Today, as I was toiling away in the bowels of the boat, doing the most annoying sort of work, a voice inside kept admonishing me, noting that everything I was doing was irrelevant!

"WE ARE ARRIVING!" insisted the voice.

And indeed, the voice was correct. We have about 250 miles to go and depending on the weather, the arrival could be one day or four days.

But that little discussion I was having while I toiled led me to the following analysis. There is a 'change of gears' that must take place right about now as one closes in on one's destination and it has to do with long term vs short term.

Everything up to now has been long term...my attention has been riveted, day after day, on that enormous 3000 miles of water. I have been asking: What if:

the watermaker quit, would there be enough water already on board to get to land?

the batteries would not keeping a charge? Would we cease to function?

that noise in the starboard rudder is all leading up to losing that rudder?

the wind generator or solar panels quit .would the engines suffice?

that leak became bigger, could I keep up with the bailing?

the diesel ran out, would I have one last gallon to navigate that last mile into a harbor?

the autopilot quit, could I manage 24 hours at the wheel?

And then, almost suddenly, the gears must change...total emphasis must go from the 3000 miles to the last 50. And, as suddenly, all the relevancy of those heretofore life-dependant questions becomes, incredibly, almost irrelevant. Now it is:

Am I clear on the approach to the harbor? Are the charts clear? Are there any big rocks, just under the surface, Im going to run into? Water deep enough? How do I time it such that I make a daylight arrival? Is the GPS showing itself to be accurate, not in miles but now in feet? (BTW, the last harbor entry in Galapagos, the GPS/Chart was off 500 feet!) Is the anchoring mechanism working? Are the engines functioning perfectly? Is the short range radio working? And most importantly, will I be rested enough to navigate THOSE LAST 50?