The Galapagos Islands are remote and isolated and very very famous. Matilda successfully crossed from Panama to The Galapagos in a good time of 5 days and 5 hours. We did not see much wind after the first 30 hours but fortunately had enough fuel to motor for much of the 885 mile journey. We crossed the equator at 05:44am on day 5. We will stay in the southern hemisphere now for the next year.
Charles Darwin was only 22 years of age when he came here on The Beagle. His observations are well known to most and he was correct about how unique and stunning these islands are. The marine life and land creatures are plentiful and fiercely protected by the Ecuadoran government. The water is clean and the climate relatively cool. We had friends join us for a week. After gleefully receiving our Amazon packages from them we spent the week speed-exploring the three islands that we were permitted to visit.
The Galapagos Islands have major added-value to us being that it is the last place to provision and refuel before we embark on the huge Pacific crossing of 2980 miles to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. Clearly we will not have enough fuel to motor for much of this passage however, we may need to motor to “find” wind. The Galapagos Islands are located in an area known as The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone aka The Doldrums. This journey will take anywhere from 20 days to 30 days.
Our departure date is March 1st – I certainly hope we will be there by April 1st. If not even the skipper might be much skinnier
Sailboat Matilda 
Ah…. The Boobies are real!! Blue feet and everything.
May the forward winds fill Matilda’s sails for a steady and safe passage to the Marquesas!
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They are real and so cool!!
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Looks amazing, will be great to see you when you make it to Oz.
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We get to Mackay at the end of July. Looking forward to seeing you.
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Looks amazing Fies and Matt.
Looking forward to seeing you in Oz.
Remind me when you are going to be here?
Andrew
Andrew Sutherland – Director P. +613 7018-327703%207018-3277 M. +61407 746 4740407%20746%20474 E. andrew.sutherland@halidonhill.com.auandrew.sutherland@halidonhill.com.au
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That is a very long journey. Hope there’s enough vodka to last that long.
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Exciting news folks, hope you’re enjoying sailing in the Southern Hemisphere! We’re stoked for your Pacific crossing!
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Thanks Bohemia
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Enjoy your trip! I hope that you get more wind than you expect so that it is closer to 20 days than 30 – Safe travels
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Ahhh…. Thank you !
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Wow! Have a great trip and take lots of popcorn!Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
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Popcorn – that’s a great idea!
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