Back to SY SEGWUN: Provisioning and a Few Surprises

After a short hiatus we are all back to the boat and are preparing for our onward journey. Anna and Christian are back from their adventures having travelled much the same route as us through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, but with some very different experiences. They travel backpacker class whereas we travel poor tourist class / rich backpacker class. And I am happy to say they are a little more adventurous than we are. Example: six days hiking through the jungle. Yes, hiking as in slashing your way through, sleeping in lean - to's, etc. It's always fun when we get back together and share our stories. Christian and Anna are working on some new videos and when they get posted, I'll be sure to share the link.

As for us, you have already read about our land trips the last few months. After our Colca Canyon trek, we made a quick decision to fly to Canada for a visit. My Dad had been I'll in hospital and although he was on the mend, it got me feeling very homesick and I just needed to get back for a bit. So we cleaned out my Aeroplan miles account and flew from Arequipa to Toronto via Lima and Houston. Our timing was such that we ran into the winter storm that hit the East Coast on Friday and we experienced the flight cancellations and delays. Because it was a last minute booking on points, Jens and I were on different flights from Houston. His flight was ok, mine was cancelled; so after standing by overnight I finally limped home on Saturday morning.

We had some really nice visits and got to see most of the family. But the time was just too short to see everyone. I made a quick trip up to the cottage for a look see. Everything is fine there, lots of nice white snow making it look like a winter wonderland.

And after enjoying some -10 degrees weather, we are back to hot and humid +30 degrees. Jens arrived to a couple of bad surprises. The boat batteries were fried. I can't give you the technical explanation of how or why it happened but suffice it to say, new batteries were ordered and installed (~$800.00). And lo and behold, it seems the MacBook Pro is not a pro at sailing. We had left it behind, safely stowed and tucked away while we were off touring. Only to get back and find that once again we have problems. This time it just refuses to start. Even with a new power adapter ($85.00), there is no life in that baby. I spent a day researching on the internet and joining chat groups hoping for a solution, all to no avail. Thank heavens for my reliable first generation iPad. I guess it will have to step up one more time and do all the work.

The Captain's list is now completed. The bottom of the boat is cleaned, the hull is polished, the fuel tanks are full and the fridge and freezer are almost full. We'll make one more trip to the grocery store today and then we are ready to go.

We will leave Saturday morning making our way across the Pacific to the Galapagos Islands, about 600 nautical miles. We have our paperwork in hand (no small feat there as we have been organizing our cruising permit for Galapagos since last October) and are all excited about what we will find when we get there.