Daily Logs

Charm - To Grenada 3 and Cabadelo visit

It’s amazing how quickly things change.We’ve got 23 knots of apparent wind coming in at 60 degrees, large-ish seas, two reefs in the main, full jib, and we’re doing 9 – 10 knots.As a comparison point, the giant cargo tankers that have been continually passing us are doing 12 – 13 knots.So, we’re doing OK.I’m OK with the wind speed – it’s just the angle is a bit inconvenient. Picture the open sea, with waves moving along in more or less even rows.We’re working our way almost parallel to these waves so for a while we move nicely up one side and down the other as they come diagonally towards to us.For a few minutes, we coast along nice and easy, moving within the waves.Then, along comes a big one and we wham right into it, sending up spray and jolting everything on board. We’ve had to shut. read more...

Next Step - 6th March 2020

In the morning we were still just about sailing. But unfortunately by 0050, the wind had gone away to nothing so the engine went back on again. In the early hours of the morning we had a fishing vessel and a cargo vessel pass astern. Just after 0700 the wind improved and the engine was turned off. We had a great sailing day with speeds of in excess of 10knots at times. A pod of dolphins appeared briefly but still no whale! In the evening I cooked a turkey, tomato and pasta dish which seemed to go down OK. Before we started the night time watch routine we took in a couple of reefs in the genoa and a reef in the mainsail.. read more...

Amari - It Was An Accident

The spatula fell. It just slipped from a hand, heading for the stove.It's easy to see how this could happen. Amari was clipping along at 7-8 knots, heaving with swells sometimes from the stern quarter, but randomly abeam as well. Below, you cannot see it coming, only having to react with knives and utensils and smoking hot grease sliding about on a gimballed stove.No amount of protocols can prepare you for random. As the spatula fell its handle struck first the stainless steel handrail just in front of the cast iron skillet we had just fried our fish in. The flat part inexplicably landed in the oil and the ensuing bounce flipped up a splatter of searing pain across Dottie's arms, her face, her eyes. Now on the floor, screaming, hands to face, tossed by the rolling seas between bench and. read more...

Amari - Beef Box Wine, and the watermaker whisperer (get a bigger hammer)

Today Dottie had her head buried in the locker in our room, where the water maker lives. Enlisting me for screwing and unscrewing the filters to test this and that, she was committed to figuring out why oh why is this thing only putting out 5 gallons an hour. The horrors, right?Then I heard her make a little Dottie shout of joy, a shoutlet really, and when I went down to investigate I saw her happy face lift out of the locker, beaming a smile, holding a hammer! "Percussive maintenance!"Dottie the water-maker-whisperer discovered the problem. There are two pumps down there and only one of them was working, so the output was cut in half. And now you're asking, sooooo what's with the hammer Dottie? She found that if she gently tapped on the side of the pump it would start working again.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Thursday February 27, 2020

Day started by hiring a taxi to take us and Steve and Dave from Alora to the mall. It was a lovely break from the heat at the mall, we had a nice lunch, then taxied to the grocery shop. We came back to the boat I put the foodstuff away and Lars disappeared for the afternoon. When he came back we agreed I should go to a hotel. This puts my crewing on Sweet Dream on hold, as well as putting my blog on hold. Perhaps I’ll return in St. Lucia.image0.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Wednesday February 26, 2020

Another hot day in Jacare. We washed the salt off the boat, defrosted the fridge and freezer, tidied up from our passage. Caught up all the laundry, and rested some. Tried out the WiFi at the marina club and caught up with the outside world. The heat is relentless. The parched dusty ground sent up little clouds of dust as we trudged around the town by the marina. Our Sweet Dream was happy to have her happy hour when the marina guys brought Jerry jugs of fuel for her.image0.. read more...

Sapphire II of London - Day 3 and 4

Hi allday 3 was challenging with light winds and rain. The night was very wet with squalls and changing wind direction.today has been much better and we have sailed under the asymetric most of the day.we are now on genoa and main sail and doing 8.5+ SOG.most of the fleet are behind and have motored more than Sapphire.food has been good with wraps, surf and chorizo and beef stew tonight.the rugby result has cheered us all up as well.Still no fish caught!!!!kr to allSimon. read more...

Next Step - 5th March 2020

The wind did not improve overnight so as we went into the morning we were still motoring. By 1215 the wind had increased sufficiently for us to switch off the engine, thank goodness peace at last! We had a lovely sail for the rest of the day. There was very little traffic on AIS and just a few WorldARC boats around. We saw the occasional pod of dolphins in the distance and the usual storm petrel's but no other wildlife. As we have fresh food in the fridge we will not be fishing for a few days. In the evening Nicole made a very nice supper. Surprisingly, it was not that warm overnight so I was wearing a fleece for the first time since the Atlantic crossing.-------------------------------------------------Do not push the "reply" button to respond to this message if that includes the text. read more...

Charm - To Grenada 2

It is Friday, March 6 (only a week away from Friday, March 13) and a black bird has circled the boat at least three times, landing on the bimini once.The moon has had a halo around it for the past two nights.This afternoon we had a rainbow.There is a small patch of lightning crackling off the port side (downwind so it’s no cause for concern).What does it all mean?Are there strong winds coming or more heat?A storm or a calm?Thank goodness I didn’t live a hundred years ago.Like all the other sailors, I would have been a nervous wreck, just waiting for the next omen. Since we have a service called PredictWind that allows us to download weather forecasts via our Iridium Go!, I am going to call them favorable signs.Joe has been using the GFS model (turns out there are various models from. read more...

Next Step - 4th March 2020 - Departure from Galapagos

Our stay in Galapagos has been fantastic but it is now time to move on. We woke up at a reasonable time in the morning as we needed to get a few things done before departure today. Jeremy and Nicole went into town by water taxi to get a few last minute items from the supermarket. We had the guys from the Navy and Customs come on board to check our passports and the boat. At 1135 we pulled up the anchor and made our way to the start line for the next leg. At 1200 we all started, the wind was very variable in strength so it took a bit of time to get over the line. By 1405 the wind had dropped completely and it was necessary to start the engine. We saw lots of wildlife in the seas around the Galapagos including whales and Dolphins. As we went into the night watches the engine was still. read more...

Amari - The Current Situation

The Southern Pacific Equatorial Current is a beautiful thing. Especially since the peaceful Pacific is a little to peaceful right now. We are in probably 5 to 6 knots of wind and our speed over ground is 4-5 knots. While I would love to attribute that to my mad ninja sailing skills, I think the current sitch is all about the current itself. Thank you SPEC!But we have to exit this lovely hydro-conveyer belt of current to get us down below 5 degrees south. There's wind down there so we can sail, but the Equatorial currents ebb, so it's a trade off and, being a sailboat and all, I'll take the winds any day.Digging us like a premonition of room is astorm band of ugliness. It seems to be attached to Amari through some magic thread bc the models show it tracking us for the entire first week.. read more...

Charm - To Grenada 1

Back at sea!We have begun the final long crossing of our circumnavigation and it is a pleasant feeling.The pleasant feeling is magnified because we are sailing again after a full day of motoring.We left Brazil with fine winds and seas yesterday around noon and did 100 nautical miles in our first twelve hours, which is a great pace.Then the wind died and we turned on the engines and did 150 miles in the next 24 hours, which is not such a great pace.These light winds were supposed to continue for the next two days but we received a reprieve about an hour ago.I noticed a breezier breeze and put the starboard engine in neutral and, sure enough, our speed stayed about the same so I turned off the engine and we’ve been averaging about 7 knots ever since. For those of you that don’t spend much. read more...

Sapphire II of London - Day 2

Hi allwe had a quiet night of motoring bar one hour of sailing.today has been much better and we have been sailing since lunch time under main sail and genoa. The current is with us for a change.Ian and Simon cooked breakfast which was bacon and eggs in the muffin tin.Lunch was cold meats and avocado mush.Paul and Neal are doing supper and it is spicy mince.we have been net controller today which took over an hour! doing some rigging prep looking forward to finding the trade winds for some down wind sailing.As far as fishing is concerned we have put a "toe in the water" but in the best Darwinian traditions we remain committed to only catching the smartest of fish- that of course takes longer. Tally thus far is Nil.....So we are on our way.circa to hundred miles already done.kr to allSimon. read more...

Amari - Day 1: So long and thanks for all the fish

Yes, it's midnight and I'm writing a blog post cause that's how it rolls on the Will Watch, lol.Loved Galapagos, and want to return at some point. But time to go west now.As a parting gift perhaps, the sea gave us so many fish today! People all through the fleet caught fish today, and the amazing story is that Avril and Allan on Island Wanderer -- who had caught exactly zero fish so far -- had their fishing rod stolen from their boat the night before we left! Awful. But Karl on Remedy stepped up and let them use one of his and ... they snagged a Mahi on the very first day out! I think it's because of the quality of Karl's rod, don't you know? 😄😄If the weather were a book, it would be 50 Shades of Gray. Overcast skies, drizzly spotty rain, and doldrums and feeling like I want to. read more...

Sapphire II of London - Start of Leg 4

Hi all,so we are now fully provisioned and ready to go.Jason and Ian have joined this morning and have had skipper briefing and unpacked etc.weather here rainy!chicken curry planned for dinner3000nm to go and sunglasses on.we have had had a fantastic time in Galapagos but keen to get going on next leg.kr to allSimon. read more...

Skyelark of London - Galapagos

Arriving into the Galapagos is quite a process and it is refreshingly clear that tourism takes a very 2nd place to the animals, environment and eco system. Eleven inspectors visit the boat, including a diver, a doctor, meat inspector, quarantine officials and the navy. Only biodegradable products can be used onboard, and there is a strict limit on food stuffs to protect against invasive species. This is enough to put some people off visiting the islands - which is kind of the point. But we are certainly glad we stopped by, it is a naturelovers paradise and a one of a kind stopover.Skyelark stopped at the 3 ports that you’re allowed to visit with a yacht, and from there made various sorties by foot, bicycle, flippers, speed boats and jeeps. We confess to ‘bagging’ animal sightings. On the. read more...

Skyelark of London - Las Perlas to Galapagos

After the Canal we headed for a brief cruise around the Las Perlas islands, white beaches, nice swimming, and a bit of land exploration before putting to sea for the 850 mile passage to the Galapagos. We had a fast passage - the trick was finding the sweet spot of favourable current that added 1-2 knots to our boat speed despite the fairly light wind conditions. Particular high lights - some deep ocean swimming, a tot of rum on the equator and our fishing prowess, 14 tuna, a spotty mackerel and a beautiful kingfish. Needless to say we ate very well. Sushi, cerviche, lots of delicious seared tuna steaks and a well stocked freezer for the next leg. The sailing was mostly broad reaching with some engine assistance through the doldrums, Skyelark was sailed well by an excellent crew and we. read more...

Skyelark of London - Through the panama

The Panama Canal is truly impressive – it doesn’t matter how many times you pass through it, you can’t help be impressed about the scale of it all. The real wonder that someone took on such a monumental project - chiselling miles of channel through the mountains, flooding 120 square miles of rainforest and farm land not to mention the scale of the engineering required to build the locks, the ‘diplomacy’ of creating a new country, the five hundred million dollars spent (in 1903) and the 20,000 lost lives - all for a 99 year lease. But it’s been a massive success, a gold mine for the Americans who operated it for 100 years and now provides the main source of wealth to Panama. The trick is in the pricing. The Canal authority take into account a vessel’s start and end point, then calculate. read more...

Sweet Dream - Friday February 21, 2020

Carnival! When we signed up to join the WARC, being in Salvador, Brazil for Carnival was what I personally looked forward to the most. Now, the day had arrived! There weren’t very many of us, with just the crews of Atla, Steve from Alora, the Babsea crew, Paul from Chao Lay, the Charm family, John and Josie, lately of Coco de Mer, Danica, and we Sweet Dreamers, but we made a happy little knot of folks in various states of carnival regalia that set forth on our decadent adventure at 15:00 in the afternoon. Salvador did not disappoint! We left the marina security gate, dodged the yellow motorcycle taxi drivers, and water sellers, crossed the impossibly busy street, wended our way through the craft market, and woohoo! Free access to the elevator! That lift is something else. It’s ancient. read more...

Sweet Dream - Saturday February 22, 2020

Morning came early with clear skies, sunshine and very little wind. It didn’t take long to get the carnival goodies put away, the floors vacuumed, rugs rolled up and put by for coastal passage to Cabedelo, Knick knacks stored, galley secured, and lines ready to slip. We were off the dock at 07:13. I stowed lines and fenders while Captain piloted us out through the harbour traffic that included a crazy person way out on a stand up paddle board! Then we settled in drinking our coffee and eating breakfast. It took a couple of hours before there was enough wind from a usable quarter to even motorsail with. By mid afternoon we had 18 knots apparent wind 25 degrees off the starbrd nose. Slow going, even with the engine on. By 2200 it was positively sloppy, with waves smacking the bow and the. read more...

Sweet Dream - Sunday February 23, 2020

An excellent, stress free day on the water. We are about 25 miles offshore, seem to be dodging both the fish boats and the cargo ships just fine. There still wasn’t enough wind, but at least it was from a more usable quarter. We were able to lay the rhumb line this afternoon while motor-sailing.St after radio net the fish line went zing! Zing! zing! I managed to get the boat down to 3 knots, and Captain had a fun time with what turned out to be a big wahoo. What a terrific fighter, and what scary fierce teeth it had! This certainly added some excitement to our evening. Just at dusk we came up on something that was five miles away and looked for all the world like an oil rig. No AIS, nothing on any of our charts. There were smaller boats and strange flashing red lights all around it, but. read more...

Sweet Dream - Fat Tuesday February 25, 2020

About 05:30 the desultory sun began to poke its golden head up through the cloud bank to the east. Immediately, the air began to take on that hot, visceral, quality that makes you fancy you are moving through invisible glutinous gelatin and breathing Swedish sauna fog. The nights have been bearable out here on the water, with that dreamy, warm tropical feeling in the velvet dark of the no moon, star spangled sky, and just enough breeze to be comfortable sitting in the cockpit, though not enough wind to fill the sails. The faithful 100 hp motor drones it’s monotonous song in the belly of the boat, it’s boring tune ( meant both ways) reverberating through every bit of wood and fibreglass and our hollow bones and benumbed brains. The sails sit tight, close hauled in the artificial wind. read more...

Sweet Dream - Monday February 24, 2020

Well, our stress free idyll has come to an end. Starting at 23:30 p.m. we hit the first really nasty squall. The wind went from 10 knots at 90 degrees to 28 knots at 50 degrees. I had to turn the boat 40 degrees towards land to keep the wind on the correct side of the nose. After a few minutes of hand steering through that mess and a deluge of hot tropical giant raindrops, it passed over us, the wind dropped to 4 knots and flipped back to due east. Zoom went the throttle, making up for lack of wind, up went a breath of thanks that we had prudently tucked a reef in each sail at dusk after catching the wahoo. No sooner were we straightened out when wham! Another squall hit, more rain, and this time the wind clocked over to the south thirty degrees. Only 26 knots this time...and so the rest. read more...

Charm - To Cabadelo

It’s our third day at sea after leaving Salvador and the first where I felt up to writing.Unlike the majority of our trip, which has been downwind sailing, this 450-mile stretch has been unpleasantly upwind.We had wind on the nose and motored for the first 24-hours and then have been beating with wind between 30 and 40 degrees ever since. The wind has stayed between 15 and 20 mph – just enough to make the seas unpleasant and keep us reefed, thus dampening our speed. Overall, not our favorite leg. Salvador was more or less a pleasant stopover and I will write about it later.We stayed longer than we normally would have so we could attend Carnaval which started a day or so before we left.Along with some of the other boat folks, we spent the evening walking around the old town, called. read more...

Next Step - 23rd Feb 2020 - Isla San Cristobal to Isla Santa Cruz

We have had a fantastic few days on Isla San Christobal and it is now time to move on. We awoke at about 0645 and started doing the final preparations for our trip to Isla Santa Cruz. As was predicted, the wind was non-existent and thankfully any rain clouds seemed to be going further west than our position. At 0730 we started the engine, lifted the anchor and departed Pto Baquerizo Moreno, Isla San Christobal. Progress was pretty good with an average speed of 6.3 knots with a bit of current going with us which was good. We passed quite close to the north side of Isla Santa Fe where lots of tourist and dive boats were moored. At 1600 we were only a mile from the port of Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz. By 1630 we had found a nice spot where we could drop the anchor and finally turned off. read more...

Sweet Dream - Thursday February 20, 2020

Morning was boat chores, afternoon we spent strolling through the market in the old town Pelourinho. We stumbled onto cafe de Lua, where two talented gentleman were making guitars sing amazing Brazilian tunes, and their voices were harmonising like Simon and Garfunkel. We had a coke and a beer, sat in the shade and enjoyed the sweet music. This is my absolute favourite part of Brazil....simple street music of guitars and singing. It is unlike any music I’ve ever experienced, and even though we don’t understand a word they are singing, it is so beautiful to listen to, the language of the music transcends the lyrics.image0.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Tuesday Feb 18, 2020

Today we worked on the boat in the morning, then took a taxi to the big Salvador shopping mall and escaped the midday heat in the cool air conditioned, civilised mall. This place is a whole universe away from the marina. A really nice escape. And! We found the knife store and indulged in three new knives for the galley wench and a set of four steak knives. A very unique and useful souvenir! We also found the Bom Preco grocery market and grabbed a few more fresh veggies and some yogurt to tide us over to Cabedelo.image0.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Wednesday February 19, 2020

Today we arranged the check out with our agent. Captain changed oil, trans fluid, put clean filters in everything, and generally went over both engines. I cleaned about 3/4 of the galley, organised for our next leg of the journey, and we barbecued a nice piece of cow, ate it with potatoe and okra salads and turned in early.image0.. read more...