Daily Logs

Gertha 5 - Pacific playlist

00.28N 87.59WSeveral days of this trip the lead band has been Wet, wet, wet accompanied by the famous Harison track , Whilst my Gertha gently weeps.We have now moved to Here comes the sun and Champagne super sailing.Tomorrow sees us cross the Equator and most likely arrive in Galapagos, but as we all know the trip is not over until the Fat lady sings.Boobies sleeping on the guard rails at night. Small black birds with white rump bit like a Martin circle the boat, Dolphins plus some white bird with black on wing , not a Ganet.Progress is not fast , but Yanmar has rested after many days of hard throbbing, shaking and rattling, the sails have resumed their rightful position as main propulsion force.Food into Galapagos is limited , fridge is near empty, a few apples, a cabbage, a pepper.. read more...

Aqualuna - Invasion of the Boobies

Day 4 Leg 6: Panama to San Cristobal, Galapagos We have less than 100 miles to run until we make landfall in the Galapagos - and just under 2 hours until we cross the equator. I am BEYOND excited and finding it hard to believe we’re actually here. Ever since watching David Attenborough’s Life on Earth as a child, the Galapagos has been on my bucket list. And now we have sailed all the way from England to see it with our own eyes. I am so proud of us!We are already seeing a lot of wildlife: large dolphins and huge turtles with other World ARC boats reporting whales, spinner dolphins - and even sharks. In our case we have an enormous number of birds with us - and yesterday a red-footed booby (yes I know, less sniggering please) - an actual native of the Galapagos. However, it is. read more...

Pat Bon - The Equator

00:00.000S 88:35.733WWe’ve done it! We crossed the equator at 2309 local time (GMT -5) on board Pat Bon and are now sailing in the southern hemisphere. This has been one of my dreams from 40+ years ago, to sail across the equator. Sadly we weren't sailing, as the little wind we had was bang on the nose - don’t they say that about Mediterranean sailing😂. We are now about 80nm from arriving in San Cristobal island. We departed Contadore Island in the Las Perlas islands about 20 hours after the main ARC fleet last Thursday 13th February for the 850nm leg to the Galápagos Islands. We knew the leg was going to have light winds, as we were going to pass through the ITCZ or the Pacific doldrums, but sadly the wind has not played ball for virtually the whole voyage. Apart from a few. read more...

Gertha 5 - Pacific not passive

02.57 N 83.56 WLast 24 hour has been squalls, afternoon was raining elephants and dinosaurs, now back to good sailing, Yanmar is having a restSea was a brown red colour with lumps of wood, must be something in the current department Inside temperature is 28 , the major deck washing has cooled the boat.. read more...

Gertha 5 - Very passive Pacific

05 .11n 82.16wNot much wind out here, but we are getting the chance to work the fuel consumption/ engine revs figures.We will have to pace our selves to cover distance to Galapagos.Repaired a solar panel, started and nearly finished a book, cooked chicken curry.Living the sea life in the slow lane.. read more...

Gertha 5 - Pacific

06.39N 80.27WShelter bay is behind us Panama Canal was fun, waking at anchor in lake with jungle noises all round.Panama City, enormous, I took one look and ran away.Now we are in Pacific , slow steady progress to Galapagos, the winds are light or nothing, the wildlife is in incredible, rays doing backward flops yesterday. Today dolphins , whales , turtles and birds all around.. read more...

Pat Bon - The Panama Canal

8:54.49N 79:31.40WWe’ve finally made it into the Pacific! It’s been a frustrating few days for the ARC fleet since we arrived in Shelter Bay Marina, which is on the Caribbean side of the canal, due to the fact that the Panama Canal authorities have been drip feeding the boats through for some unknown reason. We had initially been split into 3 groups of 10 yachts to transit together, but only 2 yachts at a time were permitted. As Shelter Bay marina was located in the old US military base of Fort Sherman and far away from any town or life, there was very little to do. We ate our way through the small restaurant’s menu and Nathan arranged for volleyball games + the inevitable beers and G&T’s. This did give us time however, to lift Pat Bon and get her hull cleaned and repainted ready for. read more...

Gertha 5 - Shelter Bay

We are currently in shelter bay, Panama.I do not think the bay was named after a bus shelter, there are buses here but not many, we are a bit out in the wilds.A cross between a deserted US base, a jungle and a well found marina.The bird and wild life in the jungle is awesome.The deserted American base is strange.The marina cannot be faulted; but a regular buss to town would help.We wait for our slot in the canal, maybe this week , maybe next week...Living in a tumble dryer, hot wind all day every day, can not complain, just checked the weather in Suffolk, looks like the lazy wind has set in.. read more...

Aqualuna - The Final Tomato

Leg 2: Santa Marta to Panama via the San Blas Islands - 23rd-30th January 2025. It’s the end of an awesome off-grid week spent laxin’ n’ limin’ round the San Blas Islands but sadly if we stayed much longer we’d probably contract scurvy. The contents of our fridge consist of half an elderly butternut and 3 squidgy onions plus one defiant solitary tomato in the fruit net. We did also have camembert, sour cream and yoghurt but discovered that for some completely unfathomable reason the Colombians, where we provisioned, make all their dairy products “extra salado” and it is so very salty it’s completely inedible ….. so that all went overboard to feed the fishes (which were probably actually the ones we subsequently barbecued. Ah - the circle of life!)We were in fact inundated with. read more...

Pat Bon - The San Blas Experience

After a lumpy 36 hour crossing from Santa Marta to the San Blas islands last Thursday, we’ve moved 40 nautical miles west and left the archipelago. We’re now at anchor behind Linton Island, just off the Panamanian mainland coast and civilisation has returned- well sort of! It is clearly a popular sailing spot here, with a small marina, boatyard, well stocked chandlery and bar-restaurant. We’ve decided to stop here en route to Shelter Bay marina, which is at the entrance to the Panama Canal, so that Nathan can meet a monkey on Linton Island - or should that be vice versa!So what are our thoughts after leaving the San Blas islands. We had heard a lot about them before arriving and they had been built up as being one of the jewels of the World ARC journey, so our expectations were high.. read more...

Aqualuna - Murals, Music, Mayhem ….. and Life on Stilts

Santa Marta, Colombia 19-23 JanSanta Marta is a feast for the senses. As you stroll through the streets you are deluged by a riot of colour, smells, music and mayhem. The city is visually dramatic with the Sierra Nevada mountains forming a spectacular backdrop and the Caribbean Sea in the foreground. Colourful street art decorates many of the buildings and sets the stage against which the life of the city plays out.  If you love people watching you’re in for a treat, particularly in the evening when the city springs into even greater life, and crowds throng the streets enjoying the seafront boardwalk and the central Parque de Los Novios. Colourful restaurants and bars are cheek by jowl in the streets surrounding the parque, and insanely loud music from each one competes for. read more...

Gertha 5 - San Blas

10.15n 78.16wColumbia was good , Mauritz found his favorite cola, a few days spent in Santa Marta and surrounding area.Yesterday was a rufty tufty sailing day, full manly waves in the cockpit and down the back of the neck, waves like sky scrapers.All has now past, sailing slowly to San Blas islands , the night is pitch black, should be at destination in morning.Maybe when we get there we can anchor and swim , but as none of us have any information we may be doing anything .. read more...

Pat Bon - We’re in Panama - yay!

Even better than that - we’re in the San Blas archipelago, home to the Guna Indians and what a home it is too!We delayed departure from Santa Marta for 24 hours as the weather forecast was not great for the crossing from Columbia to the San Blas. The weather system in this part of the Caribbean, especially from Santa Marta to Cartagena, is known for it’s fierce winds and steep seas at this time of the year - in fact we all commented at one point or another that this must be the windiest part of the world! The winds are usually light’ish in the morning, but they get up to 35+ knots by midday on land and even more offshore in the acceleration zone. These continue well into the night, so probably 18 hours of strong winds. You need to try and get 100 miles offshore before the acceleration. read more...

Pat Bon - Santa Marta, Columbia

We safely arrived in Santa Marta marina on Thursday morning, after slowing down to allow us to enter this harbour in daylight. As predicted, the winds really picked up off the headland and we had 38+ knots over the deck at one point with very confused seas. Sadly one of ARC yachts suffered severe damage to her boom and mainsail (the beautiful 74’ Solaris Luminous 3) and all the yachts ahead of us reported very strong winds. It’s so easy for a dream to get snuffed out if the wrong decisions are made, so we’re pleased we took the prudent decision to drop all the sails and motor the last few miles to across the finish line.Nearly all the ARC fleet have now arrived, with just 2 yachts yet to arrive. They left St Lucia late due to technical problems. We’ve enjoyed our time here, once again. read more...

Aqualuna - I Can Definitely See The Pub From Here!

Day 5 of Leg 1: St Lucia to Santa Marta, Colombia (Day 8 for the fleet)With 138 nautical miles to run - and less than 24 hours to go - we can see Columbia. So thrilling! This is the furthest west we have ever sailed and we are super-excited to overtake fellow fleet boat ‘Misfit’. Okay they’ve actually been moored in Aruba for several days - but hey, when you’re so far behind everyone else we’ll take anything as a win!We’re just coming around the Peninsula de la Guajira and are expecting the wind to increase substantially as we start our final run down to Santa Marta - probably 35-40 knots as we approach. But for now we are revelling in champagne sailing, sparkling sunshine and flying fish a-go-go. As we’ve rounded the cape, the swell is now coming from behind us and the boat has steadied. read more...