South America
Moving Inland to Burra
Over the last couple of days, we have explored most of the flat agricultural area of the Yorke Peninsula. Today, we moved through some more undulating country which is more focused on grazing rather than grain cropping. In a previous post I mentioned that most of the land on the peninsula is used for growing […]
Read More
We Have Made it to Port Augusta
Tonight, we are back in the big smoke, or at least as big as is Port Augusta at the head of the Spencer Gulf. It’s large enough to have at least two supermarkets and a car wash – the largest town we have seen in five days. Last night, our final one in the Flinders […]
Read More
Back to the Silo Art Trail
The Covid-19 virus is impacting the lives of everyone in Victoria and Australia. We had planned a trip to Tasmania this week but we weren’t quite comfortable enough to head off to an island state where if anything serious happened, we could be stuck for a few weeks and unable to get home. We don’t […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More