We crossed the equator this morning and we are officially in the South Pacific ocean! A proper ceremony was held and Neptune granted us permission to transition from lowly polliwog to honorable shellback. Photos and transcript to come when we get to wifi. We’re making good time now and the winds are in our favor, finally – must have something to do with that rum we gave Neptune. We should be pulling into Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos tomorrow.

Current location: Lat 00 07.680S Long 088 07.907W
Distance traveled: 136 NM

Our birds “friends,” and I use that term very lightly, have stuck around for a couple of days now and have completely worn out their welcome. Sure, they’re fun to watch as they try to keep their balance on the bow as the boat pitches and rolls, taking breaks to dive after a school of flying fish, using their feet and tails as they come in for a landing. What’s not fun, though? The sheer amount of poop they generate and fling at the boat. They’ve taken to using our sails (and canvas, and decks) as target practice. Yesterday they even had the audacity to use crew member Tom as the target. And scored a direct hit! We’re trying to take it in stride – you know, seeing nature and all – but we suspect the cleaning we’ll need to do when we reach the Galapagos will be enough to drop the Red-footed Boobie from our list of favorite birds.

On the sailing front, we continue to take two steps forward and one step back. For the last two days we’ve had great wind propelling us west… unfortunately, we need to be going southwest. At night the wind lessens and we turn south and motor into it to get back on course. We anticipate at least another day or two of the same. Not the passage we would’ve picked had we had an option but we’ll get there sooner or later.

Current location: Lat 00 52.265N Long 086 32.634W
Distance traveled: 136 NM

We had good wind most of the day yesterday, which made for solid sailing but it slowed dramatically overnight and, consequently, so did we. We ended up motoring for 6 hours this morning. Now we’re back in the wind and moving along at about 6.5 knots. The seas are cooperating and keeping the ride fairly comfy, enough at least for the occasional bird visitor to land for a brief respite from fishing (something they seem to do better than us as we’ve had no luck so far). We’ve seen two large ships and one oil platform. Two flying fish have given their lives for a chance to see our deck. Other than that, the marine life has been scarce. If the wind holds we hope to make landfall sometime this weekend.

Current location: Lat 01 35.605N Long 085 02.491W
Distance traveled: 135 NM

It’s a partly sunny day, the fishing lines are out and crew spirits are much improved. Rough seas continued all day and much of the night. Although we had about 12 knots of wind, the angle we would need to be on to take advantage of it put us too far in the wrong direction and we risked being pulled even farther off course by the prevailing current. So, we started the engine at sunset and motored through the night. The seas finally started to calm around midnight and by this morning are reasonably comfortable. The wind has shifted around and we’re sailing on course with a nice close haul to beam reach. The main challenge is getting around the boat while heeling 10-15 degrees. We hope to make up some ground today and tomorrow if the wind speed holds in the 10-12 kt range as predicted.

Current location: Lat 02 26.382N Long 083 12.871W
Distance traveled: 137 NM

When the birds flew off yesterday they left behind quite a little mess on the bow. Someone made an offhanded comment about needing a little rain to rinse it and all the salt off the decks. Well, after a nice sunny day we got that “wish.” It started raining last night and hasn’t stopped yet. And with the rain came some uncomfortable seas but little wind so we were forced again to motor throughout the night. We’re finally getting wind today and are sailing on a nice beam reach for now. The seas are starting to calm a bit and we’re hoping this incessant rain will leave us soon. Crew spirits are waning but still fairly high, nothing some sunshine won’t cure.

Current location: Lat 03 15.170N Long 081 33.116W
Distance traveled: 149 NM

The computer has revived itself, at least for now, which is nice because it’s much easier to type out updates on a keyboard than old-school texting the 160 allowable characters on the InReach device. The confused seas from the previous day calmed down and we had a good day of sailing yesterday. The 1-2 kt current in our face, however, is definitely slowing us down and will likely add another day to our passage.

We had our first avian hitchhikers, two red-footed boobies. They showed up early in the afternoon and liked it so much they spent the entire night perched on the bow pulpit. Well-rested and hungry, they finally took their leave this morning.

Current location: Lat 04 59.391N Long 080 34.863W
Distance traveled: 131 NM

Day 3, 27 May: Underway. Computer died. Sending via InReach. All is well. Lat 06 32.863N Long 079 50.943W. 159 NM

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Day 2 was spent at anchor enjoying the bay and wrapping up boat projects (at least for now). After breakfast we went for a snorkel. The water clarity wasn’t great but it was nice to cool off. In the afternoon we explored the beach and gathered coconuts and mangoes. While we were ashore our buddy Tom, who is crewing with us to the Galapagos, flagged down a local panga and procured four freshly caught lobsters. A great meal, another calm night at anchor and we’re ready to sail!

Location: Lat 08 24.114N Long 079 04.941W
Distance traveled: 0 NM

Our first day was a short 6-hour trip to Isla Pedro Gonzales in the Las Perlas islands. The anchorage is beautiful, calm and the perfect place to do our last few preps for the jump to the Galapagos islands on Saturday.

Location: Lat 08 24.114N Long 079 04.941W
Miles traveled: 41 NM

If you can see this post you should be able to follow along with our daily updates as we cross the Pacific!