Well, we're finally setting off tomorrow to cross to French Polynesia, Marquesas. It's over 3,000 miles, about 1 1/2 Atlantic crossings so it will take between three and four weeks, depending on the weather. 

We had a busy night last night as there was a red Tsunami alert. The town was evacuated to the hills and all boats had to leave all the ports on all the islands of Galapagos, being directed to go 20 miles out to sea. It was chaos. Boats everywhere, pitch black, no moon and some without lights. Frequently the fishing boats and small motor boats were towing each other, sometimes in long convoys, as those without working engines or petrol cadged a lift. It wasn't until nearly 2 am that we got the all clear and we had to come back into port and try to anchor safely in the dark, with everyone else anchoring at the same time. This morning we woke up to find the bay had never looked so tidy, we were all nicely spaced out and equidistant from each other - clearly stressful night anchoring gives better results than casual day anchoring!

So, dive bottles are picked up, washing is half way through (I did the washing because there was hot water from the running the engine last night!), bread and some fruit is bought. The diesel is due to be delivered later, via jerry cans in a water taxi. Boats in Isabella weren't so lucky, they've had difficulty getting both diesel and water as there's not been much rainfall so the island folk need all the fuel for their own boats and cars and to run the islands water maker, converting sea water to fresh.

Unfortunately the fridge and freezer have packed in again. They have been rather temperamental all along, just stopping working for unknown reasons every now and again. They hadn't died since we went through Panama so I was hopeful they would work for this passage... never mind, we have plenty of tins!

I'll be sending this off when we go into town this evening to enjoy a beer with friends we met in San Blas on Tehani-li. Time to stop running around getting jobs done before we go, time to just look at the views and enjoy people and sea lion watching, to soak up the uniqueness that is the Galapagos. 

  

A rough sleeper in Wreck Bay and Spike with his new mates..