We got up at o'dark thirty or midnight and by 1 am we were up anchor and heading out. It was night an smooth compared to what we were experiencing earlier.
We have a new little hitchhiker, a small gecko, that was crawling around on the binnacle. Not sure where he is now. We have not seen him since this morning.
Today while Rich was tightening the main sheet, the part of the purchase that connects to the traveler detached and if Rich had not grabbed it quickly, the boom would have started to swing back and forth wildly. I saw the pin that had come off on deck and grabbed it and held the boom while Rich went to get some more split rings. This split ring that was there had somehow worked its way loose so that the pin slid out and the purchase came free. We reseated the pin and put in an new split ring. We will keep an eye on it. It is one of those things that you do not expect and luckily it happened during the day light so it was much easier to fix.
Another event for today is we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. The last time we crossed this was when we were doing our South Pacific crossing.
Now we are anchored at Caleta Blanco Encalada. There is not much here except a small fishing camp. The hillsides are stark and reddish in some parts. The Atacama desert is certainly a dry place
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Cheers
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We had a gecko with us for 8 months or so, we would see him(?) every now and then, especially when tins of fruit were open in the galley. We think he lived under the main hatch cover and during some heavy weather a wave sloshed into his living quarters. Seems like they don't do too well in salt water, was a sad day when we had to bury him at sea.
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