Crossing THE LINE and the Galapagos Islands
(Picture: fancy flag party on Misty during the equator crossing.)
We crossed the equator at sea on the 13th of February at 19:32. It’s a big milestone in a sailor’s life. Like graduating from university, buying your first car, running the first marathon, meeting the parents of your boyfriend/girlfriend for the first time.
There is even a name for those who haven’t done it (‘Polliwogs’), and a different name for those who have done it (‘Shellbacks’). Back in the ‘old times’, the tradition was to do something disgusting and semi-painful with the Polliwogs to make their crossing unforgettable, provide an opportunity for the senior crew to have a laugh and give sacrifices to Neptune, god of waters and seas, who controlled winds and storms.
This is what Charles Darwin wrote in his diary about his line-crossing ceremony: "…was then placed on a plank, which could be easily tilted up into a large bath of water. — They then lathered my face & mouth with pitch and paint, & scraped some of it off with a piece of roughened iron hoop. —a signal being given I was tilted head over heels into the water, where two men received me & ducked me. —at last, glad enough, I escaped. — most of the others were treated much worse, dirty mixtures being put in their mouths & rubbed on their faces. — The whole ship was a shower bath: & water was flying about in every direction: of course not one person, even the Captain, got clear of being wet through."
From the Las Perlas Islands (Panama) it took us 850 nautical miles (6 days) to arrive at the Galapagos Islands and we motored around 700 nautical miles because there was no wind. The equator is approximately 60 nautical miles north of the Galapagos Islands. In this part of the world – called the doldrums – there is very little or no wind at all. The good thing in motoring is that you are heading in the right direction with a decent speed and do not need to worry much about sail trimming, but the downside is that it's loud, requires fuel and it’s not sailing.
Becoming a circumnavigator, step 1.
If you want to become a circumnavigator, you must cross the equator at least once, as well as every meridian and finish at the same port.
Well. Step one done! It was amazing! You cannot imagine! There was this HUGE hologram in the middle of the ocean which marked the barrier between north and south and when we crossed it, everyone became 5 years younger!
Not.
It was nice, but not something that would make your heart beat faster. It was a beautiful evening. The sun was setting. The engine horses were pulling Misty and suddenly we were in the southern hemisphere.
(Picture of the chart plotter crossing from north to south)
We had been going side by side with a fellow boat - Cacique IV. - from the World ARC fleet.
(Picture: Misty and sailing vessel Cacique IV. at the equator.)
A bottle of champagne and rum for the toast were ready for the moment when the GPS turned from North to South, and of course we had a spare cup for Neptune.
(Picture: our one and only Neptune - Shipmate Niall)
We haven’t had any crazy line-crossing ceremony although there was a surprise. A guy - let’s call him Mr A - shouted across from the other boat and asked me to marry him. I guess, in Uruguay, this is how guys ask the girl to grab a drink after sailing. I assured him that we will talk about it when we get to port.
What? Did I lose weight?
I guess most of you didn’t know but at the equator you weigh less than at the poles.
“There are two effects, both due to the spin of the Earth. 'Centrifugal force' due to the spinning lowers your body weight by about 0.4 per cent at the equator relative to its weight at the poles. The Earth's spin also causes the planet to bulge, so that at the equator you're about 21km further from the Earth's centre of gravity and so weigh around 0.1 per cent less. Overall you'd weigh around 0.5 per cent less - about a third of a kilo for most of us.” (https://www.sciencefocus.com)
Eleven authorities
You are heading to the Galapagos Islands via the equator. It is extremely important to make sure you have a sailing boat which complies with all the regulations of the Galapagos Islands before you leave the previous port (which was Panama in our case). It means you need to have certificates about fumigating the inside of the boat, the hull is squeaky clean, and you DON’T have certain things in the boat such as eggs, live animals, plants, pineapple or mud on your shoes. You really need to keep the bottom of the boat clean as once you arrive at the National Park of Galapagos, you will be inspected by eleven different authorities as well as a diver will check the bottom of your boat.
The Galapagos Islands is a special place on earth with all the various animals and plants. It’s a testbed for much research about nature and the effect of global warming. It is extremely important that sailors don’t bring in anything that would affect life below or above water.
In summary
During our stay in the Galapagos Islands we have visited San Cristobal and Santa Cruz islands. The holiday mode was turned on and our stay could be summarised by the following words: tours, beach days with sealions, dinners, drinks, carnival and dance.
I was talking with a ’20 something’ local guy about life here. It’s all about the sea and nature. One of the most interesting things he told me is that he knows that one day he will have a family and then he will need to work twice as much as now (which is a few hours every week). They don’t worry about money because they don’t really need it. Fresh fish from the sea gives them food and housing is not complicated.
When I asked about getting a mortgage to buy a house, he seemed confused. I explained that in the UK we have a so-called mortgage ladder and it’s a big thing for young people to ‘join’.
I find it fascinating how much the world is different from place to place. And we take our world often as the only real world. Where things are done in a ‘proper’ way. The way how it should be done. Where culture, habits and norms are the right ones.
Our knowledge is limited to the environment we live in and to the knowledge we learn from books unless you travel and experience it on your own skin. This is one of the reasons I love travelling.
The next passage will be long. Non-stop offshore sailing for 3000 nautical miles. We leave on the 1st of March and should be arriving around the 21st depending on … well, many things.
Footnote: thank you Lorraine and Phil from sailing vessel FAR for sharing your Starlink satellite internet to be able to finish and publish this blog!
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