Our long voyage of nineteen days and fourteen hours, (3000
nautical miles with no land stops in between), from The Galapagos Islands to
French Polynesia, was a challenge for me as I hadn’t experienced being out to
sea for that length of time. Neither had
Mal, but he is so much more experienced in sailing long distances than I. The first couple of days were a real
challenge but once we were in a routine, the days passed more quickly. We experienced every weather pattern that you
could imagine but mostly it was moderate to strong winds and overcast. After about the seventh day, the winds became
stronger and we found we were best sailing with one reef in by day and two
reefs in at night.
Apart from the loud thumping of the waves under the
bridge deck, which was to be expected in some of the conditions we were in, “Hasta
La Vista” skimmed along beautifully and provided us with a comfortable home for
the crossing. Hot showers and three good
meals a day, such as bacon and eggs and roasts, were on the menu. We remained both awake during the day and shared
six hour shifts during the night.
Our days were spent mostly reading with an occasional DVD and
listening to music from our Ipod. There were
only two really lovely sunny days towards the end of our voyage where I sat in
the cockpit reading and enjoying the warmth of the sun. To my horror, I misjudged the heat and glare
and suffered from a severe case of sunburn!
Kerry reading during the day.
During the last couple of days, small Japanese fishing ships
were seen and their conversations heard on the VHF radio. A large pod of hundreds of small black
dolphins were viewed in the distance on another day, but apart from these, we
saw nothing else that was of remarkable interest, not even other sailing or
motor vessels.
