Friday, February 15, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today we reluctantly left the Archipelago de Las Perlas to give them their correct name. Over one hundred islands, mostly small and uninhabited, others with air strips and great hotels and restaurants. Most with fantastic, dreamy beaches. The tidal range here in the Pacific Ocean is about 7 meters, compared with less than one meter in the western Atlantic/ Caribbean so the beaches are long and beautiful soft sand, fringed with both Coconut Palm and Deciduous trees. Gentle freshwater streams meander down the long sand making fantastic patterns with the separation of the intensely black volcanic and golden sand colours. Some beaches have low cliffs with freshwater waterfalls falling right onto the beach and orgasmic sailors! Bounty TV advertising - eat your heart out!

Couple this with clear, intensely blue skies, warm sunshine and cooling breezes and you have a cocktail for heaven! I am sure you can see why we were reluctant to leave - but we have greater delights and new experiences ahead - so sail on!

The wind is light and we are now about 30 miles from Las Perlas Islands with 650 mile to go to our next landfall in Equador. Progress is slow so we are motor sailing but will pick up better winds before nightfall in two hours time so we will be sailing through the night - a night sure to be absolutely full of stars, brighter than you could possibly imagine, and with the added bonus of the rise and fall of the inspiring Southern Cross star group.

We have multi-spotted dolphins on the bow, a brief glimpse of a whale making a huge splash, and a stowaway bird on Sallyannes's seat, feeling so relaxed with the calm and beautiful scene, so much so that even the bird is yawning! He has clearly seen it all before and looks down casually, ever so often, at the prancing and leaping dolphins.

Capt Peter 

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