We had intended to make a couple of phone calls before leaving Galapagos yesterday, but would you believe there was a power cut across Santa Cruz for our whole last morning on the island. So no internet, no phones, not even a coffee in the cafe! So our apologies to those we were planning to call before this third, and one of the longest legs.
We enjoyed Galapagos, although I think we might have made more of it if we had not had to wait in Cristobal for the banks to re-open. We also missed Floriana, but from what we've heard it wasn't such a big deal. We had a wonderful last few days, the highlight being a dive trip to Gordon Rock. We saw Hammerheads, rays, eels, turtles, one huge Galapagos shark, reef sharks and we even frolicked with some sea lions on our safety stop. The water was incredibly clear, some of the clearest we've ever seen.
There are probably enough things in Galapagos we didn't do to make another visit in future worthwhile. We were a little disappointed by the amount of farming, fishing and development still going on though. We noticed quite a few dogs and cats about, which can't be good for the local fauna. The tortoise breeding programmes look to be a good step in the right direction, but I couldn't help feeling it would have been so much better if it had been more strictly controlled from the start. Australia and most of the rest of the world has its fair share of compromised wilderness, so why should Galapagos be any different?
The last day or two were fairly hectic with last minute provisioning and the briefing/awards party. It was all great fun and we'll load up some photos once we get to some internet access in a few weeks time from the Marquise Islands (French Polynesia).
Today has been our first full day at sea, and perhaps our most enjoyable of the trip. It didn't start too well last night when the wind dropped off and we had to start the engine, but it did mean we got our batteries to 100% over night. Today the wind has been light but sailable, we are using the duogen generator and hydrovane, so our power draw is now minimal. The situation will only get better still over the next few days as the winds build further South.
What has made today so great is that it's our first day in a long time without needing the engine at sea, we've both slept quite well over the first 24 hours (which is a breakthrough in itself), we've had some lovely food and even an open-air shower on the bow. So we're feeling clean, refreshed, full and happy, which is unheard of after the first 24 hours at sea! We are even listening to our French "Earworms" on the boat stereo to polish up our French a bit. Let's see if we can keep this up as a regular thing over the next few days...
The first SSB net went well this morning with the other boats. Of course, we may not have had the best sailing strategy and we are already trailing behind the fleet, but hey its not a race is it? Gunvor seemed to have the most "interesting" night, extricating themselves from illegal fishing lines. Thank goodness ours was a little more peaceful, if not noisy with the engine (although we had heard from Sapphire that a tree log might have been be in our path!). I understand one of the boats has acquired a red footed booby as an unwanted passenger - lets hope he either flies off or there are other boobies in Hiva.