Pacific Puddle Jump | Errantries

Author: Pete

Location: Isabela, Galapagos

Date: March 29, 2015

Spent the last couple of days mostly prepping for the push to the Marquesas. It’s a long way, some 3000 miles, but should be fairly comfortable at this time of year. We just need to provision up!

I put in a new thermostat on the port engine. Its fuel consumption is a little higher than the starboard. Wendy is always running in Belinda’s shadow. I know it runs a lot cooler than it should, so it sounded like a thermostat problem. We’ll see how it performs. In our 85 hours of motoring since our last tank top up, the port tank used 20 gallons of diesel and the starboard only 13. Maybe we were just going in circles.

I also got the gas generator up and running. It’s been a saga, starting with tearing it apart in the Bahamas, bringing it to a mechanic in Cartagena, and then several hours wiring and rewiring the output through a German battery charger. Finally got all the systems to cooperate and we can charge at ~13 amps. There’s only been a few times where we really needed it to charge batteries instead of running the diesels. We may need it more on this passage as the following winds won’t run the wind generator as efficiently. Felix also opened up the towing generator and cleaned up the guts. I rewired its inputs and maybe we’ll get some juice out of him as well.

We were invited by friends to join a loose group of boats that were heading out about the same time we are interested in leaving. We got together on Wavelength, our friends Mark and Eileen’s boat to discuss plans with the other captains and crew. So we will be one boat out of five leaving within a few days of each other. We have a radio net set up, so we’ll be in contact with each other every day via SSB radio. We’ll also be emailing our position updates to the blog as we go via the radio as well. It’s too slow for pictures, so you’ll have to use your imagination.

Our flotilla consists of:

Tayrona – Midwest – Pete, Miranda, Liza, Felix

Wavelength – Vancouver – Mark and Eileen

Talula Ruby – England – Paul, Andi, Pedro, Scott, Carl

Centime – Maine – Dennis and Heidi

Endorphine – Scotland – Colin, Izi, and Terry

We’re the only cat in the bunch, but the sailors on the other boats have oceans of experience and really nice boats, so I’m sure we’ll be the ones trying to keep up! So we’re pretty excited about that. It’s nice to have safety in numbers. We will also try to be in contact via radio with the Pacific Puddle Jump, an organization that keeps track of the boats crossing the Pacific every year.

Our friends Dirk and Gretchen pulled in a few days ago from their Panama to Galapagos crossing. They’re legit sailors on a gorgeous wooden ketch, no refrigeration, rowing dinghy. They’re the real deal. They waited in Las Perlas off Panama for a week for good wind and made it across in six days, albeit they did have a day’s head start leaving from the islands and not Panama City. We got together on our boat for dinner and drinks and related stories of our crossings and the goings on of the Galapagos. They’ll be following us to the Marquesas, just not for a few weeks.

We took on 50 gallons of diesel and 5 of gasoline in our jerry jugs. It’s not straight forward on the Galapagos. Diesel at the gas station is subsidized and costs about $2/gallon, which is illegal for non-Ecuadoreans to purchase. Thus, you have to send if paperwork with an agent (ours is J.C. Desoto), wait four days, and then get your fuel, at $4/gallon. Not the end of the world, but definitely a rigamarole.

Fresh produce is flown in on Saturdays at noon to the Galapagos. It only hits the market on Isabela at 5:00. So in we went to pick out our haul of fruit and veggies for the push. We didn’t find pineapples in the prolific abundance that we did in the Panama City market. We still made out alright though.

In all the preparatory steps to get out of here and back onto the high seas we did sneak in some time to do some more snorkeling. Had a pass by a white tipped reef shark, played with a sea lion, swooping and spinning underwater. I couldn’t keep up with him, but it was sure fun to play. Then we chased a penguin down with the dinghy on the way home!

Now just a few odds and ends to wrap up before we head out! Sounds like tomorrow (Monday) we’ll be shoving off in the morning. We will likely be in the Marquesas anywhere from April 17th to April 30th! We’ll keep you posted!

Author: Miranda

After relaxing in Las Perlas for a few days, it was time to head back to the long to-do list that awaited us in civilization. We jumped back into readying the boat, provisioning, and finishing up all those important items that you just must do before you even think about crossing the world’s largest ocean. PC part 2-4

Let me share with you the intricacies of our pre-passage to-do list. Are you beside yourself with excitement? I know I am.

First of all, our drogue was towards the top of our MUST-DO list. We decided that after spending money like it’s going out of style, we’d save some bucks by making our own drogue. The boat didn’t come with one, and after some research, we realized the general consensus is the series drogue is the best option out there. After finding the plans on Sailrite.com, we figured we were up for the challenge. I don’t really want to know how many hours of my life I’ve devoted to this device who’s purpose is to slow down a vessel that averages little more than my own despicable jogging speed, but let’s just say it’s been many hours. Very. Many. Hours.

Cones had to cut from fabric, webbing attached, sewn into a cone shape, spliced into our 3-strand nylon rope, then the final touch- eye splices were added to each end.

But it’s done!! Glory be to all things holy, it is done!

General maintenance, like servicing our winches and lubing all pulley tracks, is beyond important before all the wear and tear your boat takes while at sea for weeks.

Liza has become our weather guru, and she’s put in many hours researching weather patterns and how to download the correct documents via our SSB radio, pactor modem, and airmail software. No small feat!

Our boat has required a few major projects amongst the basic preparations, one of them included getting our portable generator working for those windless, sunless days at sea. Sounds easy, but when you factor in having to do wiring in this position:

it’s not such a quick job.

We’ve fixed leaks, added more lighting, sewn up holes, made a cover for our dinghy motor, done plumbing, bought spares for anything and everything we think might break, contacted agents in the Galapagos and French Polynesia, filled our diesel tanks, our gasoline tanks, our propane tanks, and finally finished the list with the grocery shopping…

Oh, the grocery shopping! We’ve set out to stock our boat for four months of provisions, which required no less than four different grocery store runs. We started at, you guessed it, Costco! (well, the Panamanian version called Pricemart) Filled up three carts full then, we, very sillily, proceeded to the general supermarket just down to street (Riba Smith), without making a stop back at the marina in between. Filled up another three carts full. Both the packing boys at Riba Smith (yes, we needed two) audibly laughed at us when we open our trunk and they saw just how full it already was. But we managed. Pete drove and Liza and I packed ourselves in amongst our groceries.

I have never in my life seen a car more jam packed full of food! God knows where it will fit on the boat. Looks even more menacing organized on the dock. Denny has the most important stash!

But, of course, we found some time to have fun! Casco Viejo and mojitos! Great combo.

And, we took a day to escape to nature in the Parque Nacional Soberanía, only 20 kilometers from the city.

Sadly, we bid farewell to Jeanne and Denny. They set off to explore a few sights outside the city and, probably, escape our grinding to-do list of tasks that we put them through during their stay on the Tayrona. 😉

We’ve filled our last few days with trips to the fruit and vegetable market…