Saturday May 26, 2007
Everyone reported for work today. The wind started early, just after our watch started at 6AM. We put out the Genoa and went from 6.2 knots to 8.4 knots. This is the best wind we have had on the passage. It is dark, not even a hint of sun up; the moon has set so we are left with a black sky doted with unfamiliar southern hemisphere stars and planets. Bella Donna is happy and well behaved, so I leave the helm and go back to the sun pad to sit and take in this beautiful sky. I sit in the extreme back corner with my back resting on the railing to get the biggest view of the night sky. Like studying the face of a new friend, we make a mental imprint of the shapes formed by clusters of stars. When we come back to Bella Donna for the passage to Tahiti, we should bring a sky map of the southern sky so we can get to know our new friend better. It dawns on me that this is the best seat on Bella Donna. It is extremely comfortable; you can watch the sky at night, watch the sea during the day, the sail trim is easy to see, the helm instrument panel is visible, and this is the only place on Bella Donna you have the feeling you are viewing a motion picture taken behind Bell Donna by a professional movie camera crew. With the sea as the dance floor, you just sit in your media room and watch the dance of wind, sail and Bella Donna in perfect harmony. One thing that is totally awesome is the size of this fly bridge and how well it is laid out.

Another totally awesome thing about Bella Donna is the number of comfortable places you can go that give you the feeling you have traveled far and are in another beautifully different place. If you want to be alone, you can go to your cabin. During the heat of the day without air conditioning, your cabin might be a little warm. You can open hatches and turn on fans which cool things off pretty good, the French say medium good. Maybe no one is in the salon, this is a nice shady place to sit on a soft couch or chair and read or write blog posts like this one on a laptop; you might not be alone though. The same issue about the heat of the day applies to the salon; however, early in the morning and late evening these 2 places may be warmer and better places for you as it does cool off at night. If your body needs exercise there is always the gym. A much cooler but still shady place is the cockpit; here a pleasant breeze is always blowing and there is plenty of room on the comfortable couches. There are also 2 sun pads, one on port and one on starboard; one is usually in the sun while the other is in the shade. The coolest spot is the fly bridge where you can watch the expert crew adjust sails and navigate Bella Donna. This completes the places you can go day or night. The remaining 2 places only adults may go and then only during the day; at night these places are just too dangerous. If you want to sun bathe or fish, you could also share the aft, stern, deck with the dinghy; it may be shady on one side or both depending on time of day and sail plan. The last place Bella Donna's bow where there is sun and shade depending on the shadow cast by the sails. You may lay on a pad on the deck or on the port or starboard trampoline. Oh, there is always the kitchen, but you should check in with Deborah first; this is her area and eating provisions without her knowledge is forbidden. First of all food is not only stored in the kitchen, but throughout Bella Donna under the floor boards, don't peak. Stores are limited on a long passage and meal planning requires knowledge of what is available. Resumes are being accepted for additional Galley Slaves; submit them to Deborah any day before noon.

At 6PM today we are approximately 24 hours from our destination, The Marquesas. John says we have plenty of fuel to run both engines to get there maybe early enough to check in on Monday afternoon; otherwise, we will slow up and come in during first light on Tuesday. We start the second engine, bring both up to 2000 RPM and trim the sails. We are able to do 9 to 9.5 knots. We decide to try it out.

God Bless Bella Donna.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:

http://www.sailmail.com

Post

Bella Donna Headline News - Friday May 25, 2007

*** Flying Fish Swarm Bella Donna ***
Hundreds of flying fish fly in formation taking off and forming a low cloud over the sea turning one way then another as if putting on an air show, then land again a couple of hundred yards away. One lost his way and joined us for dinner, helplessly flopping on deck; John attempted to help the pilot back into the water. After several failed attempts the captain scoops up the now frantic flyer with both hands and launches him over the stern to rejoin his comrades. Crossing the Atlantic a year and a half ago, the flying fish flew higher. Attracted to light they would fly into the fly bridge and hit us. If you forgot to close your screen on your bedroom hatch you may be sleeping with a flying fish.

*** Dolphins Come From Everywhere to Play With Bella Donna ***
The sea has been quiet and empty for many days now as we pass through the middle of nowhere. Today suddenly we rejoiced to meet a large group of new friends. Suddenly dolphins were swiftly coming straight to Bella Donna from all directions. They looked like school children that have discovered a new game to play. One dolphin comes completely out of the water and does a big summersault. Others swim alongside Bella Donna just a few feet below the crystal clear water. They are so fast they swim circles around us and entertain us just like trained dolphins in Hawaii. After 10 minutes they wave a tail good-bye to us and swim off to seek other adventures. We must be entering Marquesas waters.

*** Big Ocean Swells are Fun ***
The Pacific is known for huge hills, swells, of water 15 to 30 feet high and 60 to 120 feet from one side to the other; I have seen much higher and wider. Today they are gently passing under Bella Donna from Port to Starboard with a stern to bow direction, a little behind us. This means that in the valley you see hills of water rising over your head. As the hill passes under us you feel a slight turn to starboard. At the top of the hill you are in a 3 story building looking out a limitless picture window at the sea. Then Bella Donna begins to surf down the face of the hill, picking up speed and turning the bow to port as the starboard bow reaches the bottom of the hill first. Repeat these thousands of times in a variable rhythm and that is the motion of the day, a dance controlled by the autopilot. The wind did not show up for work today and the sails left for home early. This ride would be even more exciting with the pull of sails contributing to the speed and the rhythm of the dance.

God Bless Bella Donna.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:

http://www.sailmail.com

Post

Thursday May 24, 2007
On our little island in the South Pacific, Bella Donna, the captain has come to the crew
with a problem. It seems even though we have taken perfect care of the time pieces aboard
ship and for many important rituals like being on time for a watch, eating meals and other
routine chores all is well; however, all is not well on the island. After considerable
analysis using geography, maps, navigational aids, clocks, almanacs and some artful
MEASURING, the captain has determined that the clocks in Marquesas will be 3.5 hours
earlier than our current time pieces when we arrive. A one half hour time zone change,
what's up with that. The captain has noticed how slow things get started in the morning on
our island; the sun is not rising until a quarter to 9 and on a cloudy day breakfast
coffee is still being brewed around 10AM. The captain has also noticed that he has trouble
getting needed shut eye before his 12AM watch; the sun is not setting until nearly 9PM,
which is not a problem with you land lubbers who are enjoying daylight savings time.
However in the tropics we do not do daylight savings time as the following morning would
suffer; we expect the sun to set between 6 and 7PM and the sun to rise between 6 and 7AM;
the sun rose at exactly 6AM on the morning we left Galapagos.

The captain's plan is to set all time pieces, just like any island home there are many,
back 1 hour at 6PM today. Since this would make the captain's 4 hour watch that starts at
2PM go 5 hours, he plans to use the beloved Galley Slave, Deborah, who has given a
sundowner cocktail that same name, on watch for the lost hour. We will evaluate, measure,
and adjust further if required. Stay tuned.

On watch this morning it was very dark and we had good wind in our sails. Bella Donna was
making a swooshing sound through the water indicating a swift vessel speed. We were making
7.5 to 8 knots. As I sat rocking, rolling and speeding through the dark, I wondered why
they don't provide seat belts on sailing vessels. Surely the prospect of running head-on
into a partially submerged object at night when all you have is radar to see with is a
possibility. After all John and Deborah's friends hit a partially submerged shipping
container, that fell off a freighter, and their fiberglass vessel sank in a little more
than 3 minutes near Belize. We came within 20 feet of hitting a dead whale partially
submerged in broad daylight just a few days ago. I visualized riding in a car going 9 to
10 miles an hour and hitting a fixed object, like they do with the crash dummies. I just
do not know what the damage would be. I decide the reason they do not provide seat belts
is the likelihood of this happening is way unlikely. Anyway I can see the ocean ahead of
us now so off with the radar to save electricity and on with the ice maker, a necessity
during the hot humid days. Off with running, navigation, lights we are now on visual where
any unlikely partially submerged object can be seen. Just then the VHF radio which has
been totally silent for days blurts out a voice in French. We don't understand what he is
saying but we know the radio range is line of sight and therefore 25 miles or so. I rise
up and look ahead on the port side. Don looks around the Genoa on the starboard side. Don
says, "What is that"? It looks like a life raft just ahead and off our starboard track
about 100 feet. We could not see it until it was this close as the Genoa covered its
approach like the whale the other day. We had time to get binoculars before it came up
abeam of us. It is looks like a weather buoy that transmits current and wave or swell
height to satellite and then gets included in weather reports on the internet. Wow, I am
glad we did not take this buoy between hulls under the bridge deck in the dark. In a
reflexive motion I instinctively reach for the seat belt.

After Ant's watch, about 2PM, he asks if it is OK if he puts out the fishing lines. I
quickly calculate the meals we have eaten to visualize space in the fridge. I decide there
is enough room for a small fish and after all the likelihood we get another big fish is
surely small. Besides, Ant is really enjoying the thrill of fishing. Just before the
Galley Slave watch Deborah shouts the now famous line, "The fishing pole"! The drag just
does not work and all the line empties off the reel, but this time the new 200 pound line
holds. We quickly start pulling in the empty lines so we do not tangle. Good thing
because this fish is jumping out of the water, completely out then swimming across the
quickly withdrawing lines. John uses the port scoop stair as a fighting chair. It takes 30
minutes to land another big Wahoo almost as big as the one we caught the other day. We
would catch and release him, but the fight has cause him to die so there goes room in the
fridge for night time ice; we turn off the ice maker after sundown to save electricity for
radar, lights and other instruments at night.

So much for my figuring probabilities; I want another day without measuring, please.

God Bless Bella Donna.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see:

http://www.sailmail.com

POST

Wednesday May 23, 2007
RISE UP is John's now favorite nickname for Ant. Every morning recently it's "RISE UP we
need to put the spinnaker out". I understand RISE UP comes from the Bills trip on Bella
Donna in the Caribbean Grenadines. The nickname is not the only way Ant is known. He is
also known for Enya's music. Ant worked all day in the Flamenco Marina in Panama cleaning
Bella Donna's exterior while listening to Enya sing on the ipod over the loud speakers so
that all of us had to listen. By the end of the day we were sick of Enya. We make sure we
play Enya for Ant every time he is getting ready to go out for the evening, just to poke
fun and put him in the right mood. We haven't played Enya lately as it's hard to go out
while on passage. Ant has been doing a lot of reading trying to find night life in the
Marquesas; I don't think he has found any yet.

We are less than 1000 miles from destination. Captain John has cleared the blue collar
crew - which excludes RISE UP, John and Deborah - to one drink in celebration, but the
blokes, Tom and Don, have turned down the offer. We will wait till we make land. It has
been quite a few days, we lost count (remember no measuring), since we saw land. Heck it
has been several days since we have seen another vessel. Deborah can't wait to get to
shore for a restaurant and store; we are running low on some perishables at this point.
The bananas we bought in Galapagos have all turned very black, but Deborah has frozen them
for green stuff shakes, our new found healthy life style. Hey wait a minute Deborah; I
thought there was no more room in the fridge. We shall start fishing again tomorrow; we
can't let a few bananas get in our way. There aren't many restaurants on Hiva Oa, there is
Snack Tahuaka that has cold beer and hamburgers, Restaurant Moehau that has good pizza and
Make Make that serves Chinese specialties. Hoa Nui is by reservation only and specializes
in Marquesan cuisine.

The Marquesas Islands are made up of about 14 "islands", some are so small they are really
a rock sticking up out of the sea. Only 6 are inhabited split into 2 groups the Northern
leeward (west) 3 and the Southern windward (east) 3. Paul Gauguin, Herman Melville, Robert
Louis Stevenson, Jack London, Thor Heyerdahl, Jacques Brel… For the last 170 years, the
Marquesas offered an escape for artists, writers, adventures and musicians. The islands
are volcanic like the Hawaiian Islands; there is no protective reef like so many other
Polynesian Islands, thus the Marquesas are not known for beaches. All the islands have
mountainous terrain with lush rain forest valleys. With few destructive insects to ruin
the fruit, trees loaded with mangoes, oranges, limes, tamarind, papayas and bananas fill
the valleys. Hiva Oa is the main island in the southern group and where we must stop first
to check in with French customs and immigration. The problem is the first island to
windward is Fatu Hiva, a must see island. We will have to motor a few hours into the wind
to go back, "up hill", and see this one. There is a bay there that is world famous at
sunset for photographers. The water gets a blue green color and the mountains surrounding
it are purple. The bay is called Bay of Virgins. There is a 2 mile hike to a waterfall and
swimming area. There are mountain trails and fruit tree rich valleys. The island is the
most primitive of the Marquesas.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Tuesday May 22, 2007
Today is too much like yesterday. This is the part of the passage where we long to see
land and our thoughts turn to love ones. Pardon me for some thoughts that are not news worthy.

Everyone has a dream they will achieve in some way in their lives. Your dream starts when
you are very young and it is in your first memories as a child. Maybe it starts earlier as
in your genes or from experiences, things you heard while in your mother's womb. When you
live as long as I have and have time like now to reflect and sort out you life in the
middle of nowhere, you realize you are living your dream.

My first memory of my dream occurred when I was about 4 years old living at 3925 Milton
Street in West University Place, Houston, Texas. My whole world was the small, very small
wood frame, house and 80 by 120 foot lot the house was on. My parents repeatedly told me,
"don't you dare leave your yard", and so I did not. I spent long hard to fill summer
afternoons under a big "China Berry" tree in my back yard, all my toys spread out on the
ground. I had not met any other of the neighborhood children; they probably could not
leave their yard either. My only companions where flies; they persistently irritated me as
they buzzed around landing on my face, neck and ears. I knew flies could go anywhere they
wanted to go; they could leave the yard. I imagined flies would travel to distant places
my parents talked about, like the Islands in the Pacific Ocean. My father was in the air
force on Tinean, an island in the Marianas where the B29s carrying the atomic bombs took
off to strike Japan.

This fantasy grew in the next few years to include blue ocean, blue sky and bright
sunshiny beaches. Did I tell you my favorite color is blue? Why these daydreams were in
color I do not know. Every picture in those days was black and white. I met friends who
lived in homes next to mine. Our parents allowed us to expand our world to THE BLOCK. This
was great because if we could get a nickel from our mother we were allowed to go to JMH
Food Market on a corner of our block for a 5¢ coke, 5¢ ice cream, 1¢ gum, 5¢ chips, or 1¢
candy. On the way to the store we walked over an oyster shale path bare foot through a
vacant lot. One day we claimed the lot as ours, no one else seemed to want it, and started
a project to dig a hole to China; it seemed to be the shortest way, thus my first thoughts
of route planning to the other side of the world. After days of digging we gave up and my
thoughts turned to sailing as a practical way to get around the world, thus my first
thoughts of an alternate route plan. In those days, if someone flew on an airplane you
were almost viewed as an astronaut or at least you must be in the air force. From then to
now my dream was a sailing adventure, perhaps to go around the world. My the picture in my
dream was a billowing white sail on a sleek boat slicing through blue water, covered by a
lighter blue sky filled with puffy white clouds. Much just like today in the middle of
nowhere.

When I was 6 my limits expanded to 3 blocks to the school, West University Elementary, I
walked every morning through the lot (wearing my concourse tennis shoes), past JMH, looked
both ways crossing the street where the whole next block was a Baptist Church, across
another busier street to the play ground of the school. One morning as I walked across the
play ground my eyes fixed on a large silver coin, maybe a pirates treasure carelessly
lost. Disney movies at that time introduced me to pirates. I claimed it as my first found
treasure to be used to acquire a ship to sail the world in. I still have this coin.

Many years pasted through school, marriage, children, grandchildren and carrier my
daydreams always turned to the goal of an adventure. At 25 I experienced the picture in my
mind. Living in Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles I had white sand, blue ocean, blue sky and
puffy white clouds. My dream was touched more closely when I learned to sail and scuba
dive. Racing between King Harbor and Catalina Island was as close as I came in those days
to a Pacific Island adventure. I loved it.

I am a very lucky man because I am now living my dream. Bella Donna is sea worthy and fast
enough to allow me to live the boyhood dream, but still return to my life and the ones I
love so much instead of bobbing around in the ocean. I am driven to sharing my dream first
with my family and then with all my friends. I have been very blessed.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Monday May 21, 2007
You can really tell the weekend is over. It's Monday, no lollygagging around, we are back
to the business of sailing. Even the wind showed up early for work this morning. I would
not say wind is eager about it but we put the Genoa out at 6 AM and Bella Donna reported
to work at 7.8 to 8.1 knots. It sure was nice to hear her cutting through the water as the
sails started to pull. Hiho Hiho it's off to work we go. Fisherman is not in our job
description today. We need to eat to make room for more fish in the fridge.

Today we come close to making good an important milestone; we will have sailed 4,000
nautical miles since leaving the BVI on April 14th and we will have 1,000 nautical miles
remaining to anchor in Tahauku Bay where the town/village on Hiva Oa Island is located in
the Marquises Islands, not that we are counting. Oh, that will make approximately 30,000
nautical miles since Bella Donna was launched in France. Realize that a nautical mile is
one degree of latitude. Therefore, 1 nautical mile is 1.2 statute miles, the miles we use
in our car. Thus 4,000 is really 4,800 statute miles, 1000 is 1,200 and 30,000 is 36,000;
we aren't counting, just taking each day as it comes. A circumnavigation of the world is
from 30,000 to 36,000 nautical miles; we will have done 1/6th to 1/7th of our
circumnavigation assuming we finish in the BVI.

Last night at dinner there was a table discussion of the significance of the milestone in
the great scheme of things. Does this milestone rank up there with crossing the equator
and if it does are we going to celebrate in the typical nautical way, a drink (just one).
I don't think it is at the level requiring an initiation ceremony, besides there is no one
qualified on board to perform the initiation ceremony. Let's just say we need an excuse to
have one sundowner. Well it looks like Wednesday at sundown if at all.

We need a break from all the measuring. What day and hour are we going to arrive? How much
fuel does the engine at 1800 RPM, the big generator and little generator use per hour?
Exactly how many minutes are left until sundown? Please quantify the difference between
warm ice (ice machine) and cold ice (freezer)? There seems to be a lot of free time to
decide how to spend it at sea. We are probably going to arrive Monday very late or Tuesday
next week unless there is a weather or equipment failure to deal with. I have no idea how
much fuel is consumed; I just know we have enough with a safety margin. The sun can't set
soon enough as it was hot today and I am a little sunburned. John uses his laser radiation
gun to measure the surface temperature of ice in our warm ice maker it is 26°F, in the
fridge freezer ice is 3°F. If you take a cube out of freezer and walk up to the salon the
surface temperature rises to 7°. It seems clear the surface and interior temperature of
freezer ice has more capacity to absorb heat energy from a drink before melting. This
still is a long way from quantifying the difference. All I know for sure is warm ice melts
much faster. My brain is tired; I think I will take a nap.

The day ends peacefully.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Sunday May 20, 2007
First the bad news; we did not raise a sail all day, not enough wind. The good news, it
was a good day. Hardly a cloud in the sky, sun bathing weather, the ocean was gently
rocking and rolling. Everyone slept late because there was no reason to get up. I put the
fishing lines out 3 of them and Ant put out the pole that he restrung with 200 pound test
line and tested the new drag setting. Three Tuna Thrashers and a Squid lure, 4 lines out
in all.

All of a sudden we were in a panic; Ant is on watch but cleaning up rigging lines from the
struggle with the sails overnight and is not looking out in front of us. We sometimes go
minutes without bothering because we are only going 7.3 knots and 99.999% of the time
there is nothing there. Making sure we look every 15 minutes is good enough. Well it turns
out we almost hit a dead whale that is floating near the surface. We did not feel a
collision so no harm to Bella Donna. I can't tell what Ant is so excited about. Then I
realize he is pulling in the 200 pound line, by hand, that is also attached to the real;
he must have a fish. I see it fighting and jumping out of the water 300 feet behind the
boat. Then the hand line nearest to it mysteriously crosses Ant's line. We both assume the
fish has tangled himself up in the hand line and visualize a mess. Ant takes the tangled
line and hands me the pole line and I continue trying to pull it in. There is definitely a
large fish on my line; he almost pulls me off the stern into the Pacific. I wonder why we
are not using the pole; it is too late now, 100 feet of line is on deck and the fish is
fighting hard. Miraculously the lines uncross; Ant and I look at each other; we are both
fighting a fish; we just caught 2 fish at once, how about that. Ant pulls his fish into
the unused swim ladder well at sea level on the first step of the port scoop stairs. The
fish is a 30 pound Mahi Mahi. I continue to fight my fish; I hope the monofilament line
does not cut the skin on my hand. I rest and just let the fish pull and fight. Whenever he
stops to think, I pull him closer to the swim ladder well. The Mahi Mahi has been given a
cheap permanent sleep with the cheap liquor we bought in Panama and Ant has moved him onto
deck making room for fish number two in the ladder well. Eventually we work the still
fighting 5 foot 50 pound Wahoo into the ladder well with the aid of a gaff hook. The
fish's tail won't fit in the well; we can not close it. This started before noon; a little
after 2 PM we were washing the deck and the several bags of fish steaks were in the
fridge. Deborah says all the available room in the fridge is now taken. We take in our
fishing lines; we have enough. Lunch anyone; we are having fish quiche for lunch.

We figure lots of fish were hanging out around the dead whale; they were having a fish
party. We were just lucky. We heard about a commercial fishing boat that found a dead
turtle and circled the turtle until they filled their boat with fish. This must be
nature's way of providing a temporary fishing spot.

Later in the day we talked to Sail Dancer, the last sailboat in front of us. They were
short on fuel and were restricted to sailing even though the wind was so light; their
speed was about 5 knots. We are catching up with them fast at 7.5 knots and may pass them
in a couple of days; they are about 100 miles ahead of us. Since we have more fuel left
than we need to make Nuku Hiva we offered Sail Dancer some of the fuel we have in jerry
cans on the deck. The captain said he would ask the owner and get back to us. The captain
said they were talking to a fishing boat nearby that just recorded a catch of 5,000 pounds
of Tuna; maybe they found the dead whale too. A helicopter was leaving the fishing boat.
Sail Dancer asked if they could drop a Tuna as they flew past. The answer was no, because
of liability issues. However, an hour later a speed boat pulls up to Sail Dancer with a
100 pound Tuna, how about that for a fishing story. They put more in their fridge than we did.

Silkie is so far behind us now we are having trouble making radio contact. John and Susan
have each other and are content to sail in the light wind.

We got the bar-b-q out and broiled hunks of Wahoo as big as your fist wrapped in bacon.
The music was Bankie Banks, Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet. Deborah made fudge and more
peanut butter cookies for desert. The only thing I missed was a good glass of wine, but no
drinking on passage.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Saturday May 19, 2007
Saturday starts slowly. It is very dark at 6 AM. The starry sky looks like one from a
foreign world. When your whole life you have seen the same stars and constellations, to
see something entirely new and different puts you off balance as if on another planet. We
take in the Genoa as the wind hits 4 knots apparent and the sail is useless, in fact it is
slowing us down. We start motoring at 7 knots, 217 hours until we reach our waypoint off
the Marquises Islands that are about 1500 miles away. We are halfway between Galapagos and
The Marquises; we are in the middle of nowhere "not going far and not going fast". Where
are the trade winds?

At 8 AM I start to put out the fishing lines, remembering how much I enjoyed the Wahoo
last night. We had it broiled in the garlic and lime sauce again. The smells that came
from the galley while it was cooking were seductive. I never make it down to fish; John
starts what wound up being a 2 hour discussion on the pros and cons of cruising
catamarans, one of his favorite subjects as well as one of mine. We are learning a lot
about what works and what we want to improve or change. The good news is Bella Donna is
the best catamaran to do what we like doing. There will be however some changes considered
when we get to New Zealand. One in 4 families in New Zealand has a boat. It is one of the
best places in the world to get work done.

Ant got up a little later this morning and put out the fishing lines. He has the crew
cabin forward of the galley which means bouncing around in bed trying to sleep in rough
seas. With the smooth gentle sea we have this morning, I don't blame him for getting some
much deserved sack time.

The day has been sunny and slow. We finally put the wonka, the code zero spinnaker, out.
It looks good but the wind is filling her up, it isn't pulling us very much. The light
wind drives Bella Donna forward then the speed and sea spills the wind and we start over
again. After a short time the wonka is furled. The Genoa goes out, same problem, but we
get .3 of a knot average more speed than motoring.

Sailing at night, without seeing the horizon or water, is like flying an airplane. I can
shut my eyes and I am right back in the Cessna 182 we used to fly. You get the fluid
motion as if through air. The little yaw and roll is exactly like a little air turbulence.
Your mind is there in your small airplane going 110 knots through the air rather than 8
knots through the water. Bella Donna surfs on the front of a big ocean swell for several
seconds which pitches the stern over the bow. You pulse quickens as you think what is
wrong we are in a nose dive. You open your eyes to darkness and quickly focus your eyes on
the instruments just as you would do in an airplane that has just flown into a cloud. In a
plane your eyes would find an artificial horizon instrument. Tonight in the darkness there
is no horizon at all.

Other interesting things happen on the sea at night. Heavenly bodies, even small ones, are
so bright their reflection lights up the sea pointing in their direction. If you are
sitting close to the sea level the star light creates a colorful sparkle of all the colors
in a rainbow arranged in kaleidoscope patterns. This happens due to all the plankton in
the sea water. Lately we have had moonless nights, so the star filled sky has been at its
best. There is this one bright heavenly body that looks like a small moon lighting up a
corridor of light on the sea intersecting Bella Donna. Upon noting its placement in the
sky, we realize it is Venus. It looks so much larger and brighter than we ever remember
seeing it before.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Friday May 18, 2007
A fishing boat last night VHF radioed very clearly, meaning he was within 30 miles of us,
in perfect American English, a message to a fellow fishing boat about LONG LINE FISHING.
After our little too close encounter with long line fishermen off the coast of Columbia,
we are just a little interested in where fishing boats are going. We radio and the fishing
boat ignores us and does not answer. It was a long night for John, Deborah and Ant. Just
before midnight Ant spots a fishing boat, probably the same one we heard on the radio
earlier in the evening. For the next 2 hours all three of them were on deck trying to
handle the situation. The fishing boat was lit up like a Christmas tree. They were not
answering repeated attempts to raise them on the radio. Just when the situation looked
like the night we snagged a line, the fishing boat captain turned to pass our stern. The
whole incident probably cost us an hour's transport time. The fishermen were probably
doing something they should not have been doing and did not want us to know their identity.

Thinking I was late for my 6 AM watch, I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed for the fly. I
found Deborah looking very tired following the fishing boat ordeal. I apologized for being
5 minutes late only to find out I was 20 minutes early. I told her to go to bed, but we
chatted until Don showed up just before 6 AM. A few days ago the sun would be rising by 6
AM, but today the sun does not rise until almost 7 AM. We have made our way west and
probably should move to Pacific Standard Time soon, we are about due south of the boundary
between New Mexico and Arizona. It is hard to understand how we can be so far out in the
Pacific Ocean and still be under continental US.

The sea state has turned gentile and the winds have turned light except when we sail under
a rain squall; the weather is cloudy today and the trades have not shown up yet. We will
be lucky to do 8 knots today. Ant is up earlier than expected and is putting out the
fishing lines. Maybe it is having seen professional fishermen last night or a hangover of
the excitement catching the Wahoo two nights ago. He joins us in the fly to read a book
and watch his lines. Suddenly there is a new noise I have never heard. Ant leaps up and
bolts down the fly stairs yelling something. Finally I make out he is yelling FISHING
POLE! The strange noise was the real winding so fast all the line spun off in a second or
two. Ant lashed the big boat rod to the stern rail and he was running towards it. John
says in New Zealand he is going to have rod holders added to Bella Donna; I think we are
turning him into a fisherman. Just as Ant is even with the cockpit table I hear a loud
snap. All the line, the lure (Hawaii Squid) and some rod eyelets shoot out to sea with the
speed of a bullet. About 150 yards behind Bella Donna a very large Marlin is leaping out
of the water as if fighting the fisherman who has hooked him. He continues to leap into
the air at least 10 times; I have to look at the nude fishing pole to believe we can't
catch him and he is just fighting the line in the water. The line was 120 pound test and
the ease of total destruction of the rig is an indication of the size of the Marlin. John
decides the rod holder will be mounted-welded into the solid aluminum beam that supports
the deck, although Ant's lashing, the stern rail and the Penning real survived unhurt.

This just in, we just caught 2 Wahoo at the same time. We must have passed through a
school of them. Deborah has chicken out, but I am thinking chicken Cesar salad again for
lunch tomorrow and Wahoo for dinner. Both were caught on Tuna thrasher lures. The meal was
great and very healthy.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Thursday May 17, 2007
Let's say you want to walk across the salon. One second you are walking up hill, the next
second you are walking down hill, the next second your left foot is up hill and your right
foot is down hill and then the feet are reversed. Walking a straight line is impossible.
This is the dreaded corkscrew roll of a vessel in a confused sea. The good news we are not
seasick, even sitting at the chart table computer for long periods is not a problem. The
other good news is we are moving at 9.5 to 10 knots with just the Genoa up, sometimes
hitting 11 knots. Whoo-ha we are in the trades. Just do not try to walk around with a cup
of coffee. We are in fact going too fast; we are not racing anyone but SailDancer, an
Oyster mono hull 60 foot sailing vessel, is a day ahead of us. We drop the engine down to
1500 RPM and Bella Donna hardly slows down. We would shut her down, but we then would have
to turn on the generator. Now we are rolling down the highway, in more ways than one, in
several directions at once.

The temperatures are still nice; the mornings and evenings are cool. Ant came up to the
fly last night for his 9 PM watch in a sweatshirt. However, by the noon hour and early
afternoon it feels tropical, a hint of hot and humid. They say the Marquises are hot,
humid and there are a lot of mosquitoes and nonos, a microscopic bug that consumes flesh
and itches; I think maybe we know them as the same as no see ums. We bought plenty of
insect repellant in Galapagos.

We did not catch any fish today; perhaps we were going too fast. We spent the whole day
between 9.5 and 11 knots. The sea stayed rough with the corkscrew roll, which represents a
240 mile 24 hour day. I don't think we did quite that good after dark; we furled in the
Genoa in 22 knot winds to play it safe dropping out speed under 10 knots.

The highlight of the day was a call from Donna in Tampa, Florida, following her back
surgery. She was already back into her hotel and already had some relief as a result of
the procedure. The satellite phone call was as clear as a bell, even if there was a few
seconds time delay between the beginning of speech and it making to the other person. I
miss everyone so much; it will be good to get home. I bet the kids have grown.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Wednesday May 16, 2007
We are sailing. The wind is blowing 12 knots out of the ESE which is a beam reach for us.
The seas have calmed down so Bella Donna does not roll as much. This means we can raise
the mainsail. With sea swells rolling in from the side the boom would thrash around and
that is a lot of weight to be out of control; it would pound and damage the rigging. Soon
we have the main and spinnaker trimmed perfectly. We have one reef in the main, not
because of wind speed, but to keep it from shadowing the wind from the spinnaker. We drop
the one starboard engine down to 1500 RPM as we don't need it as much; this means fuel
savings. Soon we are hitting between 10 and 11 knots. That would make for a 240 mile day
if we could maintain this speed.

John just used a stick to determine how much fuel the starboard engine has consumed. We
have been running it continuously at 1800 RPM for exactly 4 days now. We have used
approximately ¼ of the 2000 liters of fuel in the starboard tank. We have traveled some
800 miles under medium good to poor wind conditions in those 4 days. If this is right
Bella Donna has a 6400 mile range under similar conditions before running out of fuel.
This passage is our longest at 3000 miles. With 2200 more miles to go, we are happy with
out fuel position.

What is that banging noise? It is the mainsail boom starting to thrash and go boom. The
wind is dying and the sea is getting confused again. We take the main down, but leave the
spinnaker up. The starboard engine goes back to 1800 RPM and we drop to 8.5 to 9 knots
boat speed. In the next few hours the wind and boat speed drop even more, now we are going
7.5 to 8 knots.

We tune into the SSB radio frequency at the prearranged time for the sharing of
information between several vessels on their way to the Marquises as well. Included on the
role call are many vessels whose crew we spent time with before leaving Galapagos and some
we meet in Panama. There has developed a little friendly competition as you might expect.
The competition is totally not fair; many are sailing with small fuel tanks, motoring only
when there is no wind; even though their boats are much lighter than Bella Donna, say 12
tons rather than our 48 tons, they keep falling further and further behind. These lighter
smaller boats do sail well, but Bella Donna out performs them all by 2 knots or more wind
or no wind. This can translate into 48 miles a day better for Bella Donna.

I did not put the fishing lines out today as I was busy and I rationalized Bella Donna was
going too fast for the fish to catch up to the lure. Later in the day when we slowed Ant
put some lines out and caught a Wahoo for dinner. Guess what lure caught the Wahoo; it was
the same small tuna thrasher that we caught the Yellow Fin Tuna and the Mahi Mahi (Dorado)
on. Why do they call it a Tuna thrasher? We have now caught one each of 3 of the 4 most
common fish in the Pacific, only the Barracuda is still out there, but it is not as good
eating as the other three. Fresh fish is always tastier than frozen. I have to say I
prefer the Wahoo cooked and the Tuna raw best; although I want to try several more times
this trip, so I will fish tomorrow.

Another beautiful sunset started the night watch. After another gourmet fish feast we
returned to the fly bridge to watch for other vessels; some days we see one and some days
we see none in the middle of nowhere. Left with a lot of time on our hands, we look at the
brilliant night shy. With no moon the planets and stars are so sharp and bright. The Milky
Way looks like I remember it looking lying on the front yard grass of my boyhood home
before air and light pollution erased it from the sky. The Milky Way looks like someone
spilled a liquid on the sky making it even more beautiful. We look for and spot satellites
as they streak across the sky. The sky looks entirely different in the southern
hemisphere. There are stars and constellations that are not visible in the northern
hemisphere. There is the Southern Cross for example. We are still trying to verify we have
correctly identified it. One feels his world just expanded.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Tuesday May 15, 2007
I don't think I have ever been so relaxed. The sea swells are gently rolling Bella Donna
as she glides along at 8 knots. The cloud covered sun warms the skin but a cool breeze
pours over you to cool you off. A swell is rolling in from the south, Bella Donna port
side, rocking you like a baby until it is hard to stay awake. I just finished my watch
without falling to sleep. I took 3 steps to the sun pad and collapsed into slumber. It
feels so nice; every day starts out overcast until the sun burns off the low clouds. It's
a good thing, no sun, as I forgot to apply sun screen. An hour goes by and the burning
bright sunlight finally exceeds the cool breeze and I am uncomfortable and will probably
sunburn unless I get out of this sun. It still takes 10 minutes to convince my body to
move. The low clouds are gone there is only brilliant blue sky.

We watch as whale cruses along going in our direction but a safe distance away. I put out
the fishing lines at daybreak so we may get that big one today. There are two tuna
thrashers and an octopus one longer than the other across the stern from the port side,
the direction of the current. The theory is a fish in the current has three chances to be
caught. What do you think?

We have sardines in tomato sauce for lunch with fresh baked bread and cheese. We have
several tins of sardines; we have sardines in mustard sauce and sardines in olive oil.
Both before lunch, don't tell the grandkids, and after lunch we have fresh baked peanut
butter cookies made with organic Galapagos peanut butter. We also will keep trying to be
successful fishermen. Deborah says long passages tend to wipe out your food stores. Johns
says he checked and we are way under provisioned for junk food that he likes late at night
on watch. They also did not have soft drinks in Galapagos and we only have a few left. We
drank the crystal light quite heavily in the hot Panama weather so I think we are short on
it too. The good news is the water maker is working fine and we are not short on sea
water. We make many gallons of sweet tasting fresh water each day. As long as the engine
is running we have ice. Life is good.

We had a beautiful sunset tonight; it was the best one we have seen this trip. The big
orange ball sunk into the blue ocean water. My mind flashed back to living in Hermosa
Beach; the same sunset was witnessed many evenings jogging at the ocean's edge in the wet
sand left by the outgoing tide. The sunset was so good we looked hard for the green flash.
I can not say I saw one. I know the green flash does happen, but maybe there was just too
much humidity between us and the horizon today. Soon it was very dark; we have not seen a
moon lately. Either the moon has not risen after sunset or the moon is new and therefore
hard to spot. I read someone else's blog post when he was in his sail boat in about this
same place on his way to the Marquises last year. He talked about the fact he had always
wondered where the middle of nowhere was. He decided he had found it. I guess we found it
too. We just looked at Jimmy Cornell's Routes of The World again and the length of every
passage we will make in the years ahead. This passage is the longest one, as close as one
gets to the middle of nowhere far from terra firma.

Don has put a network of friends, other boats on their way to the Marquises, that he talks
to 2 or more times a day. More about this later.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Monday May 14, 2007
The watch routine is becoming a rhythm, every morning at 6 AM for 4 hours and every night
at 6 PM for 3 hours. The sun rises later each morning and sets later each night on the
watch, about 10 minutes later. This is because of the distance east to west that we travel
in a 24 hour period. We are steadily approaching Pacific Standard Time we are now on
Mountain Standard Time.

Pirates very carefully selected the ships they would steal and use to insure speed and
maneuverability. Pirates loved the Caribbean to launch attacks on ships passing by because
they did not carry provisions for a long journey and heavy cargo, just gun powder, cannons
and cannon balls. Their ship's hull was kept clean of sea growth unlike the loaded ships
that were making a long passage; bottom paint was not used in those days. Thus the pirates
could move quickly to disable a vulnerable fat slow transiting vessel.

This morning we felt like the vulnerable transiting vessel. Just after daybreak a
suspicious looking vessel, coming the opposite direction on our port side about 3 miles
out, turns and heads straight for us. It is belching black smoke as it keeps turning as to
intercept us. Binoculars show it not to be an official vessel, but sort of like the
African Queen in the old Humphrey Bogart movie. A large dingy is perched over its stern
ready to launch. Even at 9 knots we are a sitting duck for a faster motor boat. I go over
all the reasons why we decided not to have a gun on board. Just when my imagination was
leading me to seriously worry the boat slows up and turns so as not to intercept us but
just pass close by and take a look. A bunch of curious fishermen or pirates that got cold
feet; we will never know. I tend to think the "pirates" were curious fishermen.

We met at least 2 other boats who are headed to Marquises and hovering within 30 miles of
us. We check in with each other twice a day on the radio, 8 in the morning and 4 in the
afternoon. We told them about the "pirates". They saw the same boat's lights off their
port side about 3 AM. They are just ahead of us so we think this was the same power boat.
They shared our relief that the strange boat turned away.

This just in, we have wind and plenty of it. We are moving over 10 knots at times. We are
flying the code zero spinnaker with true wind 90° to port. With the 1 engine at 1800 RPM
and the efficiency of the spinnaker, we are generating a brisk apparent wind 28° to port.
The thing that surprises us is how happy the spinnaker is at this wind angle. This just
should not happen; it is a pleasing surprise.

We had 4 fishing lines trailing today, all day. Not one hit noted. We even went to a tuna
thrasher lure on each line as that is the one that has caught the two fish so far. We
staggered the lines as the fishing book recommended with 2 of the lines on the front face
of the third wave off our stern. Where are the fish? We are considering the use of live or
freshly dead bait.

At sundown we furl the spinnaker and set the Genoa; we lose 1 knot. It is our policy not
to fly the big sail at night. It is easy for bad things to happen with that much sail up
in the dark. The watch and the day ends with a cool, almost cold, breeze flowing through
the hatch above my bed – off to lala land.

God Bless Bella Donna.

post

Sunday May 13, 2007
Happy Mother's Day; I guess it is over by the time you get this; hope you mothers had a
great day.

We are on schedule, but the progress is slow; we will be so happy to emerge from the
doldrums into the trade winds once again. Jimmy Cornell's book, World Cruising Routes, is
our guide and we are following his route very closely and checking the weather regularly.
You have to be at least 5° south latitude to pickup the 15 knot trade winds. However,
Jimmy says don't go that far south too soon out of Galapagos because there are big bad
thunder storms with lots of lightning that has threatened Bella Donna in the past. This
means the first 2 or 3 days at sea is spent in the doldrums, an area with little or no
wind. That is where we are now; its not too bad as the weather is quite cool, the sea is
gently rolling and we are running along at over 7 knots. Each day I think it will get
warmer. We hear by the time we get to Marquises the weather is hot and very tropical. We
will have to put mosquito repellant as well as sun block on every day.

The fishing lines are out. We have new technique thanks to Victor finally reading our
fishing guide book that suggested some changes to how we do it. Also worthy of mention, we
have experience landing a nice tuna for lunch before Galapagos. Maybe we get lucky today.

What is that up ahead? It looks like a sail boat; we are overtaking her at a pretty fast
pace. We get on channel 16 "sail boat off our starboard this is the big blue catamaran
Bella Donna do you read?" The answers and we chat about the usual. It turns out they left
Galapagos a day before us and were on their way to Marquises as well. There were two
people on the 40 foot ketch, husband and wife. Their SSB radio was not working so they
could not get weather reports. They wanted to know where they could find the wind. We read
them our weather report which told them they had a way to go to get wind. They were
sailing with sails flopping, they did not have enough fuel to motor, and they were making
3 knots per hour and were prepared for a 30 day or more passage if the wind would not
cooperate. They were catching up on their reading. We quickly moved on doing our 7 knots
per hour with the one iron Genoa, engine. We passed several more sail boats in a similar
fashion; this is one time I am glad we have the fuel to motor.

This just in, we have another fish. This time it is a Mahi Mahi, not a very big one, but
large enough to provide a hand sized filet for each of us. Deborah broils it real nice for
dinner in a garlic-lime sauce. We caught it too late in the day to put the planned dinner
back in the frig, so we had delicious chicken breast as well with an olive and rosemary
sauce. There is nothing like gourmet eating in the middle of nowhere.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Saturday May 12, 2007
"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.

post

Posts for last 3 days in reverse order.

Friday May 11, 2007
Rise up; it is our last day in Galapagos. We have been here only a week, but the memory
seems like at least six months. I think we have decided to adopt this place to a special
place in our hearts. We already think about a return trip someday. They say this village
on the sea was not here ten years ago. It is hard to believe that such a strong family
oriented culture of such gentile people could form without generations of tradition. I
wonder what it will be like in ten years. God Bless Galapagos. All of us and the rest of
the world could learn lessons on how to live a good life from these people.

Enough reflection, it is now time for action. First let's take the wash to the laundry.
There is one block in the village that has everything we need in one place. We pass the
church and the children are assembled by 7 AM to start their school day with song and
prayers. We arrive at the laundry, weigh the dirty cloths and it is 10 kilos; at one
dollar per kilo, the wash will be ready at 5 PM, this is good. Across the street there is
a small breakfast place we heard about from the Danish girls. Fresh fruit blended into a
smoothie, 2 eggs, 2 huge rolls with local Galapagos cheese, a bowl of papaya-melon and
coffee for $3. As we eat breakfast the old man who soon will fall to sleep reading his
newspaper is preparing ceviche to sell at lunch time. This morning though, he has
customers engaging him in lively conversation, eating his bread and drinking his coffee.

After a relaxing and pleasant breakfast, we cross the street to the internet café to plug
in our laptops to update the web and send-receive emails. Deborah finishes quickly and
leaves to shop for last minute items in the wildlife center, a place where some money goes
to the Galapagos wildlife. We agree to go grocery shopping after lunch. Ant does emails
and it looks like he is checking his mySpace. It takes me 3 hours to upload 96 pictures so
I people watch. Some Latin businessmen use the café as an office, talking on the phone in
one hand and a computer mouse in the other. Local women bring the kids in who run around
and play while mom checks her email. Foreign students come in with their backpacks to
check email and mySpace. Local school children in their school uniforms come in and use
available computers, probably free or at reduced rates. Then there are the tourists like us.

At noon I am packing up my computer and Don walks in and takes my seat. Back at Bella
Donna Deborah has purchased some great palm nut treasures and just could not resist
getting started on the grocery provisioning; they had freshly baked bread at the store
across from town dock. Since all purchases must be loaded onto a water taxi and passed on
board Bella Donna while bouncing in the rolling sea, we made several shopping trips before
declaring provisioning complete.

We walked to the little back streets to gather the best fruits and vegetables. At one
street vender's stand we waited for the woman I had seen selling her fruits for days. She
shows up with a fruit popsicle in her hand and attempts to count how many green bananas we
are buying in the 3 hangs we have selected. She keeps loosing count and starting over.
Finally she puts down the popsicle and does it one last time. We spend $25 for all the
fruits and vegetables we can carry back to Bella Donna.

We meet Terry, a New Zealander, on our water taxi ride back to the grocery store. He says
buy as much as we can here as the prices are sky high in French Polynesia for food and
wine. We fill 3 baskets while in the store. One is for the wine; we get good Chilean table
red wine for $3 to $5 a bottle. The only unsalted nuts we find are walnuts; we were
looking for almonds. We get a wide variety of cheeses, several dozen eggs, many bunches of
romaine lettuce, locally known as Cesar Lettuce, and two tubs of local peanut butter. We
got a lot more that I do not remember. Ant shows up after an errand to the hardware store
for engine bolts-nuts to help us lug all these groceries to Bella Donna.

Provisioning is done. Quickly we leave for last minute shopping before dinner at our now
favorite sidewalk restaurant. The cook knows us and knows what we like, John's hamburger,
Deborah's pizza, Ant's ceviche and large Brama local beer for all except ANT who has a
coke. We celebrate our last night in town at another local restaurant with cappuccinos and
moccucinos (chocolate cappuccinos). Don and Deborah miss out because they go to the
internet one last time. Ant spots the Holland girls and goes to say goodbye. We are dead
tired and go quickly to bed; we leave at first light tomorrow.

God Bless Bella Donna

Thursday May 10, 2007
Too soon it is 4:00 AM, I am up ahead of the alarm as usual. I think my subconscious mind
does not like the jolt of an alarm clock. Too soon it is 5 AM and the water taxi just
called and he is on the way. Hurry, hurry, and don't forget anything. Surge again, jump
for the water taxi, now I am awake, wide awake. It is dark, the bus is on time and we are
off. That was quick!

Same drill as yesterday except much earlier as we have a 3 hour boat ride ahead of us.
Once started, we are served breakfast that consisted of very good bread, Galapagos Cheese
(soft white cheese that was a little salty), hard boiled egg, papaya and coffee or tea.
Our guide, Che Che, demonstrates extreme excitement over and over again as he points out
sea and bird life around us. I thought he was going to have a stroke he would get so
excited. First it was the sea lion sleeping on a channel marker. "Why does the sea lion
sleep on the channel marker?" Che Che says. His body has been deprived of oxygen by his
shopping trip, fishing and eating. He lies on the marker to absorb fresh air until
revived. Have you ever felt like this sea lion? I sure have.

Along the way Che Che sees a school of bottle nose dolphin. He uses the sound of the
boat's horn to call them to play. They redirect their entire school to swarm all around
the boat. One jumps in the air doing a summersault along side the boat s/he is so happy.
They play and perform for us for a long while. Finally they resume their morning shopping
trip.

After 3 hours we anchor and dinghy to shore for an easy landing, but then we climb in the
building heat of the day. Lots of sun screen and water are applied; the saving thing is
wind, lots of wind. The views from this high ground are classic to the image that is
Galapagos. The only wild life is abundant lizards and an occasional iguana. The summit of
the trail is over 100 meters above the ocean below. After a moment to take it all in, we
head down to skin dive and snorkel on the beach below.

Che Che says all we need is snorkel gear and camera. He promises at least 2 penguins,
probably, and maybe more. Don has equipped us with an entire beach base camp in a bag. In
minutes Don constructs a temporary resort complete with tent, tarp front porch with 2
chairs complete with sun screening umbrellas facing the beach. There is even an inflatable
boat that Don launches and sets sail in. All this is accomplished while Che Che leads
future residents of this instant village snorkeling to Pinnacle Rock.

Meanwhile at Pinnacle Rock there are indeed at least 2 penguins standing on the base of
the Rock and diving in, swimming within inches of us shopping for food but also enjoying
human company. It is truly unbelievable that a penguin would be so unafraid of us. It is
hard to take your eyes off the penguins but there are huge schools of fish everywhere. One
can understand why it is so safe to swim with sharks here as they have food everywhere and
no interest in eating us. We see angle fish, puffer fish, clown fish, in fact we see all
the kinds of fish we have at home in the salt water aquarium. Finally it is time to return
to base camp.

Che Che walks out of the water removing his mask and exclaims "Oh my God, what is this?";
he is responsible for maintaining order as possible disruptors of nature, his tourists,
visit the park. Soon his attention is drawn to a more damaging threat than his tourists in
this temporary village, some Russian tourists have left the beach and are climbing the
fragile cliffs to get a close up picture of a sea lion. When he returns to the village he
finds us organizing a Bache Ball game. Che Che no understand BaChe, so we offer to teach
him. He really enjoys the game, wins and is crowned Galapagos Bache Champion by the villagers.

Soon it is time to return to the boat, get lunch and return 3 hours to port. Whereas Don
constructed the village, all the villagers help to bag it leaving no footprint in the
park. In a few hours the sea lions will return from their day's shopping trip and set up
their own village for the night.

Red fish, rice and salad for lunch and ½ grapefruit for desert is enjoyed by all.

Back on Bella Donna for dinner Deborah prepares a gourmet rack of lamb. We enjoy an early
night as tomorrow we will prepare to return to sea. Ant goes out to meet up with his new
friends he met today. John says not too late as he must "rise up" tomorrow, there is a lot
of work to do.

God Bless Bella Donna.

Wednesday May 9, 2007
Sorry today's post did not make it; we spent all day on Seymour Island and a nearby beach
taking in the wildlife. The morning started at 8 AM as we sat on a park bench at the town
dock which is across the street from the grocery store, post office and local church
waiting on a bus. We could hear 10 year old children singing songs in the church, with
all their feelings; the song was Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence sung in Spanish.
There were two more songs we recognized by the tune but not the Spanish lyrics, before the
bus arrived. School starts for these local children at 7 AM; they are out by 1 PM, just
before the day gets hot. Every day starts with an assembly in the church for prayer and
songs. They then file out in order, in their uniforms and holding hands in pairs to the
open air school house a couple of blocks away. This says something about these beautiful
people.

The bus takes us over the highlands to the other side, the north side, of the island. We
then are split into 2 groups, one speaks English and one speaks Spanish. We board a power
boat for Seymour Island, about a 1 hour ride. We board the dinghy to make an acrobatic
landing on the rocks. The sea surge is tossing the boat as you leap hoping for sure
footing on the rocks. Everyone makes is miraculously. Once on land we contemplate
extending our stay until the sea calms down.

A well marked path cuts through the volcanic rocky island with bird nests just off the
path everywhere. The immediate site is of the Blue Footed Boo Bee and the red breasted
male Frigate bird. There are the ever present sea and land Iguanas. The Boo Bee lays 2 and
sometimes 3 eggs. However, the first chick that hatches is the only one to survive. Both
the mother and the father watch the nest taking turns going shopping, fishing for food.
The problem is the first chick's appetite grows beyond one parent to provide enough food
and the second chick starves or both parents leave the nest to fish and a predator eats
the weaker defenseless chick. A third egg is almost certainly eaten before it can hatch.

We can't stay until the sea is quiet so we commit to an acrobatic jump from land to an
ever surging moving dinghy. We then have a swim on a nearby white sand beach. This time
the landing is wet but not subject to ocean surge. One hour to swim and then back to the
boat for a red snapper, rice and salad lunch.

The ride home was one person trying to out sleep the other. All the hot sunshine and
activity had finished us. We had a light supper followed closely by the sack as we set the
alarm for 4:15 AM for tomorrow's trip. Ant went out for a quick night cap with his new
friends. He finds the girls are 24 and two are 25. Two are from Holland and one from New
Zealand. The blond is a feminist who took leave from her job in New Zealand as a
criminologist. All three have traveled for weeks in South America including the Amazon
before passing through Galapagos. The shorter brunet has just become a medical doctor in
Holland, but wants to spend the next two years as a dive instructor; her next stop is the
Pacific Coast of Mexico. All three are diving tomorrow so the night ends early.

God Bless Bella Donna

POST

Please excuse the lack of posts yesterday and probably today I fell asleep with the
computer on my chest last night and the good fairy did not write for me. We are busy
gathering experiences as we strive to interrupt the lives of some truely beautiful wild
and raw creatures. Friday is catch up day. I will do big post and put some pictures on web
site.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Today we decided was a fitness day in the morning and get Bella Donna ready for our next
passage in the afternoon and that is exactly what we are doing. Up early, 6 AM, we ate
carbs, oatmeal, and set out into the cool sunny morning. If this sun stays out it is going
to be hot later.

We go in the same direction we did Sunday afternoon to Tartuga Beach. This is the only
wildlife area we are allowed to go without a guide other than the Darwin Research Station.
We enter the park and enter our names in a log book. We then follow a narrow 2 mile path
constructed from paver stones that resembles a very short version of The Great Wall of
China. Raising us up above the rough lava landscape dotted by a few trees and cactus that
somehow find a place to put down roots, we are extremely thankful for the smooth flat
walking surface. It takes us to the same beach we visited Sunday. Little black lizards
scurry in every direction all around us as we walk. Sunday there was a continuous stream
of local families coming and going burdened with children, strollers, diaper bags and
beach stuff. This morning there are housewives and tourists like us. The morning is the
time for the Latin woman to jog, ride a bike or just walk with her children. The afternoon
is for men to do the same. There aren't that many, but hey it is early. We say ola the
equivalent to "hi how are you" hoping to get a simple response and not a conversation that
would expose our very inadequate Spanglish. Most say ola back to us. One woman and little
boy passed and I said ola; the boy was clearly Latin but the woman had a different look.
The little boy said ola but the woman said salom. We reach the beach; the tide is going
out making it a perfect time to walk parallel to the waves on the wet sand left behind by
the retreating tide.

About 2/3 mile down the beach the beach abruptly ends and lava rocks take its place. All
in the lava the black iguanas breed, nest and sleep. These are sea going aquatic iguanas.
They enter the sea to gather seaweed. There bodies accumulate so much salt they have
evolved to sneeze salt from their nostrils. They seem to like lying as if exhausted next
to one another, sometimes on top of one another. Maybe they are stretched out to get the
sun's warmth. However, the sun is gone, replaced by cool damp clouds and sea air. This is
starting to remind me of San Francisco or Hermosa Beach in June when it is foggy.

Inland from the iguana village is a lagoon that has a narrow opening to the sea. It is
similar to the lagoon at the Waikoloa Hilton in Kona Hawaii, minus the development. We
walk around the nice beach that lines the lagoon. We stop and spread a picnic that Deborah
has prepared. Soon small very friendly birds join our picnic uninvited. Galapagos animals
have not learned to be afraid of humans; they are so trusting. I have seen this with high
sierra mountain birds while backpacking. These birds mingle in with us as we eat; a rule
of the park is you do not feed the animals. Somehow, that is my story and I am sticking
with it, the little cute critters found crumbs. Why one brave little thing walked up and
stole food right from my hand. Another pecked at a pineapple slice someone was about to eat.

Just feet away in the lagoon water; sharks, rays and lots of sea life swam up and down the
beach. A large group of school children arrived and started to swim. There has never been
a shark bite of a swimmer in the Galapagos. There is just too much sea life so everyone is
well fed without having to eat less tasty humans.

We saw sea lions, seals and huge numbers of pelicans. The abundance of sea life has to be
truly unique in the world.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Monday May 7, 2007
"Bay-yah Dōn-ah buena nama" says the garbage taxi man as he picks up our trash. I can not get used to the coolness of the mornings and evenings. The mid day heat is not bad; the air is fresh, clean and a gentle warm breeze pours over you. The closest climate I can think of is Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles.

The people here are extremely peaceful and clean. The public recycle containers outnumber the trash cans. You do not see local people drinking much in public. For example, they have challenge volleyball games dear the town dock; three men on a side instead of two like the US. Also unlike the US there is no beer drinking on the sidelines, nor on the streets nearby. Anyone you see drinking in a sidewalk café is probably a tourist and probably an American. Aggressive behaviors are never observed. The children are always smiling and playful.

Some young people can be seen touring with backpacks and bedrolls on their backs; together with a group of ecology students that come here, primarily from America, to do studies for weeks at a time, they form a community much like the hippie culture I experienced in the late 60's and early 70's in Hermosa Beach. You don't suppose it is the weather? One thing that seems to permeate this culture is the use of recreational drugs. They hug trees during the day and relax with a joint at night. It is there but openly spaced out people are not seen and it does not seem to touch the locals who are extremely family oriented and openly religious. I want to know more about the local culture and find out if Ecuador and Peru are also like these people or if the special nature of these people is limited to the Galapagos.

Yesterday we took an almost 5 mile walk to Tartuga Beach, turtle beach. We did not see tortoises but we did see surfing and body surfing off a very clean white fine sand beach. Even though many people were enjoying their Sunday on the beach, ther were no trash cans and no garbage; these people packed it all out. Sometimes 5 waves would roll in one set. In fact they were so closely spaced you could be hit by two or more before you could recover your balance. John, Deborah and Anthony played like little children in the surf. John said it took him back 20 years; it reminded him of beaches in South Africa.

Today we went ashore in the morning to research taking tours. We met Ricardo, our agent, and based on our desires we chose two one day tours. This should complete our consumption of Galapagos. Thursday we are going to Bartolomé, it is a little island off the west coast of San Salvador, a much larger island. The centerpiece of a visit is the steep climb up Cerro Batolomé, the view is spectacular. This is the view seen in most Galapagos literature that defines the image of the Galapagos. One prominent feature is Pinnacle Rock. To cool off you go to the base of Pinnacle Rock to a beach for a swim where it is probable to see teams of penguins diving for food. The second day trip is to Seymour to see the Blue-footed Boobies.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Monday May 7, 2007
"Bay-yah Dōn-ah buena nama" says the garbage taxi man as he picks up our trash. I can not get used to the coolness of the mornings and evenings. The mid day heat is not bad; the air is fresh, clean and a gentle warm breeze pours over you. The closest climate I can think of is Hermosa Beach in Los Angeles.

The people here are extremely peaceful and clean. The public recycle containers outnumber the trash cans. You do not see local people drinking much in public. For example, they have challenge volleyball games dear the town dock; three men on a side instead of two like the US. Also unlike the US there is no beer drinking on the sidelines, nor on the streets nearby. Anyone you see drinking in a sidewalk café is probably a tourist and probably an American. Aggressive behaviors are never observed. The children are always smiling and playful.

Some young people can be seen touring with backpacks and bedrolls on their backs; together with a group of ecology students that come here, primarily from America, to do studies for weeks at a time, they form a community much like the hippie culture I experienced in the late 60's and early 70's in Hermosa Beach. You don't suppose it is the weather? One thing that seems to permeate this culture is the use of recreational drugs. They hug trees during the day and relax with a joint at night. It is there but openly spaced out people are not seen and it does not seem to touch the locals who are extremely family oriented and openly religious. I want to know more about the local culture and find out if Ecuador and Peru are also like these people or if the special nature of these people is limited to the Galapagos.

Yesterday we took an almost 5 mile walk to Tartuga Beach, turtle beach. We did not see tortoises but we did see surfing and body surfing off a very clean white fine sand beach. Even though many people were enjoying their Sunday on the beach, ther were no trash cans and no garbage; these people packed it all out. Sometimes 5 waves would roll in one set. In fact they were so closely spaced you could be hit by two or more before you could recover your balance. John, Deborah and Anthony played like little children in the surf. John said it took him back 20 years; it reminded him of beaches in South Africa.

Today we went ashore in the morning to research taking tours. We met Ricardo, our agent, and based on our desires we chose two one day tours. This should complete our consumption of Galapagos. Thursday we are going to Bartolomé, it is a little island off the west coast of San Salvador, a much larger island. The centerpiece of a visit is the steep climb up Cerro Batolomé, the view is spectacular. This is the view seen in most Galapagos literature that defines the image of the Galapagos. One prominent feature is Pinnacle Rock. To cool off you go to the base of Pinnacle Rock to a beach for a swim where it is probable to see teams of penguins diving for food. The second day trip is to Seymour to see the Blue-footed Boobies.

God Bless Bella Donna.

post

Let's start at the end. About 7 PM yesterday we caught a yellow water taxi to town, the
Ayora dock. We pass a local church in full swing Saturday night service. We walk about 3
blocks off the main drag. We come to a street known as local restaurant row. Most visitors
coming to the Galapagos arrive by air and go directly to local cruise ships where all
meals are provided. Only the crews of the occasional arriving yacht blend in with the
local people. Taking a right we are faced with several sidewalk restaurants in a row, each
restaurant having a slightly different cook the fish or chicken on an open fire flame
theme. At night the street is closed to traffic to allow each restaurant to set up tables
in the street for customers. There are an appreciable number of local families here having
dinner with the exception of one table of what appears to be 10 Russians drinking two big
bottles of clear liquor, turns out to be tequila not vodka. The mood is like a county fair
in the US. Children are playing with each other, parents are drinking and talking. A TV at
a nearby bar is showing a wrestling match with mom, pop and little boy watching intently
as they eat dinner seated on stools at the bar. This was Victor's idea and I am thankful
for it. It is nice to dine closer to every day life in Galapagos.

It is Dusty and Victor's last night in Galapagos so after dinner we return to the main
street and visit the building next to the outdoor restaurant where we had lunch, discussed
later. The architecture is somewhere between New Mexico and Greece, white stucco with big
exposed structural timbers. At lunch today it was deserted but now it is more than alive,
a local nightclub again with mostly locals, this time without the kids. Downstairs you pay
to get in to dance. Upstairs there is a nice rooftop outdoor patio with and indoor lounge
with seating and one pool table. First we sit on the rooftop patio for an after dinner
drink. Later a brief shower drives us to a table inside. Wow I can hardly hear what John
is saying, the 65% techno and 35% Ecuadorian rap piped in from downstairs is too loud. We
endure for a while watching some slim well dressed blond chick hustle guys at the pool
table who have unwisely had a few drinks. We then call it a day.

Now for the afternoon adventures, we decide to visit the highlands located in the national
park. After lunch we pile into 2 air conditioned, no necessity, extended cab Toyota pickup
trucks. Our driver-guides speak little English, but we get by with Spanglish. We first go
to the highest point on Santa Cruz where off the side of the road are two volcano creators
that once served as the island's birthplace. A jungle path takes you a few yards to a
2,000 foot drop off protected by an almost inadequate old wooden fence. Nighttime walks
are unadvisable.

The next stop is the giant tortoise area. Some signs read "Do Not Touch the Turtles" and
"Leave 2 Meters Between You and the Turtle". I guess Tortuga literally translates to
turtle, but I have always known these special creatures as tortoise not turtle. We follow
the guides searching for the big guys. Soon we come up on a big one lumbering along. They
weigh 250 kilograms, 550 pounds, or more. They live 100 years or more. I suppose slowing
your roll could extend your life. They also eat lots of fruit and vegetables, another good
thing. The ground is littered with passion fruits, some cumquats and some guavas. We pick
the ripe ones up and eat as we walk from tortoise to tortoise, both adults and babies.
Soon we start tossing fruit within extended neck reach of the giants. One of the biggest
soon warms up to us and lets us know it. He could eat a fruit very efficiently in seconds.
The younger ones look like they play with their food before eating it. After a long walk
we return to the visitor's center, eat more tortoise food, fruit, and shop in the
visitor's store. I finally found tee shirts and other local dress for my grand babies.

The last stop before heading back to town is the lava tubes. Again a short jungle path
takes us to stairs that drop us about 100 feet into a tube, like a tunnel, under the lava.
When the volcano erupts the lava flow sometimes forms the underground arteries in which
molten lava flows when the surface has cooled and hardened. The tube quickly gets very
dark; we are treated to dim light bulbs at adequate intervals as we stumble down a lava
ruble strewn ever narrowing passage. At some point the already clumsy footing becomes wet.
The guide stops, touches a wet rock, points back to way we have come and says something
only Deborah thinks she understands. Deborah says in a few minutes we will be walking
through water in the tunnel. We can either return the way we have come or continue to an
exit that is ahead about 5 to 10 minutes. There is another little catch. The ceiling of
the tube will become so low that we must crawl on our bellies for several feet before we
can stand again, but what about the water, do we have to hold our breath? We flash back to
what was unexpectedly required of us on the waterfall trip in the Dominican Republic.
There we had to climb up through the swift flow of the falls with very poor footing
sometimes 30 feet or more. When we finally get across to our guides that we will go on to
see what it is like, both guides say something and walk back the way we have come. What
did they say? We finally piece together they are returning to get the trucks and drive
them around to the exit where they will meet us. Oh great, here we are in the dimly lit
lava tube that we must pass through even if we don't like what we see ahead. On we go; it
turns out there is no water level in the tube. The rocks become wetter and we even walk
through some mud. Finally we come to the low space. Our adrenalin starts to flow; well at
least there is no standing water; we may not have to hold our breath. Crawling on our
tummies on provided muddy cardboard we start the commitment to reach the other side; not
something you feel comfortable doing and maybe impossible if you are claustrophobic. Sever
feet later we are able to standup and continue our passage. Eventually there is daylight,
stairs and our guides with the pickups, water and rags to clean off some of the mud. It is
time to get back to Bella Donna and a shower followed by a sundowner.

Yesterday morning we toured the Charles Darwin Research Station. We started with breakfast
on Bella Donna loading up on food for the long walk ahead. First cereal which usually all
we would eat, but today we had pancakes, eggs, sausage and rolls as well. The walk to the
Station as well as in it would take us several miles and having been on passage diets our
bodies had no reserves. The station was ok, but you probably have to be an environmental
scientist to take it all in. The tortoise experience was not nearly as impressive as the
afternoon experience would turn out to be, but we did not then know what we know now. One
tortoise was very special, Lonesome George, he is the last of a specie of tortoise that
used to live on Pinta. He lives in a pen with 2 attractive young females, but so far no
babies.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Well, today was full of many good experiences for this blog. Last night I had a few hours
I could have written something for today, but I had no material. Today was too busy so I
had no time. We just got bach to the Bella Donna after a very full day. I do have a lot of
new material now. Tell you what, while we are visiting a destination and not passaging, I
will sometimes be a day behind. Please check tomorrow for today's post of events.

God Bless Bella Donna

POST

Last night we had a much appreciated dinner ashore, big thanks to Dusty and Victor who
made reservations while ashore arranging an early morning dive trip. The restaurant,
Barranco Bar, is quickly accessible by boat taxi. To get there from Ayora would be a one
mile walk. We are not even going to put our dinghy in the water, the water taxi takes you
for shore and back for 50¢ one way. To chance dinging the dinghy on shore is just not
worth it.

After sundowners on the Bella Donna, the water taxi drops us off at the Barranco. The
restaurant and bar is all outdoors. Twinkle lights trim all the railings. The tables are
all candle lit with place settings formally set, even a wooden charger is at each place at
the table. The dinner and drink prices and the menu are like the US. The food was very
good. We had heard that one should not drink the water, but we do it anyway and everything
is alright, so far.

Today we go to shore to explore and find an internet café that offers wifi or at least a
wired internet connection. We start in the first store, a supper market, not to buy but
just to see what is available. We shop moving from store to store down the main street not
buying anything. The idea is to compare prices, see everything that is available and then
make any purchases in the days ahead. The prices are again like the US, not cheap like
Panama. The American dollar is the only currency used here; most tourists here are
American. A lot of the stuff in each store is unique and each store has items that are
made by craftsmen here, Ecuador or somewhere else in central-south America. What is
missing is the typical tourist fare made in places like China.

The thing you notice is the town is very clean, but also very simple. There are 18,000
people on the Santa Cruz Island. There are cars and trucks, mostly Toyota and Mazda. Most
of the people ride bicycles, scooters or motorcycles to get from A to B. You will see a
mother with her 2 year old on a single bike. The little one sits holding the handlebars
with both hands. Kids are always smiling, shinning with total enjoyment. Whole families
ride one scooter; the father drives, the youngest in front of him with both hands on the
handlebars, the older child behind him and the mother last. Everyone just leaves their
bike unlocked when they arrive wherever they are going. Unlocked bikes line the streets.
Bike theft does not seem to be a problem.

The closest comparison I can make to life here is Greece. The language is different, but
the buildings, standard of living and people remind me of the trip we made to Corfu in the
Ionian Sea.

Tomorrow we visit the Darwin Center, stay tuned.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

Late yesterday, 6 PM, John and Anthony, Ant, both having sailed across the equator before,
asked everyone to meet on the stern deck starboard side. There was a ceremony that all new
equator crossing people must go through and we were to wear old cloths. I had just
finished a workout in the gym and had taken a needed shower. I felt fresh and clean. John
was dressed in a plain white tee shirt with "King Neptune" in big letters felt pinned on
the front. Ant had the same except his read "Neptune in Training". Both had on crowns made
in a cleaver way with tin foil. Both had forked spears with 4 sharp points also made with
tin foil. I only had time to throw on an old Nautica tee shirt; my clean shorts were
surely history. I was first. I sat on a bench on the stern deck while John poured a bucket
of the foulest smelling and looking stuff over my head. It was also ice cold. I screamed
as did those that followed – Don, Dusty, Victor and then Deborah. We all are now initiated
into the Bella Donna Equator Crossing Club. Looking closely at what covered our bodies, it
was rotten fruit, vegetables, soap, toilet paper, something slimy and what looked like
cereal. I am sure some other stuff I could not identify. We looked great for the
documenting pictures. Another shower was in order.

King Neptune rewarded us with our one sundowner drink in the fly bridge to enjoy what was
almost a green flash sunset. Deborah made sushi appetizers and we had her curry chicken
for dinner. It was a great party for our first night in the South Pacific.

This just in; we caught a yellow fin tuna this morning just after sunrise. Victor and I
were on watch and he put out the fishing lines. He also brought the "How to Fish for
Cruisers" book from the library to the fly bridge. We spent about an hour reviewing all
the fish stories and recommendations on how one should do it. One fish story was about a
Galapagos cruiser who caught a yellow fin tuna in these very same waters. We carefully
went over the recommended to-do-list. We have been trying everyday all day to catch a fish
with 3 lines trailing Bella Donna with a different type of lure on each line. With all the
fish we have seen jumping; you can understand we are beginning to doubt ourselves. Just as
we put the book down and comment we are mostly doing the right things, we see something on
our port line, which is the one with the tuna thrasher lure that came highly recommended
by my dermatologist; he wrote me a prescription to catch fish during my visit a few weeks
ago. An hour later there was enough tuna filets for our dinner tonight.

We are just passing the island of San Christobal, The Galapagos Islands. Victor yells
"land ho". We are definitely seeing abundant sea life, but fishing is not allowed in the
Islands because it is a park, so we take in our fishing lines. We are presently observing
hundreds of dolphins as far as the eye can see. We also see a group of 4 or 5 baby whales;
you can tell the difference by the way they surface to breath. The dolphins are jumping
playfully, they are beautiful creatures. Playful dolphins remind me of grand kids; I miss
them so much.

For lunch we had tuna tartar and tuna sushi with onions, caviar, wasabi sauce, ginger, soy
sauce, hard boiled eggs and little tea crackers all garnished with grape leaves. The fish
was caught 3 hours ago. It was wonderful and Deborah displayed the meal just like it would
look in a magazine ad for a fancy restaurant. We hope to catch more fresh fish.

A couple of hours after lunch we anchored in Puerto Vyora, Island of Santa Cruz, in the
Galapagos. We now meet our agent Ricardo to begin the immigration and customs process.

God Bless Bella Donna.

POST

This just in from late yesterday, the wind let up, the sea flattened and it cooled off so
much that Anthony had to put a sweatshirt on in the fly bridge during his watch. At this
time I am supposed to say just joking, but this is really what happened. We are just a few
miles from the big bad equator and summer has transformed itself into mid to late fall.
What is up? Sea sickness is still a problem. All day I have been practicing meditation to
ward off the inclination to run to the side and barf overboard. I think I slept most of
the day; when you meditate there is not a lot of difference.

John is going to set a waypoint to intercept the equator about a little after 7 AM in
daylight tomorrow when most of us will be up. Such a special occasion needs to be
witnessed in daylight. It is hard to see that line you always see on the world globes in
the dark. From now on the high and low pressure winds will spin in the opposite direction;
the same thing is true for water swirling down a sink or toilet. Water drains in a
clockwise spiral in the north hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere.
It is fall and will be winter soon south of the equator. It is a tradition to party when
one crosses the equator. Tomorrow night, weather and crisis permitting, we will break our
no drink policy and have one sundowner.

Our now close buddy, the lonely sea gull, has found a mate or at least a friend. They
greeted each other with such joy. He is no longer lonely. We will see if they are still
with us in the morning or have moved on with their lives.

It was so cool last night I slept with the hatches closed and I forgot to turn my fan on.
Wow, that is a first. It is 10 minutes to 6 AM and I am about to start my watch. I will
wake everyone up at 7. I climb the stairs to the fly bridge and Anthony is sitting in his
sleeping bag at the helm. It is cold, overcast, foggy and damp. Anthony says the sea water
temperature has dropped significantly. Galapagos has two seasons, late May till December
is the cloudy cool dry season with an average daytime high of 64° and January to mid May
is the sunny hot wet season with an average daytime high of 82°. During the cool season
there is the Humboldt Current that comes up from Chile and bathes Galapagos in cool sea
water. In the hot season the El Nino Current feeds the same islands. Much of the unique
life in the Galapagos is made possible by the rich Humboldt Current. I wonder what it will
be when we arrive.

At 7 AM everyone comes up to the fly bridge in their sweat shirts and sweat pants and wool
socks. I am still dressed like Tortola – tee shirt, shorts and bare footed; however, I am
truly very cold. I keep expecting it to warm up like every other day lately. We pass into
the South Pacific, very pleasant and beautiful, but not at all what we imagined.

We make course correction to starboard, north, towards Galapagos. The apparent wind is now
30° on our port, enough to raise the staysail. This will make the first time in at least 2
days that we use the sails. We go from 8.5 to 9.5 knots as the sail begins to pull. Later
we raise the main sail for the first time and go to 9.8 knots. We are set; if the wind
picks up and/or the apparent wind angle increases we will break 10 knots.

Along our way we see more dolphins and a big whale ambling along.

God Bless Bella Donna

POST

We changed our plan. If we continue straight to Galapagos we would go 6 knots or less and
pound into the wind and sea swells. We hear the winds shift to the south at the equator; I
thought you would be becalmed in the doldrums near the equator, but officially the winds
are unpredictable and only often calm. So we are going south west to the equator and
hopefully catch the south wind on our beam sailing west to Galapagos. Well that is today's
plan anyway. The not so direct route means we add 50 miles to our passage, but we may get
some sailing in and get to Galapagos just as fast or faster. Right now the wind is ever so
slowly shifting south and we are once again pounding into head winds and swells. We have
less than a hundred miles to go to cross the equator.

Last night a lonely seagull kept us company during our watch. He flew along the starboard
side and then along the port side. I remember a book about a similar seagull I read in the
70's called Jonathan Livingston Seagull. We are hundreds of miles from land; we have not
seen another ship in at least 12 hours. We immediately strike up a bond with the wild
creature. He has to fly hard to keep up with us as we both are heading into the wind. I
wonder if he will ever get brave enough to land on Bella Donna and take a well deserved
rest. Sometimes we see him flying behind the stern; he probably thinks we are a fishing
vessel. Well we do fish everyday but we have not caught our first fish. If he waits for us
to catch a fish, he will either starve or die of exhaustion.

This morning at sunrise we start our watch. The seagull is still with us. I hope he did
take a ride on Bella Donna and enjoyed a restful sleep content that he is safe with us. We
are pounding hard going south west. Everyone has some degree of sea sickness, so you see
life does have its speed bumps; this post may be shorter. No one is so sick they could eat
lunch though. Because the sky is clearer, no more thunderstorms, and the sun is bright; it
is also warmer.

Dusty and Victor are showing real dedication to the fishing effort. They are changing
lures, giving each one in the tackle box a trial run. Twice today we there have been very
large schools of dolphins; wherever they are there are fish as they eat continually
consuming 25 pounds of fish per day. They are smarter than humans so I am sure they are in
no danger of getting involved with one of our fishing lures. I wonder if the fish are
smarter than we are too.

God Bless Bella Donna