Sunday, March 28, 2010
Landfall
Landfall in the Marquesas on Friday. I have not heard details yet but they have finished the longest open-water leg ... More to come. Travis
Thursday, March 11, 2010
From out in the Pacific ....
From Jared ....
It's 0500hrs and I'm two hours into my night watch with two more to go. This is the beginning of day 4, I think, (time is relative, as in relatively unimportant out here in the vast blue) on what should be a 21 day run to Hiva Oa, a Polynesian paradise and the final resting place of Gaugin. We have seen speeds of 10.3 knts over ground and for me, that's a little on the fast side. My bunk is on the leeward side of the tack, so when I occasionally do get a little shut-eye I often wake up with more of my body resting on what should be more of a wall (land lubber term) than a bunk. The upside of going fast is, of course, it gets you to port quicker. Upon making sight of land, I imagine myself pulling a Forrest Gump and leaping from the vessel before she's properly tied like good ole' Gump did upon seeing Lt. Dan.
The fishing has been poor for the last two days except for a football sized yellow fin tuna caught by Tom. Fresh sashimi always has a way of putting a smile on our faces. But why are the tuna always gone?
The key to maintaining one's sanity on the prospect of such a long time out to sea is, I believe (not really sure..check on me in two weeks ;) occupying one's mind with the following tasks: remain in constant radio communication with your fellow sailors and talk about the myriad ways to cook canned meat, then cook meat, eat meat, talk about another recipe using same ingredients while still in the salon eating that meat. You think I'm joking. I'm not. As I listen to radio communications this seems to be working for the other sailors. I, personally, enjoy watching the phosphorescence trail that stretches a 1/4 mile behind the boat at times and as deep as the keel. It illuminates the night waters. Those agitated plankton surely show their disdain for being annoyed by the boat in a beautiful manner. Time during the day is spent preparing meat (haha), completing unnecessary boat details, completing necessary boat details, checking emails, reading about the next destination, making journal entries, thinking about ideas for songs, thinking about loved ones, and mentally drifting back to a day in the Galapagos when I swam with sharks much bigger than me or walked along free-roaming giant tortoises over a hundred years in age. Hey folks, to manage you have to get inventive. On a side-note, did manage to see the famous "Lonesome George" (last of the Pinta island Galapagos tortoises and somewhere in the area of a 130 years young) move. He doesn't move much. He looks tired, like he wants to be left alone and take a nice long morning, afternoon, and evening nap. This might have something to do with the Darwin Research Center's failure to breed him with other sub-species. Just a theory of mine, no empirical data to back it up.
Alright, time to go back to the helm and finish up the watch.
"Brown-Eyed Girl" out...
It's 0500hrs and I'm two hours into my night watch with two more to go. This is the beginning of day 4, I think, (time is relative, as in relatively unimportant out here in the vast blue) on what should be a 21 day run to Hiva Oa, a Polynesian paradise and the final resting place of Gaugin. We have seen speeds of 10.3 knts over ground and for me, that's a little on the fast side. My bunk is on the leeward side of the tack, so when I occasionally do get a little shut-eye I often wake up with more of my body resting on what should be more of a wall (land lubber term) than a bunk. The upside of going fast is, of course, it gets you to port quicker. Upon making sight of land, I imagine myself pulling a Forrest Gump and leaping from the vessel before she's properly tied like good ole' Gump did upon seeing Lt. Dan.
The fishing has been poor for the last two days except for a football sized yellow fin tuna caught by Tom. Fresh sashimi always has a way of putting a smile on our faces. But why are the tuna always gone?
The key to maintaining one's sanity on the prospect of such a long time out to sea is, I believe (not really sure..check on me in two weeks ;) occupying one's mind with the following tasks: remain in constant radio communication with your fellow sailors and talk about the myriad ways to cook canned meat, then cook meat, eat meat, talk about another recipe using same ingredients while still in the salon eating that meat. You think I'm joking. I'm not. As I listen to radio communications this seems to be working for the other sailors. I, personally, enjoy watching the phosphorescence trail that stretches a 1/4 mile behind the boat at times and as deep as the keel. It illuminates the night waters. Those agitated plankton surely show their disdain for being annoyed by the boat in a beautiful manner. Time during the day is spent preparing meat (haha), completing unnecessary boat details, completing necessary boat details, checking emails, reading about the next destination, making journal entries, thinking about ideas for songs, thinking about loved ones, and mentally drifting back to a day in the Galapagos when I swam with sharks much bigger than me or walked along free-roaming giant tortoises over a hundred years in age. Hey folks, to manage you have to get inventive. On a side-note, did manage to see the famous "Lonesome George" (last of the Pinta island Galapagos tortoises and somewhere in the area of a 130 years young) move. He doesn't move much. He looks tired, like he wants to be left alone and take a nice long morning, afternoon, and evening nap. This might have something to do with the Darwin Research Center's failure to breed him with other sub-species. Just a theory of mine, no empirical data to back it up.
Alright, time to go back to the helm and finish up the watch.
"Brown-Eyed Girl" out...
Monday, March 8, 2010
Deep Blue Sea
Travis here. My dad and crew have left the Galapagos and headed west out into the deep blue sea. We will see if they pop out the other end. I talked to them on their Iridium phone just as they were sinking the Galapagos below the horizon on Sunday afternoon, March 7th. Next landfall is the Marquesas in 22-30 days. My mom has arrived back in Florida safely and we will be visiting her next week. Hopefully Jared will be able to email blog updates from the boat as they transit the Pacific....
Friday, March 5, 2010
Tsunami, Sashimi, and Sea-towing
We are in the paradise of the Galapagos on the island of Santa Cruz. Words can't describe what a glorious place this is for a naturalist. I can post pictures, once I get a decent internet connection. All I can say that this is a place one should put on his/her bucket list of places to visit. We stood where Darwin made landfall and changed the nature of our scientific understandings of the marvelous animals with which we share this world. The Galapagos isles are, for the most part, harsh in their landscape, yet beautiful with the mysteries they hold.
Much has happened since my last blog, so I will update you all while keeping it short and sweet and not putting you to sleep.
First, we are all happy to say that the Captain is on the mend from his unfortunate mishap in La Libertad and wearing his arm brace religiously which is pretty amazing given it keeps him out of the water and from swimming with the sharks (much larger than us), sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas and the myriad other beasties that abound here. He has, however, shown himself to be quite the spotter of the gigantic, yet elusive, Galapagos tortoises. With a little more exercise, he will be a s fast as them, too. His injury has unfortunately not allowed him to partake in some of the activities we have experienced in this archipelago of some many marvels. He understands any compounding of his injury would affect the trip for us all so he is being a good patient which is pretty amazing since we all know how physicians tend to be lacking in this quality. His injury, though giving him pain, has not tarnished his ability to Captain a vessel nor keep to the primary code of the sea: help a vessel in distress. While en route from La Libertad, Ecuador to the Galapagos archipelago he ordered all of his scalawags to remain in visual contact and hourly communication with another World Arc vessel, "Dreamcatcher" whose motor had failed. Winds were virtually non-existent putting the crew of that vessel in a very compromised position. As we neared our primary destination in the Galapagos, the current started pushing "Dreamcatcher" toward the island of San Cristobal. Our Captain gave orders to alter our course and to intercept her and we towed her safely into port in the dark of night. It was a very rewarding experience. After a 20 mile tow at 4 knots, the good crew of that boat invited us aboard to celebrate with drinks. The celebration of getting them safely to port was not long-lived. It was with sadness when we heard days later that after "Dreamcatcher" had moved to Puerto Ayora to repair the engine that she was directly affected by the rage of the tsunami caused by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Chile. Water levels dropped and rose 10 meters [editors note: he must intend to say 10 feet here, not meters] in about ten minutes time in our present port of Puerto Ayora, breaking her anchor free, turning her 720 degrees instantaneously resulting in her striking another boat. The estimated combined damage to both boats is no less than 30,000 dollars and may be as high as 100,000 dollars. As sailors know, problems tend to compound each other. Our heartfelt sympathies to these good people for the tremendously bad luck they have experienced in the last weeks and their ability to ruck up and smile among it all.
On a happier note, we landed a nice 30 lb. yellow fin tuna and ate fatty sashimi, until our hearts were content. We would have caught another but a shark beat us to the dinner table and cut through 400 lb. mono filament line. That's no easy feat and though, we didn't see the glorious thief, cutting through 400 lb mono fishing line is remarkable, unless of course you are one big, bruiser of a shark..."Quint, I think we're going to need a bigger boat." [editors note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkl3eXAHTRM]
Mom will be flying back to Vero in a couple days and will be sorely missed. She has proved herself to be quite the birder here and loves those crazy blue-footed booby's. How couldn't you? Of all the crew, I think she's the one with the brains by avoiding this next leg. On Saturday, we begin the big push for the Marquesas, a sail which should last no less than three weeks without the sight of land. This will be a crucible as I find landfall to be a rather nice thing after a six day sail. Three weeks at sea. Three weeks at sea. I hope our fishing lines remain taught because trying to have an intelligent conversation with the terns and gulls that land on our mast while at sea has become a futile operation. What worries me about this next leg is that they may actually start talking back. As always, love and miss you all.
"Brown-Eyed Girl" out... Jared
Much has happened since my last blog, so I will update you all while keeping it short and sweet and not putting you to sleep.
First, we are all happy to say that the Captain is on the mend from his unfortunate mishap in La Libertad and wearing his arm brace religiously which is pretty amazing given it keeps him out of the water and from swimming with the sharks (much larger than us), sea lions, penguins, marine iguanas and the myriad other beasties that abound here. He has, however, shown himself to be quite the spotter of the gigantic, yet elusive, Galapagos tortoises. With a little more exercise, he will be a s fast as them, too. His injury has unfortunately not allowed him to partake in some of the activities we have experienced in this archipelago of some many marvels. He understands any compounding of his injury would affect the trip for us all so he is being a good patient which is pretty amazing since we all know how physicians tend to be lacking in this quality. His injury, though giving him pain, has not tarnished his ability to Captain a vessel nor keep to the primary code of the sea: help a vessel in distress. While en route from La Libertad, Ecuador to the Galapagos archipelago he ordered all of his scalawags to remain in visual contact and hourly communication with another World Arc vessel, "Dreamcatcher" whose motor had failed. Winds were virtually non-existent putting the crew of that vessel in a very compromised position. As we neared our primary destination in the Galapagos, the current started pushing "Dreamcatcher" toward the island of San Cristobal. Our Captain gave orders to alter our course and to intercept her and we towed her safely into port in the dark of night. It was a very rewarding experience. After a 20 mile tow at 4 knots, the good crew of that boat invited us aboard to celebrate with drinks. The celebration of getting them safely to port was not long-lived. It was with sadness when we heard days later that after "Dreamcatcher" had moved to Puerto Ayora to repair the engine that she was directly affected by the rage of the tsunami caused by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake off Chile. Water levels dropped and rose 10 meters [editors note: he must intend to say 10 feet here, not meters] in about ten minutes time in our present port of Puerto Ayora, breaking her anchor free, turning her 720 degrees instantaneously resulting in her striking another boat. The estimated combined damage to both boats is no less than 30,000 dollars and may be as high as 100,000 dollars. As sailors know, problems tend to compound each other. Our heartfelt sympathies to these good people for the tremendously bad luck they have experienced in the last weeks and their ability to ruck up and smile among it all.
On a happier note, we landed a nice 30 lb. yellow fin tuna and ate fatty sashimi, until our hearts were content. We would have caught another but a shark beat us to the dinner table and cut through 400 lb. mono filament line. That's no easy feat and though, we didn't see the glorious thief, cutting through 400 lb mono fishing line is remarkable, unless of course you are one big, bruiser of a shark..."Quint, I think we're going to need a bigger boat." [editors note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkl3eXAHTRM]
Mom will be flying back to Vero in a couple days and will be sorely missed. She has proved herself to be quite the birder here and loves those crazy blue-footed booby's. How couldn't you? Of all the crew, I think she's the one with the brains by avoiding this next leg. On Saturday, we begin the big push for the Marquesas, a sail which should last no less than three weeks without the sight of land. This will be a crucible as I find landfall to be a rather nice thing after a six day sail. Three weeks at sea. Three weeks at sea. I hope our fishing lines remain taught because trying to have an intelligent conversation with the terns and gulls that land on our mast while at sea has become a futile operation. What worries me about this next leg is that they may actually start talking back. As always, love and miss you all.
"Brown-Eyed Girl" out... Jared
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Video
I came across this video in my wandering and it struck me as a good example of what my dad and Jared described happening in the Galapagos during the Tsunami -- a very dramatic exit and return of water into a harbor. My dad says SV Brown Eyed Girl actually gently bumped bottom when it happened. Two boats in their gaggle got quite serious damage during event. Keep watching the video -- little boring at beginning. A few bad words in background of video so be aware of young ears.
http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2010/02/tsunami-storm-surge-in-san-diego-harborcaught-on-video.html
Travis
http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2010/02/tsunami-storm-surge-in-san-diego-harborcaught-on-video.html
Travis
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