It took us roughly 5 days to get from La Libertad, on the mainland of Ecuador, to Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz of the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos are a part of Ecuador but we still had to check in and out of the country in between because we sailed through international waters. We ended up motoring all the way except for a few hours because there was no wind. Generally there is no wind around the equator, the area known as the doldrums. On the way to the Marquesas, our next stop in French Polynesia, we will have to sail south to 10 degrees to catch some wind.

The crew for voyage worked out well. Brad, who I met a week before, the other Internet pick-up crew member, is about my age and originally from Indiana. He spent the last six months or so teaching English literature at a school in Guayaquil. We all get along fine and do an equal share of the cooking and the dishes. Watches are 3 hours on and 6 hours off and since that amount, multiplied by 3, is not divisible by 24, means we each get different hours on different days, which I like because it means I get a change of scenery. Unfortunately, we only had two fish bites (dorados) the whole way. The first one got away while Brad was trying to get at it with the gaff. The second one broke off before we even had a chance to snag it. I’m hoping we’ll have more luck the rest of the way; the rice, pasta and canned tuna is already getting tired.

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