New Crew -San Cristobal - Galapagos –30 April 2024.
We had a bit of a lie in and had breakfast. We had to sort out provisioning etc today and Ian & Keith Watson were joining Stormbird today for the Marquesas leg.
We went ashore and Mark went for a haircut. Joyce and I got some money and went for a coffee. It was a lovely day but the town seemed quite quiet. We were waiting for the Watsons to arrive. Mark retuned looking very smart- I wondered whether he had a flight with a lawnmower!! No, it looked good.
Mark and I went off to do some provisioning and just bought all the nonperishable stuff. We had to go to a number of supermarkets as they are quite small and sometimes stock different things and the choice is not that great. We returned to meet Joyce and then the Watsons messaged saying they were on board Stormbird and sorting themselves out as they had not seen my message explaining where we were. They returned and joined us and we had a light lunch and caught up. Ian had also problems in Guayaquil and had to buy a return flight to get in. After lunch we then indulged them with an ice cream from our favourite parlour which we had started to call “the office” as we can always get Wi-Fi there.
Keith and Ian had arranged to go on a 360-degree tour, like the one we had done when we arrived and they needed to check in and get their wetsuits etc. We did this on the way back to the boat when we also picked up the 3 bags of washing and we all returned to Stormbird with the exception of Mark and Ian. Mark was trying to book flights from Tahiti and having trouble and Ian needed to use the Wifi.
I then received a message from Roger who was getting the fruit and veg for us and I messaged Mark and then he and Ian picked them up and returned to Stormbird. We then had to pack away many cabbages, eggs, lettuces, cucumbers, courgettes, potatoes, onions, oranges, lemons, apples and pears etc. Our nets hanging inside were straining with the quantities, but we managed to pack them away and stow everything. We are almost there with provisioning and we just have some perishable items to go.
We then had a rest, followed by a beer on the aft deck and an evening drink and decided to go ashore for supper as a fish restaurant recommended by Louis our guide on Stormbird and we had a good fish supper with Mark, Joyce and Keith having the Brujo fish.
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