At 1800hrs  on the 23rd March Nordlys crossed into the southern hemisphere at 88 degrees 30 minutes west.  Christabel was the only person who had not  crossed the line before, although Annette and I had only done it by air.  Father Neptune did not visit but a glass of Champagne was sacrificed to his honour.  All in all it was a happy and quite emotional moment. Nordlys was tramping along at nearly seven knots over a smooth sea.  The sun was setting in a way that only the tropics can produce.  Masses of pinks and turquoises showing from behind the usual cumulus clouds.

After under two days of motoring the wind had filled in from the south east and stayed. We enjoyed some excellent sailing with the sheets  cracked a minute amount making us what I call 'cruising close hauled'.  The monitor steered us and although at one stage we had a reef in for a few hours and on occasions we thought the wind was going we kept it in the end right up to the northern tip of Isla San Cristobal.  For the last thirty six hours we enjoyed a strong push from the current and it was necessary to heave to for four hours to await dawn.  By doing this we were able to sail down the coast of San Cristobal in daylight.  It is here that the strange sight of a lava field pierced by pimple like cones is surrounded on one side by a white sand beach and the sea and on the other by green scrubland.  All very dramatic.  We sailed past Lion Island a small island with sheer sides that make it impossible to land on.  We saw several whales, many birds and several sea lions.  Also some unknown fish were seen jumping many feet into the air.  We poked our nose into Wreck Bay and talked to several boats we knew there.  Due to the present interpretation of the rules the authorities make it impossible to go to more than one of the designated yacht harbours.  If we had stopped in Wreck Bay, which was lovely, we would have been unable to visit Academy Bay where most of the island visiting and general sight seeing is centered .  Catch 22.  With slightly sad hearts we sailed on to Academy Bay.  On the way we saw Troubadour who had caught up forty miles due to our heaving to and  visiting  Cristobal.  Together we entered Academy Bay.  I have to admit we were not happy.  The boats were pitching like mad as the anchorage is entirely exposed to the south east.  Eventually we were anchored with a stern anchor out to  make sure we were pointing into the waves.  On one side of us was Troubadour and on the other an inter-island supply ship.  This was being loaded with a herd of goats who were crammed onto the foredeck.  Two pick up trucks, lots of beer, a couple of mattresses and much else.  Quite a colourful sight.  She eventually departed about ten at night.

Stuart and Annabelle dinghied  across to us for drinks and plans were made to cope with the bureaucracy next day, today i.e..  This epistle will thus come to a stop while we catch up on all the tasks needing to be done after a passage.  Basically we were very pleased at having this notoriously calm passage behind us with only forty four hours motoring in just over six days.  The next two weeks plus will be spent exploring the Galapagos and getting as much out of our visit here as we can.  To achieve this we will accept a pitching home.

War news is scarce here as the BBC frequencies are only intermittently audible.  Hopefully it will all be over soon.  We were shattered to hear that 'friendly fire' had destroyed a Tornado.

Happy times to you all wherever you may be.

David, Annette and Christabel.