We left Las Perlas Islands Monday 19th Feb nicely rested and well prepared for our 5 day trip across the equator line onto San Cristobal in the Galapagos. It was only moments into moving when we caught sight of activity on the water and knew this could be the perfect moment to catch our first fish of the season. Family have all teased me about being lucky when it comes to fishing, hence dad has named me "The Great White Hunter". There is something so fun about catching a fish and it was great fun watching our skipper bleed, clean & fillet our tuna. I learnt from Miguel " Papi" (by nickname) that in order to eat a fish in its perfect state and at it's healthiest one should freeze it for a couple of days to kill any parasites that the fish may have, especially if enjoyed raw.
We had chosen a great day to set sail, offering the ideal wind to christen out our new sail. An easy furling gennaker, we had designed ourselves and chosen specifically for down wind sailing, since we knew we would be having much of this in the Pacific Ocean.
This was the first time sailing yacht Axonite, Marc or myself had sailed the Pacific Ocean. Apparently named "Pacifico" by the Portuguese for its calm waters. I was delighted to finally discover this ocean - especially after cooking onboard for almost 10 years as a super yacht chef from my mid 20s to 30s and never able to land a pacific position, as it was so rare to find at the time. This trip was my faith!! And I now knew that the universe was working in sync with my deepest wishes... how lucky am I :)))
`Definitely the highlight of this leg was crossing the equator!!!
Although I had crossed the equator once before when I was crew on super yachts, and all I remember was slowing the boat down to swim across the equator line, nothing quite compared to our ad hoc super fun response onboard this time. Fancy dress has always been a thing I have loved from a child and so building a good fancy dress collection onboard has been something I have taken very seriously. Coincidentally last year as part of the Heineken Regatta (March 2023) in St Maartens we won the bridge dress up show and this time round we were planning to go for no less!! We obviously won the World ARC equator prize for our efforts, which we later celebrated as part of the prize giving in Santa Cruz Galapagos along with other prizes our rally mates collected too.
Crossing the equator all happened on the 23rd February, 4 days into our trip. With very little time for preparations; Marc definitely put on the perfect persona of Neptune. Robert, who had baked an apple tart with salty butter and our skipper Papi and myself all took on our roles as Neptunes helpers or crew members in our own very unique way.
After only a very short history on the line crossing ceremony, certificates printed, dusk nearing and only 20 mins to cross the equator line, the fishing reel goes off. What fun :) No time for rehearsal now! Allowing a lot more liberty and freedom of antics in so many ways. From the boys reading their part, to Marc as Neptune handing out certificates and smothering us full of salty apple tart, made for a great video. Which we later had to share with the ARC yellow shirts to form a part of the prize-giving ceremony in Santa Cruz. Our 5 day leg to San Cristobal in the Galapagos passed very fast thanks to the great wind we had and the pure excitement to finally join the rest of the rally, getting to visit such extraordinary locations and just so much to look forward to. The skies on the way were definitely very expressive and colours very vibrant, based on the clarity in the air.
It was now time to to get off board, check in with the yellow shirts and have lunch on land, followed by a wander along the board walk to the nearest beach. Unfortunately we found the town quite dull and touristy, the beach so overcrowded and the highlight was definitely watching the sea lions basking away in the sun. Reminding me so much of my family members - in the best possible way of course :))
The sweetest thing I saw on my first day in Galapagos was this gorgeous video Robert took, I would like to share with you of these sea lions playing and kissing. Such beautifully humane creatures I enjoyed to watch them as often as I could as they made me really smile :).
While the others were resting later that day I sat on deck and painted the bay from the fore deck. The light was changing so fast, i found it quite challenging but really enjoyed absorbing myself in this new landscape from the sea. The bright colours especially!!
With plans to move to the next island Isla Isabela the following day, we were up early getting the boat prepared before heading for lunch to a nice place on the water called the "Post Office", Here Marc and I shared a delicious scorpion fish presented in such a unique style sitting up as they had deep fried it, therefore allowing it to hold it's shape.
Once lunch was over we decided to take a taxi drive to Porto Chino on the east coast 40 minutes away. The drive through the island was interesting and immediately noticed the vegetation was thick and shrubby. No high trees at all and very few inhabitants. As we arrived we had a short 10 minute walk to the beach. The beach had wonderfully light blue seas and white sand. Rather heavenly and just the perfect place for a dip before leaving.
That night we left San Cristobal for Isabela at sunset by motor and kept motoring throughout the night in order to arrive in time to Isla Isabela for our excursion "Paddling with the Penguins" at 10 am. This excursion was terrific thanks to our animated guide Ricardo who was so well informed and good fun. As we kayaked around we were able to see a lot of the wild life, water iguanas, pelicans feeding and the most loveliest tiny penguins.
We learnt from our guide Ricardo, penguins are not endemic to the region and every year the penguin world here in the Galapagos is dwindling to such an extent that there may not be any penguins left here in the next 20 years. This was very sad to hear! 
Being Robert's last night with us we all wanted to have a lovely evening. We had had an invite to join the rest of our rally mates at the Pink Iguana, which became the meeting place for so many nights to follow. One can't beat happy hour right on the beach! Uhh such a carefree feeling and so unforgettable.
After seeing Robert off very early the next morning we headed out to hire bicycles as we wanted to cycle along the beach into the National Park towards the "Muro de la Lagrimas". A sad story as it is said to have been the cause of thousands of deaths of prisoners sent on exile to the island to repent.
At the top of the climb we met our rally friends, Sam & Clemie, who made it all the more fun meeting all the way up there. The view from above was one of the most expansive views I have ever seen. Such a feeling of beauty and freedom all in one!!
We enjoyed our day so much that we decided to rent bikes again the following day and cycle to the end of the beach just to have a lazy day before heading off to Santa Cruz that same evening at midnight to get us into Santa Cruz the following day at 9 am.
We were all looking forward to getting on land and meeting our rally mates for Happy Hour at the Rock Cafe but before that we wanted to take our laundry, look into diving options and to meet our family friend & artist Sarah Darling at her gallery on the main street, Gallery Angelique
Sarah is originally from the Cotswold's in England and studied art in Florence and the Chelsea Art School. She attended a residency in the Galapagos in 1989 where she met Franklin, a local gentleman, and sailed his 90 foot Brigantine Schooner Angelique to Galapagos in 1991. Here they did live aboard charters round the islands for a few years.
In 2001 Sarah felt it was time to move to land and set up her own gallery calling it after the schooner Angelique. She created the whole gallery herself by laying tiny mosaics and began painting views and animals of the Galapagos in her very beautiful Chagalesque/dreamy style. Sarah's unique style adding text to her paintings in order to give it that bit more meaning. Sarah has been very successful at marketing and selling her work offering a variety of merchandise for visitors to buy such as postcards, mirrors and painted silk cushions. She also likes to do commissions. Sarah enjoys to paint everyday while minding her gallery where she is able to welcome passers by into her world and what is more special than meeting the artist who has created the work! Sarah reminded me of when I had my gallery in the Hilton in Malta, Space Contemporary Art, almost 20 years ago already.
Our weekend in Santa Cruz was spent roaming around the town where we found a wonderful ceramic garden, had a delicious lunch at Al Mar, a great restaurant right on the waterfront and visiting the northern area. Particularly the island of Baltra where the airport was built in order to meet Ron our new crew member, arriving off his KLM flight from Amsterdam fully laded with spare parts for us.
The following week much of our time was spent getting the boat ready for one of our biggest crossings we were to have and therefore I needed to provision and prepare meals for those 3 weeks at sea. There was not much choice when it came to provisioning; the super market across the dock called Proinsular for dry foods and the Mercado Municipal for fresh produce. I was glad I had done the majority of provisioning before leaving Trindad and while in Panama City as I found it all quite challenging. Very little good meat and chicken to buy so I focused on fresh produce which was not as good as I had imagined. The majority of Mercado Municipal had stalls outside and was concerned that fruit and veg would not last me 3 weeks so I looked to find a stall inside with fridges and the least ripe fruit and vegetables available.
That morning Sarah had kindly offered me to go with her to her waterfront property in Franklin's Bay, where she rents out various properties on this one larger property to people wishing to absorb themselves in the uniqueness of the location, which I must say is brimming full of wild life.
It was great fun seeing more of Sarah's mosaic works and visiting the museum they had constructed full of whale bones and interesting family memorabilia.
Our time together was so special; swimming right off her jetty, talking about our work and discussing making murals. I realised this was definitely the perfect moment for me to talk about the mural project I am planning to do once I return home to Lisbon.
Sarah advised me not to paint on the wall but to create a mosaic as this would make it much more long lasting. This definitely made sense after seeing what she had done and how well it had kept. Thinking about it and the Portuguese history of wall tiles "azulejos", it gave me a whole new perspective on things. It was now time for me to research this method a whole lot more which I knew would open a new creative opportunity for me.
A long passage of 3,000 nautical miles plus, which actually could have taken a lot longer, are always about recuperating and regrouping between one adventure and the next. Apart from my daily duty of preparing delicious and nutritious lunches and dinners, much of my day is taken up by reading and painting.
Very in fitting with our destination to come and my interest in Gaugain's choice to live in the Pacific Ocean; I chose to read his manuscripts "Noa Noa" which means fragrant in French Polynesian. I am now looking forward to getting ahold of Gauguin's latest book on which has just been released this month all about his time spent in Polynesia.
Through this sky series I made I really enjoyed trying different techniques of wet on wet and sometimes even Japanese brush to end for a little direction. The variation of mood was starting to become apparent in my work now and therefore even tried a couple of night paintings.
Otherwise a lot happened over the 2 week stretch, beginning a day and a half late to flying past our rally mates and damaging both headsails in the process to then having to motor the rest. Our crew energy was excellent and I really enjoyed being part of this very special moment particularly when crossing half way mark!!! 
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