Day 1

Woke to overcast skies and not much wind!  2 February 07.00 said goodbye to Contadora and headed off for the Galapagos!  If only it was that simple!  Got the mainsail up and were about to pull out the genoa when Matt noticed that the portside aft winch was a bit ‘grungy’.  We had serviced all the winches earlier in January but since then not used them much.  So that had to come apart again - to reveal a crack in the plastic moulding underneath the self-tailor.  It was a bad fit into the self tailor so Matt got out his file and sorted it - at least we are able to use it.  Good start eh?  Wind was around 9 knots from WNW to start but as the day progressed it turned to the north – varying between 9 and 12 knots and in the afternoon we were able to pole out the genoa.  The current turned with us at around mid-day.  Had a few dolphins with us now and again – may have been bottle nosed but they weren’t very lively so possibly rough-toothed.  A few other very large splashes were the only evidence of other ‘creatures lurking beneath the surface’.   After all the frenetic activity of the past month, we spent a leisurely day, reading and cat-napping!  We didn’t even bother with the fishing lines!  Sea a bit lively now and then with a few rolly bits but prepared 3 good meals whilst we could (it’s not like we don’t know where our next meal is coming from – and let’s face it we’re not going to starve with ¾ ton food on board - more that we don’t know what the conditions are going to be like when we reach the ICTZ - doldrums!)  I even managed to do my yoga salute to the sun.  Stood 3 hour watches from 8pm to 8am.  Wind stayed more or less same direction all night varying from 7 to 15 knots still with around half to a knot of current.   Hadn’t seen much of the sun during the day and the thin cloud cover kept the moon and stars hidden.  Lots of bio-luminescence.  Passed quite a few ships in the night – had the AIS running in order to be able to identify them – in fact we had to call one up as he was heading directly for us from behind – he said he had us on his radar and changed course slightly to avoid us!  24 hour distance:  160 miles