Month: October 2017
Valparaiso – My Final Day in South America
In many ways, I made a fortuitous decision to take a day tour to the port city of Valparaiso when I stayed over in Santiago for a final day on my way home from the Galapagos islands. I’m going back a week, or so, in time with this post but a lot has happened over […]
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A Review of My Time on the MV Daphne – Galapagos Islands
The Daphne is a mid-range Motor Yacht. She is owned by an Ecuadorian family and leased to Intrepid Tours who market cruises of various lengths around the Galapagos Archipelago.The trip on which I travelled was the ‘Ultimate Galapagos Cruise. The boat’s schedule is regulated and agreed with the National Parks Service so as to avoid […]
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Galapagos – 8
This was the final morning of our Galapagos Cruise on the MV Daphne. We had an early start with breakfast at 5.00 am and then we and our bags went ashore in zodiacs at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. This is the biggest town in the Galapagos with a population of about 12,000 people. […]
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Galapagos – 7
It’s been a very easy today physically. We again, had a rough night of sailing so that we were in position at Dragon Bay on Santa Cruz Island in the morning. Travelling around each of the islands is generally quite smooth. However, It can get rather rough when cruising between the islands. Fortunately, our trip […]
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Galapagos – 6
Last night, we had eight hours of navigation in open water. It was very rough and choppy and the Daphne was tossed around a lot. It was difficult to sleep. Eventually we arrived at Puerto Vallamil in the south of Isabela Island at about 5.00 am. I think I slept the most soundly for the […]
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Galapagos – 5
It was overcast and cool when had breakfast but the cloud had burnt off by mid morning and it was much warmer. We seem to have eggs in one form or another every morning along with cereal, toast and fresh fruit. This morning. It was fried eggs and bacon. Yesterday it was an omelet with […]
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Galapagos – 4
After a few hours of rough seas last night, we found ourselves anchored this morning in Tagus Cove at Isabela Island One of the youngest islands, Isabela is located on the western edge of the archipelago near the Galápagos hotspot. Because it is the newest island, this is also the highest island in the Galapos […]
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Galapagos – 3
This is my third day in the Galapagos and it’s been another good one. It was fairly hot today. I think the weather was forecast to be around 22C but it felt much hotter. There was little cloud and the sun was strong. Overnight, our boat repositioned to Santiago Island and I woke up at […]
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Galapagos – 2
Our second day (Wednesday) on the Motor Yacht Daphne followed the standard timetable of our days on board. Breakfast was at 7.00 am and it consisted of eggs, bread, cheese and ham and some fresh fruit. Lunch was at 1.00 pm and we had spinach soup, baked fish in a creamy sauce with fresh fruit […]
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Galapagos – 1
(I was intending to upload a post each day that I was cruising around the Galapagos Islands on the MV Daphne using my satellite phone. However, a setting in my web site’s internals would not cooperate and I was unable to upload posts directly from the boat. The disadvantage of this is that I now have […]
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Quito
Quito is a bustling city that in many ways reminds me of Lisbon in Portugal. Both are strong Catholic cities with steep hills and narrow streets. I think Quito is in a better state of repair. It is situated in a valley in the northern Andes that is about 5 km wide and 57 km […]
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Two Days in the Cloud Forest
I’ve just returned from spending two days in the cloud forest at Bellavista Lodge, high up above the Tandayapa Valley, 85 kilometres to the North East of Quito. I left Quito at 6.30 am yesterday and travelled for about two hours to reach the lodge. It is set in eight square kilometres of steep-sided sub-tropical […]
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