Author: Pete

Location: 02°10.579S’ 92°14.572W’

Date: 11:00 March 30 to 11:00 March 31

Day 1 at sea.

Left the harbor Villamil on Isla Isabela in the Galapagos at 10:30 am. Skirted around the south side of the island heading southwest ~220 degrees. The wind is lower than predicted, so we motorsailed, rather uninspiringly starting our trip. Looking at the Grib files that show wind, it appears that we’ll have inconsistent and light winds for about 300 miles from Galapagos. So we are aiming at 0500S’ 9500W’, likely 3 days of intermittent sailing and motoring. But THEN we should have good wind, 10-15 knots east to west.

A few hours into the trip I caught a nice yellow fin tuna! I heard the line zip out when we were all finishing up lunch. I hand lined him in while Felix reeled. He was about 2 feet long and 8 or nine pounds. No monster certainly, but really great colors, blue, yellow, and silver. We filleted him and he should give us about 3 meals! It’s a good start to the trip.

Already got in contact with the other boats on our daily ‘net’ today. Wavelength and Centime left at dawn and are out ahead of us. Our connections were clear, and we all relay position, speed, and weather conditions. They aren’t sailing the same path as each other, so it’ll give us a good idea of which one to follow to find the most favorable winds! Several of the other boats aren’t leaving for 2 more days, so we’ll have a couple of them behind us as well.

Watched the island of Isabela inch out of sight, brooding under rain clouds until nightfall. It’ll be the last we see of terra firma for some time.

More rolling than expected with the light winds. Our sea legs aren’t ready yet! We’ve been spoiled by a calm anchorage. I think the rolling anchorage in Panama City prepared us for our trip to Galapagos. We all felt a little nauseous this evening as the seas built. Except Miranda. She feels no pain. She made spicy fish coconut curry with potatoes, onions, and fresh peas over rice with our tuna!

Dodged squalls in the area in the night. Dull lightning flashes from far away light up the clouds in the distance briefly. We steer clear of them visually, but can also see them pretty well on radar up to 20 miles out. As Martha Stewart says, “It’s a good thing.”

Woke in the morning to overcast skies but no rain, calm seas, and still no wind. Quack. Motoring on.

More from the deck of the Tayrona to come.