Oktober 2011, Galapagos

Finally after a long time on the hard in Ecuador, we managed to get away.
A new, great crew has joined us, and we are now Michael from Trinidad, Alex from Norway, Johannes and Oscar from Sweden and myself.

As you can see from the pictures, there was a whole cruise inbetween this one and last time i blogged. We had a very exciting trip down through Darien and the coast of Colombia. Just 4 of us, but every day was a festival, as Andoni, our divemaster and dinnercatcher used to say. In the pics oyu see him and Annette on their daily hunts for all kinds of delicacies.

Through Darien means up the river Tuira, which led us up gthrough tidal waters to the end of the panamerican highway, more than a 100 km from the Pacific. It took us around a week to sail up, and was an exciting time between howlr monkeys and guerilla fighting jungle patrols. GennakerWe puddle jumped all the way, allowing the tide to let us anchor at night, and moving up stream on the high waters. Tricky place to find holding, when the current is around 4 knots most of the time and turning 4 times a day.

The Pacific coast of Colombia was quite an adventure, since very few bots still dare to take that ill rumoured path. Our experience was only of kind people, even the smugglers! No kidding, the authorities, have really cleaned out the area, so there is no reason any more to fear pirates or other criminals. Still the Guarda Costa were always very serious about taking care of us, and we owe them thanks for their help in many ways.

Ecuador was a special treat to, since we from the beginning managed to 'trick' the rules, and got away with anchoring a new place every night for a week down along the coast. From Esmeraldas of dark renown, where we didn't manage to find a dinghy to replace the one that got stolen in Tumaco, Colombia, but had a free stay without fees. The port captain even allowed us to buy diesel at normal price; a dollar a gallon.

Refuelling

Both Colombia and Ecuador was an adventure in sea life. The humpbacks were constantly in sight, frolicking and breaching al over the place, some times even really close to the boat. We had dolfins, of course, pseudoorcas, pilot whales, and snorkeled with big turtles at Isla de la Plata

A bit different on our exit, where we had to 'smuggle' 1200 liters at broad daylight over a crowded beach. We ducked when the Salinas port authority appeared on a beach buggy, but else noone cared, and we now have enough for a year in our tanks.

So now the big jump is coming. The Pacific jump. We have an absolutely crammed boat, with a waterline dissapearing slightly under the surface. The diesel of course, but also 3 months worth of shopping including beer and botteled water to stretch the 500 liters in the tanks. The passage will probably take 3-4 weeks, and should be rather peaceful, hopefully not too boring. Our french friends on Carmina just emailed us from Marquesas that they made it from Galapagos in 3 weeks, so we hope to do the same

Our first landfall is Gambier, with lies a little better for the wind, so we should be able to make it in less. After gambier there is a 5 days cruise up to Marquesas and we hope to reach Hiva Oa before the 9th of December where the Polynesian Festival begins.