In
April 1999, we completed our transit of the Panama Canal and set sail across the
Pacific Ocean. First stop, after a week's passage, was the Galapagos
Islands. We had light winds on the nose almost the entire way, with some
thunderstorm activity in the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. The 800-mile
passage ended up requiring about 1100 miles of tacking to complete.
During
the passage, we spotted many small brown-spotted dolphins
and two seabirds floating on a piece of driftwood. At the time, I thought
the birds might be stranded, but I now know that they were merely resting on a
multi-day fishing expedition. A red-footed booby (joined later by many
companions) hitched a ride on our bow railing.
Arriving in the Galapagos Islands, we spent a couple of weeks eco-touring before
continuing our Pacific passage another 3300 miles (just over 16 days) to French
Polynesia.
Voyage of Heartsong III