reisverslag | SV Sanuk

Wednesday, May 25th, we have left the Galapagos not quite 8 days ago and we have traveled 1046 NM on the pacific ocean. A little less than 2000 NM more to go. We have had some picture perfect sailing days with blue skies surrounded by deep blue water and a nice wind of 17 KTS which put us on a broad reach, among waves of about 9 feet (3 M).
Sometimes it feels like we are on a flying carpet, with winds of 17-20 KTS and sometimes it is like we are sitting on a rocking horse when winds die down into the low teens.
We have now settled into a routine, where I do the last shift of the night from 3 AM till 6 AM and while I am sleeping Stefan gets the boat ready for the day. I usually get up by 9.30 and then we have breakfast, where we decide what to eat for dinner. We have dinner at 3-4 PM because then it is still light out and much easier to cook and watch the boat and sails at the same time. In the evening we only eat a little snack. We are missing some physical challenges, like a walk or bycicle tour. The only physical challange we have on board is trying not to fall down, so we have to hold on or stand up with our legs spread out.
During the day we read, cook, sleep a little more, adjust the sails when needed, play rummycub, Stefan made a puzzle of 1000 pieces, and make plans for the future. We caught already 3 small tunas. We only put out a line when all the fish we caught has been eaten. In the evening we watch a movie or series. We are currently watching “An American Crime Story”, the OJ Simpson story. Really good and incredible how this unfolds. During my watch from 9 PM till 12 PM I watch “The Good Wife” (season 6) or a movie. From 3 AM till 6 AM I try to catch a little sleep during my 20 minute intervals which is sometimes frustrating since you cannot really fall into a deep sleep. We have only seen 4 other boats from afar during our trip so far. I long for a full night sleep, but we have still 14 more days to go (at least).
At 105 degrees West we had to turn back our clock one hour and we will have to do this again at 120 degrees and at 135 degrees West.
The first island on the Marquesas we are sailing to is Hiva Oa, the island where Jacques Brel and Paul Gauguin are burried. Apparently the Marquesas are gorgeous !
You can always send us text email (no attachments) while we are on the Pacific to: sanuk@decuypere.org.

Before we leave just a quick picture blog about our adventures in Ecuador. It already seems so long ago….

ilse (30) — The black marker line indicates how we traveled clockwise through Ecuador. From Bahia on the far left (circle) to Quito then on to Banos. In Banos we took the bus to Lago Agrio to do our trip in the Amazone. From their back to Banos, then Alausi, Cuenca (where we felt the earthquake), then to Guayaquil, Manta en by taxi back to Bahia.

After leaving Quito (without Stefan’s IPhone) we went to Banos.

The market in Otavalo, just outside Quito. She only agreed to have her picture taken because I bought a scarve. This is a typical Ecuadorian outfit, white blouse with embroiderie, gold necklaces, colored bracelet, long wool skirt and scarve draped around the shoulders.

ilse (24) — Eating 2$ lunch in the mercado at Ottavalo.

ilse1 (5) — We did a mountainbike ride in Banos, the easy way. It was all downhill and we came back in the back of a truck with our bicycles 🙂

ilse1 (4) — Lots of waterfalls around Banos.

ilse1 (24) — On our way to the hot water baths we passed this huge cemetary, in a beautiful location, surrounded by mountains. (Stefan says: some crypts have electric lighting inside, see wire)

ilse1 (6) — Going for the calories before our camping trip to the Amazone…

ilse1 (23) — The boat in which we traveled in the Amazone. We traveled through the Cuyabeno wildlife reserve.

ilse1 (8) — Camping was very basic and good it did not rain the whole time ! I was happy this was only for 3 nights !

ilse1 (9) — Stefan together with Barry (Australia) and Raoul (Honduras), our companions on the trip.

ilse1 (7) — One of the many monkey species in the Amazone. It is one of the animals you definitely see the most.

ilse1 (11) — The Toucan ! You do not see them very often up close but you can hear them a lot. This was the best picture I could take.

ilse1 (15) — Lots of turtles that are now being bred in captivity to increase their population.

ilse1 (18) — There are many macaws in the Amazone but you can never come very close. This was one living with local indians.

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capybara, het grootste knaagdier ter wereld (ongeveer 40cm hoog) — The Capybara, the largest rodent in the world. This is a baby.

ilse1 (20) — A sad monkey captivated by an indigenous family. They keep it as a pet.

een typische woning/hut langs het water — Nobody home, they were probably gone fishing. This is a hut on the side of the river.

ilse1 (21) — Typical hut along the Cuyabeno river.

ilse1 (14) — More bird wildlife but I could not figure out what kind it was…

ilse1 (16) — Small village along the Cuyabeno river.

ilse (1) — Upon our return, we spent half a day in the warm water baths in Banos. It felt great after our camping days in the Amazone !!!

ilse (4) — Train ride in the Andes, El nariz del diablo.

ilse (3) — In front of El nariz del diablo…

ilse (6) — The train ride only lasted one hour each way but the views were beautiful. We did have a lot of fog going but on our return the clouds had lifted somewhat.

ilse (9) — Finally some blue skies in Cuenca. The Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción was only finished in 1885.

ilse (8) — Typical street in Cuenca. Cuenca is a UNESCO world heritage site and lies at an altitude of 2500M.

ilse (11) — The blue and white domes from the New Cathedral are a landmark for Cuenca. At its inauguration in 1885, the newly constructed Cathedral could accommodate 9,000 out of Cuenca’s 10,000 inhabitants at that time. Today there are about 500.000 people living in Cuenca.

ilse (12) — Lots of beautiful churches in Cuenca to visit…Church of Santo Domingo.

ilse (18)

We found some good restaurants in Cuenca and even tasted a roasted cavia (Cuy in Spanish), it was yummi. After the earthquake we wanted to go as quickly as possible back to our boat since we had no news and Bahia was close to the epicentre of the earthquake. We took the bus to Guyaquil, stayed their for one night and then took a bus to Manta from where we had to take a taxi since there were no buses due to the earthquake. The devastation in Bahia was enormous but we were lucky there had not been a tsunami and thus nothing happened to the boat.

We decided to leave asap to the Galapagos as there was nothing for us left to do in Bahia without internet.

ilse (26) ilse (25) ilse (28) ilse (27)