Freezing at the equator
So we finally made it to the Galapagos after more or less a pretty bad passage. It was cold, rainy, misty, shaky, rough and miserable for five days, the two last days were ok when we finally caught the wind and were able to lift our sails. We also had several problems caused by the almost unbearable shaking. Sometimes I really wonder why on earth we are doing this at all, but a human being is strange, he forgets quickly all unpleasantness when its over and when something nice surfaces. We crossed the equator and celebrated with hot chocolates with rum instead of champagne, now we are all shellbacks instead of pollywogs. I have to admit the South Pacific is not at all what I expected until now. We finally sighted land, the legendary Galapagos Islands, what a relief it was to lower our anchor, which we had to do manually because for some unexplainable reason the winch had stopped working, one more problem but at least we were here.
It is absolutely lovely here, the animal life is extraordinary, the sea lions water iguanas and giant turtles are amazing, the kids just love it. The down side is, the weather is SHIT! Cold, cold, cold and very wet, nothing dries and we are wearing all our winter stuff, incredible enough it is warmer in Scandinavia than here, the world is going absolutely mad. Even though we are freezing it has definitely been worth the effort, animal life here is just out of this world and the expression on our kids faces when they follow the playful sea lions sleeping on boat decks and the cleaning rites of the blue footed boobies, you know that these are some very special moments and worth more than some slight inconveniences of getting here. I can definitively say that we are having the time of our lives, even though swimming here is not very inviting, the water temperature is only 22 degrees it has been a great experience. Coming back to the boat in the evening shivering from the chill has not been so bad as we have managed to warm our bones with hot chocolate and mulled wine or Glögg as we call it in Finland, yummy indeed.
We have been here now for ten days now, it is time to get the boat ready for the next passage, the list is pretty long but everyone is working hard. There are other boats here also headed towards the Marquesas in the next few days we hope to leave at the same time. It is a very big ocean out there and the idea that you are not completely alone is reassuring. So it is time again to provision for fruits and vegetable and some delicious bread from here and prepare ourselves for the puddle jump. We have almost 3000Nm in front of us. We are eager to go and discover the South Pacific Islands, hopefully the weather will be somewhat better on the other side of the ocean.
MF