Tallship Soren Larsen - Voyage Log Easter Island Panama Cuba Miami

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Across the Caribbean to Cuba. Log entries from the ship
The ship sailed from Auckland on March 8th at the commencement of her 18 month Global Odyssey voyage to the States and Europe, Britain. Below are log reports and illustrations of her epic journey.

See Purser Kate's Diary updates below
Easter Island to Panama . Panama to Miami

Tuesday 6th June - Miami
The ship has arrived in Miami and cleared US customs!

The ship officially joins the OpSail Miami 2000 tallships regatta here and it was nice to see that offical sponsors NBC television http://www.nbc6.net have used Soren's picture on their website logo.. Its also a good place to find out more about what's happening in Miami.

Kate's Diary - Panama to Miami:

Tues 16^th May Balboa, Pacific side of the Panama Canal	An assortment of new voyage crew of nationalities join the ship; Kiwi’s, Aussies, Dutch, Belgium, US, English. Kiwi’s Val & Bill so keen they arrived a day early!! Introductions made. Meal outside under a Panamanian sky full of lightening and striking sunsets.
Wed 17^th May Panama	Prepare to go through the Panam Canal. Pilot arrives to direct Soren through the locks. Soren shares a lock with Chilean Naval Training Ship the Ésmeralda’. Voyage Crew taken aloft for the first time. ‘Pompy’Pete, (aka Pegleg Pete, famous past VCrew Ed.) whom has artificial leg, inspires us all as he reaches the futtocks grinning from ear to ear. We were all very moved. Canal takes approx. half a day, water rises in a matter of 20 seconds before gates open into the next lock. Pilot goes aloft and was so comfortable, he almost didn’t come back down. Pass through last lock into Colon and the Caribbean Sea! Anchor.
Thurs 18^th May	Motor sail north east into the caribbean Sea towards Cayman Islands. Clear blue waters and humid weather. M.O.B. muster and familiarisation with lines and sails. Accompanied by dolphins under moonlit sky. Watches begin.
Fri 19^th May	Fiona taught 12-4am breadmaking techniques by Kate. Kate’s technique not so good – used baking soda instead of yeast! Bread fed to fish! Wind picks up. All aloft to ungasket the squares. Set sail – humming along. Captain Jim begins celestial navigation talks.
Sat 20^th May	Made 120nm in last 24 hours. Grand Caymans not far away! Beautiful clear skies. Steph harnesses onto bowsprit and indulges in a Caribbean water splash-out, as bow wash drenches her. Karen has her special ‘treat’1 hour before her watch with rock-n-roll playing on the discman and wind in her hair! Jim stops Soren at Roneador reef for a swim. Swing rope rigged from the course yard. Clear water – visability at least 10-20 metres. A few tropical fish below. Photo taken of engineer, Mike, dining to propellor with a can of Lion Red. Snorkelling gear out – Johan, a most proficient Belgium swimmer! Many brave the swing rope for the first time, including Helen, Kate, Karen, Fiona and many more.
Sun 21^st May	Retail therapy and sea with Soren shop. Terri’s carvings are unique and catch the interest of many. Global Odyssey t-shirts and polos disappear onto people’s backs! Cannot tell Voyage Crew from crew now. Brothers Mike and Terry are on a reuniting trip and have us in hysterics with their jovial comical nature. Sunday roast for dinner is a Soren tradition , even in the tropics….
Mon 22^nd May	3.30am sight glow of Georgetown on the horizon. Many more bodies sleeping on deckhouse roof and poop deck under the stars. The fresh air, a luxury.
Tues 23^rd May Cayman Islands	Grand Cayman Islands ‘ahoy’. We are neighbour to a huge cruise ship called Ecstasy. Soren is a midget in comparison. Cleared customs and immigration. Boat trips ashore. Steph, Fiona and Holly go to 7 mile beach. Lots of shops and souviners. Sample local beer and local pub called MacDonalds. Peter V – who has been a hard working day worker'' takes a day off! Lea relaxes onboard.
Wed 24^th May	The windsurfer comes out. Johan proves to be a star windsurfer and spends almost half a day on the water. Nick has a go and is given a few tips from Capt. Jim. Scuba Dives organised yesterday with a local dive company. Karen, Todd, Terri, Mike S, Ben and I do some beautiful wall and wreck dives. Many fish, corals and visibility excellent. Dove to 100ft in only swimming togs. Warm water! Many Voyage Crew visit the turtle farm – however did not sample turtle burgers... Due to crew antics a nearby floating pirate ship is missing a pirate flag, after we were 'fired upon' by loud canons during the last two days.
Thurs 25^th May	Set sail for Havana with pirate flag flying. Sail off the anchor. Good to have fresh breeze again. Fiona has happily acquired an airbed for the deckhouse roof. I continue to sleep on the woodpile on teh deckhouse roof. A very comfy posse. Swags are out in force.
Sat 27^th May	Cuba on the radar! Cuban flag is raised. We have a Cuban theme party to celebrate Bill’s birthday. Many Castro’s and Che’s emerge. Helen and Don collectively get the sails aback -ooops. Sextants are out on the aft deck and sun sights taken.
Sun 28^th May	Jim's famous auction bag day! Voyage Crew learn fast not to leave belongings lying around. Crew still seem a bit slower to learn!
Mon 29^th May Cuba	Alongside at Hemmingway Marina, Havana. Customs etc. clearance took many hours. Voyage Crew explore Havana City and visit old fortresses – castle Moro and markets. Ship gets some TLC as topsides are painted and deckhouse varnished. Discover bar close by that has $10.00 all you can drink: beer and Cuban rum. We all end up dancing the night away and having a great time.
Tues 30^th May	Open air swimming pool right next door. Great to have evening swims with a cool drink. Beautiful sunsets and electrical storms. Havana full of colour and culture. Many people have ride on ‘tuk-tuks’- great way to see the city. Much music and Cubans selling cigars on the street. People everywhere and bicycles everywhere. Cuban fashion of very tight and colourful pants being nicknamed as ‘mumble pants’. Various crew members have hair braided in a Cuban house. Catch a horse and cart ride back to Marina. Havanan people are so very friendly and hospitable.
Wed 31^st May	Jeff’s Birthday! Check out the movie – Bueno Vista Social Club and you will understand the great time we’ve had in these Cuban bars! Great music and great dancing.
Thurs 1^st June	Farewell Havana. Dan’s Birthday – his wish was a "fancy free’meal day! Watch’s change. Motor sailing to the Grand Bahamas. Nick dressed as Che with beret, me with with beads in my hair, Holly with her ‘mumble pants’ pottery woman, Abi with new flax bag, many with their cigars and rum - and big smiles all round.
Fri 2^nd June	Glow of Grand Bahamas on the horizon.
Sat 3^rd June Grand Bahamas	Arrive in the mail dock of Freeport. Takes a few hours to clear customs and immigration. Once cleared, all pile into minibus to Port Lucay’s to visit beach and markets. Ship is cleaned up, signs touched up for Miami.
Sun 4^th June	Voyage Crew hire beach buggies for 24 hours. Holly and others take scooters around the island. Crew relax at resort next to beach then hit the closest Wendy’s and movie theatre. Civilisation! Sunday roast and a big wine evening back onboard.
Mon 5^th June	Leave Grand Bahama and motor sail west to Miami.
Tues 6th June Miami	Arrive in Miami! Can see several tall ships along the coastline. Escorted into the harbour with pilot. Berthed behind Dutch ship Óosterschedele’. Tall ships from all around the world are lined up the wharf – all dressed in bunting flags and rigging lit up at night.
Wed 6^th June Opsail 2000	Miami is explored. Opsail 2000 provides free metro tickets for all Voyage Crew. Terri the ‘shanty woman’led us all up the wharf singing sea shanties. Sang ‘Drunken Sailor’ right outside Navy ship. Met many ships and crew along the way. Fancy dress ‘M’party last night. Dan was a Martian doing ‘atu-batu’ chants, Terri a mermaid, Helen a mandarin, Abi a mahimahi fish, Karen a minstral and many more.
Thurs 8^th June	Ship has a public open day. Last day for our comrades. We had a large party last night, provided by Opsail at the Hard Rock Café. Met crew from Esmeralda, Harnet Lane Coastguard, The Eagle, Calafornia, HMS Rose, Capitan Miranda, Gazella and many more. Sad departures – especially to Vince, who has been with us since New Zealand. We will all meet again soon and swap pics from this great voyage! A special thanks to the officers of Harnet Lane for all their help and assistance.
Sat 10^th June	New Voyage Crew join yesterday at 10am – once again a smorgasboard of nationalities: Welsh, American, English and our Dutchman Peter V remains as well as Kiwi Fiona and Australian Pam and English Pete H. Ex Voyage Crew Ben W has joined us again until Charleston. Happy to have him back. We prepare ship for Parade of Sails, which begins after lunch. Larger ships leave first, we follow the Oosterschedele and fly the NZ flag. National anthem played as we sail out of harbour and Salute Miami goodbye. Sail straight into rain and strong winds. Sails set, first reef in main. Wet weather gear out! By evening, weather is fine and we are on our way to Nassau, Bahamas.

Sunday 4th June 2000 - the Bahamas bowsprit.jpg (8511 bytes)
Soren Larsen has arrived in Freeport Grand Bahama, having motorsailed from Havana. Having enjoyed reasonable sailing winds to the Cayman Islands and to the western corner of Cuba the weather has been good but with dead flat seas and little breeze. Soren Larsen had to motor the last day or so into Havana and again from Havana to the Bahama however we were helped by the favourable current as expected and has allowed us time for some great port calls. bowwave.jpg (9910 bytes)
Soren Larsen is aiming to arrive in Miami on the 6th June which will allow us time enjoy the OpSail 2000 festivities and see some of the other ships that will be there from South America and the OpSail event in Puerto Rico. It will be an exciting start to our time in the States.

Monday 29th May 2000 - Havana.
The ship has arrived at Havana, Cuba and has cleared Customs after a friendly but lengthy three hour process. On the passage from Colon on the northern (Atlantic) side of the Panama Canal we called at Cayman Island and enjoyed a day and bit at George Town, the capital on Grand Cayman and Stingray Cove.
Sailing north-west Soren made best use of the favourable current up the Yucatan Channel around the west side of Cuba and on to the capital Havana. The ship will stay here until the morning of 1st June and sail for Freetown in the Bahamas so there are a couple of days to enjoy the sights, colour and music of the capital.

Monday 22nd May 2000 - Caribbean Sea
The ship is motor sailing north with a moderate ENE breeze. They are making reasonable time and Jim's intention is to make for the British Caribbean isles of the Cayman Islands just South West of Jamaica. The e.t.a. these is the morning of the 23rd local time.

Thursday 18th May 2000: - Panama Canal Transit
Soren Larsen transited the canal yesterday and is anchoring overnight at Colon before setting out at first light for open water the Caribbean. Soren went through the Miraflores Lock system with another South American tallship bound for the OpSail event in Miami.

These images were captured off the Live Web Cam at the Panama Canal website.

Wednesday 17th May 2000 - Balboa, Panama
The new Voyage Crew are aboard and the ship is just taking some diesel at the fuel berth in Balboa and getting ready to sail. The crew have had a typically hectic turnaround period but all are well. Kate and John now have a working knowledge of the banks and laundries of Balboa. Abi and Todd have been very busy reprovisioning the food stores - Todd even managed to have $500 taken off the bill after meticulously going over it with the providor!

Miraflores_Locks_Panama_city_in_the_Background.jpg (12866 bytes) Soren Larsen is booked in to transit the Panama Canal tomorrow i.e. 9am local time 17th May.
See if you can see the ship go through the first massive lock system at Miraflores on the live web camera at

http://www.pancanal.com/photo/camera-java.html .
Note 0900 am Panama time is 0200 am in New Zealand or 1500 UK time. (If you see her right click on the picture and 'Save Picture As' and email it to the Auckland office!!). The ship will reach the Atlantic side of the canal at 1800 and anchor at Colon before setting out into the Caribbean the next day.

Ship's Purser Kate Ryan gives us some notes from her diary of life at sea
Easter Island to Panama

April 12th	Arrive at Easter Island at 3.00am. Breakfast on deck whilst being watched by the Moai from ashore. Eight people came from immigration and customs. I ended up playing chess with Adrian it took so long! Voyage Crew get ashore to explore and ship maintenance begins. When we get ashore Dan, Mike, Ben and I (crew) hire small car and explore Easter Island. Very hot weather. We drove to a sandy beach, Anakena. Surrounded in wild horses and the giant stone moai on their backs. We walked to top of quarry where moai were built.. Beautiful view. Amazing culture. Daniel Rutherford scored a surf off a local’s surfboard. Very friendly people. Some of the Voyage Crew went to church, others did a pre-arranged tour. Visited the 'birdman place' called Orongo. Saw the naval of the world. Back on board it was Ben Poff and Kate's combined birthday bash. Fancy dress theme was "People of the Pacific". Peter presented 'moai pens gifts' as awards.
12^th	Depart Easter Island. Sail off the anchor. All hands on deck to hand sails. Executed beautifully.
14^th	Searching for a favourable northeast of easterly wind to take us to Galapagos. Full moon and starry night. Terri on poopdeck plays the squeeze box and Paul joins in with harmonica.
15^th	Nick and Ben continue their chess tournament. First to 33 buys the other a bottle of rum. Richard and Alan play copious amounts of backgammon. Flat waters therefore more "deck gym" about.
16^th	Competition set by Captain Jim between watches to sail the most miles in an easterly direction. Busy setting and handling sails every morning and evening as wind picks up then goes again. Chatter during the night watches under glowing orange moon.
17^th	Flying fish consistently follow us on port side of ship. Many end up on deck. Catherine delights in examining their wing spans. Meanwhile stalemate at the chess tournament.
18^th	4-8 watch report flying fish skidding across length of main sheet and ending up at the helm.
21^st	Good Friday. Catherine has learnt canvas work from Terri and is making the ship’s new fire buckets. Abi and Terri were up early this morning to treat us with hot cross buns. After a few friendly splashes Kieran Russell and Catherine Stevenson decide to bombard oncoming watch with water balloons from deckhouse roof. Huge water fight is the result. Unfortunately the girls get a massive soaking.
22^nd	Calm seas and sunny days. Large Tuna surfing the bow wake. Nick decides to take fishing line forward. Caught 15-20 by pound tuna from the tip of the jib-boom. Beautiful eating and the tuna continue to swim like small dolphins across our bow. Fire drill with a demo on rescuing a burns victim, in this case Mike, from below decks. Adrian demonstrates the stretcher – strapped in tight and hung upside down! Jim has a lost property auction on poop deck. Somehow my underpants go in for auction. Catherine and Keiran begin to make their own scrabble game with much laboured cutting and sanding of wood. Catherine and I are also now involved with the lanyard making group led by our 2^nd Mate Eric Anderson.
23^rd	Watches devise egg hunt for the oncoming watch 12-4 watch had a riddle involving "Greta Garbo" : 4-8 watch eventually finds their eggs in the garbage! Tania and team create a messy trail of clues to the eggs using tallow, hand cleaner, brasso and grease. Riddles send people aloft to find clues on sails and bags of potatoes on the course. Everyone stuffed with chocolate (peanuts for the savoury tastebuds among us).
24^th	200-300 dolphins swarm past the ship in hot pursuit of flying fish. Jumping and squeaking at each other. A most spectacular sight from aloft and from the bow. Eric begins yet another lanyard to add to his harness. I continue with mine – which has been said to be too chunky. Vince eagerly climbs aloft to tallow the yard sheets. Tania and Ben assist with tarring the shrouds.
27th	Change of watches. Sighted whales either tropical or Sei whales. Mid afternoon a strange current called "humbololt" passed by. Water is like small eruptive volcanos. Played deck coits with Captain Jim. Chess tournament score 23-25 to Ben! The air is thick with tension. Scraping and sanding the foremast is coming along nicely. The new mainsail we put on in New Zealand is handed and unbent and the old mainsail bent on.
28^th	No wind. Motor running. Large turtle swimming faster than us goes by. Man overboard drill. So hot today that we stopped the ship and went swimming in 10,000 feet of water. Amazing. Swing rope is out of action but we hang off anchors and bowsprit..
30^th	3 Fishing trawlers passed. Traffic is increasing as we near the Galapagos Islands. Terri continues to slave away on the name boards – sanding and varnishing. Photo opportunity of Soren under full sail from the doti (inflatable rescue) boat.
MAY 1^st	MAY DAY. (not Mayday!) No wind. Little fuel. Beautiful sunset . Lighting on the horizon. One minute of silence at the helm – flag at half mast, ‘lest we forget’.
2^nd	Short fin pilot whales sighted. Currently at 1º South latitude: getting closer to the Equator crossing. Front of deckhouse has now been scraped and sanded by the day watch maintenance team. Boobie birds are now following us each night..
3^rd	Raised the Equadorian flag. Surrounded by hundreds of dolphins. 8-10 large 2 metre dolphins playing in the bow wake. They were with us for 1-2 hours. One tried to splash Ben Poff and Iain whilst they sat on the jiboom. Seals swam past barking at the dolphins. Sighted many blue footed boobies and gannets. This afternoon the watch swapped the new upper topsail with the older one which had been dragged up from the sail locker below decks.
4^th	Dropped anchor at Galapagos, Santa Cruz. Cleared Customs, Crew and Voyage Crew went ashore. Sea Iguanas scurried across the wharf. At the Darwin Research Centre there were tortoises of all ages, many pelicans and frigate birds. Someone accidentally mistook a Galapagos tortoise faeces for a rock - ‘oops’. In the evening we dined cheaply ashore. South American music bands playing in the retail shops. We all had a big boogie-on-down! Voyage Crews taken on a tour outside of town centre which all came back raving about. It was only the briefest visit to the Galapagos but it was enjoyed immensely by all!
5^th	On our way to Panama whilst leaving Galapagos sighted manta ray feeding and more seals and dolphins. A frigate bird has decided to nest in the t’gallant sheet. As a joke, we get a bedpan out for Richard for him to use in his deck gym for deck crunches. Sight more boats and bow watch spots a floating soccer ball. Deckhouse front varnished.
6^th	The crossing. King Neptune and his wife judge all the pollywogs on board. Shellbacks Peter Vellekoop, Martin, Mike and Eric assist in the punishments which include some shaved heads and eyebrows, rotten eggs, cabbage, porridge, kissing the 2^nd mates buttocks, lashed to the shrouds then dunked in a pool of water, finished off with a tot of rum. Carnage on the Soren Larsen. Neptune then sent forth spinner dolphins, pilot whales to escort us and a boobie bird that came for a rest on the bowsprit.
7th	Unfortunately after the Galapagos a bug has spread through the ship. Can few people bed ridden and off watches. Our medical officer has become known as 'Toilet Terri' as she looks after everyone. Want to go to the heads? Make your reservation now…
8^th	Paul has taken to playing the harmonica aloft. Air filled with good music. Tania has started playing the fiddle more. Foremast and deckhouse getting final coats of varnish. The nameboards shine like glass. We enjoy late afternoon drinks on deck with John as our barman, accompanied by spectacular sunsets. Dinner is served on deck.
9^th	The donkey is working hard – engineer Mike is kept very busy with engine mechanisms and cabin fans. Ben takes to afternoon siestas and resting in his new Galapagos hammock. Kate makes pois and gives a 4 poi dance show on foredeck. Yay! Bosun Dan announces plans for a 'SEx night" - a Superb Evening Xtravaganza: a talent show for last night. Rehearsals begin.
10^th	Wind picks up. Donkey goes to bed for a bit. 7 ½ knots and cruising. Turtles sighted. Catherine and Dan are doing afternoon deck exercises. Paul discovers that Catherine is deadly at scrabble. Jim briefs us on Panama.
11^th	Squares are harbour stowed. Lots of ships being sighted now. Manage to get caught in fishing lines, nearly got the big Soren Larsen haul!
12^th	Fireworks display coming from the smoke stack. Engine stopped at 2.40m and Dan has a go at using Cabin Boy Catherine as a chimney sweep. Engine started again around 8.00am. Very humid, bodies sleeping everywhere on deck. Fire drill before afternoon tea. Lightning shows. Visibility deteriorates to hazy horizon. Mainsail doused. Many ships seen now.
	A terrible stench in the air! Gag! We can smell civilization - land. Iain sighted a very large whale, dolphins at the bow. Arriving at Panama City there are lights and huge ships everywhere. Soren is like a miniature boat. We anchor out and wait for Customs officials. A few drinks at night. S.e.x. party is called off due to late night arrival.
May 13^th	We have arrived!! Customs and Immigration cleared. Sadly we say goodbye to our new comrades who will all be dearly missed. Hugs and kisses all round. Promises of meeting up again. Certificates given out for 8,048 nautical miles! A great thank you to Jim for getting us here. The great Pacific crossing is complete.

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Monday 15th May 2000 - Balboa, Panama
The ship has arrived at 2200 hours 12th May, Balboa, the port of the Pacific side of the Panama Canal at the end of their passage from Auckland. The ship is in the process of their brief turn around period and preparation for the arrival of the new voyage crew for the next voyage to Miami. There is a provisional slot for us to transit the canal on the17th but this has yet to be confirmed.

See if you can spot Soren Larsen at the Canal locks on this live web cam!
http://www.discovery.com/cams/pancan/pancan.html

climbing shrouds.jpg (7071 bytes) Thurs 11th May -
Gulf of Panama (Pacific side of the Canal)
Sails are furled and the ship is motorsailing in slight seas with 5 knot breeze on the port bow. The water is very salty and very warm - 28 deg and with the yard trimmed the ship is making a gentle 4.5 knots to maintain a correct engine temperature. This may put back her e.t.a. into Panama to mid or late afternoon on the 12th. The excitement on board at the prospect of approaching their destination is mixed with a little sadness that their 2 month passage together is nearing an end. Vince and Peter are staying on for the voyage to through the Canal and across the Caribbean to the USA but most of the other voyage crew are leaving the ship here and our new v.crew arriving at Balboa.

furlingmainslide.jpg (5031 bytes)

We received news via the parents of Voyage Crew Iain Grant after he'd been in touch from Galapagos
"We are pleased to hear that the present voyage is going well, Iain is over the moon after being ashore on the Galapagos. They had a tour of the Island which he said was fantastic and saw more giant tortoises than he could imagine. As he said what a bonus. He has loved the voyage with a great crew now looking forward to Panama"

Wed 10th May 2000 - Approaching Gulf of Panama
The ship is sailing in light breezes during the day and motorsailing by night to make the necessary average speed to Panama. King Neptune appeared at the Crossing the Line ceremony a few days ago and all previously uninitiated Pollywogs were confirmed as Shellbacks in a ceremony described as "wild and excellent with no injuries". Many of the those that went ashore at the Galapagos suffered for 2-3 days afterwards with 'Galap-belly' but all are fine now.
The latest e.t.a. at Panama is noon local time on 12th May.

Monday 8th May 2000
The ship reports they are now "1º North and 86º West: Nep Rex today! All well on board. - In contact with Panama agent Jim" As the ship motor sails north from the Galapagos they have crossed the Equator and entered the northern hemisphere. Those 'crossing the line' for the first time under sail will have to pay their dues to King Neptune and formally atone for their crimes at his official court.... The resulting mayhem is usually a very messy affair..

Galapagos.jpg (5968 bytes) Friday 5th May 2000 - Galapagos Islands
The ship is sailing at Noon today having enjoyed a brief 32 hour visit here. The ship has been at Academy Bay, Santa Cruz and was moving to alongside the berth for fuel. Voyage crew did have a day to get ashore and have a look around. It was an all too brief visit but this stop over was not in our original voyage plan and was something of a bonus due to the fast sailing passage the ship enjoyed between Auckland and Easter Island.

Wednesday 3rd May 2000 Revised 1º 30' South and 93º 15' West
Jim reports that the light breezes have died away and the ship's e.t.a. at Galapagos late 3rd May. This will give them about a day or a day and a half there. The ship was trying to make the most of the sailing breezes to conserve diesel oil and now they are contending with hot conditions and no wind for the final 150 n.miles to port.

Galap sl1.jpg (6140 bytes) Monday 1st May: 2º 30' South and 96º West
The ship is approaching the Galapagos Island group and is soon to sail past the southern islands of Santa Maria and Espanola and arrive at Santa Cruz island and anchor off Puerto Ayora within the next 24 hours.   Note the Galapagos are 17 hours behind New Zealand or ( GMT -6 Hours ).
      The captain intends to spend about 3 days here and it will be a good fact finding stop over in preparation for our slightly longer visit next year on our return journey (Voy 145. Panama - Tahiti Feb 2001).
      The Galapagos Archipelago consists of 13 large islands and six smaller islands and numerous islets, many of which remain unnamed and is about 450 km long from Darwin Island in the north-west to Espanola island in the south east.
      Today the area is renowned world wide for its outstanding beauty and unique ecology, however when HMS Beagle first arrived there in 1845 Charles Darwin wrote "I scarcely hesitate to affirm, that there must be in the whole archipelago at least two thousand craters ... Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance." We shall soon find out what Soren Larsen crew's first impressions are!

Wednesday 26th April : 6º South and 105º West. Soren LArsen E_Islnd-Gapapagos CP sl10web.jpg (5101 bytes)
The ship reports that they are getting better sailing breezes as they sail north towards the equator. All is well on board and everyone is getting acclimatised to the to the increasingly hot sun. Well nearly everyone - although the increased breeze is a help on deck, the crew are sweating it out in the focs'le. While several where already sleeping out on the deckhouse roof at night the competition for a prime space has increased in the last week or so.
Its not much cooler in the galley but the cooks, Todd and Abby are still serving great food with nothing more of a problem than a blown element in the bread toaster. Spares are not expected to be found in Galapagos!

The Galapagos Islands lie at 1º South and 90º 30' west.
Captain Jim advises that their present e.t.a. in the Galapagos Islands is Tuesday 2 May and he says he expects to stay within the island group for about 3 days.

Thurs 20th April
The ship is making good progress north toward the Galapagos Islands. Jim will advise an e.t.a. there after the weekend.

LOG ENTRY	Wed 19th April 2000		1608 NZ time
	Latitude	17º 32' south	Longitude		109º 59' west
	Speed	6.5 kn	Course		020
	Wind	ESE 15-20k	Swell	-	Baro	-

LOG ENTRY	Tues 18th April 2000		1610 NZ time
	Latitude	22º 50' south	Longitude		110º 20' west
	Speed	6k motor sailing	Course		005T
	Wind	ENE 15	Swell	-	Baro	1020

16 April 2000; The ship has had quite broken reception with Russell Radio but as she makes her way north towards the Galapagos they report that all is well, although they are contending with 'baffling winds' as they approach the doldrum latitudes.

LOG ENTRY	Fri 15th April 2000		2030 NZ time
	Latitude	24º 00' south	Longitude		111º 30' west
	Speed	-	Course		005T
	Wind	Variable	Swell	-	Baro	-

Some diary extracts and observations Auckland to Easter Island - by Kate Ryan, Ship's Purser
MARCH 8^th	Depart Auckland accompanied by dusky dolphins. Anchor Colville Bay
9^th	Overnight sail to Tauranga. Watches allocated emergency motor drills.
10^th	The Avon inflatable is dispatched to pick up the new sails that have been couriered down here. Voyage Crew Adrian Wilkinson sees his 1^st hammerhead shark on his 1^st time aloft. Purple sunset, flying fish, blue penguins. Heading south we hit a gale off East Cape. Take refuge at Whangaporoa Bay. Sea shanties and drinks all round.
11^th	Everyone learns to helps to whip mainsail reefing lines on the new main. Bend new sails on. Prepare for great ocean passage take 2: Passing White Island we sight many dolphins. Captain Jim Cottier’s navigational talks/lesson is well attended.
12^th	Winds of 6/7 knots. All are involved in learning sail handling. Voyage Crew Ben Willoughby sees sunfish off bow. Goodbye New Zealand. 3609 to Easter Island.
13^th	Weather and wind good. Average 6-8 knots. Surrounded by ocean. V.Crew Richard Pomeroy, Iain Grant and our cook Todd Cooper, declare their abstinence from alcohol and a daily fitness regime on foredeck. Ha! Ha! Wandering albatross and shearwaters follow our wake. We cross the International Dateline, 3227 nautical miles to Easter Island.
Again 13^th	Again! Drizzly weather, lads fitness regime moves inside.
14^th	V.Crew Tania Dolinschek supplies us with daily riddles and Richard P. and Paul Huisking provide guitar and harmonica sessions. We have a Fire drill exercise before afternoon tea.
15^th	Pacific gale. Fitness regime on hold. Barometer at 990, torrential rain. Cold, high, 8m seas, wind 40-50 knots. Captain Jim decides to heave-to and with helm lashed hard to port with the mainsail set we sit out the storm.
16^th	Hove-to, and a heavy wave jars the rudders and causes steering gear failure. Engineer Mike Saunders fixes the crown wheel . Winds continue. Very roly poly.
17^th	St Patrick's Day. Wake up to calm seas and blue skies. Deckhouse and saloon are decorated in green balloons and streamers. Green water balloon war ensues. Search for leprechaun and pots of gold via riddles. Irish joke telling competition – bottle of port won by Richard. Crew Terri Cottier is painted in Irish clovers. Yummy Irish stew. Green bread is less popular and Albatross numbers double as meal scraps go overboard. 2863 nautical miles to Easter Island.
18^th	We practice the man overboard drill.
19^th	"Thar she blows!" Jim sees a whale spout at a few metres from the ship
20^th	8-12 watch spot pod of pilot whales alongside ship. 4-5 metre swells sweep under the hull from the south west. Voy Crew Vince Kaye’s (68) birthday. Vince has been with the ship on several long passages before, including the Cape Horn voyage in '91. Tells us many stories – of when he had his 1^st raspberry jam sandwich at age 2 years! Good memory. Watches change. 2544 nautical miles to Easter Island.
21^st	Voyage Crew Peter Velekoop is a keen fisherman, caught 2 skipjak tuna for us off the lure line trailed from the ship's stern.
22^nd	Voyage Crew have been on learning to take sextant sites, when the sun rarely comes out. Søren covered 191 nautical miles noon-to-noon today.
27th	Had a fancy dress with theme ‘THE SNAPPLEDOOZER’ - bird, mammal or fish, it could be anything you wish. V. Crew Paul H. made the night with a fantastic historic lead-up to the origins of ‘The Snappledoozer’. The evening finished with singing at the helm under star lit sky with Terri and her squeezebox.
28^th	High tension chess competitions between Nick Anderson and Ben W. (Nick is getting whipped). Chess addiction starts spreading throughout the ship
	Adrian W. has everyone groaning with his witty comments and innuendoes. Good value to have on board.
29^th	Paul H. has all crew mesmerised with his leather carrycase with silver drinking mugs, rums, whisky and gin!
1^st April	April Fools day – honey on the wheel, gladwrap on seats, tallow on the bilge pump handle. 12-4 baked hollowed out bread loaves.. Captain Jim had us all on deck waiting for an airforce / TVNZ documentary flyover. He had the last laugh. Had a successful limerick night with everyone describing their shipmates in verse. Nick A. seemed to be a recurrent theme for many...
APRIL 5^th	Force 8. Big swells, strong winds. Voyage Crew Iain Grant constantly cops every wave that comes inboard. All the men have been growing shady beards and now 2 days before Easter Island shaved them off.

7^th April	Arrived at Easter Island on the night of the 7^th. First lights sighted by Tania at 11.40pm. Strange to hear the anchor dropped and to wake up to no ship movement.
8^th April	On waking go up on deck and there is Easter Island. Calm conditions for landing. Clear Customs
9^th April	Beautiful place, the stone 'moai' heads very mysterious and majestic. Massive effort to walk up to the quarry in scorching sun. Markets bustling and busy with Spanish bargains. Ian G, Kieran R, Ben W and Adrian W. spend Saturday night on the town (being followed by packs of dogs on heat!)
10/11th April	Purser type stuff at the Agents office, the laundry, the tour operator and now the phone company to get this sent back to you! Tonight we have a Pacific island fancy dress party for me, Ben Poff and Adrian as a joint birthday celebration. Tomorrow we plan to leave here and sail on the next part of the adventure - the Galapagos!