In Nuku Hiva, we change perspective and rent a car. A tour of the inner parts of the largest of the Marquesas ought to be more than worthwhile.

If you’re coming from Hiva Oa, you’ll see them right away: the pointed towers, over a thousand meters high, wrapped in clouds. It’s another scene without equal, the kind that makes the Marquesas the fascinating place they are.

The Marquesas are a place of longing. Not only for us crossing the Pacific, impatiently waiting to spot land on the horizon at last, but also for some well-known names from old Europe.

Here we go again! Out to sea, into the endless blue. Off to the Marquesas. Accompanied by the ceaseless sound of the waves and, with a bit of luck, by a dolphin or two.

In Puerto Ayora, there’s an agency for excursions of every kind every five meters. Whether you want a land trip, a hike, snorkeling, a boat tour, or diving, no wish goes unfulfilled.

The iguanas and sea lions on the Galápagos Islands can be tripping hazards. On the taxi pier, they create a slalom course for visitors. Here, a head is lazily lifted; there, a flipper is waved. No wonder, in this heat. The only ones moving voluntarily are the tourists.

On the seventh day of our passage from Panama City to the Galápagos Islands, an official stamp drops into the water in Puerto Ayora. And it gives us quite a fright.

We saw far too little of Panama. That’s a real shame, because it’s beautiful. With white beaches, green jungle, cool mountains and Panama City, the country is bursting with possibilities.

The signs are there; the Panama Canal is getting closer. At sunset, the silhouettes of the freighters waiting for their transit stand out against the sky while AIS is flooded with signals.

Some lessons are hard and painful. The subject of antifouling is exactly that kind of lesson — one that cost us a good deal of nerve and some seriously sore muscles.