Day 1

The day started at 5 am after 4 hours sleep.  The 35 minute AeroGal flight from Quito (the capital city) to Guayaquil (the port city) was scheduled to depart at 7 am. 

This morning's flight was the first in the series of races coming up ... Our captain was flying Lan; I was flying AeroGal; his flight was departing at 7:00 am; my flight was scheduled to depart at 6:50 am; his flight boarded first; my flight borded second; his flight arrived to Guayaquil 8 minutes before my flight!  We both arrived safe ...


From Guayaquil we took a car to Salinas, the Miami of Ecuador.

This is the view of Salinas from the apartment where we are staying ... have to have a bit of luxury before moving into the boat!


The drive to Salinas took about two hours, and as soon as we arrived, it was time for a traditional "ceviche" and a Cerveza ...

This is a Lobster Ceviche, and is prepared on site once ordered.

The rest of the afternoon was spend buying supplies for the boat.  The boat is docked at the Salinas Yacht club.

The Salinas Yacht Club (SYC) is located on the south-east point of Salinas, close to the tip of the Peninsula of Santa Elena.  We transferred the supplies into the boat and did some inor adjustments to the electronic equipment.

After a little rest the SYC will host an opening reception, where we will have the opportunity to meet most of the captains and crew of the 37 yachts registered for this event.  It will also set the stage for what will be a very competitive race!

Here is another good link... it is a "virtual" link.  When you click the logo for Copa Galapagos 2011 you will see "cartoon" boats that show the position of all the yachts while in route to Galapagos.