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Buenos
Dias from the Galapagos, the symbolic homeland of Darwin's
evolution theory!
The sail to the Galapagos was for the most part uneventful,
other than the fact it took about 10 days to travel approx
940 nautical miles (1700 km) when we got caught up in the
equatorial duldrums. Along the way, we were joined by dolphins,
whales, sea turtles, mahi-mahi fish and various sea birds.
We were able to celebrate the equinox (point where the
sun is directly over the equator, on its way north for the
summer) here on March 21, literally just a few miles south
of the equator.. so needless to say the sun is brutally
strong.
Anyway,
the Galapagos are an elusive treasure. It's a long journey
to get here (though sane people just fly) and it's quite
difficult to reach the outer edges of the islands where
the most remote wildlife is abound. For boaters especially
- there are strict rules (as well as completely random rules
that seemingly change hourly) as to where you can go and
for how long. Many of these rules are justified - the Galapagos
Marine Refuge / National Park is very much threatened by
destruction and chaos at the hands of humans. Population
on the islands has skyrocketed as tourism is really starting
to take off. Raw sewage is a noteable problem, but moreso,
the introduction of envasive species of animals and plants.
An
impressive fact is that 50% of all species on Galapagos
are completely endemic. Meaning, half of the creatures you
encounter are ONLY found here. They are descendants of creatures
that washed up in huge storms or flew to the islands long,
long ago.
Sorry I don't have any grand stories to tell, but we don't
have much time here! The trade winds are blowing west and
we've got a long passage coming up; We begin sailing tomorrow
towards Polynesia!
This next passage takes us to the Marquesas, which lies
over 3000 nautical miles away! That's about 5600 kilometres.
This is THE BIG HAUL; imagine 20 to 30 days without seeing
shore and living in a space 34 feet long, nothing around
you except sea and sky! This is what I came to do; it's
the WATER adventure afterall!
So I'll be offline for nearly a month, so please be patient.
