Our Journey: Start of Pacific Passage AND Galapagos...

We leave Panama and head to Las Perlas.

Richard and Dean scuba clean Our Rose bottom,

ready for Galapagos (the hulls have to be spotless – not a barnicle in sight,

otherwise they send you way off shore to clean it again).

Our trip to the Galapagos was 6 days… actually could have been 5, however we had to slow ourselves down a great deal in the last 24 hours, otherwise we would have arrived in the evening of the 5^th day – rather arrive on the morning of the next.

Dean catching a nap – we catch up when we can

Skipjack Tuna caught meant Sashimi, Sesame Seared Tuna and Salad – YUM

Crossing the equator was celebrated with Neptune paid tribute to.

After crossing, we turned around and went over again, so the Richard and Dean could swim across…

Dean has brought over a guitar to give me lessons…

On a very low wind day, we try out our new (2^nd hand) Spinnaker

And set up the Storm sail – just to remind ourselves

On Arrival to San Cristobel, Galapagos we await our Agent, Customs, Immigration, Health and Divers. Once all the formalities are completed, we celebrate Deans first crossing of the Equator and our arrival in Galapagos with Champagne

We use the window protectors that Richard designed for the Canal Transit as Sea Lion deterrants – the Sea Lions though cute when you first see them, soon become a real menace as they climb onto Our Rose on any opportunity and make a horrible mess

(they defacate in abundance – putting it very politely!)

Since this photo, we have had to put another layer on top as they got over these!

It is very picturesque here

We go for a diving trip to Punta Pit, where we saw some great marine life.

We also went ashore for a lovely hike, where we were fortunate to see both Red Footed and Blue Footed Boobies

We leave Our Rose for a couple of days
and catch the ferry to Santa Cruz.

Another gorgeous picturesque spot.

The Blue Footed Boobies were amazing to watch
catching Sardines and Anchovies…

The Church had the most amazing stained glass windows,
and this jewelry store great gates

A great walk took us through a very dry landscape with a lot of cactus – these gates along the way were quite amazing

ending up at a fissure in the volcanic rocks
with a fresh water swimming hole

Passing the fish market, the lady is keeping flies off the fresh tuna, while a pelican looks on from above and a seal waits for scraps below the table.