Galapagos

We cannot really believe we are actually here in the lovely Galapagos Islands where there is so much wildlife to see!!

The sail down from Contadura in Las Perlas was slow but by following a more Southerly course Trompeta managed to keep wind until the last day. We crossed the finish line here in San Cristobal at 9.15am local time (6 hours behind UTC) yesterday so today is the first day to explore this island. In the anchorage when we arrived we saw many sea lions sunbathing on little man made platforms and even saw some slither up onto the back of the catamaran Anastasia!! Boats with low sugar scoops at the back are especially vulnerable. Trompeta has a high back end so it is difficult for the sea lions to come onboard!! When we arrived we had to wait until after 3pm to be cleared in by customs and immigration before we were allowed to leave the boat. A total of 9 officials came on board to complete formalities including 2 Police a Port Captain and several others who did not seem to do anything! Everyone here seems to be extremely friendly and welcoming. Galapagos is part of Ecuador and they are devoting a lot of time and money to keeping the islands as natural as possible. There is no litter anywhere and as there are no international flights to the islands there are a limited number of visitors. Tomorrow we have an excursion to Kicker Rock to snorkel and swim ( with sharks!) not sure about this but will see how we get on!!

Just to let you all know before we left Las Perlas we had the prize giving dinner fir leg 1 from St Lucia and Trompeta took 2nd place in her class. Not bad for an old lady! The prize giving for leg 2 will be when we get to Santa Cruz and is on 1 March. We depart for the Marquesas in French Polynesia on 4 March.