Departure day arrives at last! Final rubbish pick up accomplished at 0715! Thank you Victor, of the yellow shirt team for keeping a fire lit under the local guys who came round to the boats and collected our rubbish and recycling. I appreciate that Galapagos is very “green” but found being able to only clear rubbish off the boat every few days quite difficult. It was a fantastic start to the day to have the rubbish and recycling gone before a three week journey to French Polynesia! Flags came down, kayaks and the dinghy were stowed aboard, the sea lion defences cleared away, lines run, sails checked, rigging inspected, life jackets out, ditch bags packed, water tanks filled, fuel topped off, all small objects inside and out secured for sailing. Anchors up, and we were off to the start line, various combinations of sails dotting the bay, from gennakers, wing on wing, parasails, and traditional main and big Genoa’s. We were off like a herd of Galapagos tortoises! I took a photo of the committee boat taking photos, kinda like a Jack Johnson song...”pictures, of people taking pictures” The wind was light, variable, and fluky for the first few hours, but we finally found a groove for our big reacher that moved our Sweet Dream along in a comfortable manner in the middle of the pack.
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