swells for
\nthe past seven hours. We had a bit of wind for a while and got
\nsome extra speed from our sails, but there has been no wind for
\nat least the past 3 hours. As we left the anchorage of Puerto
\nVillamil, we were greeted by a large sea turtle who seemed to
\ncrane his neck to have a look at us and wave goodbye with his
\nflippers as he dove. As we sailed past the southwestern beaches
\nof Isla Isabela we saw that the ocean was full of sea turtles.
\nEvery 100 yards there was a turtle or a small group of turtles.
\n Perhaps they are going to that beach to lay theirs eggs. What
\na nice send-off from the Galapagos.<\/p>\n
Yesterday we did our final provisioning. First we went to a
\nsmall supermarket and bought 5 dozen fresh and unrefrigerated
\neggs, a few canned goods, and some bottled water. We left these
\npurchases at the market walked over to the Mercado a block away
\nto buy fruits and vegetables. We bought a large stalk of green
\nbananas weighing 20 pounds ($2.50), 10 avocadoes, 8 pounds of
\ntomatoes, three pineapples, and a watermelon. We wanted to buy
\noranges and grapefruits but they were all soft and many were
\nmoldy. We then hailed a pick-up truck taxi and loaded our fruits
\ninto the back. In her best Spanish, Laura asked the driver if
\nthere were another place to buy oranges. He took us to a store
\nthat we had not seen before. There we bought 45 hard green
\noranges, a half-dozen grapefruit, and another watermelon. We
\nshlepped it to back to the boat and had it washed and stowed
\naboard before 10:30 am. We had to hang the banana stalk in the
\nocean for a half-hour in order to drown the numerous insects
\nliving there — some seemed immune to a 10 minute dunk. We
\nspent the afternoon going through our checklist of departure
\npreparations.<\/p>\n
At 5 pm we took the water taxi into the Embarcadero to have
\none last walk on solid gound, have a quick meal at Henry’s Club
\nNautico, and pick up our order of prepared food. Earlier
\nyesterday morning, we asked Henry’s wife to cook up grilled
\nchicken and rice with vegetables and chicken for 9 people, and
\nleft tupperware to contain it. When we got to Club Nautico, it
\nhad all just been cooked and was sitting in the sealed
\ntupperware. We had a quick dinner of fish (they were now out of
\nchicken) and took a water taxi over to “Intiaq” . Karen and
\nJean-Francois had invited us to talk about winds, waves, and
\nrouting to the Marquesas over drinks on their beautiful
\ncatamaran. They had two Italian couples from a nearby boat
\nover, and the men were bent over a computer screen with weather
\nforecasts. The discussion was all in French but I could follow
\nmuch of it, and Laura helped out with translations as well. One
\nof the Italian men had been a weather forecaster before
\nretiring. The question is whether to go directly south in the
\nhopes of picking up the tradewinds, or take a more northerly
\ncourse as routing guru Jimmy Cornell suggests. Jean-Francois
\nhad made contact on his SSB radio with two boats that left the
\nGalapagos for the Marquesas three days ago. One went far south
\nand was experiencing very rough seas and no wind. The other
\nwent less south and was experiencing calmer seas and 17 knots of
\nwinds. This is extremely useful information and I have adjusted
\nour route in light of it. Over drinks and appetizers, Laura
\nengaged everyone in her brilliant French while I just sat there
\nsmiling. We could not stay long as we had an invitation for
\n“sundowners” at “Vera”, the boat of our friends Michael and
\nBritta of Germany. It was certainly our big social night.<\/p>\n
Laura is now listening in on Jean-Francois and his friends
\nat sea discuss condition (in French) on the SSB. Intiaq left
\njust 4 hours ago. A few other boats left today as well
\nprimarily because the nasty swell from the south that we have
\nhad for the past few days has ended. We are currently heading
\n208 degrees magnetic at 7.2 knots at location 1 degrees 39
\nminutes South, 91 degrees 29 minutes West. We had some dolphins
\njumping near the boat just a few minutes ago. Soon it will be
\nrice and chicken for supper, and a night full of stars.<\/p>\n
M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Our Way. We pulled up our anchor this morning and set off for the island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. We left at 10:40 am local time (same as Mountain Daylight Time) and have been motoring through gentle swells for the past seven hours. We had a bit of … <\/p>\n