Galapagos May 15
To our great relief Heretic finally left Panama after 2 months of waiting and repairs in Panama. Unfortunately, due to our delayed departure, the wind on our passage tended to came from exactly where we wanted to be going (winds are more likely to come from a favorable direction earlier in the year), something which has been a trend on the trip thus far. Despite a fare bit of pounding into a head sea and two leaky bunks – a problem which has plagued us since leaving Maine – we had a relatively pleasant passage and arrived in the Galapagos on May 11th after a 10 day passage. Not bad for the notorious doldrums: we did only about 20 hours of powering (and used a mere 9 gallons of diesel).
The Galapagos have treated us well thus far. The giant tortoises, swimming iguanas, Darwin finches, and volcanic landscape are in every way unique. Traveling without a tour group is unfortunately difficult. Upon arrival we were told that the boat can not move for the 10 days we are permitted to stay, preventing us from visiting any other island on our own. Nevertheless, we did manage to rent bikes and find a few wild tortoises (as opposed to those at the Darwin research center). Two days later my legs are still sore. Ellen has caught a slight cold forcing us to postpone diving, but we were able to fill up on water in the meantime, something we will certainly want a lot of on the month long crossing to French Polynesia.
Dana flew out yesterday after two months of being put to work on Heretic; it’s likely that we would still be in Panama if it weren’t for his help. It will be Ellen and myself for the majority of the Pacific. Meanwhile, we’re looking forward to the rest of our time here.
All the best,
Seth
