Las Perlas -3 April 2024
It was a calm and quiet morning when we woke. We decided to have a bacon and egg breakfast which I cooked with Keith’s loaf as toast. This is always a good moral boosting breakfast. I had received some instructions about the Parasailor from the company I bought it from and I read this out, so we all understood what was required. There were a few things that we learnt which will fine tune our deployment of the Blue Baron.
We prepared the boat and tidied things away. The wind was very light which was good in one respect as the sail would be easier to handle but I hoped that we would have enough wind. We upped anchor and headed out but we had to go some way out before we could try and fly the Blue Baron. It had been a nice anchorage but we were ready to move on.
The wind was light and the sun was out and it was a lovely day. We saw great squadrons of Pelicans flying across to the Isla San Telmo. At one point due to the size of Stormbird’s mast the squadron had to split and then reform once we had passed. Apparently about 100 years ago a submarine beached on these shores and so we looked out for it, but we did not see it. We put the genoa up and mainsail, but we were hardly doing 2 kts of speed. This could have been fine but it was very hot and we wanted to get to the anchorage before we had lunch. We therefore took the sails down and motored onto our anchorage. There were lots of rocks around but a nice beach ashore. The tide had about a meter to go down and we anchored in about 4.5m of water so we should have plenty of water.
We had lunch and then relaxed to read and chill. Suddenly we felt a shudder throughout the boat and we must have grounded on something. We quicky turned on the instruments and the depth was low. There must have been a rock or something we could not see. We upped anchor and moved further out. I wish I had not anchored so close in. I checked the bilges but all seemed fine.
Once settled Mark decided to go for a swim to the rocks and Charles decided to swim to the beach. After a while Mark came back and took the dinghy to the beach with Angus and Joyce. They wondered around for a while and then came back. Mark suggested a barbecue on the beach with the cobb. Why not? We therefore prepared a tray of vegetables in the oven and then prepared to take everything to the beach.
Mark, Joyce and I went early with our cobb (small round barbecue) and a lot of other equipment – plates, cutlery, glasses, implements etc. We set up the cobb and got it going. We had a VHF radio with us and could call Stormbird on the radio If we needed anything. We lit the cobb and prepared our camp as it were with logs of wood for seats. After a while I went back to Stormbird to collect the others with the vegetables. We all assembled on the beach and by this time Mark was cooking the fish (salmon) and before long we all had some fish and vegetables and washed it down with some white wine. We brought our solar lamps with us and put them on bits of wood illuminating our camp. It was a delicious supper in a beautiful location. We wondered whether we would be visited by some creatures on the beach – crocodiles, lizards or dragons but luckily no. We had seen some paw marks on the beach.
Once we finished, we had to clear up in the dark and take all our rubbish with us. We took everything back in one go and got on board. We cleared up and had a cup of tea. What a treat to have supper on the beach.
We keep eyeing the weather to help us decide when we should leave for the Galapagos. It is a bit early now, but we keep monitoring the wind.
Opportunity for any Readers/Sailors.
In late May 2024 we shall be in the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and we will then move through to the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world.
In addition, in year two I will be going up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.
If there is any interest do email me at hine.nick9@gmail.com
The blog will continue as we head off to the Galapagos and beyond.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk