Panama to French Polynesia – Passing the Galapagos Islands – Day 17

Position: We are just passing north of the Galapagos Island in the Pacific Ocean. Our position is:

2 37.53N 91 16.62W

*Note: I am told you can copy and paste these coordinates into google earth and it will show you where we are.

Mileage:3043 – 2951nm= 92nm We have been sailing mostly South West, still on our track, which is good news!

Number of miles to go: 2951nm to go of approx. 3850nm

Fish count: The count remains at 3 Mahi Mahi, 2 Cero and 6 tuna. One Marlin that we were happy got away! The rods are out, but nothing is biting yet.

WE ARE MOVING NOW
The sea state (how big the waves are) has settled and the winds are blowing more consistently. This means we can finally get some sail out safely and put some sea miles under our belt. But it is not ALL about getting there. We had fun visiting Coco Island and it is a shame we can not do the same for the Galapagos Islands. Friends suggested we should be able to stop at Darwin with out getting ‘hassled’ by officials. But the silly humans never thought of this before they left. No chance of down loading any charts or google earth images out at sea now. So no quick stops for a dive. They will not let you snorkel or dive at the other islands in the Galapagos with out a ‘guide’, so you know you would be naughty to do it at Darwin the northern tip of the island group.
Frightfully cold last night. It actually dropped below 25’C, but you have to factor in the wind chill as well. My ‘over acclimatized’ humans have gotten their thermals out. I am not joking!

STOCKING UP FOR A LONG SAILING TRIP
Part 2 – What are you going to eat?

Hopefully you are doing your homework and keeping track of what you eat in a day. Even you ‘Land Lovers’. You are probably already surprised how much you actually do eat, especially when you include all those snacks along the way. Believe it or not, knowing what you like to eat is the first step in passage food planning. The next step is figuring out what you actually LIKE to cook or prepare. It sounds simple, but even my humans made mistakes in this category.

The humans had read other peoples blogs and books on passages and they all went on about baking their own bread. If you come from their generation you will know that bread comes cheaply from the local shop and there is no need to waste time or make the mess to produce your own. In fact, modern production bread has so many preservatives in it, it actually lasts for weeks? But the humans read they were to make their own bread at sea and they bought all the ingredients to do so. Of course they did not know what they were doing, made a huge flour mess and the bread came out s^*t anyway. So a word to the wise. If you do know how to make something, do not count on doing it right at sea. Or at least try to make it first before you go.
There are exception to the rule and the humans are trying to make their first ever batch of Kimchee (Korean cabbage salad), but most of the ingredients did come form an instant package. So do not give them too much credit. And we do not get the final results for two more days.

So lesson 1 – Keep your menu restricted to foods you know to prepare.
Lesson 2 – Be realistic about what you can prepare at sea. Are you really going to make sushi in a boat heavily heeled over and bouncing along? OK, if you have a catamaran you can make anything. You can stop reading this now unless you want to continue to laugh and pity us sad mono-hull owners. Our stove swings like a pig in rough seas. There is no way you would catch my humans trying to open the oven door and deal with hot pans in anything but completely calm conditions. So baking is kept to simple dishes or done on the stove top.
This may prompt you to swing in the direction of pre-made meals, but I must warn you. You can not dispose of plastics at sea. Every wrapping, bag and styrofoam container has to be stored aboard for the duration of the trip. And they will start to seriously stink if you do not store them in air tight containers or wash them all thoroughly. You would not believe how much packaging covers our food today. The boat can quickly be over run with waste. Imagine your kitchen if you cooked three meals a day in it, and snacks, and did not get to take the rubbish out for 1 month.

SO HERE IS YOUR HOMEWORK UNTIL WE TALK AGAIN.
My environmentally enthusiastic friends will love this one. For one day I would like you to carry a bag with you. In this bag I would like you to put all the plastic wrappings and containers your food comes in. Empty milk bottles, yogurt containers, the bag the apples are sold in. Any straws, stir sticks or plastic packets you open. You will find that even vegetables are sold on Styrofoam plates with plastic wrap now to make them look more appetizing. Chocolate bars, crisps and even granola bars each have their own plastic wrapping. At the end of the day have a little look at the collection. Maybe you want to join the consumer groups that are trying to get manufacturers and supermarkets to cut down on packaging.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR HOMEWORK.
Got some ‘feelers’ out to fellow sailors out there for pearls of wisdom to share with you.

END