#6. FALKEN | Galapagos to Marquesas | Day before Departure
Monday, April 7, 2025 | 0930 Ship's Time | Anchored off San Cristobal, Galapagos
T-minus six-and-a-half hours and counting until departure. As I write from FALKEN's nav station, Emily is on deck briefing the crew on MOB protocols. Point #1 - stay on the 'effing boat! She'll do a live MOB recovery demo shortly, and being that the water is so warm and calm, we'll do one with a live 'casualty' instead of with the MOB dummy. It's remarkable how difficult it is to recover someone up the high sides of a boat as big as FALKEN, even at anchor. That's not to mention the act of turning the boat around to pick them up...stay on the effing boat indeed.
The Galapagos! Honestly it never really occurred to me that I'd ever visit these 'enchanted' islands, and even in the lead-up to my flight here, I was more anxious about leaving Axel and Mia for 7 weeks than I was excited about visiting these far-off exotic lands. You must be SO excited for the upcoming Pacific crossing! people exclaimed to me. Actually, I'm more sad to be leaving home, I'd reply.
Of course, once in the car and on the way to the airport, the excitement kicked in. That's kind of how it has to be in this dual-life that Mia & I live. You have to stay present as long as possible in each life in order to properly live it. Had I been thinking ahead too much, it would have been harder to enjoy the spring days in Sweden with Axel driving his Jeep around the back yard and jumping on the trampoline.
I met my dad, who's on this passage as crew, at Newark airport, and together we drove his rented car the hour or so over to JFK, where our flight to Guayacil, Ecudaor was set to depart at 0200. Yikes. We got a room for a few hours at the fantastic TWA Hotel at the JFK terminal (look it up - the hotel is in the original TWA terminal from the 1960s, and the entire place is an exercise in fantastic branding. Every detail down to the buttons in the elevator is thought out to make you feel like you're in the 1960s. They even have a real DC-10 airplane parked outside the terminal windows that they've turned into a bar. Dad and I had a bourbon there, then went to sleep).
After breakfast at Guayacil, we boarded the last flight to San Cristobal, and managed to sleep on that one too, and just like that, we were in the Galapagos. It feels like cheating when you arrive at a far-flung island like this by airplane. So much cooler to sail in and "earn it." Not to mention the surreal way that time bends on long-haul international flights. How can it be that in 36 hours I went from my house in Sweden at 59º north latitude, to south of the equator on one of the world's most iconic and remote archipelagos? If you don't think time travel exists, think again.
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The Galapagos remind me of Svalbard. Hear me out - here's a group of remote, exotic islands, a heavily protected environment and an abundance of rare wildlife that you can only see in these specific places. That they are separated by 80º of latitude is only a minor detail. Where the walrus' and polar bears preside over the icy landscape up north, the sea lions, blue-footed boobies and giant tortoises dot the landscape down here. The sea lions are particularly entertaining - here in San Cristobal they own the waterfront, sleeping on park benches, occupying the transoms of boats who didn't put up enough fender defenses, and barking at anyone who comes too close. I was swimming with them off the stern of FALKEN yesterday. On land their fat and lazy, not unlike the Svalbard walrus, but in the water they're playful and graceful, very curious and rather friendly.
Two days ago, our only real chance to be tourists here while we prep FALKEN for a 3,000+ mile passage, my dad, Emily and I hired a local guide and took a taxi up and over the mountain to see the giant tortoises. They exist in nature in only two places on earth - here and on a small archipelago in the Seychelles, in the Indian ocean, the only two places where tortoises have no natural predators and are able to grow so big because they have no competition for food. We chucked bikes in the back of the pickup truck taxi and cycled from the top of the mountain a half-hour or so down into town, enjoying expansive views of the ocean and neighboring islands as we descended.
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And later today we depart! After lunch ashore, we'll meet our agent and the Galapagos officials who will stamp our passports, escort us out to FALKEN for a last final inspection (ostebsibly to make sure we're not smuggling any wildlife out of here), and once cleared out, we'll be asked to leave immediately. We aim to get under way before dark tonight and have dinner onboard once the anchor is up and the sails are set. As the Galapagos straddle the equator, we're in the middle of the doldrums and don't expect any wind for the first 48 hours at sea. So the plan is to motor north and around Isabela so that we can cross the equator (to say we did it!), and point the bow due south in search of the southeast trade winds.
Bound towards the Marquesas.
HOLD FAST
- Andy
ps. If you are reading the blogs, please write some comments in the section below and we’ll send it over to the crew to read, I am sure they will love it :)
- Mia (shore support on Leg 6, Galapagos to Marquesas)
