The Galapagos

Proteus has been in the Galapagos for about ten days now after a five day passage from las perlas. The crossing brought us three days of really good wind which propelled us along at a great rate then onto two days of motoring to arrive and be greeted by the sea lions in San cristobal. They are incredibly playful and curious and most mornings are to be found on the bathing platform at the stern of the boat or in people's dinghies if they are left in the water. We even had one in the cockpit of proteus one afternoon.
We have spent four days moving through the islands which is not normally permitted but we had a guide to show us the sights and some fantastic snorkelling including swimming with hammerhead, white tip and black tip sharks, sting rays, sea lions and all manner of different species of fish in 30 degree water. It has been a fantastic experience that has unfortunately concluded in Santa Cruz with more engine problems in the form of a failed engine gearbox oil cooler which is causing water to get into the oil. This would not normally be a problem but these parts are hard to come by here and the closest replacement is in Miami where I may shortly be if the engineers here can't fix ours. This is not great news considering the next leg is in the region of 3200 nautical miles and will almost certainly involve using the engine a lot