Good morning everyone.
Last night at around 18:00 I spotted a small cargo ship on the horizon, it was running a parallel course with me (210m) about 6 miles on my port side. He hailed me on the radio which I thought strange. He asked (in Spanish) my destination and heading “is this an official boat” I thought?. As per his request we moved to channel 14 to continue the conversation. I answered all his questions with the exception of fibbing, and saying we were a crew of 3 men. He also asked my nationality “American” I replied. Our conversation shifted to English, his was not so bad. He told me he was carrying diesel and bound for Isla Marchina (a small island in the Galapagos chain). Our conversation ended and I switched back to 16, he seemed nice enough. I checked him out on the radar and through the binoculars. He changed to an intercept course and the little hairs on the back of my neck went up.
After a few minutes I hailed him and informed him of his course change. I told him I was under sail and would appreciate it if he changed course to pass my stern. He told me not to worry, however I insisted I did not want to get very close. He agreed and changed course. He passed just a few hundred yards to my stern. I believe he came so close on purpose to check me out. I know it was probably nothing but I did start to think about arming myself. He passed into the sunset and my worries faded.
I had a rough night. The current is quite strong (2.5Kts) and I’m approaching the islands. I could hear garbled traffic on the radio and my perimeter alarm continued to go off all night because of nearby rain or ships. I got a few flashes of sleep but that’s it.
The sun is just rising now. Isla San Cristobel is 8 miles on my starboard bow, just peeking through some fog. I’ve been watching it on the radar as many of the charts for the area are reported to be up to 5 miles off.
I’m tired, I hope the port captain is nice.
Cheers.
Alex
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