Galapagos- Day 5

It is time to write something! Quite what, I am not sure. I do not have the vocabulary to do it justice... Incredible, Amazing, Fantastic, Unbelievable, Inspiring..There is not time enough or a dictionary thick enough to describe our experience here so far.

We are working long days it is true but we are encouraging everyone to spend some hours each day to do a dive, to snorkel to walk on the beach. You don't have to go off the boat to be treated by turtles, sharks, all kinds of fish and sea lions. The place is alive with wildlife.

You just have to walk into the crew mess at meal times to feel and hear the excitement and not only from the crew. The park ranger and the veteran guide of 16 years experience, have also seen new things because they are utilising our helicopter to transport scientists to remote locations (they do not have helicopters here in the Galapagos). Everyone describing sightings with the energy and excitement of children.

Myself, I have walked on the beach with giant Iguanas and blue footed boobies, colourful crabs and sea birds of all kinds. I have swam with sea lions and dived amongst a school of 20 plus sharks, I have snorkeled in between communities of turtles too many to count, the millions of bright fish up staged by the floating reptiles. We have seen penguins and a killer whale. This morning before work a few of us went back only 100m from where the boat is anchored, to snorkel again with the turtles. What a great start to any day.

There is so much involved in a Galapagos experience. It touches everyone. We are thrilled and privileged to be here and I am enjoying every minute. Long hours of work pass effortlessly between snatched excursions of the most exciting and unique kind.

Thursday 23rd April

The passage to Galapagos continues still. Not that arriving will make any difference actually! The common misconception at home is that we go to these wonderful places for our selves but we are
all at work and for us the arrival will coincide with a shifting of gears, fuelling, provisions and preparing of the boat for guests.
Cleaning and polishing, preparing boats and equipment outside, un-stowing the accommodation side of things inside and making our battened down ship into a floating hotel of the highest luxury. We are here for our guests and the long days working will continue until the guests depart, when hopefully but not guaranteed, there will be a chance to get a day off before being deployed to an as yet, unknown destination for the process to continue in that place.

Wednesday 22nd April
The pictures above are taken around sunrise this morning. An eyrie calm descended over the equatorial Pacific., We have found what we were looking for! The calm seas and balmy weather of the doldrums, so now we are making excellent progress eastwards and our voyage will be over by the weekend.
The sea was so calm this morning, it was a deep rich, effervescent blue that cast a perfect reflection of the bow.
As the passage nears conclusion I look back over the days out here with some fondness. Such wonders we have seen. The rainbow cast by the moon! A meteorite crashing through the earth’s atmosphere, dolphins swimming in the bow, phosphorescence glowing and sparkling like fireworks in the bow wave. Star lit nights that spangle the sky with no light pollution to hinder their magnificence . Sun rises and sun sets, more in two weeks than many see or take time to notice in a year.
Our minds and energies shift now, from getting there to preparing everything for the actual destination.
I just wonder if they will sell tea bags in Galapagos?.

Eh up. there's now't in me cup!

To the amazement of the rest of the crew, two Yorkshire men and a guy from Sussex were today seen rummaging around like mad men, in the dry stores on board. This can not be true! How have we allowed this to happen?
The PG Tips have run out and we are still 5 days from land.

Earlier today

What was that? Wow!!

Karen had just delivered a hot cup off coffee to me on the bridge. It was about 9:30, The dark night had closed in around the bridge with the glow from the radars and other instruments, the only form of light. We could be the only people in a million square miles of this Pacific wilderness. We are well over a thousand miles away, in any direction to the nearest land and well away from normal shipping lanes. We have not seen a ship in 10 days of sailing.

Seeing a shooting star is normal and not even worth mentioning to the person sharing the bridge watch with you. These sightings are frequent and are usually such fleeting moments caught in peripheral vision. Last nights sighting was a special one! At first a shooting light across the sky bright green in colour and then as it hit the earths atmosphere is flared bright with a long green tale following it. I am sure that something made it through the atmosphere, a meteorite crashing to earth in the middle of a massive ocean watched only by me and Karen who could not believe our eyes ,pleased to share the experience. Only 5 or 6 seconds out of a 4 hour night watch but it made our day.

Port Hole

This port hole is about 30cms from my head when I lay in my bunk. In these weather conditions the 'washing machine' is on constantly but the blue colour of the water is amazing and this sideways view looks like the planet earth from space or a shot taken by a surfer appearing from a tubing wave.

Marathon Invites continue to be avoided

As the leader of the Sussex Men's Fitness League (div 2) I am willing to believe that it will be possible again in the future to run a marathon. At present however, I am not fit enough! With this fact in mind you would be surprised at the number of Marathon invites I have to side step.

A group of friends ( SMFL Div 1) are off, very soon to run in Prague and another friend was disappointed that I will not be a starter with him in Berg, where ever in Europe that may be?

Today a sensible and very funny friend of mine sent me a link to one of his spoof news articles that he writes as a hobby. Maybe I will get to enter a marathon this year! As an obese chariot riding participant...http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i51205

Sunday 19th April

The mood has lightened on board as the half way point of our journey was achieved during yesterday. The extensive media server that we have on board has been searched for programs on the Galapagos and we have had our fill of David Attenborough describing the wonders of the place and of Darwin, the voyages and discoveries of the 'Beagle' etc.
Excitement of the destination, a brightening of the weather and of the crew spirits is noticeable. Sundays have a slightly different routine about them too, which is one small thing.
Today's fire drill livened things up a bit too. Mostly because it also breaks routine and raises peoples heart rate a bit. Not mine though! because I was the one who set the alarm off. I tried in vein this morning, to raise my heart rate by using the boats gym and can feel my standing in the Sussex men's fitness league slipping yet further. I don't believe however, that I continue to be alone in division two of that league.... You know who you are....

Friday 17th April - Groundhog Day

Routines are in motion, the ocean is determined to slow us down and the TTG (time to go) component on the GPS unit is still indicating over 10 days to go.
We have come further north so that we might find the balmy doldrums of the equatorial region and make better headway away from the easerly trades that we have been fighting to date but instead of calm, this evening it is anything but and we are actually in the middle of some very squally and generally disagreable conditions.
As we do progress slowly east we have to adjust the clocks on board for each time zone that we pass. Today we have advanced one more hour, it is no big deal but just as you get settled to the routine you loose an hours sleep and then again in a few days and one more time after that. I think it is a slow form or torture but we must all like it somehow because here we are still going this way and that over these vast oceans.
The film that was playing in the crew mess this afternoon was 'Mutiny on the Bounty' There is a clear theme running here! We have today past the point of no return and are no longer able to divert to Hawaii. One of the crew had met a girl there on one of our previous visits and was looking forward to returning. He is clearly out of luck but the adventure continues, I hear also that there is an abundance of great boobies to be seen in the Galapagos.