Galapagos Islands - March 29 2015

 It is with mixed emotions that Cress and I are about to begin our passage back to North America. First stop will be Hawaii (which is sort of North America) – at least as close to NA as we have been for a long time.

Our time in the Galapagos Islands has been grand. We have been swimming with sea turtles, the occasional ray, penguins, sea lions and many amazing sea creatures. The land travel was equally great, and the giant tortoises and marine iguanas were the hallmarks of these tiny islands. 

We now have 5 on board for our longest passage ever – 4200 nautical miles – to the slightly larger islands of Hawaii!! While we are on this passage, we will cross our outbound track which we passed in June of 2005 – almost 10 years ago. This will mark our circumnavigation!!! WOW.  We intend to savour every sunrise and sunset, every slow wind day and every fast wind day, every easy meal and every rocking and rolling challenging meal, and the wonderful time to reflect, relax and enjoy our time together.

Life is good!

Irena

Galapagos Rocking

Time to reflect. Time to explore. Time to sleep. Time to be with friends.
Conversations seems to at home here in the Galapagos. David and Sandey, Dennis and Rita, Irena and Cress have had the pleasure of many leisure hours chatting, walking about, and simply sharing the magnificence of this place.
Presently we are on San Cristobel Island of the Galapagos. Its a dry, scrubby shoreline, cacti and thorny scrub. Higher up in the interior, tropical vegetation is lush. Lots and lots of bird life. I am enchanted by the Frigate birds. Wonderful flyers. We made a short climb to of one of the low volcanic cones on the island to walk around the rainwater lake within. Above, a storm of Frigate birds soared in the mid day breeze, taking turns diving past us for the surface of the lake, never landing but washing their winds in a low level fly by of the lake surface. Then they would climb back overhead to do a flutter dive, shaking the water from their wings before repeating the cycle.

Its is, though, a bit overrun by tourists, of which admittedly we are one. We thought this statue of Darwin seemed to be saying to the cruise ships and airline passengers - "Take a Hike"
 We walked with the Tortoises, snorkeled with the sea turtles and sea lions. The giant tortoises were cool and the sea turtles too, weighing what we weigh.
Later today, we will sail for the Saint Isabella Island, 80 miles away. More likely motor.
Every day I work to pause and reflect on our good fortune to roam about this kingdom. Truly we are blessed.