Finally, a good day of sailing.
COG 237/SOG 5K
As they near Galapagos (expecting to arrive Wednesday) I browsed the Noonsite website (www.noonsite.com) to find out a bit more about the place. Here's some excerpts from the site:

"The Galapagos are known the world over for their tame and unique wildlife, sea lions, birds and iguanas, living amidst a barren volcanic scenery. Made famous by Charles Darwin who visited the archipelago with the ship "Beagle" in 1835, the Islands are today a national park, listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The islands are volcanic and some of the volcanoes are still active. The highest peak is the volcano Wolf, some 1707 metres above sea level. The vegetation is sparse.

The islands are one of the 20 provinces of Ecuador and the Ecuadorian authorities take their custody of this wildlife sanctuary seriously. This is the reason for the difficulty for yachts to get permission to cruise these islands. In the past some yachtsmen have abused the privilege, by stealing eggs, shooting birds and causing destruction of the environment.

Formalities requirements constantly change, and the situation confronting visiting yachts is often very confusing. Much depends on the day and the person one encounters, but on the whole the authorities now allow yachts to visit the islands if they call at one of the official ports. Noonsite endevours to post details of the latest known situation.

To visit more than one island, an autographo is required. See Formalities for further details. Due to the complications of obtaining an autographo, many cruisers choose instead to take the simpler solution and visit other islands as a passenger on a local excursion boat on a chosen itinerary."

I know that our friends on Ghost have an agent who assisted them with the formalities and I assume Ray will do the same once they arrive. This seems to be the theme throughout the Pacific including their next destination, French Polynesia.