The Cruising Log of S/Y Maritime Express: The Pacific Years 2001-2005

By Gail K Soucoup

Although Gail was the instigator on going cruising, it was Henry who worked on her while sailing in the Caribbean to head into the Pacific.

At a weak point, she agreed to go.

When they left Canada's East Coast, telling family and friends that they would probably not be home for about two years, they had no idea that they would be gone more than ten.

When their cruising adventure ended in Australia after getting an offer they couldn't refuse for S/Y Maritime Express, the travel bug was still with them.

So they purchased a motorhome and spent three more years in Australia seeing this wide and diverse country, travelling more than 60K.

Having still not tired of the sea, when they got home they started travelling on cruise ships and delivering boats up and down the Eastern Seaboard of Canada and the US for people who either did not have the skill or time to get their newly purchased boats home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9780228864462

Gail K Soucoup

After purchasing our small boat and discovering we really did like this as a hobby, we started to crew for various larger racing boats on the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. It is amazing to see how different captains handle a situation.We both took various courses presented by the Canadian Power & Sail Squadron and served many positions on "The Bridge." We were taught how to read a chart, navigate, how to read the weather, boat safety, maintenance and many other useful skills.

Book preview

The Cruising Log of

S/Y Maritime Express

The Pacific Years 2001-2005

G.K. (Gail) Soucoup

The Cruising Log of S/Y Maritime Express: The Pacific Years 2001-2005

Copyright © 2021 by G.K. (Gail) Soucoup

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover picture by Barbara Burkhardt Landscape Photography Australia

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-6447-9 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-6446-2 (eBook)

LAND AND WATER

Grain fields, cattle, barns;

In gum rubber boots

He walked and dreamed,

Feeling part of the land he worked.

A soldier clad in khaki

The boy became a man

Defending the lands -

Dreams replaced by destruction.

Many years later the soldier

Found himself owner of a boat,

And a change was made as he learned

The ways of the water.

How is it that I became a soldier?

He inquired of no one in particular.

Then the motor became a sail

And he dreamed again - of the seas.

The wind in the sails

The call of the water

came too late

For this would-be sailor.

Kathleen G. Soucoup¹¹

Table of Contents

Prologue

Acknowledgements

The Pacific Years 2001

The Pacific Years 2002

The Pacific Years 2003

The Pacific Years 2004

The Pacific Years 2005

Epilogue

Why the Name Maritime Express

Specifications On

Waypoints

Prologue

What makes a person love sailing? It could be anything or it could be in your genes. Gail’s maternal grandfather, she has been told, had worked a ship to China in his youth. Henry’s father was born in Montreal and had sailed on Lake Saint Clare until an extremely bad storm came up and after taking Henry’s mother to shore he proceeded to save a number of people, we have the Montreal Gazette newspaper article. Well, Gertie put an end to sailing and never was happy when her son took it up. And Gail’s father, well his first experience was on a troop ship to war (he said that was when he realized he should have been in the Navy) and in later years bought a fourteen foot Mahone Bay power boat.

When we started on our preparations to go cruising and the voyage itself, we kept notes and whenever we had time beefed them up to create this log.

Our intentions were to have a permanent record of just what we did and what we saw. That is the reason this log is a sailing log as well as a travel log. That is also the reason the information on, say The British Virgin Islands shows up under different dates and that the dates do not fully represent the actual sailing days.

Along with this we kept a detailed log while underway which included the date, time, latitude and longitude and the wind and sea conditions on a two hourly schedule, day and night.

Since we left family back home, we sent off excerpts of the travel log by email whenever we had the details filled in. Along the way many acquaintances asked for a copy so there are many who have this in it’s rough state.

Here is the final, cleaned up version that we hope will bring back our memories when we reach that armchair stage of life.

Advice we received from experienced cruisers who said do not give those at home a definite sounding date of return. Therefore, we said that we would be gone at least two years and who knew, it could be ten. Little did we know how fast the time would go.

In this log the latitudes and longitudes at the end are general waypoints to get us to the appropriate harbour. When navigating before and after this point we could have had twenty or more waypoints to make a safe passage.

Gail & Henry

Acknowledgements

I would like to again acknowledge all the help and encouragement from my husband, Henry Blakney Drew. Without him this trip would definitely not have happened.

We would also like to thank all those people, both boaters and islanders who without you, this journey would not have been so memorial. Also with out the constant encouragement of those at home telling us you should write a book when we started telling stories.

Help was given by people back home, taking care of our essential business needs. Giving us a place to stay when we came on vacation. And the late evening pick-up from the airport.

The confidence to begin this journey came from many classes given by the Shediac Power and Sail Squadron.

We would also like to thank a good friend, Alice Theoret  Bourque who proofed both Book 1 (The Caribbean Years) and Book 2 (The Pacific Years.

A big thanks goes to those who purchased Book 1 and gave us confidence to push to finish Book 2.

We made good friend while in the Caribbean and it carried on to us visiting them in Dublin, Ireland. Olivia is no longer with us and that is always on our mind.

During the reading of this book you will see mention of Tom many times. I am sorry to say that we can no longer chat on line.

Olivia Sweeney Murphy

23/10/1944 – 13/8/2019

Thomas John Wasson

14/8/1954 - 19/12/2019

Barry Dobbs

9/2/2002

The Pacific Years 2001

Panama to Australia

Panama

Well, we are on the Pacific side of North and South America. This is hard to believe and seems so unreal but exciting.

We were surprised to reach the Pedro Miguel Locks before S/Y Aldebaran - Milwaukee but when he caught up and we had barely thrown our lines to him, his engine stopped. It seemed that after we left him at the end of the Gatum Lock to cross the lake, he had nothing but problems with his engine, it seemed that luckily, the engine waited until now to stop and not while winding his way through the reefs of the San Blas Islands. Things got a little panicky for a while.

Now we were the tug boat and to make matters worse, we were going to have to manoeuver both boats to the side of the canal to await the tug that was locking with us and then manoeuver to the outside of the tug, both which were on Fred’s side.

Of course, until now, we had a relatively light wind but now the wind came up and was strongly blowing us forward into the lock doors. It made for a few hairy minutes as we tried to get tied up with strong winds and currents and the inability to see how close we were getting to those massive lock doors. In the end all went well, mainly thanks to a line handler that Fred had hired.

All the time we were locking down, Fred was below trying to get his engine started, Fred’s wife Renee was trying to steer the boat, hit the starter button whenever Fred thought he had solved the fuel pump problem, listen to instructions from everyone and his line handlers did not seem to appreciate the problem as they just kept chattering away, making it hard for Renee to concentrate on her tasks and what Fred needed done.

As one of S/Y Aldebaran’s - Milwaukee line handlers, Fred had taken a local taxi driver who had line handled many times before and Fred was now glad that he paid the extra cost. This gentleman made the most amazing leap ashore and snagged a bollard, thus saving both boats from damage as S/Y Maritime Express, being the smaller boat, was unable to hold both boats. We then had to move both boats to the outside of a tug that was transiting with us. With everyone still a little shaken up we were relieved to make the move safely.

We had called Pedro Miguel Boat Club, where both boats had reservations and advised them of the situation encase, we came into the marina with S/Y Aldebaran - Milwaukee still tied to our hip. Just as we were exiting the last chamber, and was able to get to the visitor’s dock under his own steam. He was very appreciative of our help as it would have cost him BIG BUCKS to have had to stay in the lake overnight. Of course, by taking his lines we were assuming responsibility of getting him safely through the locks but at the time with the panic going on, we did not even think of this. The only thought on our mind was how to help our friend through a bad situation.

At the time there was a yacht club, Pedro Miguel Boat Club that sat at the Pacific side of the Pedro Miguel Locks. It is a very basic yacht club, but has everything the cruiser may want. From what we understand, it was originally developed by the Americans when they controlled the canal.

We were Med. moored, stern to the shore, right in front of the work shop. As defined in Cruising World, Mooring Mediterranean-style—deploying an anchor off the boat’s bow and tying stern lines to a town quay—is de rigueur when sailing in Mediterranean and other European cruising grounds. In high season, with strong crosswinds and with boats packed into small harbors like sardines in olive oil, it can be a daunting prospect.

We were placed between S/Y Argonauta - New York and a boat new to us, S/Y Silverfin registered in Alaska. There was only the width of a fender among all the boats. At the workshop they have several benches, a vice and twenty-four-hour lighting. There is an old crane that they use to lift boats out and a large club house. It would have been easier to go in bow first but we needed to get the arch over the shoreline to have some more work done on it as it was showing stress cracks again.

We asked Craig, the retiring club manager, if he could suggest where to start looking for someone to fix our problem. He mentioned he knew a gentleman, if available, would be just whom we wanted.

Craig said if we paid for the gas, he would drive us to see if we could find him. He took us to the other side of Puerto Bello up toward Isla Linton to a spot down along the shore where we came to what looked like some leftover sixty’s commune of boats. Although some were cruising boats that had found their way to this lovely secure anchorage most were not cruising boats and it looked like many of them had been here for a very long time without having moved.

This guy would be your last choice to hire to do anything. He was grungy and laid back looking but Craig said he was the best there was if you could get him. Henry explained our problem to him and he agreed to come whenever he could as he wasn’t sure when he would feel like doing so and the club had to allow him to park his van in their yard. We came away not sure if he was going to come and do the job or if we had just paid for a lovely day’s outing.

Getting Arch Fixed - Again

A week later this van left over from the hippies of the sixties arrived at the yacht club. Gunther came over and looked at the problem, said what he would do to fix it and Henry immediately felt we finally had the right man for the job. It would now depend on if he could get the pieces of steel that he would need to do the repair. He stated his price, which was not out of line and anyway, we did not have much choice.

Gunther climbed all over the arch with the agility of a monkey, adding gusset plates at the angles where cracks were newly developing. The cables that kept the davits from shifting from port to starboard were replaced with one-inch stainless tubing which gave support in both directions. The fittings that permitted the davits to fold up were welded solid and the davits were welded to their mounting plates. The result of his work being a much more solid construction than we had before.

Henry had originally designed what he wanted in davits, found a company in Ontario and sent them the plans. They did come back with some adjustment suggestions which Henry went along with. Now we had previously sought help from clean cut, uniformed professionals and none had been able to come up with all the stress factors to tell us why it was still cracking. This Gunther knew what was wrong, why it was wrong and how to go about fixing it. Now once again we would just have to wait and see how it performed.

The club house has showers, washers and dryers (seventy-five cents), free Internet access (guess the docking fee pays for this), a large common eating room, two large commercial stoves, four sinks, a freezer and a large refrigerator space that is for our use. Every Saturday night they have a potluck and often in between if someone is having a birthday or other important event, we all get together for another communal meal.

The whole of the grounds is wired for security and the main gate is also number coded. One of the liveaboards here acts as night guard. The whole place is so safe that no one locks their boats, except the wary people on S/Y Maritime Express. We are also next to the old Panama Railroad bed that had been stripped of its rails. This made for a good walking path and many of us went at 0630 each morning for about an hour hike.

They also have ducks and geese running around the yard. The geese were a noisy bother as some boaters feed them so they come looking for food while honking at all hours of the day and night and leave droppings on the dock and your gangway. Also, the area abounds with wild birds, at last count S/Y Harmony saw seventy-eight different bird species. We were told that there had been more geese but the crocodile had probably taken a few!

Panama City

On the other side of the tracks is the main highway into Panama City with a bus stop just a few steps away. It cost thirty-five to fifty cents, depending on how far you were going. Most of us took the bus into the city and then hired a cab for about two dollars to get us to the provisioning stores. It hurts to spend the money on taxis, but I guess when you don’t speak the language, don’t have a car and do have huge parcels, it is worth it.

Most of the taxi drivers here speak no English and don’t know where things are. You have to tell them that you go down the street to the corner, turn right, go till you get to the red building, turn left . . . . . Very frustrating. Panama City has everything in the way of provisioning, a Costco (called Price Smart) a Mega Depot (like Costco), Reba Smith, Super 99, Reys, all good size grocery stores.

We did a lot of work on the boat, remade the sun awning, had the arch reinforced once again, did a complete cleaning up and other sundry jobs, trying to make sure the boat was in tip top shape for the next long leg of the adventure.

We have been told by cruisers that are already in the Pacific that you should fill the boat with as much food as you can because in the Pacific, if things are available, the price is dear. One man said that you fill the boat with food, go outside and if you can come in and turn around, then you have not put enough provisions aboard. The next available full provisioning stop at a reasonable price is New Zealand and we will not be there until December!

We did take time out for some fun even though we had some projects to do. Besides many social gatherings at the club, we took a one-day trip to the little resort village of Lavalle to see the crafts and a small zoo. We both find it great to see animals close up that you probably wouldn’t see otherwise but also depressing to see animals and birds in cages and this one was not a world class effort. We did find two, just right, baskets to put on the main salon shelf to hold potatoes and onions, so the day was not lost.

Coffee Plantations - Boquette

From the time we arrived at Pedro Miguel Yacht Club we started hearing about this small village in the mountains of Panama, Boquette. Many of the boaters had taken time from their preparation work to visit and came back saying it was well worth the effort.

We decided to take a break and see for ourselves. Henry and I, along with Sally and Julius (S/Y Argonauta - New York) took an early morning taxi into the main bus terminal in Panama City. This terminal is very new and would put any airline terminal we have seen to shame.

The bus ride cost us twenty dollars (US), each and took us on a five-hour ride. The bus was air conditioned and very comfortable. Part way there we stopped for a thirty-minute lunch break. Upon arriving in David (pronounced daaa vid) we were going to get a local bus to Boquette but a taxi driver offered to take us there for very little more than the bus. We thought this would give us a better chance to view the local scenery. He also was willing for us to stop and get ice cream! How can you refuse?

Panama was in the midst of the dry season. Since the day of our transit, we had not experienced any rain and the landscape showed it. When we reached the foothills of Boquette we immediately saw the change in the terrain. Everything was green, lush and healthy.

Boquette is a small village quite near the Costa Rica border. Its main life force is growing coffee beans. The Indians come from over the boarder to harvest, so there are several cultures here.

We had made arrangements to stay in a little pension that was run by a man (Frank) and his mother. Both of them spoke perfect English. Most of the rest of the residents spoke Spanish but since this is a tourist area, a lot of things were in English. We were not worried, we had Julius, who being New York Italian finds it relatively easy to speak Spanish, although sometimes I thought the words sounded more Italian than Spanish.

After getting installed in our little pension we went for a walk. Having been previously warned, we had long pants on for the first time in a long time and fleece jackets. Luckily, we did. All the time we were there the wind howled and the rain misted and I froze. The town has a lot of little junk stores that were fun exploring. From the looks of things, the locals go down to David to do their shopping if they want anything substantial.

The pension has a small dining room, but is not a restaurant. The people staying there are free to use the kitchen and many young people are there. It had much the feeling of a commune with everyone in the kitchen making meals.

We walked all over the village taking in all the sights. There is a small river running through the village and they have a small but wonderful botanical gardens. Flowers were everywhere.

We hired a local taxi and for twenty dollars he took us all over the mountains, even stopping at a strawberry farm where we made a purchase. The scenery was wonderful and got us back in time to purchase a tub of ice cream to go with the strawberries. That was our supper.

Since the area is mainly a tourist area and coffee growing area, we went to several plantations to sample coffee and buy some beans to take with us on our trip. The place that we finally found coffee that we liked the taste of was run by Rodriguez MacKenzie. Yes, a Spanish first name and a Scottish last name. His grandfather had been from Scotland, immigrated to Canada and then Panama. What a combination but they grew great coffee.

While on the taxi tour, we came to a private home with exceptional gardens. The driver said that we could go in, the owners were happy to let people, on their property. It seemed very odd to be walking around someone’s back yard while they were obviously entertaining in their sun room.

On Monday Sally, Henry and I made arrangements to go trail riding. Julius did not come (he has two artificial hips) which was probably just as well, he is a BIG man, not fat, just large in structure. The horses were dainty little ladies. Much smaller than my sister-in-law’s horse but as well trained. It was evident from the start that these ladies were well-taken care of.

The ride lasted about two hours and we went down one side of the river, crossed over and wound our way up into the mountains. Some of the views we had were spectacular. The owner of the horses was very proud that he had a brand-new saddle for Henry to use. Henry felt it was the most uncomfortable ride he had ever taken, but he kept that to himself as the owner of the horses was so proud of his new saddle.

The wind was howling and blowing trees and tall grasses everywhere. Sally and I were concerned that this would spook the horses but they were obviously used to it and took it in their stride. The only time there was some concern was when we went over the suspension bridge and got in the middle and the roaring of the water was very apparent.

Back to Pedro Miguel Yacht Club

We took the bus the next day back to David, got there early for our bus to Panama City and were lucky in getting on the earlier one. We arrived back at the boats, glad for the diversion and now were ready to provision and take off.

Several of us ladies went to a local doctor for a checkup and prescriptions for medications we might need in the coming months. He even gave me a suture kit, needles, syringes and freezing. No problem, whatever you wanted he would give you.

The manager of the yacht club had originally been with the American forces and when he retired stayed, in Panama. His wife was a canal pilot and was the only woman qualified to take the Panamax boats through the locks that existed at that time. These are the largest boats that will fit in the space. While here she was having her last transit before they were to take off in their boat to cruise. The evening she did the last transit past the yacht club we all stood on the dock and waved and whistled. She later told us that she had not told the captain of the ship this was her last transit but after the look on his face when he saw all these idiots on shore, she had to tell him.

We had scheduled our departure from Pedro Miguel Boat Club for February 28, 2001. We still had one lock (Miraflores Locks) with two chambers to go through before we reached the Pacific Ocean. So, with this deadline in mind, we made many trips to the shops and filled the boat with food.

They originally told us that we were to transit at 1330, and the advisor would be aboard at 1300. That morning we called the scheduling office to confirm and were told that the advisor would be there at 0900 and to be ready. That caused some problems. I had finished all my preparations the night before, cooked a turkey, cleaned the boat and locked everything down for transit but Sally on S/Y Argonauta-New York had left a few things for the morning and was in a panic.

Departing for the Pacific Ocean

There were three boats from Pedro Miguel Boat Club transiting and we were fortunate enough to get Jimmy who was our advisor the first two locks. He told Henry that when he saw our boat on the list, he requested he be assigned to us. We were very pleased as he is a very quiet, laid back person and when things go wrong does not panic. He has a definite Chinese look to him but the build of a Caucasian so he probably reflects the intermingling of the cultures that built the canal.

Jimmy told us that the reason they pushed up our departure was because they had to let some water out of the lake as the overflow dam could not bleed it off fast enough, so they were going to have to cycle the locks and may as well transit the three yachts.

Wendy and Ken on S/Y Someday Is Here had already transited the canal and were going to come back by bus that morning to help us line handle. We tried calling them but there was no answer. Luckily for us, I had foreseen just this happening and had asked Gwen and Don on S/Y Tackless II, who were at the yacht club with us, to step in if things went sour at the last moment. That turned out to be a very good move.

S/Y Makoko, a Jersey-registered boat, owned by a French couple had asked to go alone, not nested. As things would have it, he, being the bigger boat was put in the middle of the three boats. We were overall, forty-three feet, he was fifty-three feet and Argonauta was forty-seven feet. We were tied as securely as possible and circling around at the head of the locks waiting for the last up locking ship to come through. They always seem to get the yachts together and then have them hang around a very long time before they are able to move to the lock.

While we were waiting, a tug boat came down Miraflores Lake, going extremely fast heading to the tug base in the lower corner. The advisors on the three boats were calling him to slow down, but he didn’t. Jimmy informed me that this particular driver has no consideration for anyone, has had so many complaints filed against him, that he will not ever get a promotion. Even so, they have not fired him! Jimmy said he obviously has someone in his pocket.

He set up such a wash that the boats were bouncing around very dangerously. Our boat slammed into the fifty-three-foot Amiel and cracked his plastic rub rail. I was on the helm, and trying to use our engine to turn the three boats into the waves. Don was hollering at the adviser on S/Y Makolo to head the boats into the waves so we wouldn’t get hit broadside and roll. The middle boat was the in charge boat along with his adviser. He did not seem to understand what would happen and I was watching the bouncing of the boats causing the masts to sway back and forth thinking we were all going to get tangled when I heard Henry hollering. The lady on S/Y Makolo was in the process of reaching between the boats to readjust a fender and Henry was trying to shove her back, afraid that she was going to get her hand crushed between the boats. She did not understand what he was trying to do and was only worried about her boat.

We were lucky. We came out of the whole thing with no damage and S/Y Makolo ended up with just a cracked rub rail. From that point on, the transit went like it is supposed to and we down locked into the Pacific.

When things calmed down, Don took the advisers to the bow of the respective boats and explained to them how sailboats are different in handling than motor boats. Don has his US Captains license and we were impressed with how he handled the advisers without putting them into an embarrassing position.

The Miraflores Lock has a web camera on it and one of the HAM operators back home was watching and talking to Henry at the same time on the radio.

We are finally on the Pacific Side

There is a large bridge that spans the Pacific entrance to the canal, called the Pan American Bridge (Bridge of the Americas). It is considered, by boaters, the point when you are actually entering the Pacific. It is a tradition that people throw flowers and coins into the water as you pass under it to appease the gods. Two of our line handlers were American so we gave them American coins, we of course, used Canadian, and Francis, who is from Germany had to contend with American. We also followed an old-time tradition in Eastern Canada of giving the Old Man of the Sea a glass of rum so he would look favourably on us.

WE WERE THERE!!!!

The night of the twenty eighth we spent at anchor outside in the harbour area (Panama, Isla Flamenco) as we had to stop and let the advisor, Jimmy and our line handlers off. Also, we had to get rid of the tires that we had to rent and were supposed to get a few dollars back when we returned them to the small yacht club on this side. Since we were tying up to large canal tugs, we needed extra protection so had made the purchase. Of course, no one wanted to take them back for a price but am sure they were resold, another tariff for crossing the Panama Canal.

On the morning of March 1, 2001, we set off to see the last of the Panamanian islands that we will visit, Los Perles. Here we were meeting up with S/Y Aldebaran -Milwaukee, S/Y Aldebaran - Ireland and S/Y Argonauta - New York for the eight-hundred-mile trip to the Galapagos. We would be checking in with various Ham Radio and Single Side Band nets and also updating our position report on the Internet so although we might feel alone, we had friends along for the ride.

Galapagos (Country of Ecuador)

Alas, our first day on the Pacific and we had to motor. The wind was nonexistent but the sun was shining. We kept looking for the blue water but none was to be had.

S/Y Argonauta - New York, being a bigger boat, with a bigger engine arrived in the Isla San Jose anchorage, Los Perles about an hour before us. When we arrived Renee, Fred and Kurt from S/Y Aldebaran - Milwaukee were having cocktails on S/Y Argonauta -New York. Kurt came over and picked us up so we would not have to put the dingy in the water as the sun was going down and they were well on the way to having sun downers.

S/Y Aldebaran - Milwaukee was anxious to get on their way to the Galapagos as they had been here for two weeks waiting for us to catch up. The next morning, we all left, S/Y Maritime Express picking up her anchor at 1045, course charted and 843 miles to go. The wind was light and we all flew our spinnakers.

It wasn’t long before S/Y Aldebaran - Milwaukee left us in their wake and disappeared over the horizon. We could not understand why they waited for us but then did not sail with us. Renee later said that the two guys had a race going on between themselves to see who could get the most distance out of each watch. Fred and Kurt had been racing partners back home in Milwaukee and could not get the competition out of their blood.

We stayed within sight of S/Y Argonauta - New York for about forty-eight hours. Henry was very pleased because they are a forty-seven-foot boat and cutter rigged. It was only when the wind shifted and we were close hauled that they pulled away and by the time of the arrival in Wreck Bay, the Galapagos, they were twenty miles ahead of us.

The trip was quite uneventful, which was fine by us after our passage to Bermuda. We had to motor about thirty-eight hours in total, sailed very slowly for a lot of the time, only putting the engine on when there was NO wind. What a lovely relaxing way to travel.

We saw dolphins, a couple of whales, lots of sea birds and I actually saw a sail fish jump out of the water. He was about eight feet long in body and had at least a four-foot sword. We even had a frigate bird on our solar panel for about two hours one night during my watch.

A lot of the time we had very good wind, but little seas, just a long gentle swell. The current and swell were going in different directions which were quite unusual for us but not uncomfortable. At one point we came to what looked like a flowing river weaving in and out from north to south. In this river was a large quantity of garbage, floating bottles, Styrofoam cups, grass, chips, anything you could imagine. It was smooth going across this narrow stretch of water but one did feel that you should have felt a bump.

Another unusual sight one day was this large mass of small blue sails about three centimeters tall on what looked like a jelly fish mass of about the same diameter. The ocean was covered with them, gently floating in the current.

There are always stories in the sailing magazines of people who for whatever reason, are run down by a ship. After being in the canal system for so long we had developed a great respect for the mammoth vessels. We are careful to look around every fifteen minutes, knowing how fast they can come from out of nowhere.

There are also stories of people hitting sleeping whales, logs, containers that have fallen off a ship (one container ship, I am told carries more than eight thousand containers and feels losing four hundred and fifty over the side is acceptable in a storm!), so it was with a start that I felt something hit and bump down the side. Looking behind us I saw two turtles, still on the surface. They usually hear you coming and get out of the way, what were they doing that took their attention away! Containers, by the way often, sit about an inch below the surface and if you hit one, the game is over and it would be a surprise if you could see it to avoid it, they take a long time to finally sink.

During the night, we would listen to short wave radio. Voice of America, British Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Canada International, Deutsche Welle, etc. One night there was a topic about turtles saying there are about seven different species of sea turtles and they are all in danger of being extinct. I was trying to make one species extinct for sure.

Crossing the Equator

Celebrating Crossing

There are all kinds of significance for sailors down the ages of crossing the equator for the first time. Many put on plays about King Neptune, dress up with someone playing his part. Although we had crossed four times before, in a plane, we were anxiously awaiting our crossing. Many of the boats ahead reported that they dressed up, had a good drink, one boat the lady swam across naked. Her husband had pictures to show us to prove it. For us the time was during the dark hours of the night and as we don’t drink alcohol while under way, we had orange juice in a wine glass and toasted our crossing on March 7, 2001 (Equator Crossing 0̊00.0’N 88̊31.2’W).

Galapagos