First the Panama Canal transit – Eric was our hero, we had read loads about delays and water shortages going through the Panama Canal, so we engaged an agent called Eric. We booked our transit for the 12th Feb and went through on the 12th Feb. Eric provided fenders, all instructions and a great line handler helper called Santiago who had done it 500 times!!! We could not have been in better hands – a thoroughly enjoyable few days, mixing with very, very large cargo ships and huge cruise liners.
Panama Canal video:
As we emerged into the Pacific, the Panama City skyline opened up. Panama provided a brilliant opportunity to top up on provisions. John insisted on two huge bags of potatoes and carrots and miraculously four weeks later, while cruising the marquases we were still enjoying them! Panama was also the place where we said goodbye to crew mate Oli ,( Phoebes boyfriend ),and welcomed my son Christopher aboard.
Thankfully the winds were looking ok and without giving Christopher chance to catch breath and harbouring a horrible cold we set sail with a very quick stop over the Las Perlas islands to celebrate his birthday.
The Jolie team quickly, (and mostly enthusiastically), adopted our daily routine, – first – “Dream analysis”, (some very weird coincidences ), then “Questions of the day”, followed by morning exercise which involved some very challenging “sea yoga”( normal yoga with the hugely demanding rocking motion to contend with). Our 7-minute workouts got longer and Phoebe introduced a gruelling abbs routine that she seemed to relish! John of course adopted his own exercise routine – generally rather less strenuous version with a lot more effort going into verbal complaining!.
Lunch was at 1ish. Each of us had a day of catering followed by 3 days off!, this was a bit like a cook off every day and became great fun and rather creative as fresh supplies dwindled. It resulted in some very tasty food and us all eating like Kings!.
Afternoons consisted of Phoebe's sun hour, Chris's Spanish hour, Johns snooze and my audio book indulgence. 4pm afternoon tea! ( with cakes some days), 5pm cards and crisps, then 7pm dinner followed by entertainment to set the night up well, – usually a film.
Of course there were sails to attend to, but to be honest Joline just looked after us. We cannot believe how useful the parasailer was – “Lava”, which we kept up for days and which proved to be so stable and versatile coping with anything form 8 kts to 20 kts and 180 – 090 degrees, brilliant. The weather/winds and currents did focus our attention for many an hour as we tried hard to balance routing models with what we were experiencing.
Then we had some special days: –
Crossing the equator day where our two Pollywogs entered into Neptune’s ceremony in great spirits. A fun few hours and our new Shellbacks emerged out of the ocean.
Spa day: – Phoebe and I, prompted by Phoebe's sister and Mum (my sister) going for a spa day in the Lake District, Phoebe and I decided to have our very own spa day on board, - Spa bath on the trampoline, followed by an abundance of body-pampering activities.
Phoebe's birthday: – a day literally in the middle of nowhere. At this stage, we hadn’t seen a thing for a week except sea and flying fish. The Flying fish also seemed to love Phoebe as three made it into her bathroom! Chris also got wacked on the ear while watching TV in the saloon! Chris became the flying fish remover – a total of 97 landed on our decks!
One we discovered yesterday ( two weeks after the crossing) stuck in the forward metalwork!
Then we had our freeloaders – our two Boobie birds who hitched a lift on our pulpit for 6 days and left behind a lot of very hard-to-remove “poop”.
The activity that got the most attention was hearing the fishing reel spin out……fish on……!!. We did lose several monster fish, but the sea provided us with many a happy evening meal, a beautiful mahi and another yellowfin tuna were the highlights.
What I cannot describe is the feeling of the vastness of the ocean, days, no weeks, without seeing or sighting another boat. The thrills it provided: seeing a whale in the distance feeding, leaping and then plunging its massive tail in the water, the pure joy when you are joined by dolphins, the disbelief when you find yourself becalmed in field of sea turtles, the hours lost staring at the impeccable bright night sky with no moon, then the night watch with the moon lighting up the horizon.
Most of all the sheer love of sharing the incredible experience with three other lovely people, the fun laughter, and banter during the day. The double joy you get from sharing the experience and challenges of a horrible rough day catching crockery and cutlery and banging around the galley trying to prepare lunch with the shear beauty of launching the big Lava sail and powering along at 10kts enjoying a stunning sunset.
After 23 great days at sea, we spotted white clouds and the outline of Hiva oa on the horizon. In the dark we anchoroured and broke out the champagne – thank you Neptune for a safe and thoroughly enjoyable crossing.
A wee video to record some highlights….
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