Our passage for the Galapagos was not a success. We kept on beating to the wind for days and had to use our engine in order not to move backwards. Our diesel supply was quickly running out and we needed to consider our options, one possibility was to keep going and hope for the winds to change, otherwise we would have a serious problem and not reach the Galapagos, our other option was to turn around and head for the closest point at the Ecuadorian coast. After some serious thinking and an additional slight problem with our steering we decided to choose Ecuador.
After two days of much better sailing conditions we could see land, this was a cheerful sight after almost nine days out on sea in really choppy conditions. We did have some last minute excitement though on the night before our arrival, we ran straight into a fishing net, Niklas had to go diving in order to save our rudders. All in all it was a tough passage but we made it safely to land, the morale on board was all along great and we truly have a great team.

We are currently anchored outside the small fishing of Sua, close to the resort town of Atacames. There is a nice stretch of beach here, almost black sand and good body surfing waves. The people here are helpful and friendly and they probably have not seen foreigners before, at least definately ones arriving on a sailing yacht. We are once again the local tourist attraction, all the small fishing boats load up with Ecuadorian tourists, circle our boat a few times and take loads of pictures. Our boys are the wonder of the town and everyone thinks that they are just so gorgeous, the have various admirers.
Eating out here is extremely cheap, you can have a hearty meal of rice, fried plantain fruit and fish or seafood including drinks for under five dollars per person. We have been enjoying the local ceviches and coconut cooked seafood. Their eating culture here is very different to ours though, here you eat and then you go, you do not linger with a glass of wine, wine is not even on the menu. We have also been indulging in croissants bought from the locals, they are very fresh and lovely and a definite success on board.

Our plan is to do some maintenance repair on our steering, refuel and hopefully resume our travels towards the Galapagos Islands by Saturday. The weather seems ok and our passage should not be too bad this time. We have about 450Nm to go, we will have to engine for the first two days but then we should get favourable 90 degrees Southerly winds carrying us towards our destination, we are optimistic and very eager to experience the Marine wonders to come.

MF