The journey to the Galapagos took longer than expected. We had no wind, and at times it almost completely died down. We were also trying to conserve fuel, as we hadn’t checked the fuel situation on the Galapagos.

Spending days on a boat with no wind is not pleasant. The sun beats down, and the heat becomes seriously uncomfortable. At one point, we spotted something in the sea. We hoped it was a container—that would have been a great find, although we hadn’t had any luck so far. What we definitely didn’t want to encounter was a sleeping whale. We saw some birds circling the floating object… as we got closer, we saw what it was: a large freezer chest that someone had discarded. It was covered in barnacles but still floating due to the Styrofoam insulation, and it had become a home for many small fish, while larger predators circled around it.

We spotted a large dolphinfish (mahi-mahi). We immediately grabbed a rod and lure and started casting around the freezer, hoping the dolphinfish would take the bait, but nothing happened. I fished for a while, then Damjan took over with the “you don’t know how, let me do it” attitude. When he didn’t have any luck, I took the rod back, acting like I was the expert, and so on. At one point, Damjan went to get the speargun to end the teasing. We started the engines, I maneuvered the boat closer, and he shot and caught the dolphinfish.

We continued towards the Galapagos, now with a new activity. For the next hour or two, I cleaned the fish and packed it into freezer bags, while we cooked and ate some of it immediately. There’s nothing better than fresh fish for lunch. This unexpected situation brought some joy and broke the monotony of the journey.

As we approached the Galapagos, various birds started landing on the boat to rest. After a few days, we finally sighted the Galapagos Islands, and we were relieved… finally land and new adventures, although, to be fair, after the catch, the wind had picked up a bit, making the journey much easier.