Passage to Galapagos – Part One

We are now beginning our third day of passage.  It has been more than 24 hours since we last saw any sign of a boat or of another human being.  Strange, and perhaps a little unnerving…..It feels very alone out here.  The last time we’ve experienced anything even remotely similar was our run between the Exumas in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, but that was a shorter passage and at least there was the occasional island to see that linked us to land and humankind.

Alternately, our first day out was a never ending game of tanker-sandwich…..Guess we didn’t expect so many boats coming to and from the Panama Canal, but wow! they just kept coming and going!  Really, though, the good news is that this time around, we are broadcasting our AIS signal, as well as receiving, and some ships even adjusted their courses to make our passing more comfortable.  Of course there was also the cowboy who approached us from astern, confident that 100 yards was an acceptable distance. He finally altered his course to port a degree or two after we had altered ours a half mile to starboard and closer to the other ship on our starboard side….sheesh!

The weather the first day was a very pleasant surprise….True trawler weather! 🙂  Seven to 8 knots of wind and 2’ seas, all aft of our beam….Nice!!  The other auspicious event that day was the escort of a core pod of 4 Pan-Tropical Spotted dolphins.  They rode our bow, beam and stern wakes and did incredible flips, rolls and aerial gymnastics with amazing gusto and aplomb!  Two of them even tail-walked for a brief time!  Pretty cool stuff, and what was more amazing is that they stayed with us for over 3 hours….That’s a record for Mystic Moon!!  I really thought that maybe they were going to take the free ride all the way to Galapagos!  Alas, they finally departed and left us to our fishing…..

Which, BTW was very so-so.  The water temp was a surprisingly cool 70°F and a very Pacific green color.  We did catch a Bonita and a Skipjack, but threw both back as they are not our favorite food fish.

So, we had a very pleasant non-fish dinner as the sun was setting on our first day.  Beautiful sunset with vivid pinks, oranges, and reds in its wake.  We were approximately 25 miles off Punta Mala, and as the sun set, the wind rose.  That first night, we had 18 to 22 knots of wind and pretty confused and rolly seas.  We continued to encounter ship after ship either coming or going to Balboa.  All was well though in our own trusty little ship, as waves slapped both sides of the boat and pushed our stern faster and faster along.  The seas were so confused and the current so strong, that our auto pilot was having a hard time holding our NAV course and was working way too hard.  So, while on watch I switched it over to just AUTO, and it did fine….She was much happier and holding the course quite well….Only required the occasional tweaking to adjust for current and set….LIG….

Finally, John relieved me at 2 AM and I happily took to my bed.  The confused seas continued through the night.  Good sleep was illusive, what with the noise of the waves on the hull, the stabilizers working their hearts out, and the constant motion.  At one point, I felt Mystic flying through the water, bouncing back and forth off the waves, a huge crash from above, and was practically thrown out of the bed.  I thought briefly about going above to see what happened, but I heard John curse from the pilothouse as Mystic settled, and then another curse, so figured all was well.  🙂  I scowled at the wind indicator next to the bed, turned over, pulled the sheet over my head and tried to sleep…..

Morning brought some relief and….The Need for Speed!  Holy moly we were doing 9 to 10 knots at 1400 rpm.  At that rpm, we should only be doing around 7 or 7.5 kts.  We did 10 kts or better until well past noon!!  Woo-hoo!!  We were flying!!  The seas did calm, although the wind stayed in the 12-18kt range.  And, the ocean had turned to the beautiful open water clear, deep blue color and had risen to 82°F…….Pleasant….

But fishing!!  Yee-haw!!  Caught a couple of more Bonitas, which went back to Mother Ocean, and just when I was deciding what to defrost for dinner, we caught an 18 lb, 31” yellow fin tuna!  With John’s hernia repair still healing, it was a trick getting it in, but get it in we did!!  Yeesss!!  Made sushi, sashimi, and even some seared tuna for dinner and ate it on the flybridge table as the sun was setting on the second day…..Special, special indeed!!

After a much better night’s watch and sleep, here we are this morning.  Looks to be a beautiful day….Mostly sunny, 9 kts of breeze off our port stern, 2 foot swell with a little chop, and we’re doing  8.0 kts at 1400 rpm, with a slight rhythmic roll as the swell rolls under Mystic….I simply cannot describe the beauty and serenity that surrounds us.  With about 400nm under our bellies and another 480 to go, Life is truly Very Good.