Sunday Island arrived at Purto Ayora Santa Cruz, Galapagos in the evening of Friday 2nd February 2024. We found a spot amongst 5 other cruising boats in the rolly anchorage and settled in for a full nights sleep.

The next morning the local Guardia came onboard to ask our purpose for the visit. Our agent was waiting on our hull cleaning certificate before processing our request for inspection. At 11am another party of 12 officials and our agent boarded Sunday Island to go through the formalities. They asked a lot of questions about the boat and were very concerned about our 2 stroke outboard, which we informed them we would not use during our stay in the islands.

The officials want to know you have a holding tank for your back waste, your garbage is segregated, you have signs placed around the vessel to remind the crew not to throw garbage overboard, you have a spill kit and your bilges are clean, your hull is clean, and that you have the correct safety and medical equipment onboard.

Once we were approved to remain on the island we caught a water taxi ashore – you cant use your own dinghy because the seals will destroy it! – and walked up to the Darwin tortoise park where they have a breeding program for three types of tortoise and a fantastic museum filled with facts and history about the island. We finished the day with a local meal before returning to the boat.

The following morning we packed our bags and set of on foot to visit Tortuga beach. It was a long walk in the hot sun, we were emtertined along the way by numerous lava lizards, and trying to name the fauna we had learnt from our tour the previous day. We enjoyed a swim in the surf of the pacific ocean when we got to the beach. We when walked along the beach noticing tracks of green turtles leading to their nesting sights of the previous night. We came across a large lagoon and were able to hire a couple of kayaks to explore the sanctuary where we saw huge green turtles, iguanas and frigates. Emilie even saw a baby hammer head shark, completely in proportion to a fully grown shark, but only 1ft long.

The next morning we organised a taxi to give us a tour around the island and set off towards “The Twins” – Two large sinkholes up in the mountains. We did a short 30minute walk around the sinkholes and surrounding parkland, and we were impressed with the amount of birdlife we saw. Next we headed up the mountain to a Tortoise reserve where we explored and got close and personal with some tortoises as old as 160 years old! In the same location we also had a guided tour of the lava tunnels.

The taxi driver then took us to his village and we had a menu del dia in the local bistro. The meal came to a total of $10 for the entire family! Then the driver drove us up a mountain Cerro Cowan 920m where we looked out through the mist at the distant coastline and clouds. We were all very impressed with the changes in fauna in such a minimal change in distance and altitude. The mountains are lush! Some of the plants that look like trees are actually huge dandelions, and others are cactus the size of gum trees! The taxi then took us back to sea level to a remote beach for a swim and some rock hopping to see the iguana’s and sea lions and pink flamingo’s before returning us to Purto Ayora.

The next morning we took pretty easy. Max and I took a walk to a beach and crawled our way along a rocky point hoping to find swimming iguanas having their morning meal. Max and I enjoyed seeing families of Iguana’s, finches, pelicans, and lava herons.

That afternoon we were sitting on deck playing when an iguana swam past the boat! Everybody was very excited and I filmed it swimming past while the kids climbed the forestay for a better look. I was so excited my iPhone flew over the side. Luckily I jumped in straight after it and caught it half way to the merky bottom. That evening we met up with Andrew and his family – friends from super yachting and Galapagos locals.

On Wednesday 7th February we set sail to the island of Isabella. We will return to Santa Cruz in three weeks time prior to our passage to Marqueses.

At 2100 on 1st February 2024 Sunday Island crossed the equator – the last time Sunday Island was in the Southern Hemisphere was around 1988!

Due to the time of day the Polywogs were asleep and will need to wait until daytime to be initiated into the relm of King Neptune, where he will welcome them to his relm and christen them as shell backs.

As I was resting off watch, (and we don’t drink at sea), so no (alcoholic) offering was made to King Neptune, and he let us know his disappointment shortly after by blocking our fuel filter. Emilie and I spent our midnight handover changing fuel filters and bleeding the Perkins engine. 2 hours later we were up and running – Perkins are not the easiest engines to bleed! At the same time we found a crack in our water fill pipe and so our engine compartment enjoyed a good fresh water flush and clean! What a way to celebrate!

ETA Galapagos is 1900 tomorrow evening. We hope to conduct our official check in on Saturday and start our island adventures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISSY.

8 YEARS OLD.

A wonderful day cruising towards Galapagos at 6.5kts wing on wing sailing past the remote Columbian Island of Malpelo. Issy unwrapped a few presents along the way to celebrate her birthday. Max baked a cake and warm muffins with Emilie for Issy and the Southern Cross rose over the horizon to the south.

For lunch we enjoyed some of the 1.3m Mahi Mahi we caught yesterday and Yellow Fin Tuna Sushi. The 1.2m Mahi weighing about 15kg took over 20 minutes to land and when I heaved it into the cockpit he flipped straight through the companion way and down into our cabin causing quite a commotion! Inside its stomach was a tuna! When we stood it on its tail it was taller than Max! Freezer is now full! >

Our Panama Canal crossing complete mid January we settled into our anchorage off La Playeta Maina, to the western side of Flamenco Island to wait for spare parts to arrive before our Pacific Journey.

Our starter motor that was ordered a week prior though a local supplier arrived. The motor did not look like the one ordered, nor was it the same part number – though the distributor insisted that it would work we returned it and ordered a new starter from Rare Electrical in the US. Shipping was advertised for 3-4 days, so we were hopeful we would be on our way soon. Meanwhile I tramped through Panama attempting to find a shop to fix the old starter motor – which after finally finding a shop willing to work on the old motor I was advised it was well and truely deceased!

We hired a car for a few days to explore Panama, and our time in Panama (waiting for the starter motor) was enjoyed visiting various national parks, including the Balboa National Park. Here we saw some great rainforest and its inhabitants including Sloths, butterflies and poisoness frogs. We also visited the Bio-diversity and Panama canal museums and Issy and I went on a 12 piece zip line through the rainforest. We utilised the local bus system for the majority of our transport in Panama and found it very effective, taking us straight to the shopping centre, metro and almost anywhere in the city for only 35 cents!

We found then Parks great. Panama prides itself on having more national parks than nearby Costarica or Columbia. The biodiversity museum, parks and education centres explain the importance of keeping our environment clean, using less plastic and recycling. There is even a 85m Ocean Cleanup vessel stationed in Panama to drag a huge net and clean up the oceans. Unfortunately the Panamanian government does little to clean up their own back yard, and levels of plastic pollution in the harbour and beaches rivals any other port I have visited. Beaches and tropical islands are covered in plastic, so much so you cannot even see the sand! The governments response is to ban swimming in Panama therefore people don’t go to the beach.

After numerous delays in shipping and customs our motor finally arrived on the 25 January one day before Australia day. I fitted it immediately and Emilie pushed the start button. The sweet sound of a running Perkins engine filled my ears! Relief and excitement filled the air – We were off to Galapagos!

While Emilie prepped the boat for the passage and organised the necessary requirements before departure for Galapagos including fumigation of the boat, I worked on deck bringing the varnish work back to life and sealing a few leaks found in the deck since our departure from Trinidad.

With the boat re stocked, fuelled up, fumigated and hull cleaned, we cleared out of Panama customs and immigration and departed for Galapagos on the 27 January 2024.

For the first day of the voyage we have had light winds, we motored for the first 10 hours giving the batteries a good chance to re charge. Once clear of port limits I decided it would be a great idea to get a drone shot of Sunday Island with Panama and all the ships in the background. I found the Maveric DJ 2 drone did not like taking off at 6 kts and it is now on its way to the sea floor of Panama – another bit of very expensive plastic adding to the Panama collection!

As I write this we are enjoying 14kts of wind from the North. Our weather routing takes us south of the rhumbline, so we are on a course of 192 until we reach the Malpelo islands for Issys Birthday (29 January), when we will alter course towaards the Galapagos and hopefully pick up the SE Trades.

>> Our position report can be viewed at: http://cms.winlink.org:444/maps/positionreports.aspx?callsign=vk7hew >>
>



The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82-kilometre (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, cutting across the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks at each end lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial freshwater lake 26 meters (85 ft) above sea level, created by damming up the Chagres River and Lake Alajuela to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, and then lower the ships at the other end. An average of 200,000,000 L (52,000,000 US gal) of fresh water are used in a single passing of a ship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

Until last year a ship or yacht required an agent to book a passage through Panama Canal. We booked our transit with the new automated system https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/4352-I-202110205753.pdf

Sunday Island has a tonnage measurement certificate so there was no requirement for us to be measured in the new system.

Once the passage is booked through the ASEM system https://asem.pancanal.com/%20 and payment made, the yacht must advise cristobel signal station of their arrival, including their unique SIC number. Then the captain can call the scheduling office and book a date for the transit.

Our pilot boarded at 0420 and we hauled in the anchor and proceeded to Gatam Lock. As one could expect the waters of Panama are very busy with shipping, small boats and old wrecks. We weaved our way to the channel and entered the lock at

The previous day our motley crew spent the afternoon training. We discussed line handling, how our lines would be run from the deck, fender placement, and where we would request the line handlers throw the lines to protect our solar panels and wind generator. The training paid off and our crew looked very professional in our Sunday island tshirts and crew teamwork. Compared to the yacht Titana (not Titania) we rafted alongside there was lots of verbal excitement, where on Sunday island not a word needed to be spoken, everybody knew their tasks.

We entered the first lock at 0600 and the gates closed at 0630. The filling of the lock made supprisingly little turbulence, however When we reached the top of the first lock the Panamax car carrier went slow ahead with her engine creating about 8 kts of turbulence, making the mooring lines sing and creating more verbal excitement from our neighbors.

By 0700 we were in the second lock, 0735 the third and by 0830 we entered Gatam lake to make our transit across the American continent towards the Pacific Ocean. I advised a maximum transit speed of 6kts when booking, but the pilot advised we must proceed at at least 6.5kts to keep up with the schedule or we would be delayed for 3-4 hours on the Pacific side. By the end of the transit the pilots were requesting 7kts as I nervously watched the engine gauges as the old Perkins engine worked harder than ever.

We observed some interesting wildlife during our transit and the pilot sat back and acted as tour guide pointing out the interesting facts and features of Gatam lake. We even saw an alligator!

At 1330 we approached Pedro Miguel lock on the opposite side of the American continent at a racing pace of 7kts. Just before the lock the pilot ordered engine astern, I opted for some quick manouveeing rather than stalling the overworked engine. We rafted back up with our old French friends Titana and began making our decent at 1400.

At 1420 we entered the first of two Flores locks and could see the Pacific Ocean. At 1500 the final lock gates opened and Sunday Island entered the Pacific Ocean. We motored through the channel ecstatic. I could not believe we had transited there Panama Canal in just 10 hours! At 1600we dropped of the pilot, and handed back our rented lines and fenders. We then cracked a beer and proceeded to anchor north of Flamenco Island, enjoying a few sunset drinks, cheese biscuits and dinner.

Sunday Island is not in the Pacific Ocean – Pacific Vagabonds

On 3rd January Emilies father Phillippe, and his brother Laurent and wife Marie Laure arrived in Panama and joined us on the boat.

I checked into the Panama Port Authority at Cristobel signal station notifying them of our arrival into Panama. After numerous calls to different departmetns I was then able to confirm our Panama transit for the 12th January and requested permission to return to San Blas while we waited for our tranit.

Over the past few days our starter motor had started to play up (Again) and we sent it to the shop. The mechanics reported it had never been rebuit and the issue was due to the internal solenoid (apparently replaced in Malta and then again in Greece last in 2022!). I also ordered new starter motor as a replacement and a spare anchor winch motor as they are good spares to have for our pending Pacific voyages.

We set sail for San Blas on 4th January conducting a “Sea Trial” and enjoyed a sail to the San Blas with very unusual Westerly winds! During the folloinw four days in Panama we enjoyed cruising the islands and did some fantastic sailing and adventuring around remote tropical islands – some no bigger than a small car with a solitary coconut tree!

The snorking was fantastic and Issy and Max enjoed swimming with sharks for the first time – amazingly they were completely undauted by the sharks, and dived down to get a closer look (don’t worry – Dad confirmed the sharks were not dangerous). We also enjoyed swimming with rays, gropers, and huge schools of fish.

On a sad note was the amount of plastic washed up on all the islands… its just overwhelming as one could fill up truck fulls of plastic and still not make a dent. I picked up old fishing nets but the rest was simply out of our control to clean up. We noticed other cruisers cleaning small bags of rubbish from the beach, and some burning the plastic that had washed up… the solution on this scale of pollution can only be put in the hands of government. Billionares with money to donate for a clean up, or the companies that make the plastic in the first place contributing to its removal?

On 9th January we returned to Shelter Bay and made preparations for our transit. We serviced the engine, checked the strainers, fuel, oil, cooling water and engine for any leaks and gave Sunday Island a thorough clean inside and out. Unfortunalty the starter motor could not be repaired, and the new spare part did not fit. We would need to take the risk and transit with a dodgy starter motor. The night before our transit we motored to anchor in the ‘Flats” for the night in preparation for our 0430 pilot. En-route to the anchorage the engine overheated!

After a few hours replacing in impeller and checking all other reasons for the overheating we started the engine and all worked well…. I barely sleept that night stressing about the starter motor and pending transit, At 0345 i woke with a jolt.. had we overslept? I turned on the VHF radio to Channel 12, and the pilots were on the move. I pressed the start button on the engine…………..(pause for added suspense)……. BROOOOMMMMMMMMM! The engine started like new…. water was gushing out the back like it should, oil temp, water temp ok…. ready for takeoff sir!

The pilot boarded at 0420, anchor away and we were off to the 1st lock. We rafted up to a Beneteau 44 “Titaua” and secured lines in the canal behind car carrier Zenith Leader of London. The belles rang, and we began to rise in the lock… we were on our way to the Pacific!

Sunday Island has spent the last few days anchored in Paradise in Chichime Cays and the island of Icaco in the San Blas.

We are the only yacht anchored in Icaco, our only company are dug out canoes, normally about 12ft long with three people fishing or paddling. Some of the canoes have small sails and sail between the islands.

Yesterday our starter motor started playing up, and I worked on it all day, unfortunately without success for a permanent fix, but I did manage to get the engine going again. Hopefully we can start it again for our passage back to Panama in the new year. When we get to Panama I will have this starter motor re built and hopefully locate a spare one to bring with us across the pacific.

Snorkling has been amazing, and today I enjoyed a snorkle surrounded by thousands of small fish in one of the biggest shoals I have ever seen, let alone swum in. On top of this I saw numerous species of reef fish, including four beautiful Lion fish with their flowing mains. In the afternoon the kids joined me on another snorkle along the reef, and we went for a sup for the length of the island. We have also visited a number of smaller tropical (deserted) islands with the tender, some of the islands being only sand with a lone coconut tree, – the typical tropical island!

Tomorrow we will sail to Banedup and “The swimming poools” where we hope to meet up with a few other boats with kids for New Year.

Best Wishes for the New Year.

Rich, Emilie, Issy and Max wish all our followers a Merry Cristmas from Sunday Island

We awoke in Cartagena on 21 December, enjoyed a coffee and breakfast before Rich headed to the fuel station to top up on outboard fuel while Emilie secured the boat for sea. We departed Cartagena at 0800 and motored down the magnificent harbour enjoying the scenery of old forts and beach huts with the city skyline in the background. Cartagena is a very busy port, with two container terminals, two LNG terminals, and numerous other ports within the harbour.

After reaching port limits we continued to motor as the wind was light, and finally managed to set sail in the afternoon as the winds increased to 12 kts. By midnight the wind was gusting 24 kts, but we were experincing a 2kt counter current making our progress towards the San Blas islands slower than expected. We continued to experiance a 2kt counter current until our arrival in the San Blas the following evening.

Normally you must clear in through immigration in San Blas (Panama) on the island of Porvenir, however on our approach to San Blas eastern islands we still had another four hours of sailing remaining, and the sun was getting low, so we made the decision to divert to Banedup Island for the night. We approached Banedup after sunset with great caution, and anchored amongst the tropical islands. The next morning waking up in paradise.

We then sailed to Porvenir to officially check into Panama, before sailing to Chichine Cays. We found checking into Panama in Porvenir astoundingly easy, probably the most relaxed (no shoes required) and fastest check in we have ever experianced! Once anchored at Chichine Cays all the toys came out. We inflated the big zodiac tender, pumped up the sups, put the sails on Tidler, and bought out the snokling gear.

After an enjoyble lunch featuring bread made by Max, We spent the afternoon sailing Tidler around the tropical islands of Chichine Cays, then snorkliing in the tropical waters! On a sad note is the amount of plastic that is floating through the islands, bought in from Atlantic currents and swell. It is good to see the local islanders do as much as they can to keep their islands and beaches clean, but the plastic just keeps on comming!

Tomorrow we wil sail five miles to the island of Yansaladup where there are a few more yachts anchored and we hope to find a few other families to celebrate our Christmas day.

Best Wishes to you All

Sunday Island sailed to Santa Marta, Columbia, arriving in the early morning of Friday 16th December. We had been warned not to anchor in the bay as the fishermando not take kindly to boats in their fishing areas and have been known to help themsleves to any gear left on your deck and not locked away. The bay was not suitable for anchoring so we found an empty pontoon in the marina and tied up until the marina office opened.

Later that day we endured the three hour process of checking into the marina, and the 1-5 day process of clearing into the country. Thankfully our agent managed to clear us into the country before the end of the day so we were free to explore the city. We visited the local trinckete markets that sell all sorts of colombian artisal wares like Aguadeno hats and Vueltiano Sombreros. we got a few of the bags, and good luck wall hangings, including mask made out of Parana scales and teeth that are made up in the mountains by the Amazona tribes.

On Saturday the 17th December we made our way to the mercado publico. Here we found all the amazing local street food like arepas and fruit and veg stands with an abundance of local pineaples and mangos and any other tropical food you might deam of. We got a local bus into the Mountains to the village of Minca. its a lot cooler up in the mountains and once up there we set off to explore the rainforest and waterfalls. After a 2 1/2 hour walk to the waterfalls we found a built up tourist mecca of 4WD landcruisers, motorbikes, bars, hostals, and many many tourists. We were charged a few dollars to enter the waterfall (we did not expect this and where glad we had some money with us ) where we cooled off in cold fresh mountain pools.. We have been fortunate over the past few years to have huge waterfalls all to ourselves, so it was a shock to the system to be swiming amongsall the tourists, and definately deepened our apreciation for the seclusuion and beauty of some of the wilder places we have visited.

We were hoping to tour the coca, coffee and chocolate fields but ran out of time in the mountains, and jumped on the local bus for our return to sea level, We enjoyed some tacos for dinner and had an early night. It was nice being in the safety of the marina, however the annoyance of sand flies and mosqueto’s reminded us of how lovely being on anchor can be! Emilie does not normally attract the pesky creatures but was compleatly attacked one evening on our way down from the mountains. We spent the next days exploring the surrounding area, and then set sail on Tuesday 19th December for Cartegena, arriving the following day on the 20th December.

Cartegena is a beautiful city, with a fortified old town. It was a bit like exploring the old town of Valetta, with a lot more hawkers asking if we wanted to buy various local specialties. We decided that there was not need to explore the city further and set off the next day to the San Blas Islands.

Our position report can be viewed at: http://cms.winlink.org:444/maps/positionreports.aspx?callsign=vk7hew

Sunday Island departed the yard at Powerboats, Chagaramas Trinidad on Friday 1st December for a quick shake down and sail to the beautifully protected Scotland Bay. On the morning of Saturday 2nd December we set sail to the Venezuelan island group of Los Roques.

We sailed 50nm clear of the coast before gybing to the west and sailing to Grand Island, arriving in the morning 24 hours later. This was our first sail in a while and the crew took a bit to get used to the motion, but by the end of the voyage everybody was ready to get in the water and explore the reefs.

We had heard rumors that Los Roques was expensive and Venezuela could be dangerous, but the beauty of the islands and other cruising stories outweighed any risk. Some cruisers had told us it cost them $1000 to check in to Lost Roques for 5 dys. Emilie and I decided that we would set the budget of $500, and if it was going to be more expensive than this we would simply sail on. On our arrival we found only three other yachts in the main harbour. One had half a mast, the other was a local charter yacht.

Local authorities were very welcoming. Nobody on the island seemed to speak English, and Emilies spanish came in very handy during the check in process. To check in to Los Roques one must follow the following steps
1. Visit Customs at port control – a jacked up container with a rusted out floor on the beach that also seemed to serve as the officials house – Cost $50 in and $50 out 2. Visit the Coasta Guardia coast guard and check in – Fee $0 3. Visit the touist buero for a parks permit $40
4. Visit Immigration at the airport $180 for the four of us
The process took most of the afternoon, part of which was trying to find how to pay for the fees. We only had $500 US onboard, so needed to find local currency so as to leave some cash in the piggy bank. Unless one has a Venezuelian bank account you can not draw money from the local bank. And there is not ATM. You can not pay by card, it all is cash. The tourist buero told us the pharmacist may allow us to withdraw money by card for a fee. It cost us $15 to withdraw the cash in what seemed to us as a dodgy drug deal outside the chemist (his card machine did not work inside or even close to the building).

With everybody checked in and bills paid we contined our look aroud the town, seeing the sites and hoping to find internet to check some messages. While every man, woman, child and dog seemed to be glued to their smart phones, we could not find internet for ourselves, and after seeing the zombies the smart phones had made of these beautiful islanders, we decided we didnt really want internet anymore! Back to the boat for a HF transmission to let people know we arrived.

The next morning we sailed to the island of Sarky, dropped anchor and bought out all the toys. Sups, Wind foiler, 2 x dinghies, snorkling gear the works. We then all went for a snorkle on the coral reef and enjoyed seeing so many fish. Max was in heaven identifying all the fish from his book!

After the snorkle and some lunch I set off on my wing foiler for some practice. Im still learning so had to be rescued by Em and the Kids a few times before I was swept away to sea. I got some big fins to enable us to use the SUP for wing practice and the kids enjoyed a ride on this too.

After a few hours in the water I was supprised when I returned to Sudnay Island and had a vomit. I hoped it was an isolated event from too many spicy beans at lunch, but unfortuntaly it wasnt and the crew spent the next two days in paradise getting gastro from each other! As I groaned to Emilie, if your families going to be sick with gastro, may as well do it in paridise!

Three days later we were all living again, and we sailed up to Grand Rock for the night so we could check out the next morning, and then sail to the more western islands of the group. The following day we sailed to Cayo De Agua which we found very windy and unprotected, but very beautiful! We enjoyed more snorkling, walk along the beach and some more winging and stayed there fore two days.

On 10th December we woke up to a rainly morning with gusts to 25kts. There was no incentive to visit the beautiful beach in the rain, so we raised the anchor, put two reefs in the mainsail, and headed down wind towards the ABC island. Rich