We had no idea of the splender we were about to see. Of course we had to negotiate our way past quite a few anchored and moving cargo ships awaiting to use the canal, but then the sea was before us. There was not a breath of wind so it was unfortunately a six hour motor to the first sighting of the islands.
A clue that we were getting close, was the steep increase of birdlife flying around. The first island we considered anchoring near, was considered a rockery for thousands of birds mainly brown pelicans, frigates and cormorants. They were everywhere and as we scoped out an area to anchor I could see many pelicans enjoying a bath on some rocks.
As it turned out, the tide was coming in and we were feeling uneasy about anchoring the strong current that was travelling underneath the boat where we wanted to anchor. So we moved on the next island of appeal. They are 255 islands here, so plenty to choose from.
I have taken pictures and video of us arriving to the Pearl Islands but unfortunately, that's on the video camera - of which I'm yet to download. Will tackle that another day.
Unfortunately, some of the stuff arrived on time, however the crucial elements of the pole and track were yet to arrive. So our stay in Las Perlas was to be a bit longer. This also meant however that we had to delay leving for the Galapagos and that with flights already booked, Mar and Par would no longer be coming with us on this leg of the journey.
So we decided to make the most of what time we had together. We spent one morning capturing the boat with full sails out - not an easy feat and I take my hat off to all sports photographers! Of course, I was only taking the pics, Chris was driving the dinghy and Joel may have had a harder task having to do everything himself on board the boat. We pulled it off and hope you enjoy the photos.
The girls' Aunty Hayley had gone to a lot of trouble sending Pirate themed paraphernalia to help us celebrate and Mar had also added to the loot with parrots, puppets and all sorts. All I had to do was make a cake! The girls and the men went to the beach which gave us plenty of time to turn the saloon into a swash-buckling venue! Needless to say to the girls were thrilled when they returned to see the place had been invaded by pirates who left some treasure for them to find! Enjoy!