A Cruising Guide Map to Isla del Cocos
0147 UTC | 05 33.209’N 087 02.508’W
Chatham Bay, Isla del Coco
Good evening,
The blog today is given to you through an amazing cruising guide map. Crewmember Amy Kardel has created something that actually would have been incredibly helpful to me in the planning of this Cocos trip!
We spent last night in Wafer Bay with plans to explore the ranger station in the morning, after being assured by the rangers it was calmer there (debatable). We saw a beautiful sunset with a cascading waterfall as company, happily chomping on tuna poke and excited for a new bay to explore.
We were quite literally rudely awakened from this dream at 0600 this morning, when the big dive boat stood off our stern, honking away. Apparently the rangers had told them, as they entered the protected area, that they could have the buoy we were on. After some chatter with the rangers, it was established we had to clear out and, actually, we couldn’t come ashore to the station as it was changeover day. Whilst this may not have been the ideal wake-up, it did mean we had a lovely sunrise pootle around the surrounding area before heading back to Chatham Bay. Unsurprisingly, spending another day exploring this idyllic bay has not been a hardship. Two more waterfalls have been found, more birds and creatures spotted, and a different snorkelling site explored. Most impressively, it has allowed Amy to improve on her wonderful cruising guide.
We set ‘sail’ (unfortunately it looks a very engine-happy return trip) at sunrise, so our final night has been spent eating good food, ice cream (!!), and admiring the night sky above us.
// Mary
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.