"On the road again, like a band of gypsies going down the highway" Willie Nelson's music
fills the air around Bella Donna. Deborah plays this music every time we start a passage.
It is 1 PM and we just left the fuel barge on Baltra Island which is just north of Santa
Cruz. Baltra is where the airport is.
Our morning started just before 6 AM. We lifted anchor at first light in a soupy fog. We
had to get 40 miles to the north by 11 AM to refuel in Baltra. John started with only GPS
chart to guide him blowing the fog horn every 20 seconds, one long blast for vessel moving
with no visibility. After a while the fog clears a little but we still can not see very
far. Channel 16 blares out another captain's voice asking for vessels in the area to
communicate course. It is the 100+ foot mono hull sailboat Vivid that was in the same
Panama Flamenco Marina we were in two weeks ago. We shared drinks with the crew at the
Marina Bar. She is just now arriving in Galapagos and is using our agent, Ricardo. We
decide to pass starboard to starboard rather than the usual port to port. This was just
one of those cases where it was easier for both of us.
Soon the fog burns off as we make distance to sea; the fog is mostly over land and the
winds are so light today that it just collects and hangs out. The sea is flat, like glass.
Five hours later we anchor and stern to a fuel barge in Baltra. We fill both starboard and
port tanks to the brim and put 100 gallons away in 10 gallon jerry cans on deck. We will
empty these jerry cans into the fuel tank as soon as there is room for the 100 gallons.
This extra fuel will run an engine for about 34 hours. The port engine is shut down; we
run only one engine at a time at 1800 RPM to conserve fuel. Running an engine rather than
a generator just makes sense. You generate the electricity required and get some speed
with about the same fuel consumption.
This gets us up to the point where Willie Nelson starts singing On the Road Again. The
remainder of the day rolls on smoothly. The current is against us and there is not enough
wind to drive our sails so we are slow, but this is expected for the first couple of days;
we are still in the doldrums. The only problem is the fly bridge is being swarmed by
yellow jacket wasps. I think they were moving into our mainsail until they realized there
new location was moving. Seems they then got very mad and started swarming and stinging
us. A spray can of insect repellant dose some good, but Don and Deborah with fly swatters
is well, effective – we call them the serial killer duo.
Willy Nelson stops singing; we have several hours of his music on the ipod. It is that
first day where everybody is up on deck just finding each his/her own rhythm at sea. For
the next 18 days some will be sleepy or sleeping and others will be wide awake as we all
fall into the 24 hour a day, 7 day a week watch schedule.
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. God Bless the Mothers and God Bless Bella Donna.
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