The third and final week in the Galapagos

On Thursday, June 25th, Doug and Shelby arrived only an hour later than expected to the Galapagos. We took the water taxi back to QuickStar where they quickly stowed their gear and then we headed right back to town…to the internet café to let everyone know they made it and then onwards to the Darwin Research Centre. Over the past few days we have done lots of exploring, snorkelling, hiking and of course, many rounds of Double Solitaire between Diana and Shelby! We've also enjoyed the chaos in the busy harbour every morning over coffee as boats manoever in and out, bang in to one another, sea lions try to sink others, etc. It's quite entertaining in this "grand central station".

Our favourite internet cafe

Our exploits have taken us to the local Saturday market, which is teeming with people at 6:30 a.m. in the morning, a highlands tour, which this time around included a full walk through a lava tunnel that is almost a kilometre long (which also involved getting down on our hands and knees in the mud to crawl through a very narrow part). Doug and Peter fixed the furling sail and did a few odds and ends to get the boat ready for the next chapter.

Marine Iguanas everywhere!

Doug and Shelby are out for the day today on a tour to Seymour Island. Peter and I will be getting the last of the provisioning and doing a lot of the final errands and paperwork (which of course includes updating the blog and making our final communication and farewells with the family). Our plan is to leave tomorrow or the next day at the latest. The weather seems to be cooperating, although the winds are still lighter than normal. We have placed bets on how long it will take….Diana 28 days, Peter 21 days, Doug 23 days. Shelby has abstained from betting. Winner gets 2 full days of total leisure upon arrival!

Shelby walking through a cactus trail

We still don’t know at this point if our house has sold, but the deadline is midnight today, so we’ll see. We like living on the edge! For the crossing, my intention is to do a “paragraph” update each day on the blog so if you would like to check in to see how the open ocean is treating us, just bookmark this blog and visit whenever you’d like. (Keep in mind that the blog updates will be done via ham radio, so no photos, and also there may be times that we can’t get a connection – so please DON’T worry if the blog doesn’t get updated).

Breakfast aboard QuickStar

We’ve been asked about how we will schedule the watches since we sail 24 hours a day and need to have someone at the helm at all times.. The plan is that the three adults will each do a 4- hour night watch: 8:00 – 12:00, 12:00 – 4:00 and 4:00 – 8:00. During the daylight hours we will rotate on more informal 2- hour watches, with Shelby doing some daytime watches. She is really keen to improve her sailing knowledge and skills and has already proven to be a great crew member!

Hanging out in a tortoise shell

Until next time….Once we reach the South Pacific and check in at the Marquessa Islands (where they filmed the 2002 season of Survivor) we’ll upload some photos from the crossing. To all our friends and family….stay safe and live large – we’ll be thinking of you and thanks for your moral support as you follow us along on the blog! P.S. Yes, I'm nervous about the next leg...over 3,000 miles of open ocean. The stress meter is reading about 9/10 right about now...but once we get the last minute details out of the way and get on our way, hopefully it will be smooth sailing!