And so begins the Endless Blue…

Our time in the Galapagos is all but at an end.

Happily stuck in the mud

Enormous carapace

Trying to hide is hard when you’re this big!

Mike returned to the boat Thursday after two and a half weeks away and two successful regatta results.

It’s a bittersweet feeling to be leaving this area. New adventures await, new locations require exploration and there will be new people to meet, (and hopefully old friends to reunite with).

I’m slightly emotional at the thought of leaving and there’s far more to it than the imminent 3 week passage ahead.

The opportunity to have been here and seen so much, possibly for the only time in my life makes me ponder mortality and the notion of seizing the day!

All rather deep but there you go!

Like the content of our last post, there have been many, many more moments, mostly good, a few less so.

There’s the usual fun involving compliance, (to pretty simple requests), schoolwork, (what can we do to avoid it today) small spaces, (LEAVE ME ALONE!!) and garbage bags, (yes Seb stood on one again but thankfully only a small cut this time requiring the removal of sand and a bandaid!).

Precious interactions and observation of wildlife have not only continued, but been frequent and numerous- the Sea Lions are still the favourite!

I was here first!

Seb having a chat with a local

Baby feeding

While Mike was away we had grand plans to revisit all the previous islands, staying 6 or so days in San Cristobal, Isabela and then Santa Cruz. The anchorage in Puerto Ayora became extremely uncomfortable and that combined with a bout of food poisoning, (or a stomach bug- yes MORE vomiting!!!!) made me very happy to leave the island of Santa Cruz and head back to San Cristobal. We ended up staying there for 10 days or so and I have to say it was lovely to just stop, enjoy, and find a bit more of a routine to our daily life.

The 2.5 weeks that Mike was away seemed to pass very quickly and before we knew it we were setting sail to return to Puerto Ayora, just one day before he returned. A huge thank you must go to Murray, who got us from A to B safely and made sure we stayed in A or B safely!

We’ve only been here four days and we’re setting off tomorrow across the ‘Endless Blue’ but I’m very glad we came back. This place has really grown on me. There’s been the usual pre-passage preparations- provisions, provisions and ‘oh god we need more….whatever’ but for the last two days we’ve explored the two places we missed last time- Las Grietas and Bahia Tortuga- both stunningly beautiful and well worth the visit. You don’t know what you don’t know but I feel all the richer for having seen and swum in these places.

Bahia Tortuga- look out for Iguanas

Las Grietas

Bahia Tortuga

We’ve seen the premier of a film called Galapagos Evolution about free diving in the Archipelago, involving Jacque Cousteau’s son and visited a feria with the most incredible array of fruits, veggies, meat and fish we’ve seen since we left Spain.

Tonight our friends off the boat Bear arrived back here and we shared a meal together on shore- the kids were ecstatic to see their friends again and as there’s plenty of cooking to be done over the next few weeks, I was ecstatic at not having to do any!

There’s so much more to share, so many more experiences I’d like to write about but the hour is late and as usual I’m writing this not long before we go.

We’ll be out of contact now for quite some time and once we arrive in the Marquesas the likelihood of internet connection could be rather slim. The link below should enable you to follow where we are for the duration of the passage.

Where are we now?

Thank you again for following Slice of Life and this journey of ours. We love reading your comments, (when we can) and hearing news of what’s going on for you in your world.

Until next time, this is Slice of Life going to bed, then I guess we’re standing by!

PS- we have a new crew member named Mauritzio- he doesn’t do or say much but he makes us smile and doesn’t eat anything…