We first met Anna and Ben in 2010 on a yacht sailing around the Galapagos Islands. We were footloose in South America when the volcano erupted in Iceland which meant all flights were cancelled. Yacht owners were desperate to fill their boats and so we struck lucky and got a luxury trip for a bargain price. My memory is ten guests and fourteen staff. Each day we had breakfast and then our guide would outline the day which was usually swim, walk, refreshments (repeat) - swim, walk, refreshments (repeat) He would list the animals we would see and we would have a wet or dry landing! Of course my wet landing was wetter than everyone elses because they all had longer legs!!!!
It was fantastic! Every island was so different with different flora and fauna and always something quirky. Like Floreana Island which was a favourite supply post for whalers in the 18th century. Sailors had no means of sending letters home and so they set up an ingenious mailing system. Most ships stopped at Floreana. So in 1793 sailors left a wooden whisky barrel where sailors could leave a letter but they had to pick up a letter and deliver it to the next place they docked.
Not the fastest or most reliable system but better than nothing. The system still works today as tourist leave a card and are duty bound to pick up and deliver. We picked one up and delivered it to Sheffield UK when we got there a couple of months later!
The BBC ran a story about a couple who visited the island in 2011 and spent the next three years hand delivering 22 letters to people in 17 countries.
We hit it off with Anna and Ben and were sad to see them leave the boat after 4 days but as they left invited us to stay at Hutton Rudby when we got back to UK.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment