Hi All,
Yes, after a two week delay we are finally ready to leave for the Galapagos on Monday 2/4 early in the am. The initial delay was due to our FBB 150 SAT phone going down. I know I have strongly recommended this unit to many people….well, I can’t do that anymore. The KVH help line is pathetic and finally Tyrone at Starlight Marine in Fort Lauderdale was able to work directly with the manufacturer Thrane and Thrane and was able to ship us a new transceiver…..yes, that’s right after 2 years this multi BOAT (Bring On Another Thousand) unit black box went bad….oh but sir, these never go out……arghhhhhhh!!!
To make matters worse, on our last (well, it was supposed to be the last) provisioning run, I was lifting a case of wine when I felt something give and 4 days later I was under the knife for a large inguinal hernia…..ugh. But, Panama has excellent medical facilities and the cost was 10% of USA!! It will be 12 days on Monday and the doc has cleared me to go!!!!! Of course I filed a claim w/Anthem of California and as typical they have not even acknowledged the claim….these guys have to be the worst of the worse!
The passage is about 900 nm long and will take us about 5.5 days. The weather will be moderate….we will have strong following winds but against the predominant swell for the first two days and then a fairly benign but somewhat confused sea after, but with long wave periods and calm winds. We should arrive sometime Saturday 2/9 in the afternoon on the island of San Cristobal. We will be crossing the equator on Friday, 2/8 in the afternoon and after celebrating and paying homage to Neptune we will be on our way on the last leg. We know of 3-4 other boats that will be going around the same time but our speeds do not match so no buddy boats…..hope the SSB works and we can stay in touch with them:))))
Below are some relevant web url’s if you desire:
Our blog site. I will be posting a daily Captain’s log while on passage: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/
You can see our track on our SPOT page: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?&glId=0zXvuE8PaMPz0iuWAOyOd3aI8eQF8JMGO
You can see a SPOT “ok” every 24 hours on our Selene page: http://www.seleneowners.org//SO_guest_map.php?boatidQ
We are both so ready for this passage which we are calling Leg 2 of our Pacific crossing….the first was transiting the Panama Canal.
We hope all is well with everyone!!
John
Mystic Moon
La Playita Panama
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have a safe and exciting adventure friends. We look forward to reading the annals of your sojourn and all the treasure hunting booty you find.