Our trip is by no means over, but we are now drawing breath at the end of seven and a half months of travelling. We have covered about 7,000 miles, visited seven countries and numerous islands and have now reached one of our major destinations: Tahiti, which feels like the hub of the South Pacific.

We have enjoyed having guests on board with us since leaving St Lucia in early January and Kate and I are now pausing for a while to get used to being just us on Barracuda again.

We have a small amount of maintenance to do but Barracuda has just been amazing and has really taken care of us. We will try to do the same for her.

Despite the onset of Covid, we have achieved about 90% of what we intended to do so far. The major differences are that we spent a lot more time in the Galapagos and did not spend quite as much time in the Tuamotus as intended. But otherwise we have to be very thankful for what has been possible.

We were reflecting on the ‘Sliding Doors’ moment when everything changed in mid-March, and how things might have been different.
- If Kate had booked a flight to leave a few days earlier for her ‘month off’ then we would have been apart since then, she would have missed much of French Polynesia and now would be our first opportunity to get back together - if she could even leave the UK. Her ‘month off’ would have become four.
- Had Andy made it through to the Galapagos just one day earlier, this week would be his first opportunity to get back home to Kerrie.
- Dave and Lesley made it into Santa Cruz with a few days to spare, but ended up spending a lot longer than expected in the Galapagos and French Polynesia.
- Many boats planning to cross the Pacific this year just never left the US west coast or Central America.
- Tahiti would normally be busy with tourists but in fact it is quiet (and rather pleasant).
- We thought that our ARC friends would be well on their way round the world by now but we have caught up with many of them again as most can’t get past Tahiti.

Funny old world.

Today's photo is of some local musicians who entertained us this afternoon - really excellent.