Pacific Crossing Day 1 - 2nd June 2020

Pacific Crossing Day 1 - 2nd June 2020

Midday position local time:
- 01 degrees, 47 minutes South
- 092 degrees, 54 minutes West
Sailing on a broad reach in beautiful conditions, not a cloud in the sky
Sea State: long rolly swell of 1.5/2 metres
Wind: 12 knots at 110 degrees
Speed over the ground: 7.2 knots
Speed in the water: 6.2 knots
Course over the ground: 234 degrees

We ended up being a bit late leaving Isabela yesterday as they lost the internet - think the 'IT crowd' TV episode where Jen thinks the internet is a box….. We think that perhaps Santa Cruz borrowed it. However, after many radio conversations, dropping documents ashore, suggestions to use a hotspot, a team of people arrived with a manual zarpe at about 2.30pm.

The national park guy had to inspect to ensure we were not taking anything away we shouldn't - no penguins, no sea-lions, no tortoises, etc - he was in full hazmat suit with gloves. I was a little anxious about people coming aboard that could infect us but they were all super careful and kept their distance on the aft deck. The health officer gave us a clean bill of health and a certificate. The port officer had everyone sign the zarpe and the last minute decided not to charge us anchorage given the covid-19 situation - saving us $100. That was very kind but it went towards the donation we left with our agent James to support families on the island, and a flag from our sailing club in Fremantle. They were all very appreciative. We just had to scan and send documents then we were free to depart. With big waves from our fishermen friends and the tour boat crew plus a medley of noise from the delivery ship and a 'hasta luego Askari' on the radio from the port captain.

It was an overcast grey afternoon as we left, however we had a gentle breeze that allowed us to shut the engine off within an hour of leaving. We sailed out towards a dramatic sky and even better sunset, with flocks of Nazca boobies (not seen since our day trip to Espanola) crossing our bow and huge manta rays flipping their wings all around us. I knocked up a virgin passionfruit mojito and we toasted our departure as our wonderful island of Isabela drifted into the night. It was magical and we knew we were ready to be back in the ocean.

Overnight the wind died off and we put the engine on low revs to keep the sails full and had a peaceful night - after all the stress of the day we actually both got some sleep. This morning we spoke to our friends on Zouterik who are ahead of us about 70 miles on the SSB and Andrew got sent kisses from his favourite princess Berber - she's six - it made his day.

We have been experimenting with sail configurations today and have set up the pole so we are ready when we get to the point for running down wind. But for now we remain on a port tack, broad reach having a lovely sail. We did spot two boats earlier - they made us a little nervous when we first saw them as they had no AIS and were going faster than fishing boats usually do, however as they got closer we saw they were towing long lines of boats so we guess they were operating large nets and were moving area. We gave them a wide berth.

Oh I was just interrupted writing this as Andrew caught us a small yellow fin tuna - yay!!

So all in all it's been perfect first 24 hours at sea - we would like to order up more of this…..

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