Jadamama - Jadamama Galapagos end blog

We have just left Puerto Ayora on a glorious day in a glorious breeze and even if it all goes away, it is a fantastic start to the leg to the Marquesas. We didn’t win any prizes on the last leg, although our cheeky photo from the equator crossing certainly got the most laughs, Latitude Lads maybe ??

Tours are the order of the day in Galapagos as 80% of their income is from that and although our time was compressed, the lads fully participated. The highlight for most of the crew was the diving we did up at Seymour/Mosquera where we felt privileged to be in the water with the fish and turtles and of course some sleepy and not so sleepy sharks. It was not so much the enjoyment from spotting different things as the joy of being with them, in their environment, observing their normal activities that will stay with me. The sea turtles had the biggest impact on me as they wandered around like ancient monks with occasional flaps of their fins and darts of their heads.

Kicker Rock snorkelling though was a close second and while the highland tours are enjoyable and interesting, especially the tortoises and the conservation activities, it really is the water activities that made this place so special for us. We are looking to even more of that in Polynesia as you cannot have enough wonder in your life.

It is a relentless cycle of tours and tourists for the small number of islanders who are providing all these services and they do it with grace and forbearance perhaps as they know how much it means to each of those tourists to be there for the few days they have on the islands. Certain unlikely items are in short supply, like fizzy water, but overall, there is as good a range of products on offer as almost anywhere else we have visited which must place a heavy logistical challenge. Local fish are delicious and enormous, almost big enough to compete with the huge steaks and heavy garnishes that are so popular in Latin America.

Micheál left us and will contribute his own blog and reflections on his adventures but suffice to say we miss him already, except Hugh perhaps who now has his own cabin ! Our preparations for this leg were relatively unremarkable as not much had broken since Panama, or rather since our second attempt to leave Panama. Henry completed a chafe check on the rig and we cleaned off the hulls, yet again, to ensure we can deliver a performance worthy of the boat on this leg. Polly is sewing a large canopy together in anticipation of the heat over the days ahead in advance of preparing a lovely vegetable curry for dinner tonight. There is just no end to that man !

Moss