Before I even say a word about the fact that we have arrived in the Galapagos....Yahoo! Yahoo!.....I want to say a few words about our amazing kids - the best crew around.

Living in close quarters 24/7 can be challenging in any conditions. Living in close quarters with sleep deprived parents, well......
Zoe, Maia and Liam are star crew members! They brought us tea. They brought us coffee. They got us things we needed while we were at the helm. When we couldn't get lunch ready, they jumped in. They fished for dinner, (nothing caught, but a good effort was made).

They did school like never before and no complaints!!!! They knew that the more school they got done underway, the more time for exploring and fun in the Galapagos!

The most surprising thing, for living in such a small space, is how they got along. Yes, of course, there were squabbles, as there should have been . I'd begin to worry if they didn't disagree!
So, after 11 days and 4 hours at sea, I'm happy to report that we arrived at Wreck Bay, a little tired, but still friends!

It was really fun watching the kids' excitement build as we got nearer and nearer the equator. It reminded me of the days before Christmas. From about 60 miles out, regular mileage checks were taking place. Usually Liam and sometimes Maia, would come to look at the chart plotter. When we got to within 20 miles, everyone was checking and watching.

At around 9 pm Sunday night (May 3), I was reading to the kids in the cockpit. We were within a couple of hours of reaching the big 00 00.00'N, (about 8 or 9 miles), when I noticed that Gromit was going off course. I suspected a shift in the wind, so I put us back on course. Within a short while, it happened again. That's when I noticed that our 'autopilot' - he-who-steers-the-boat-for-us, was not functioning properly. Yikes! Papa was called. We did some quick diagnostic tests, but nothing obvious was found. Michael began disassembling poor 'auto' and I was at the helm steering. Hours passed. The wind lessened. Arrival time at the equator changed from "about 2 hours", to "not sure when", due to the decrease in wind.

The 'EQUATOR' party was planned well in advance. We'd been collecting goodies to eat and drink from the United States right through to Panama. On Sunday, just hours before arriving at the equator, Zoe decided that no equator crossing would be complete without a pineapple up-side-down cake! How right! She had seen the recipe in a new cookbook which was sent to us by Michael's family back in Jekyll.
We couldn't find a can of pineapples, which we are all sure we bought, so instead, we used a jar of "Mom's Canned Peaches", product of Canada, with Niagara peaches. Yum, yum, yum! (Now I know why I'd been saving those peaches. The kids had asked numerous times to eat them and I kept on saying no!). We also had 'Baba's Pickles' (dill pickles, beyond delicious, made by Michael's mom - saved in a secret hiding spot along with the passports), Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Pringles potato chips and kids' champagne (apricot nectar made bubbly with Canada Dry soda water).

Crossing the equator in the Pacific Ocean, as a family, eating homemade 'Peach Upside Down Cake', and Baba's pickles! What could be better???

How fortunate we are, though! How absolutely fortunate we are!

So, after the party, at 3:30 in the morning, it was time to go back to bed. Michael stayed on watch, hand steering and then at around 6 am I took over. Hand steering is exhausting. When our autopilot is working, we are free to do things around the boat; small jobs here and there, make a tea, do school in the cockpit.....The only things that have to be done is to scan the horizon and check our wind angle about every 20 minutes or so. 'Auto' does all the work and no complaints! But hand steering, means being bound to the helm.

Monday morning, we were only about 60 miles away from the nearest island of the Galapagos. We didn't want to spend a whole day and night hand steering. We calculated that with the 10 hours of good daylight ahead of us, at 60 miles off, we would have to maintain a speed of at least 6 knots to arrive in time. We figured that we could make it, motor-sailing if we had to.

Good. Decision made. Michael put a way point (latitude and longitude) for Wreck Bay at San Cristobal Island, into the chart-plotter and we set our sails. The winds had been light overnight and it wasn't long after Michael put in the way point, that a brisk wind came up. (I'm still kind of shaking my head and wondering about the fortuitousness of this). As we were clipping along at 7+ knots and into the 8 knot range (amazing speed for us), I couldn't help thinking and truly believing that someone was looking out for us. Not only did we have the right amount of wind (that came right when we needed it), but it was also at the exact right angle for us to maximize our speed to arrive at Wreck Bay in time. In fact, we arrived ahead of the ETA (estimated time of arrival) that our chart plotter gave. Thank you, thank you, lucky stars!
And thank you 'Auto' for not quitting on us sooner during the passage!

The 11 days we spent on the ocean, gave us much variety. A nice following wind to start. High winds and torrential rains during the second and third days. Doldrums (little to no wind) for a few days and then great sailing for about 3 more days. Within 2 days of the Galapagos we had another day of calm and then the grand finale; a clipping wind to bring us in.

Please check out the photo gallery for pictures of our adventures.