Puddle Jumping

Another full moon which must mean we have been in Galapagos for almost a month. It's a difficult task to know what day of the week it is or what day of the month, and sometimes it is even a challenge to remember which month we are in. Life at the equator is quite simple. The sunrises as 6 AM every day and sets at 6 PM every day and the weather is pretty much the same every day of the year. We hear tell of signs of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere from our friends back home. Spring teasing with a few days when the sun is warm on your face and the snow is melting away enough to see the first green tips of tulips and daffodils. A nice reward for having made it through another cold winter. But not for us. We have to watch out for the scorching sun and have come to fully appreciate the siesta taken by all the shop keepers between 12:30 and 3:00 PM. It is really just too hot to do anything but find a shady spot and limit movements as much as possible. Even the trees wilt under the noonday sun.

We are slowly getting ourselves ready for crossing the Pacific Ocean or the 'puddle jump' as the cruisers like to call it. Engine oils checked, bright work done, blocks lubricated and safety pins taped. After a lot of Internet research and phone calls to the supplier, Jens has come to terms with our new batteries. He has accepted the fact that they are not as good as the Life Line batteries we replaced last month but will do even though we have to make a few adjustments as to how we use our energy.

We will top up our fuel, water and propane tanks on Tuesday and make a last trip to the vegetable market on Wednesday. If the weather is fine, we plan to leave late Wednesday morning (April 3rd ... I checked the calendar). We have been shopping a bit every day and I will have a full inventory of groceries and a full freezer by the weekend. We plan to catch some fish along the way, so we have restocked our inventory of fishing lures.

The puddle jump will be the longest sea voyage for me and SY SEGWUN. Captain Jens has crossed the Pacific by sea several times during his years working for Maersk as a Marine Engineer. But this will be his first crossing as Captain and in a sailboat. So, lots of planning and preparation have been done. We have paper maps, a plotter, Navionics on the iPad, GPS applications on both the iPad and the iPhone and our satellite phone can send our GPS location in an email. We should have no difficulty knowing where we are at any given moment.

As regard to safety, we have our EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which will automatically send an emergency message via satellite to the International Search and Rescue agencies when activated or submersed in water, we have our life raft fully equipped with a multitude of food, medical and emergency items and we have our medical emergency kit which has everything you need to supply a small hospital.

I think we are ready. The only danger that I can think of is how to cope with the boredom. But Jens assures me that I will be too tired from doing night watches to be bored. Ha ha.