Kent and Heather take off cruising and we take off after them. Charles motored from Tillamook to San Francisco last year, and the whole family visited Hiatus at the end of March in Ixtapa. Ironically, this time we didn't get within a 10 hour bus ride of the boat. Just over two weeks ago we touched down in the Galapagos Islands and were greeted by Kent and Heather holding fictional greeting signs. Since then, we've traveled to four Galapagos Islands, Quito and Banos with them, all with 21 month old Ryan in tow (you can read Ryan's version of our travels at http://www.RyanJamesTurner.com

I've taken nearly 1200 pictures since we first arrived in Ecuador so hopefully there are some worth making an album of which will appear at a later date. Some may have to be withheld as what happens in Ecuador stays in Ecuador, maybe not. I think our reputations probably all precede us.

The Galapagos Islands are amazing. During our eight days there we saw blue footed boobies, penguins, giant turtles, sea turtles, hundreds of sea lions, hammerhead sharks and a lot other wildlife as we visited their natural habitats on four different islands. There is something disturbing about sharing white sand beaches with iguanas bigger than your son.

Life is too short to drink cheap beer; except when it is the only thing available and safer than the water. We've done our part to prop up the local brewing economy. We can't afford to have lobster three nights a week but we did- at $12/person. Unfortunately, our favorite meal, a whole rotisserie chicken on the center of the table for $15 including the aforementioned beer (for four) was closed the second time we tried on San Cristobal.

- Charles, Jenny and Ryan