Jurassic Park Island!
0146 UTC | 05 33.231’N 087 02.516’W
Chatham Bay, Isla Del Coco
I am writing this as we sit on a mooring buoy in an idyllic bay in the middle of the ocean. Roughly 5 hours ago we arrived at Isla del Coco and promptly jumped in the allegedly shark-infested water for a quick dip. Everyone will be pleased to know we were very sensible and sent Nic in as a guinea pig before committing the whole crew — even better news is that every crew member still has all their fingers and toes. In fact, no sharks have been sighted yet, but I am sure that will not be the case for much longer!
It is beautiful here. Jacques Cousteau may have been onto something. The only slight complaint we have is we would like it to be less rolly, if possible! Lee cloths may need to be up tonight, but I think everyone is looking forward to a full night’s sleep.
We haven’t had contact with the rangers yet, despite multiple radio calls. However, a friendly dive boat swung by and offered us internet for one phone, some stickers, and maybe an opportunity to dive here. Regardless, where they dive is mere meters from our boat, so some good snorkelling is definitely on the cards. The diver, Roberto, used to be a park ranger on the island for 9 years, so we’ll be taking him up on his offer to help with anything!
Hopefully the rangers pay us a visit in the morning and we can get to some real exploration. In the meantime, we’re having a lovely time star-gazing and enjoying our moonlit view of the island (see pic!).
// 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.