" A LADY TRIP " Sailing aroubd the world, Avoiding the Shite at Home, ( presently in the Galapagos )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 22 Feb 2010 23:29
SUNDAY 21st Febraury 2010   ( Stefan's Birthday)
 
01,00hrs kevin took over watch from Fats,
05.00hrs stephen and aileen took over watch from Kevin, A dark Starrey night with lots of birds flying around the boat.
We are at this stage only 40 miles to our destination, The Galapagos Islands,
 
06.00hrs  We could now make out the Islands in front of us, still hazy. Like ourselves,
We turned off the engine once more and other yachts became visable on the horizon, everyone was in good form,
The sea life was buzzing
 
10.45hrs, We crossed the finishing line, 10 seconds ahead of our own E.T.A. which we gave to the ARC office as we left Equador.
A well manufactured finish as far as we were concerned, The nearest to their ETA gets a prize,  Well why not get it right so !
 
The mobiles are all working again, so we were able to make contact with those still at home...
11.15hrs We dropped anchor in " Porto BaquerizoMoreno" in  ISLA SAN CRISTOBAL
 
An amazing sight, Blooming sealions everywhere and lot of them sleeping on the transome of some yachts,
We were advised not to put the rib in the water as they jump up onto them and capsize the smaller ones. Outboard motors do not like
being upside down in salt water, not good for their health.
 
14.00 The customs and other officials came aboard and we got most of the paperwork out of the way. ohhhh they so love the Archicets rubber stamp.
 
Later we did some boat stuff, including transferring photos from cameras to the computer
 
Later still, we went ashore in one of the local TAXI's , Gas little dories, with sun roofs on them,
We had plenty of chat with other crews, plenty of beer and wine, and followed by dinner
 
We returned to the boat about 23.00 hrs and crashed out , having made arrangments for a day trip tomorrow.
 
Signed:-   Stephen Hyde,  ( Skipper )