On April 4th, we left Safiya to begin our 8 day cruise of the Galápagos Islands. The 19 Galápagos Islands form a national park and the surrounding waters are a marine reserve. There are many restrictions for private boats entering the National Park so in order to get up close to the animals and marine life we took a licensed cruise. Our boat had 15 passengers and 11 crew so we were very well looked after!! It was a lovely break from life on board our own boat and the usual routine of shopping, cooking, cleaning etc We were totally spoiled, the boat was really comfortable with great service and fantastic food.

There were two other Oyster couples with us (Brazilian and Dutch/Phillipines) and the rest of the passengers were a mix of American, Canadian and Dutch so we were a very international bunch.

Even the licensed boats have strict regulations about where they can go and they operate on a two week cycle. All these restrictions mean that the islands are kept totally pristine. The animals have lived for years without the threat of predators and as such do not have a natural fear of humans which means that you can get really close to them.

Our days were packed with a mix of hiking and snorkelling. We had a guide/naturalist who came every where with us and was incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the islands and their wildlife.

There were so many highlights that it is difficult to know where to begin and I'll let the photos do the talking, but my most special moment was snorkelling with a bunch of playful and curious sea lions.

On the islands all the animals live so harmoniously together and one evening as we were ferried back to our boat by dinghy we got very close to some rocks where there were families of sea lions, flightless cormorants, blue footed Boobys, marine iguanas, penguins and pelicans all happily coexisting together and totally not bothered by us!

On land we came across giant tortoises who live to 150 years old and weigh over 100 kilos and land iguanas who change colour (blue, green and red) depending on their diet. The bird life was incredible, as well as the blue footed Boobys, we saw male frigate birds puffing up their bright red chests to attract females, many different types of finch and the star of the show was the Waved Albatross.

Whilst snorkelling we saw giant Galapagos turtles, black tip and white tip sharks and Eagle rays as well as many different types of reef fish. The hammerhead sharks managed to elude us whilst snorkelling although one evening there were a dozen 8 foot hammerheads circling around the boat!

We really had a fantastic Galapagos experience and sadly dragged ourselves away yesterday, back to reality and Safiya where Declan has spent the week busily preparing the boat for our long passage ahead. We've got a few days to complete our preparations and provision before we set off on the next leg of our journey to French Polynesia.  Our next land fall will be the Marquesas islands which are over 3000 miles away. This is the longest sail that any of us have done and will be very challenging, not particularly because of the weather which we are expecting to be quite benign (fingers crossed!) but purely because of the amount of time at sea.

The number of days at sea depends a lot on the weather, wind etc but we are expecting it to take 18 to 20 days. Through the sat phone we'll continue our blog and if anyone would like to contact us our boat email is safiya {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com. We love to hear from people as it reminds us that there is life outside of our little South Pacific bubble, and we always reply!!

Finally, Happy Easter to everyone, they'll be no Easter Eggs for us this year!