Probably the last update for a while.  Galapagos has been great, definitely worth the stop!  You can only anchor in one spot, well you have your choice of two islands, Santa Cruz or San Cristobal, but you have to choose one and stay there, for no more than 20 days.  The winds seem to be diminishing over the weekend and into next week so my escape plan is to leave tonight or Friday Morning depending on what time I get my Zarpe (check out clearance) and get back to the boat.   To sum up the time here… There has been the normal good bit of partying with friends, a ferry trip to Santa Cruz and Isla Isabella since Salsa isn’t allowed to leave San Cristobal.  There we (group of friends) went horseback riding up to a huge volcanic crater, saw pink flamingos, TONS of marine iguanas, HUGE turtles, and much much more.  Once back here in San Cristobal we went on the best tour of all, simply  a boat ride out to a big rock just off shore where we swam with many sharks, yeah it’s a bit scary but its way too cool.  Then on the way back we stopped at another small island and swam with friendly sea lions, I don’t think they are ALL friendly, but the small ones we met were.  I could write a lot more on the Galapagos, and maybe I will but for now I’m going to go check to see if my Zarpe is ready yet and possibly get going!   If I leave tonight there will be no more updates for a month other than the position updates but they may even stop at some point since the spot-check tracker has a dead spot in the middle of the Pacific, but Ill keep sending them just in case they get out.  Talk to y’all soon! –Kirk

FINALLY in Wreck Bas, San Cristobal Island, GALAPAGOS! Here is the summary for the trip. I was underway for almost exactly 10 days, (11 days if you count the last morning), my route took about 900 miles so averaged 90 miles per day, I used 22 Gallons of diesel and motored a total of three days, (72 hours) at an average speed under motor of 3.5kts. Caught three fish not counting ones that got away plus two birds (go figure) one drowned and the other one I was able to get off the lure. Lost one lure and broke two. Saw about 5 fishing boats, one was only 80 miles or so from Galapagos, and he stopped by to try to sell me some fish (I still had plenty but I gave them a few beers just for fun). I saw at least for or 5 fishing nets, or at least their buoys. I’m sure there was over 50 sail changes, or at least 50 sail configuration changes. I certainly sailed and motor sailed from almost every point of sail, upwind, downwind, beam reach, the winds were light and variable almost the entire time after the first two days. Overall no problems or failures, everything is in good shape!

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