After Quito I took a night bus to Guayaquil and then another to La Libertad. I didn’t bother checking out Guayaquil because I’ve grown tired of the big cities. If I have time before we leave, I might check out some of the smaller towns on the coast. Once in La Libertad I phoned my new captain to tell him I was getting in a taxi to the marina. He said he’d meet me at the gate in 10 minutes. At the gate I met Tom, face-to-face, for the first time. He hopped in the cab and the driver took us the rest of the way, through the marina, to Tom’s boat, Marlin.
Marlin was drydocked and had been for the last 6 months at Puerto Lucia while Tom had to go back to working as a chef in the Caymen Islands. I liked Tom immediately. He’s responsible, hard working, fun and easy-going. When I arrived, He had been working on installing a new auto-pilot and an electric windlass (that’s the thing that hauls the anchor up, thank God). After some small talk, he continued working on the boat and I slept, having gotten poor sleep on the bus ride.
Marlin is not as cramped as I thought it was going to be. She’s a Legend 37, 37 feet long. She’s definitely comfortable enough for 3 people; I thought that after living on a catamaran it would be a difficult transition to living on a monohull, but so far it’s been OK. Tom sleeps in the stern, I get the berth in the bow and the other crew member is going to sleep in the middle.
The past couple of days I’ve been helping Tom with the boat. I polished some steel, stitched up a torn pillow and cleaned bird barf off of the dinghy. I’ve also accompanied him to town looking for a few parts and helping with Spanish where his fails, although he’s pretty good. It gets incredibly hot during the day and I soil all my t-shirts with sweat. In the evenings we drink a few beers and eat dinner with a couple of the other skippers here.
The other crew member arrives on the 19th and we still have a tentative departure date of the 20th. Our first stop is the Galapagos, which should only be a 5 day sail.
My bank cards finally arrived at my mom’s house and she sent them out yesterday. She also wired me some money via Western Union in the meantime (Thanks Mom!).