We left Isla Isabela about eight this morning after John and Steve returned from taking final photos of the local terrain and wild life just off our anchorage. I said farewell to the sea lions, penguins, manta rays and turtles I saw as we sail out of the bay. Isabela was a great island to visit before leaving the Galapagos completely. It was wonderful to see so many wild life in their natural surroundings. The volcanic landscape and terrain was exactly how I had expected the Galapagos to really look like. We had a wonderful time on Santa Cruz but I did feel that that island was bit touristy and commercialized. It was good to experience the natural, real and little changed Galapagos.
It took us a while to get away from the island as the wind and waves were very variable and we struggled to sail. However we were rewarded by seeing a few humped back whales just off the coast as we moved along it. Two whales came near our boat so we were able to see them quite clearly. For quite some time we saw three water spouts traveling along the side of us. We also saw a huge pod of the dolphins, more whale spouts, numerous sea birds all chasing what appeared to be large shoals of fish. There seemed to be a lot of frenzied action going on. We also had our fishing lines out. Did we catch any? No!
We finally had to motor to get away from the affects the island had on the wind and waves. Once we got a few mile away, the waves calm down and wind became more consistent. Consistent with our experience of the pacific we consistently had no wind! During my night shift I let the boat drift with the current and made about 2 knots per hour. Only 2998 nautical miles left to go!!
A special message to my father in law.
Hope you’re feeling better after the operation Martin. We’re all thinking of you. Lots of love.
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