Greg was the first to realize this. ‘The flight from Ecuador takes under two hours,’ he said. The clear blue sky was now feathered with clouds and the water that had been warm at first was cooling rapidly. Daniel knew why. Although the Galápagos archipelago lies on the equator, the water around it is cold because of the Antarctic Humboldt Current. It gets colder still at night. Anyone in the water who hadn’t become shark food by morning would be close to death anyway from hypothermia. He thought it best not to share this information with his fellow survivors. Instead he announced. ‘I think I can make it to the islands.’Everyone looked at him.Had he not been feeling ashamed about deserting Nancy, he might not have volunteered so readily. He knew his chances of reaching the islands were remote.’ I swim every morning for half an hour – twenty-two lengths,’ he continued carelessly. ‘That’s a quarter of a mile. Besides, I’ve got fins.’ He held them up. No one else spoke.
