I left Palm Beach Florida on the 20th Feb. for Miami then Key West. All full of giant boats and Americans!
Onto Cuba and the Cayman Islands then about 5 days of on the nose bouncing down to Colon on the north side of the Panama Canal. A long break there for repairs and a new crew (Italian guy and Swiss girl) taught me that 'cruising' is hard work! Lots of cleaning, maintenance and repairs in hot humid conditions. Provisioning and bug control are also new skills. Meeting lots of amazing people from all over the world who are away for years making my few months seem like a short rushed trip.
Through the canal as a 'line handler' on another boat then again on my boat. It's an amazing experience. Up the locks 85m to a lake at the top one day. Down again to the Pacific Ocean the next. From there to the amazing Galápagos Islands picking up the trade winds as we went. Sea lions and giant tortoises.
21 long hot days with the wind behind us to get here. It was quite windy so lots of rolling life on an angle trying to stay in the bunks (sweating) and keep the cups, pans, plates etc from flying around. Think chilli con carne ending up on pear cake (excellent Swiss girl cooking). Hot, humid and no escape from your fellow crew, 2 hour watches at night. 3 during the day, but really amazing. Best stars ever.
It's lovely to be on land for a while now though. Tropical paradise. My daughter Alice joins us tomorrow then after some time in this island group we head down to the Tuamotu Group (into the wind) then the Society and Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and finally Fiji. I still can't believe I'm doing this and could easily go on and on for years. I love this life.
The big red sail is a parasailor. We also have a hydro vane at the back which steers the boat. Both impressive, Nicolee