Madrone is in the Southern Hemisphere! We crossed the equator at around 1am and are now officially in the South Pacific.
It seems simple enough to us – the latitude counts down heading south, and then starts counting up again on the other side. But that proved to be too complicated for our autopilot – as soon as we crossed 0 latitude it turned itself off in confusion. Good thing Angie was on watch to keep Madrone from sailing in circles.
Part of the entry protocol for the Galapagos is to arrive with a boat hull free of marine growth. So about 40 miles out, we stopped the boat and Mike dropped over the side into the 3000’ deep water to give the hull a scrub. His thrashing must have been interesting – it attracted a pod of twenty dolphins, first peering around the bow of the boat, then swimming around to the stern to check things out. Next came a pair of sea lions to scope out the action.
When a 10’+ shark showed up to investigate, Mike quickly decided the hull was clean enough.
All’s well aboard Madrone.
Day Twelve: 111nm
00 35.1S 89 33.0W
