Full Crew -San Cristobal - Galapagos –1 May 2024.

Keith and Ian woke early as they were going on a day trip to Kicker Rock and other sights for the day. They got an early taxi ashore. Charles Robinson text early to say he was on the ferry from Santa Cruz and he was on board by about 10.30am. We showed him to his quarters and he unpacked and we caught up.

Mark and Joyce went ashore to do some other provisioning and I showed Charles around the boat inside and out from front to rear. There is a lot to show new people and they will learn quicky on the passage. However some knowledge and familiarity is important. Mark returned and we stowed the extra provisions and Joyce stayed ashore. We had a sandwich lunch on board and discussed the hull. We had noticed due to the nutrients in the water that the hull was beginning to look green so we thought we should do something about it. It is a bit annoying as we had cleaned it in the Las Perlas islands that was not that long ago. The issue is that when you are at anchor the hull is still and things can easily attach themselves. Mark and I decided that we should take a look so we donned our masks and snorkels and had a look. There was quite a lot of green growth so we set about rubbing it off as much as we could. This took us about an hour and a half but at least we had cleared off a lot of green but without tanks we could not get to the keel. As we were doing this we were visited by the odd sea lion coming to and from the shore to see what we were up to.

We had earned an ice cream, so we headed ashore to get the last provisions and we had an ice cream. The “office” was closed so we had to go to another one the front. This was pleasant and we sat and watched the world go by. We returned to Stormbird and the Watson brothers were back. They had a couple of great snorkels at Kicker Rock and saw Hammerhead Sharks and Rays and plenty of tropical fish. They had really enjoyed their day. We had a beer on the aft deck and went through the safety procedures in a civilised fashion. We now had our full crew for the Marquesas and we will leave tomorrow. We have to check out with Immigration in the morning and we then have a final inspection of the boat – not quite sure what they are inspecting but we will find out.

We got out of the freezer 6 steaks of Mahi Mahi that we had caught on the way from Santa Cruz. We had it with broccoli and squash and it was a fine last supper. We went through the final safety and communication procedures and made sure everyone was happy and comfortable.

We will set off for the Marquesas – which is in French Polynesia and I will explain more our passage tomorrow.

Crewing Opportunity

We are leaving shortly for the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and we will then move through to the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world.

Year Two

In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we head off to the Marquesas and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk