Across the Pacific

On Saturday 8 May, 2004, we left the gorgeous Galapagos Islands with much regret as we will probably never get to this remote part of the world again. We had stayed there for 23 days, and would have liked to stay much longer, but the time had come to sail across the Pacific on the 3000 mile journey to the Marquesas. There was still so much to see and do before reaching New Zealand, which we needed to do before the onset of the cyclone season in November.

 It was a damp, overcast day with no wind. The sea was rolly but smooth and we saw lots of gigantic manta rays, leaping right out of the water. We also saw sharks, dolphins and lots of birds. There is an enormous amount of sea life in and around the Galapagos, but once we got beyond their waters, we saw almost nothing at all for the rest of the trip. The sea was a deep, tranquil and empty blue.

We set off in the company of a dozen other boats. After about 20 hours motoring, the wind kicked in and we could put the sails up. Initially everyone chatted on the VHF radio but we soon spread out and lost sight of each other, and (for us) radio contact. Most of the rest of them remained in contact twice a day via the SSB radio. Having a receiver only we tried to listen in to their net every day, but with only limited success - reception was often poor so we would lose interest for days at a time. The sea remained rolly and uncomfortable, but not as bad as the Atlantic crossing. I had been assured that the Pacific lived up to its name and was calmer than the Atlantic, but there wasn’t much in it, in my opinion.

Although this was not a race, AT ALL, it was with chagrin that we found ourselves at the back of the field. In fact, we came stone last, even beaten by the little 28 footer Kiwitt which completed the trip in 26 days to our 27. Forever is a Hallberg Rassy and these are good boats, renowned for winning rallies all over the place, so we can’t blame the boat. We were only just beaten by a half day by another, and larger, HR. So, what was our excuse? Well, the route we took was perhaps too southerly, losing the helpful westward current that may be found above 5 degrees south, and we didn’t have a cruising shute, jenniker, or spinnaker. Actually, this was not strictly true - we did have a spinnaker, but we had yet to take it out of its bag. We threatened to use it from time to time, but always managed to talk ourselves out of it, and so it remained in its bag, as it does to this day.

 However, the trip was a relaxed one and we made no effort to try and go faster. We practiced and became quite good at celestial navigation. That sounds a bit grand, and actually we only did sun sights, checking them off against the GPS every day for fun and were unreasonably pleased when we were only a mile or so out. I continued to study the stars and, with the help of a good book, managed to identify many more constellations and individual stars. I could now identify (and put a name to) the absolutely magnificent Scorpius, Sagitarius, Lupis, Libra, Centaurus, Canopus, The Southern Cross, the Big and Little Dipper, Polaris and the lovely Orion.

 Mike had become much better about calling me for sail changes at night, after a few stern lectures from other sailors!!! Good old George, the autopilot, starting giving us trouble again. Every couple of days he would break down, Mike would fiddle around and give him a bit of a clean, and then he’d work again for another couple of days. Frustrating, but we were glad when he did work which was most of the time. Mike fished occasionally and caught nothing until the last week, when he caught a huge sailfish, almost as big as himself. I am still amazed that he managed to get this beast onto the deck, as we had very elementary fishing gear and no gaff, but his determination knows no bounds. He climbed onto the back ladder, grabbed it by the gills, still struggling furiously, and hauled it aboard - with very little help from me. It fed us deliciously for seven days. We had raw fish with onions olive oil and lemon juice, baked fish, fried fish, sweet and sour fish and fish curry, after which we got sick of fish and threw the rest overboard.

The Pacific is a huge ocean (the biggest) and we saw nothing and no one. Once I got on the VHF and called out ‘All ships’ and to my surprise a gentleman who identified himself as Angel on an Ecuadorian fishing boat responded. We couldn’t see his vessel but he and I had a long chat. He offered to bring us some fish but Mike didn’t feel confident about it and instructed me not to give him our position. I felt a little bad refusing his generous offer – but he seemed to understand our reticence. Another time I called ‘All ships’, our friends on Globitou responded and it turned out they were just a little way behind us. The next day they hove over the horizon, travelling at such good speed that they managed to pass us in one day, coming close enough to wave.

In the middle of the trip, once well out of any shipping lanes, we gave up night watches altogether and both went to bed all night. We put the tricolour sailing light at the top of the mast on, and got up frequently in the night to pee, giving the horizon a thorough check; we never saw a thing. A couple of whales followed us for some hours, surfing down the rollers behind the boat, and we saw lots of birds. It always amazes me how far out to sea these birds can live. Towards the end of the trip, we had some well needed rain and were able to give the cockpit a wash as well as have refreshing showers ourselves.

 

And so, 27 days later we arrived in the majestic Marquesas Islands, me delighted as always to make landfall.

 

Add 1 country – Ecuador. Total 20 countries visited.

Latest mileage from Panama: 1162 + 3062. Total 15054 nm.

Here’s the map covering just this trip. The entire Pacific Ocean is too wide to show individual island groups proportionately.