PART ONE. I am writing Part 1 of today's entry just after midnight. Yesterday's rough weather gave way by late afternoon to calm seas and 10 to 15 knots of breeze. Still on the nose, but pleasantly so. We're now sailing under full canvas with Max at the helm. Last night's foul weather jackets have been replaced by t-shirts. VMG as I write this: 4.1 knots. The moon is full and the sky is clear. In a word, it is sublime. An experience almost on par, I suppose, with hiking the final hill under the moonlight, stopping at the lip, and gazing upon Machhu Pichu as the sun rises - which is what Diana and Martha will be doing in a few hours. Pete and I are looking forward to reuniting with our women and hearing all about it. More later...
3:00 p.m. 1'42 N / 90'51 W
PART TWO. If you've been following along, you'll know we've passed Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Columbia. If you look out your left side passenger window, about 600 miles away you'll now see the Ecuador coast. We entered the protected waters of the Galapagos archipelago at 10:30, motor sailing along the rhumb line (give or take a few miles) at good speed in fair conditions. By noon we passed 60 miles to the east of Darwin and Wolf Islands (the northern-most islands in the archipelago). Still about 175 miles from our final destination, Academy Bay on Santa Cruz Island (it's a big archipelago).
Encounters with fauna: Just after posting yesterday's entry we spotted out first shark, cruising at periscope depth. Almost ran him over. Whoa big fella, nice sharky, no harm intended. I don't know what kind he was. About 5 feet long, olive tan in colour, about the same colour as those chinos you bought at Mark's Work Wear House on sale and never wear. Just before lunch we hooked something big; he ran out the 40 lb line with me hanging on to the rod for dear life and Pete saying tighten the tension (it was maxed) until the line snapped like a piece of thread. Fish story.
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