Here's a message from someone who was recently on an inter-island ferry in Galapagos. These are fast boats that provide a very nice ride when the seas are calm, but turn into a very rough ride when they are not. He responds to a picture posted in a FaceBook group, showing a half-dozen people huddled in the back of one of those speedboat ferries, next to the three big outboard engines:
𝑌𝑒𝑎ℎ, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑖𝑐 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡-𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑇𝑖𝑝: 𝐷𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒. 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑠. 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 3-4 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 (𝑖𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 + 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡).
𝑊𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐼𝑠𝑎𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎 𝐶𝑟𝑢𝑧 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎 𝐹𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑎𝑛 𝐶𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑠𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎 𝐹𝑒. 12 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑡𝑠! 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑒 - 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 20 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑠𝑜 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑖𝑡.
𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝐼𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑟.
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝐷𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ (17 June 2022)
Warmest regards,
Heather Blenkiron
