Preparations for Galapagos

16 April 2024

Preparations for Galapagos

Last week, we bid farewell to our guests in Puerto Lucía and began preparing for our sailing voyage to the Galapagos Islands. This volcanic archipelago is located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 500 nautical miles west of Ecuador. The Galapagos Islands are renowned for the large number of endemic species that inhabit them. Around 1830, Charles Darwin studied many different species here during his visit to the Galapagos archipelago, leading towards his iconic theory of evolution. Today, the entire archipelago is a protected national park and marine reserve.

The Galapagos Islands are extremely unique and one cannot ‘just’ sail there. Conservationists and the local authorities do everything possible to prevent non-endemic animal or plant species from reaching the island group, so we must prepare well for our visit. For example, we are not allowed to bring many different types of vegetables and fruit, as they may contain insects. Beef and pork are also prohibited.

Also, the hull of the ship has been cleared of all algae and ship-borne organisms. In half a day, four divers swam under our ship to manually remove all growth. To ensure that no insects or pests ‘hitchhike’ with us to the Galapagos Islands, the entire ship has been fumigated. In the photo, you can see the smoke rising from our crew quarters. All preparations have been completed and with the new guest crew on board, we have set sail for a promising sailing voyage to the iconic Galapagos Islands!

Jan-Willem