It is 3a.m., the middle of night-shift #2 of 5 until we reach the incredible Galapagos Islands! This journey is a mini-rollercoaster, one of the many bumps in the roller coaster of life. We get excited to reach our destination, to pull into a marina and have access to cute towns filled with restaurants, stores and tourism possibilities. A week later, we start missing the water and wondering when we get to sail towards our next destination. Two weeks later, the boat is working as well as possible for the moment, and we are enjoying town but eager for the next adventure, and we finally leave port. We then have to reacclimate ourselves to the gentle rocking of the boat that makes us all feel sleepy as well as feeling tipsy in our uncoordinated gait . We fan ourselves from the oppressive heat (we run the AC at night so we can sleep) while trying to do schoolwork, clean the boat and cook meals. And this will be our life for the next….five or six months? We likely will not tie up in another marina until we reach Australia!
This next destination will be the destination of dreams, an archipelago formed of 19 islands and home to 9,000 species of plants and animals, a large majority of such species are endemic to the islands. We were granted a 30 day stay in the Galapagos, which can possibly be extended. For the first two weeks, we will visit the main islands and immerse ourselves in the traditional excursions known to the area: surfing, hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving. We then can hire a live-aboard guide, who will accompany us to explore the quieter, less-visited islands of the Galapagos. Their effort to protect their diverse environment prohibit us from paddleboarding, kayaking, anchoring our dinghy, which are amongst a list of rules two meters long that we have 3 days to read.
Now backing up…I wrote the last post in the insane immigration line to get into Argentina, where I met my friends for an incredible trip to Patagonia. It was amazing to catch up with friends while exploring breathtaking landscapes. Since this blog isn’t about me, I will only share one picture:)
Paul took over adventure planning with a flourish, starting with ziplining from a skyscraper in Panama City.
The next day, they said a temporary goodbye to Bella and Luna, who went to visit sailing friends, SV Agora, on the Caribbean side of Panama for a week. Paul took the kids to a nature reserve, home to sloths and toucans, and they explored the charming historic district of town.
The following Saturday, Paul met SV Agora at a ropes course, where the kids had a blast. Happy to have Bella and Luna back, the big girls geared up for a game of Airsoft, with few bruises left to commemorate the fun.
Their last big adventure, sin mama bear, was an ATV excursion, where years were taken off of Paul’s life when he allowed Kathryn to take the wheel, not realizing the unadmitted fact that she could not fully see over the wheel.
I couldn’t miss out on all the last minute fun, and we headed to an escape room when I returned to Panama. Bella, Hannah, Kathryn and Luna successfully heisted $250,000 but, unfortunately, Claire, Andrew and I failed to save the pirate trapped in a chest and secure the treasure.
The following day, while Paul took a few of the kids surf gear shopping, I geared up at what was likely our last big grocery store for 6 months with the help of taxi driver, Luis, who pushed my three carts, shut down a checkout lane and unloaded my carts and organized the baggers to bag the groceries as requested and load his taxi.
Exhausted but with no time to spare, we headed out to do a Panama Canal tour. It was awesome to learn more about this incredible engineering feat! After the canal tour, we boarded a small boat on Gatun Lake to head to monkey island, where we interacted with three species of monkeys, feeding two of the species!
We left the following morning for a 6a.m. fuel-up via a boat! We only had to turn around and re-tie three times to get to all of the fuel tanks….!
Las Perlas, last stop before the Galapagos and a much-needed beach and water day! We tried out the new surfboards, played on the seabobs, jumped off the boat and played on the island. The last fun adventure was to a hut, where two guys were sitting at a table; we had heard there was a restaurant? We asked, and sure enough, we were told they had pescado; pescado it is! We took the last two beers in a refrigerator that looked like it was from the 1940’s and were served a delicious fish and rice lunch. What a cool experience!
