The prelude is over—now the great adventure can begin!
Updated: 2 days ago
Preparations for the Pacific crossing.
The Pacifico—the vast Pacific Ocean—awaits us. Once we leave the mainland of Ecuador, the next island is about 3,400 nautical miles away, or roughly 6,100 km. Depending on the wind and weather, the crossing will take between 25 and 30 days, perhaps even longer. Then we’ll be in the South Pacific, with countless atolls, islands, and sandy beaches bearing evocative names like Bora Bora, Moorea, Samoa, Tahiti, or Fiji. The journey to New Zealand or Australia is just as far, but with shorter legs.
But first things first.
40 km south of Panama City, at the Vista Mar marina, Thierry and I wanted to haul the Yum Yum out of the water to repaint the underwater hull. Since the boat is in the water all the time, algae grows and mussels attach themselves to the hull. To combat these microorganisms, a toxic underwater coating called antifouling is applied. It had already been two years since the Yum Yum’s last coat of antifouling, and the hull looked the part—a beautiful coral garden right beneath us.
When we arrived at Vista Mar, however, the dockmaster wouldn’t acknowledge our reservation; the next day, we were even denied permission to take the boat out of the water. Apparently, the distance between the end of the keel and the end of the hull was too great. The risk of damaging the rudder was too great for the marina—and, after giving it some thought, for me as well… though I was getting a little fed up, since that was the very reason we’d sailed there in the first place. After a lengthy discussion with the marina manager, we were given a week’s free stay at the marina. We took advantage of this offer, of course, and did quite a bit of work on the boat. For one thing, we expanded the storage space for provisions—specifically, we installed a new shelf; we replaced the long-overdue toilet hoses; we arranged for the refrigerator’s cooling plate to be replaced; we removed the barnacles from the hull; and we began our big shopping trip for the Pacific crossing.
So it happened that the two of us spent over five hours walking up and down the shopping center and filled a total of 18 shopping carts. Since we bought so much, our entire purchase was delivered by truck to the marina—luckily, though, not until the next day, because stowing everything on the boat took another full day. For anyone wondering what we bought, here’s a small sample (the supplies should last for the next 5–6 months):
After that, we decided to sail to Ecuador—partly to finally take the boat out of the water and partly to travel around the country for a few weeks.
The journey to Ecuador was very arduous: no wind, strong winds, headwinds, and at times the feeling that we’d never arrive. Check out the video for yourselves:
Finally there and relieved, we were then able to haul the boat out of the marina in Puerto Lucia. The whole process took less than 45 minutes, and before we knew it, the Yum Yum was on land and we could get to work. First, we cleaned the boat with a pressure washer, then scraped off the remaining barnacles with a putty knife—scraping, scraping, and scraping some more. Then, equipped with protective suits, face masks, and gloves (the antifouling paint is toxic), we sanded down the old layers of antifouling with a sander in 32 degrees in the shade. It took hours—giving up was out of the question; it was truly backbreaking work. Sitting at a desk all day is definitely less exhausting. It was almost impossible to manage with just the two of us, so I asked two Ecuadorian workers for help. After three days, we finally finished—the old layers of antifouling paint were sanded away. Now we could begin applying the first coat, which consisted of epoxy primer. Afterward, we applied three coats of the blue, toxic antifouling paint. We had to wait about six hours between coats for the paint to dry, so sometimes we found ourselves out there after dinner, working with flashlights and paintbrushes.
After nine days of work, we were completely exhausted and didn’t feel like sprucing up the boat anymore, so we packed our backpacks and spent three weeks traveling around Ecuador.
As you read this newsletter, we’re already on our way to Gambier Island. You can track our location in real time here.
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