2315 UTC | 3°30.76’ N | 88°33.01’W
Sailing
The sound of breaking ice for water bottles can be heard from the deepest post watch nap. Cold pineapple and stern showers remain supreme in the heat and stickiest part of the day. Shade from the staysail has added additional relief for those of us in the bow from the sun, more luxury. The cheer of the crew is consistent through the day with chatter and laughter as we huddle around the shady parts of the deck, feeling the easterly winds we’ve been gifted. We’ve been under sail most of the day with steady 7-8kts, confirming we are in fact making progress towards the Galapagos and the sighting of new seabirds.
Books of birds and animals are open in the saloon and being discussed as we get closer to our destination. The smell of the coconut curry made by Zoe has everyone on deck early and inspired a pre dinner concert from Jeremy and his guitar.
At 3°N we let ourselves start to think about the other side of being a pollywog. We might be fortunate enough for a visit from the deep. More Booby birds are settling in for the night as we welcome the sunset, with an early evening glimpse of the stars that will guide us into dawn… for another luxurious day at sea aboard S/V Falken.
Sheri Hashemi
View more passage logs
First squall of the trip!
"We're gonna get our ass whooped" — not the sunrise greeting anyone had in mind, but Jim called it. The oldest and sharpest hand on board steered them straight through the squall, soaked to the bone and loving every minute of it. He's got a message for his wife, and it turns out she was right about the water.
Sextants, Polynesian Wayfinding, Captain Cook, and Tupaia, Oh My!
Somewhere north of Tahiti and south of Hawaii, aboard a 65-foot rocket of a sailboat loaded with GPS and Starlink, we pulled out a sextant. Not as a novelty—as a navigation tool. Because it turns out the 2,500-mile passage from Tahiti to Hawaii is less a ocean crossing and more a living museum of how humans have always answered the same stubborn question: where am I, and how do I get home? Captain Cook had his chronometers and math; his Polynesian crewmate Tupaia had the stars, the swells, and a map of the Central Pacific stored entirely in his head—and somehow, they were asking the exact same thing.
Star gazing and celebrating
Birthdays at sea hit differently—no cake, no candles, just brownies from a rolling galley and the Milky Way as a backdrop. It's day three aboard, and the skipper's birthday is just one of three to celebrate before landfall. Meanwhile, six crew members sat in silence last night, not from exhaustion or tension, but because the Southern Cross was doing something worth watching.