Latitude: 00°10’1N
Longitude: 089°11.2’W
Tuesday, 25th of March, 00°10’1N 089°11.2’W, 08:05 Local Time, 13:05 UTC
Excuse us for the little radio silence. We had a few busy, but definitely amazing days! Not only did we cross the equator, but we arrived in the beautiful Galapagos archipelago as well!
At around 10 a.m. local time and 15:00 UTC on the 25th, we crossed the equator! While congratulations were happening, a lot more was going on. Besides King Neptune making his way to NORDIC FALKEN, hundreds of seabirds had their breakfast all along our starboard. Neptune had the pleasure of making sure the seven of us (including me!) who hadn’t crossed the equator before were worthy of becoming shellbacks. The ceremony was perfectly arranged by Jim and was filled with a lot of giggles. It was a very special moment for everyone.
Yesterday we arrived at Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz! After having a bit of a struggle to find a nice place to anchor (it was quite busy), about ten or more immigration people checked everything onboard. Luckily, we got cleared without a problem. Even the “forbidden” lunch meat that Mary and I (as the 2/3 vegetarians on the boat) had been trying so hard to get people to eat wasn’t a problem.
Right after we were allowed to get in a watertaxi to step on land, it started raining as if a waterpipe had exploded up above, and this carried on the whole day. The crew went ashore for some walking around, and Alex, Mary, and I made sure the whole boat was fresh and clean again. We ended the day with a nice Ecuadorian dinner on Santa Cruz.
Today (the 27th) we went for a day tour on the island. The day started with a visit to some very impressive craters and walking and crawling through a lava tunnel. After these exciting views, it was time to see the giant tortoises (while getting bitten by a trillion fire ants). We ended the trip with a very hot, but very amusing bike ride back to the city center. Some of us thought two hours downhill wasn’t adventurous enough and we started with a 30-minute workout uphill—which was definitely an amazing idea in the middle of the day just below the equator! ;)
- Laura Blaauw | FALKEN Apprentice
PS. If you are reading this blog, please write some comments in the section below and we’ll send it over to the crew to read. I am sure they will love it :) - Mia & Andy (shore support on Leg 5, Panama to Galapagos)
FALKENCrew
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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.