-----Original Message-----
2330
CST
We said a very reluctant goodbye to the Galapagos today and have begun what we
expect will be the longest passage of our voyage around the world. The
Galapagos entranced us and we could easily have stayed much longer than the 11
days we enjoyed here. We mailed a CD to George two days ago with Eliza's
Galapagos photo journal and hope it arrives soon so that he can put it up on
the web site. We also included a shorter photo journal of our stay in
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela log entry
-- on passage to
1530 CST
Here's the log entry Kyle
just wrote in our log book:
"Time (local time,
currently the same as North American Central Standard Time): 1530, Position: 03
deg 18' S, 094 deg 18' W, 2626 NM (nautical miles) to go to the Gambiers; Course
(charted great circle route course we are trying to achieve): 239 deg T (True);
COG/CMG (course over ground we estimate we have averaged or "made
good" over approximately the last 1/2 hour): 240 deg T; Person at helm: K; SOG/SMG (speed over ground
we estimate we have averaged or "made good" over approximately the
last 1/2 hour): 5.1 kts; Current: ? (none discerned); Wind direction (True):
SSE; Wind speed (Apparent): 13-16 kts
(approximately 11 to 14 True since the apparent wind is about on our port
beam); Barometer (in millibars): 1011, dropping; Sea conditions: moderate wind waves; Sky: 1/8
(cloud cover) CU (cumulus); Visibility: unlimited; Air Temperature (deg F): 85
inside, 80 outside; Sea Surface temperature: 76; Engine or sail combination:
all 3 sails up (no reefs), port tack, 90 deg apparent off the wind (beam
reach), heeling (to starboard) at approx 10 degrees; Remarks, Comments and
Observations: Glorious day; getting used
to heeling -- esp w/cooking and sleeping; Doug up; I need a nap; Hot inside --
too much motion and spray for open hatch and portholes; towing fishing line,
hydro generator turbine and watermaker prefilter (to clean)."
We make an entry like this
at least once each watch and sometimes as many as three times, especially if there's
been some significant change in our sailing or weather or sea conditions or
we've seen something exciting like a whale or caught a fish.
We finally found steady wind
yesterday morning and have had the engine off since then -- yeah!! It was disconcerting to start off this long
passage with the engine running most of the first two days. I figure we have already burned about 20 of
our 110 gallons of diesel. It seemed a
reasonable choice to run the engine so much then because historically the
lightest winds and greatest likelihood of calms on this passage occur closest
to the Galapagos. And wallowing about in
no wind is REALLY uncomfortable. Plus,
if we have the sails up they slat back and forth as the boat pitches around in
even the gentlest swell. Slatting is bad
for the fibers of the sailcloth and can fatigue the sails fairly quickly,
increasing the risk of small tears and of even blowing out sails later in high
winds. As in our not-really-so-different
lives back home, choices aboard a small boat on a long passage usually involve
trade-offs.
Well our three 24 hour runs
so far have been: 120 NM, 88 NM and 90 NM, for a grand total of almost 300
miles! If we could maintain this average
we'd need about a month altogether to reach the Gambiers.
To all of you following our
progress and keeping us in your thoughts, we feel your love and support and
thank you. We feel very small out here,
though our hearts are full and Estrela is taking good care of us. – Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Hi -- website stuff
Hi George -- Let us know
when (if?) the CD we sent you from the Galapagos arrives. Also, check out the following
"Yotreps" system website in a day or so: www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=ESTRELA. I am starting to send weather and position
reports in to it daily. The system
collects weather observations from ships and yachts around the world and
somehow plugs the observations into a meteorological database used by
forecasters. A fun side benefit to
reporting vessels like ours is that anyone can check the Yotreps website and
view the last 30 days (or possibly more) of position and weather reports filed
by any reporting vessel, so long as you have the identifying name or call sign
of the vessel. There might even be a
graphical plot of positions that could be directly linked to the naturo/Estrela
website. I am curious whether we have
actually been incorporated into the system.
I just started sending in reports and don't know whether I needed to do
something more formal to sign up. Let me
know what you find and what you think about creating a link. Oh also, check out the silentvoyager1 website
and think about adding a link to this one too.
Thanks. Love ya, Doug
PS -- Send the following
email to get your own copy of the Yotreps system details emailed to you: address your email message to: yotreps@pangolin.co.nz. Put nothing in the Subject line and just HELP
in the body. That's it.
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela log entry
-- Day 7 of passage to Fr. Polynesia
2330 CST
All's well here aboard Estrela,
though we have had challenging wind and sea conditions the last couple
days. It has been blowing 22 to 26 most
of the last eight hours with churned-up, rough seas. It is always tough to judge wave heights, but
when we are in the bottom of the trough we can't see anything but water looking
up. A couple times large breaking waves
have hit us just right and sent a big shudder through the hull and a heavy
sheet of water across the boat. The
dodger is working wonderfully, we can sit at the top of the companionway ladder
and look forward, watching the spray strike the dodger "window" --
clear flexible plastic. Lots of rolling
and pitching. And it blew 15 to 22 for
the 24 hour before then. There is an
enormous difference between 15 knots and 22 knots of wind. We have been flying just the staysail forward
since breakfast time Saturday and we put a second reef in the main just before
dinner Saturday. With shortened sail and
the bouncy, awkward seas this wind has kicked up, our speed made good has dropped
to about 4 kts. Since our last posting
for the Estrela website we have logged 24 hour runs of 113, 123 and 99 nautical
miles, for a total of 633 miles through 0830 May 8 since leaving Wreck Bay.
We are trying to sail a
course of 234 degrees true, but have had to fall off a little to help make the
boat's motion more comfortable and less hard on equipment. It is tough for Estrela and her crew to sail
at 90 degrees to apparent wind across well-developed rough seas. The weather faxes we have received the last
two days show us in the middle of a large area of 20 knot winds. We eagerly receive the scheduled weather
faxes two times a day, hoping to learn whether the forecasts have changed. The area of strong winds looks slow moving
but also shrinking in size. I hope we
will be back to more comfortable 10 to 15 knot winds in two or three days. Because we can use more sail area and sail
combinations with more moderate wind speeds and also because the waves are
smaller and less confused, we actually sail faster with less wind, ironically,
at least on some points of sail.
We just had an unexpected
discovery -- we are right now crossing some sort of major shipping lane! I had to wake Kyle to help me use radar and
binoculars to figure out how best to avoid one extravagantly lit large ship who
wouldn't answer our hailing calls on VHF Channel 16. We couldn't see its red and green running
lights, identifying the port and starboard sides of the vessel, because of the
other very bright lights all over the superstructure. After seeing no other ship since we passed a
fishing boat near Floreana Island, Galapagos, five days ago, we have just seen
the lights of three ships close by (three, two and seven miles away at the
nearest) and one more about ten miles away visible yet only on radar. This might be a great circle shipping route
between
Well that's it for now. Best to all, Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela log entry
1130 CST
Sailing at about 4.5 kts on
a course of 230 T, trying to work back up to our great circle route to
Pitcairn. We had to bear off to the west a bit during the rough weather the
last few days. Wind now 14 to 18 kts
from the ESE. Air temp 85 F inside and
81 F outside. Water 79 F.
Wind and seas have
moderated; seas still lumpy but we're enjoying a much easier ride. Despite depowering Estrela to make for a more
comfortable motion we have managed 24 hour runs of 104 and 95 nautical miles
the last two days. The decks are
incredibly encrusted with dried salt crystals.
We need a good soaking rain.
Sunny and warm here. Looking
forward to being able to open the forward hatch and portholes to get some
breeze down in the cabin. But we need to
wait until we think we won't be doused forward by waves.
I thought it would be fun to
post the following email messages Abigail and Eliza sent this morning to their
buddies Ian and Mara on "Island Spirit." They are about 900 miles west of us, en route
to the Marquesas. We send thank yous to Ian and Mara for letting the girls
share their email on the Estrela website.
Here it is:
"Dear Ian and Mara:
"Eliza: I am knitting a lot. I knit a blanket 7 1/2 X 12 inches. We try to homeschool every day, even for a
half hour. It's really sticky and bouncy
here. Sometimes water comes catapaulting
over our side like someone is throwing buckets of water at us. Is it rough on your boat? If so, has there been any spraying
water? Have you seen any bluefooted
boobies? We are reading aloud The Voyage
of the Dawn Treader in the Chronicles of Narnia. We watched Star Wars last night. It was really awesome. R2D2 is really funny with his little
squeaking noises. I hope you guys are
well and I hope we see each other before
"Abigail: Oh yes, about the funness. I jump and scream a lot. It's really hard not to go crazy. I play dolls a lot with Eliza. We especially play with our American Girl
dolls because that's practically our only dolls on the boat. Mom made a blanket for me and my dolls. She made it by knitting. The color is light blue. I play piano when it's pretty calm. We keep the piano stowed on Eliza's side of
the dinette table and it's partly under the table too. When Eliza was playing the piano Eliza held
the piano and the table together with one of her hands. She could only play the scales because she
could only use one hand at a time. I was
pushing against the piano from the table.
My dad took a video of us. During
the video I called the big fat watermelon a "macho man." There is one cupboard called "The
Pantry" and when we're on the port tack, whenever anybody opens The Pantry
it seems like all the things come flying out.
A long, long time ago when we were on the boat, when Eliza opened The
Pantry, the pepper grinder came flying out and it dropped on the floor and all
the pepper corns went flying around.
"The Peppercorns" -- it sounds like it could be the title of a
book. How are you doing today? Have you been watching movies that often, or
have you been outside? It's time to get
off the computer now. I miss you so
much. Love, Abby"
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela log entry
0010 CST
We are really in the trades
now. Estrela just keeps going and going
-- 24 hour runs of 94, 113 and 111 nautical miles through 0830 the last three
days -- on a port tack beam reach all the way.
She feels so powerful and sturdy.
A few days ago the wind speed impeller just vanished from the top of the
mast; it must have blown off after the set screw came loose. Conditions haven't been calm enough for me to
climb to the masthead to replace it, so we can't tell the wind speed exactly. But Kyle and I have had enough experience by
now with the sound and feel of the wind and with Estrela's behavior with
different sail combinations, wind angles and speeds to fairly accurately
estimate ranges of wind speeds. This
small equipment failure has really tested our observation skills and, I think,
will actually help us to sail Estrela better.
That said, the wind now is blowing about 16 to 19. We are flying the main with a single reef,
the genoa/yankee (the forward-most jib) furled about 2/3 of the way in, and the
staysail. Conditions are right on the
edge of where we could well put a second reef in the main and furl the
genoa/yankee the rest of the way, especially since it is night. Every time the wind gusts up a bit Estrela
starts to feel overpowered. She heels
over more than is efficient (or comfortable) and her rolling and pitching in
the waves takes on a sharp snap. Kyle
and I weighed the decision and elected to stay with this sail combination until
we reevaluate conditions when she comes on watch at 0200. We are reluctant to give up speed -- over
several weeks, squeezing out even an additional half knot of speed could really
add up. Moreover our hydro generator
really starts to produce much more electricity once boat speed exceeds about
4.5 to 5 kts. And the more electricity
we can generate with the hydro, the less we will have to run the engine to keep
our two large house batteries charged.
The wind has picked up a little bit over the last few hours and I am
pretty sure I'll recommend to Kyle that we put that second reef in when she
comes on watch. We are getting smooth
and quick with our reefing and unreefing teamwork, with Kyle at the mast and me
in the cockpit. It is really exciting to be working so well together sailing
Estrela.
Two days ago we had an
unsettling engine breakdown at 0345.
Kyle was on watch, I was asleep and we were running the engine to charge
batteries and to keep the voltage high while Kyle ran the watermaker. Suddenly Kyle heard a warning alarm and
checked the instrument panel -- the engine temperature was way up, to 250
degrees F. She woke me and shut down the
engine. We opened the engine compartment
and discovered that the belt that runs the alternator and the pump for the
fresh water side of the cooling system had blown. I went back to sleep until 0700 when I came
back on watch and could replace the belt with good light. Disconcertingly, the engine overheated again
within ten minutes after restarting it.
Uggh. I spent the day trying
various troubleshooting tests to rule-out potential causes, reading through the
owner's and workshop manuals for the engine (Perkins Prima M50 diesel),
inventorying our stock of spare parts and discussing with Kyle possible
contingency plans if we were unable to repair the engine ourselves. It felt a little like Apollo 13; we are a
long way from nowhere out here. Even the
two islands we are sailing toward, Pitcairn and Mangareva, are not exactly the
best places in the world to have a serious diesel engine breakdown. So we cut out all unnecessary uses of
electricity and water (since we use electricity to make water) and kept all
sails flying to maximize our speed and therefore our production of electricity
by the hydro generator, which uses a towed turbine. By about
Well just this second a line
holding up the mesh hammock full of vegetables chafed through and broke,
dumping squash, onions, garlic, cabbages and some mystery vegetables from the
Galapagos directly down onto Kyle and Abigail in their bunks. Neither woke up! I gathered up the stray veggies and stuffed
them into the forepeak til we can deal with them in the morning. Just another fun night aboard Estrela. That's all for now. All the best,
Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela log entry
1845 CST
The last three days we have
had runs of 112, 88 and 110 nautical miles, for a total distance of 1577 NM
traveled through 0830 today since leaving
The rest of the log today is
Eliza's account of a sad occurrence aboard Estrela this morning.
A TERRIBLE STORY -- May 17,
2004
by Eliza Hopkins
Around
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
0900 MST
As it drifted out of view
aft of Estrela our wounded tropicbird was alert and swimming. Although it could flap its wings seemingly
normally, and nothing looked broken, it could not yet fly. Optimistically, we expect it will regain
ability to fly once its ligaments and muscles heal from the trauma of being
dragged through the water by our fishing line.
Though it never took the chunks of flying fish we put near it on
Estrela's deck, nor did it appear to drink any of the fresh water left beside
it in a bowl, the bird's condition improved steadily during the 30 hours or so
we had it on deck. The girls kept watch
through two portholes, just inches from where it roosted. When the bird decided it was ready to leave
us it climbed up onto the toerail and plopped down into the water. It seemed to flap its wings normally but
couldn't generate enough power to fly.
If it avoids becoming a snack for some large fish we hope it may survive
swimming long enough for its wing to heal.
We watched and filmed the bird as it drifted aft, its brilliant white
feathers popping into view on the crests of waves further and further
away. Tears and prayers sent the
tropicbird on its way.
Art Cooley, our colleague
and friend and Estrela's consulting naturalist, corrected our identification of
the bird. There are only three species
of tropicbirds in the world, only two of which are found where we are. The long tailfeathers of a red-billed
tropicbird are all white. The fact this
bird had red, white and black in its tailfeathers means that it was a
red-tailed tropic bird. Thank you, Art!
This terrible experience
showed us first hand that some fishing practices can be dangerous to seabirds
and other sea creatures, a very painful lesson for the crew of Estrela. We've learned that commercial pelagic
longlines pose one of the greatest threats to some species of albatross and
other seabirds that spend much of their lives skimming the waves of the open
oceans. These are long lines of
thousands of baited hooks deposited over the stern of big boats hunting for
tuna or other valuable fish. Though
these boats sometimes use techniques meant to scare away hungry birds, many
birds drown when they snatch juicy bait and are dragged under by hidden hooks.
We haven't fished again
since this traumatic experience. Before
we do we will try to figure out how we can avoid catching another seabird. Fortunately, though we have towed fishing
lures behind Estrela for literally thousands of miles, this is the first time
this has happened. And though most other
cruisers also troll while underway we have heard of only two other cases of
snagged seabirds.
We have enjoyed more modest
runs of 104, 78 and 90 nautical miles since our last log entry and we have
about 950 miles more to
That's it for today. – Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2030 local time
All is well here. As of 1430 GMT this morning we had gone 2222
NM in 22 days, including a last 24 hour run of 107 NM, and had 550 NM still to
go to Pitcairn Island and another 290 NM from Pitcairn to Mangareva Island in
the Gambiers. We are now battened down,
sailing at 5 knots on port tack with a double reefed main and staysail. The wind has been blowing hard for 36
hours. About 0730 yesterday we went from
no wind to 18 to 20 knots in a quarter of a mile as we motored through a
frontal line of dark clouds from an enormous area of dead calm, socked in rain
and very confused seas with a big swell (we knew something powerful was coming
our way). Since then the wind and seas
have increased. We had two hours today
when the wind blew a steady 25 to 30.
Most of the time it's been 20 to 25.
Right now its hovering around 25.
I know I've said this before, but the difference between 12 to 15 and 22
to 25 is incredible, mainly in how much larger and more uncomfortable the seas
(waves) get. We feel fortunate to have
had no sail or rigging failure despite the severe strain from slatting when we
had no wind and confused swell and from sailing Estrela hard in this steady
blow and boisterous seas. We have been
talking daily on various SSB radio check-in "nets" with other boats
also making long passages from the Galapagos to French Polynesia. Only one
other is also heading to the Gambiers; the rest are making for the
Marquesas. Several of these have had
major gear failures, including a broken spinnaker pole, a completely blown
main, smaller sail tears, and self-steering gear failure, plus mechanical
trouble such as a malfunctioning alternator, engine not starting, minor (but
very scary) electrical fires and one bitterly reported story today of how a
last bottle of Cuban rum had somehow opened up and emptied itself all over the
spare jib. To a person, the net
participant from each of these boats has shared the news of their trouble with
understatement. There is a sort of
self-deprecating British
when-you've-lived-through-the-Blitz-not-much-really-rattles-you spirit among
these long distance cruisers. Humbling
and very inspiring. I have to say that
Eliza and Abigail are taking a page from this book. You should have seen them the last couple
days. No complaints about the wild
motion below, except once when Eliza's bowl of rice went flying. They've been plowing through their homeschool
assignments, reading, listening to books on tape or CD and building elaborate
spaceships for their miniature American Girl dolls out of some round Lego-like
building toys. Depending on how the
angle of heel and motion vary they have made cozy and stable nests in various
places around Estrela's main cabin and forepeak. They sit on the main cabin floor for meals --
the spot in the boat with the least motion.
And neither has had any tummy trouble -- hallelujah. Kyle and I celebrated our twelfth anniversary
today! Kyle remembered about 2 this
morning as she watched me fill in the date and time in our Yotreps vessel
position report before I passed the watch to her. I am embarrassed to say I had completely
forgotten. Our special celebration treat
was real brewed coffee at breakfast. One
of us had to hold onto the pot on the top of the stove the whole time it perked
to keep it from going airborne. Well
it's time to go back above and tweak the wind vane. The wind has picked up a bit and the vane
isn't handling the weather helm well.—Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2245 local time
We made it through the big
blow, enjoying consecutive 24 hour runs of 107 and 106 NM, despite a double
reef in the main and flying just the staysail forward. Looking back, I realize the wind was peaking
just about when I was writing the log entry last night. Kyle unfurled the genoa/yankee just before
dawn and together we shook out one of the reefs in the main after
breakfast. Estrela gave us a spectacular
trade winds sail all day. Above we had a
crisp blue sky dotted by fluffy cumulus clouds and below us the extraordinarily
clear water of this part of the
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
0040 local time
Well the wind vanished
instead of filling in from the SE @ 12 to 15 knots as we'd requested Our 24 hour run for Day 25, through yesterday
morning, was only 33 miles and we'll be lucky if we break 60 miles for the 24
hours ending at 1440 GMT today (0630 local time). We do not have enough diesel fuel remaining
to use the engines for anything other than charging batteries, making our final
approaches to Pitcairn and then Mangareva and, if needed, to power us out of
unexpected trouble, like finding ourselves in the path of a freighter. So we weathered the calm by working on our
patience and taking good care of tummies buffeted by the dying swell whose
calming down lagged behind the disappearance of the wind by about half a
day. Once wind and swell were both zero
it was remarkably pleasant aboard Estrela, just bobbing around. For a while last night we were pointed 180
degrees in the wrong direction, and there wasn't a darn thing we could do about
it. This morning the wind did finally
return, but from the SW, the direction we are heading! So we have been beating all day (sailing as
close to the wind as possible) on starboard tack in 6 to 10 kts of wind, making
2 to 3.5 kts. If the wind doesn't shift
we'll have to tack back and forth to be able reach our landfall. We have about 300 miles to go to Pitcairn and
another 300 from there to Mangareva and we have about 30 gallons of fuel
left. While charging batteries this
evening the engine died again when we either ran the port fuel tank dry or
choked the fuel filter with sediment stirred up from the bottom of the tank by
the heeling and rocking motion. I'll
wait til morning to bleed the fuel lines, change the secondary filter and get
it running again. All's well aboard
Estrela. - Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2130 local time
We are headed south again
after effectively having heaved-to for about 23 hours until
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2030 local time
Land ho! We can see the lights of Adamstown,
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2030 local time
We are still hove-to off
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
1130 local time
Mud. Mud.
Glorious mud. Mud can only mean
one thing--landfall! After being at sea
for 36 days, four of which we were hove-to and circling the island, we finally
anchored yesterday morning in
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
1600 local time
Estrela and her crew bid a very
sad farewell to Pitcairn Island at 11:30 Friday morning as the initial blast
from a new low pressure system arrived suddenly, changing the wind to about 20
kts out of the northwest and turning Bounty Bay into a treacherous lee shore
with mounting swell and wind chop pounding our bow up and down, burying the
bowsprit an d sluicing our decks with seawater.
Eliza called Mary the schoolteacher on the VHF radio, saying goodbye to
her and the other children as we motored past the schooolhouse perched high above
us on a cliff at the north end of Adamstown.
Mary came back on the radio in a few moments to say she was ringing the
school's bell for us. What emotions the
girls and we were feeling. Visiting
Pitcairn had been one of those rare and precious life experiences that will
leave us forever different people. We
had arrived just four days before and yet were taking with us life-changing
memories of wonderful new friendships, of extraordinary generosity and trust
and of the dramatic beauty of a profoundly remote, craggy and lush South
Pacific island. Eliza and Abigail had
attended school all four days, the last two walking a half mile there alone,
after I dropped them off at the
Now we are en route to
Mangareva in the Gambiers, the southernmost island group in
We are low on fuel and so we
are rationing it carefully to have enough to recharge batteries every two days,
to run the watermaker every day or two and to still have enough for our final
approach to Mangareva. Unfortunately
another low is coming toward us and will likely arrive before we reach
Mangareva. If it blows us much off
course or forces us to heave to again we may need the engine even more. I figure we have about 19 gallons of diesel
left. In the meantime, the wind has died
almost completely and is forecast to be light and variable tomorrow, before
filling in from the NNW at 10 kts on Tuesday.
It could be a long 200 mile trip to Mangareva. The good news is that, though our second of
two bottles of propane ran out the day after we arrived in Pitcairn, the
Pitcairners incredibly generously had filled our other empty the day we
arrived. So we have about another three
weeks' supply of propane. And that means
fresh bread! Kyle baked two loaves early
this morning. Heaven!
-- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2200 local time
We are getting sooooo close
now. Just 33 more nautical miles to the
Passe de Sud-Este into the large lagoon of the
The crew are all doing
well. Eliza and Abigail continue to
amaze Kyle and me with their equanimity.
The old saw about how adaptable children are, especially if they're with
their parents and feel loved and secure, sure seems in line with our experience
since departing the Galapagos 47 (yikes!) days ago. We are so grateful for, and awed by, their
endlessly creative imaginations. We also
feel privileged, because we are living in this little space together, to have
front row seats to watch and listen to the girls' incredible imaginary play for
hours and hours at a time -- a big benefit of living in a tiny home. -- Doug
-----Original Message-----
Sent:
Subject: Estrela Log Entry
2100 local time Friday, June
18, 2004 (0600 GMT 06/19/04); S 23 deg 07' / W 134 deg 58', Rikitea Anchorage,
Mangareva Island, Gambiers, Polynesie Francaise.
We made it! Anchor down and engine off at 1337 local
time. Our South African friends (with
two boys, 9 and 7) from the catamaran Alii Nui arrived by dinghy moments later
with two authentic fresh French baguettes and a steaming pot of coffee. It was a nearly surreal moment. We exchanged tears and hugs when they
stepped aboard, this family whose last name we don't even know but with whom we
have shared so much, speaking daily by SSB radio during our parallel passages
from the Galapagos to the Gambiers, although they had started about ten days
behind us. We had really kept each other
going. Then a British couple off another
sailboat, Lionheart, hailed us and also came aboard Estrela, offering us thick
filets of Mahi Mahi they had caught yesterday while also inbound from the
Galapagos, though having left 20 days after us.
Dinner tonight here was, guess what?
Fresh fish, home-fried potato chips and mashed potatoes! Mmmmmmmmm.
Are we looking forward to a long night of sleep or what? The stormy weather has blown through and this
is now the calmest anchorage we have enjoyed since somewhere in the
Copyright © 2003-2009 Doug and Kyle Hopkins. All rights reserved.