Last night we had about two hours of heavy, cleansing rain. It cleared up the air nicely and the lucky few (OK, me) who weren’t up on watch in the middle of the night woke to a clean, fresh deck and crisp horizons. I did wake up to close hatches, then re-open them for air […]
Author: Lara
Galapagos Crossing – Day 4
Almost a full moon this evening as we close in on the equator. According to Joe and Ruth, the two “shellbacks” on our boat, the rest of us are “polliwogs” and must make an offering to Neptune when we cross the equator by sea. If accepted, we too will become shellbacks and can act as […]
Galapagos Crossing – Day 3
Another day on the Pacific and we understand where the name came from. Almost no wind and calm seas, causing us to turn on the dreaded engines so we can reach the Galapagos before they sink back into the sea. We had about seven hours of sailing today with our rainbow spinnaker flying proudly, trimmed […]
Galapagos Crossing – Day 2
Hello Charm followers, I’ve been given the task of writing the first Log for Leg 3. After a few day exploring the Las Perlas Islands it was time for race start day. It’s been a while since I’ve raced but lo and behold the usual pre-race start jitters returned! No nerves were however needed as […]
Galapagos Crossing – Day 1
We didn’t do a blog post for Day 1 but, since we had all the other numbers, it seemed like I should write something here. These posts were all supposed to go to the World ARC website log so you could read them while we sailed (I wrote them diligently each night on my watch) […]
And then there were three
Joe decided we needed a new dinghy and so he bought one. Then he found a good deal on a new motor so we bought that too. I was there when they delivered it and watched Joe start it up, thinking to myself – that’s a good idea – we should make sure it works. […]
Panama Canal
Photo credit for these photos belongs to Chris Hourley on s/v Sky. He was at the visitor’s center when we went through and later gave me these photos. Sky is sailing to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society – see their website (and some great 360 videos by Chris on their Facebook page) […]
Embera Puru visit
After many busy days of boat preparation and traveling, we weren’t sure we were going to participate in the World ARC-organized Embera Indian village tour but Marin wanted to go so Becky, Jaja and I joined her. It turned out to be a worthwhile day. We rode a bus from the marina for about 45 […]
El Porvenir and Wichubwala
Thanks to the organizers of the ARC rally, we were able to delay our clearance into Panama until the end of our visit to the San Blas islands. Normally, when you enter a new country by boat, you have to clear customs and immigration, just like you do when you land at the airport. It’s […]
Visiting San Blas
It’s hard to describe the San Blas islands. When you picture a cartoon illustration of an island with white sand, coconut palms and turquoise waters? It’s like living in that for a few days. Add a dash of an interesting indigenous people and you have our experience since Santa Marta. The San Blas, or “Guna […]