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Firefly - Into the Pacific



We have had our first night at sea for several weeks and in 24 hours have covered 144 miles. Over night the wind died so we had to resort to the engine for while but now the wind is back and we are pointing in the right direction towards the Marquesas doing 6 knots in 10 to 12 knots of breeze - considerably more than was forecast.

While on watch overnight David saw a giant turtle (who apparently waved at him) and Peter had a visit from a pod of dolphins jumping through the phosphorescence. He was also subjected to an unpleasant downpour it only lasted a few minutes but soaked him and the boat - at least it was warm rain!

Here is a paragraph about Peter's Galapagos island hopping trip; I booked last minute on the appropriately named motor sailor the 'Beagle' for a seven day tour around the more remote islands of the archipelago. Starting with Floreana which has a small population of 100 people, some descendants of early German and Norwegian settlers (including Augusto the Beagle's owner) then to the uninhabited island of Espanola, San Cristobal, Santa Fe, South Plaza, North Seymour, Bartolome and Sombrero China (or Chinese Hat because the volcanic island looks like one). Each day we walked the islands seeing different species of giant tortoises, iguanas, boobies (blue footed, red footed and Nascar), frigate birds with their red blown out chests (male), and pelicans. Our walks were often greeted by a large family of sea lions and on Bartolome a number of Galapagos Penguins. One of the highlights of each day was a snorkeling trip and on some days two, we swam with sea lions, shoals of beautiful tropical fish; surgeon, angel and parrot (this made Grateful happy). We also swam close (very) to various types of sharks (galapagos, white and black tipped) and swam amongst impressive coral and rock formations. Each island has a different terrain depending on their age since the last volcanic eruption (the older the flatter)and some have much more vegetation. Like all cruises we were accompanied by a professional guide, and on this one we were fortunate to have Fabrizio a local from San Cristobal who was passionate about the subject and 'his' islands. Our group of 13 spent enjoyable evenings and lunches (great food) understanding more about the ecology and the delicate balancing act the islanders have to make between tourism, protecting and reintroducing rare species (this was helped by a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Centre on Santa Cruz). I came away with great memories, much wiser, new friends and considerable respect for what the islanders are trying to conserve. This is not helped by an extremely high level of bureaucracy imposed by the mainland which makes our red tape look very easy to handle and sadly some exploitation of the visitor. I did not experience any of the latter on the Beagle and would recommend them to anyone planning a trip.



Paul, David and Peter

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