<h2>There's are cards in the post......</h2>
       <h3>News since 
          Panama, that's where the article I wrote for the Gybe sheet came from. </h3>
        <p>Well we left 
          Panama with 6 people on board, 2 English 2 Swedish 1 Assize and a yank. 
          We then sailed to Galapagos, or tried too. Well the wind was light and 
          the current was against us.... And the Engine died. More precisely the 
          greasers on the prop shaft failed and the added friction on the prop 
          shaft caused the clutch to slip.</p>
        <p> So it took 
          23 days to get there, we spent a week and a half floating backwards 
          and forwards in amongst the islands... We had exactly the same view 
          for 3 days. Abba the cat, a stray kitten we acquired very young in Panama, 
          didn't seem to mind and Me and Börje had a crate of litter bottles of 
          "Ron Cortez" some appalling (but 40%) Panamanian swill. In an attempt 
          to make the boat go faster we heroically drank the lot and 3 crates 
          of beer.</p>
       <p> <img src="content/pic/trip1/neptune.jpg" alt="Neptune Visites on the Equator (Neptune.jpg)" align="right">
           The 
              equator runs amongst the Islands of the Galapagos, as we passed 
              it the Bottle of Ron Magellan given too us by a customs agent and 
              mechanic in Columbia for just this purpose, Neptune then Rose from 
              the depths of the Engine room (presumably he got in through the 
              leaky cooling pipes on the engine). On the other hand it might not 
              have been Neptune, it could have been the Skipper with a mop head 
              over his fact and Beribboned T-shirt & Jeans. Neptune and his assistant 
              (B******d) anointed us all with a freshly scooped bucket of Pacific 
              Ocean. What a perfect occasion this would have been for a video 
              camera.... Unfortunately I didn't get round to fixing the skippers 
              broken one for 3 more days, by which time we had floated back over 
              the equator again.</P>
          
        <p>We eventually 
          arrived in Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz, Galapagos Ecuador, and heroically 
          struggled manfully with the Dinghy (which will only stay pumped up for 
          about 3 minutes) and went to the Pub. Roz (Auzzie) who was not used 
          to boats, especially for 3 weeks, found that the ground seemed to be 
          moving around quite a lot. The beer was cheap the food good and cheap 
          and a great time was had by all, clambering down lava tubes, visiting 
          the giant turtles/tortoises. I never did work out which. However the 
          skipper was tired after an energetic morning chasing turtles with a 
          top speed of .5MPH so he decided to sit down, the environmentalists 
          amongst you will be horrified to hear that he actually sat on a tortoise/turtle.
        <p> 
        <p> The other Englishman 
          was forced to fly back to Blighty, to take his family on holiday...... 
          Oh what a life, 3.5 Months on Örnen then go home for a holiday. The five of us who remained headed for the 
          Marquesas, at warp speed, it only took us 25.5 days to get there, a 
          distance of 3050Nm the trip to Galapagos was only be about 850!!!</p>
        <hr>
        THE GALAPAGOS SONG by Roslyn 
        Woowar (Woodward) <br>
To the Tune of "Everybody's Talking at Me" <br>
<br>
<img src="content/pic/trip1/turtlerider.jpg" alt="tom on a turtle. turtlerider.jpg" align="right">Coastguard's looking at us, <br>
Wondering what the hell were doin', <br>
Ever morning wake up Knowin', <br>
We aint made it nowhere, <br>
Just back and forth and in a straight line, <br>
We're goin' where the winds are blowin'<br>
Round and round with map in hand, <br>
"Oh Tom" they say "When are we Goin' to see those turtles walk the land",<br>
Together on Örnen we'll keep afloatin', <br>
Headin' to Galapagos that's our plan. <br>
"Oh Tom, How much further",<br>
For the crew of Örnen </a> that's their 
        chant. <br>
        <hr>
        <p>We arrived, 
          with a grown up cat, equipped with only the highest quality Black volcanic 
          cat sand, in Hiva Oa, the most expensive place on earth, breathtakingly 
          beautiful, but definitely look but don't touch. We went for a walk it 
          was all we could afford. We legged it off to Tahiti ASAP, none of can 
          afford a place that does beer at $5.5us a beer and washing up liquid 
          at $12.</p>
        <p> We stopped 
          at Apataki atoll to do some repairs, precision readjustment of the clutch 
          with a 3lb lump hammer and a 3foot crowbar. It works now! Thanks to 
          my skilful application of brute force and Ignorance.</p>
        <p> Apataki was 
          so beautiful that I sat on the cross trees and videoed our departure, 
          with tide rips fish traps sun and palm trees. We arrived at Tahiti, 
          and couldn't check in properly because the Customs and Immigration keep 
          hours where by Customs closes before Immigration opens and you have 
          to go to Immigration first! Idiots, in he end we didn't bother. Tahitian 
          people were great, but the bureaucrats and French have ruined it, my 
          advice skip French Polynesia (or only go there to band the bomb demos) 
          head straight for Raratonga, Cook Islands, they know the Rugby scores, 
          the harbour master comes to you to check you in, the Islands is beautiful, 
          English speaking and very friendly. The beer is better and half the 
          price. Mopeds are reasonably priced and they give you Cook Islands driving 
          licences for them even if your English one doesn't let you drive motor 
          bikes. Happy hour tonight then of we go again to Tonga, Oh and In case 
          your curious I only fell off the Moped once. I hear even graham is asking 
          about me, I assume the bar profits are down.</p>
  
          <p>I'm about 20 Degrees south 
            Latitude, in the depths of winter... Not that I mind too much. Happy 
            Hamster Hunting, don't get crushed and mashed. Tom </p>