The odds of seeing another privately owned motor yacht in the Galapagos is pretty low. So you can imagine the folks onboard Nordhavn 68 Toroa were probably pretty amazed when the only other private motor yacht in their small San Cristobal anchorage happened to be a Nordhavn!

Then again, when you really think about it…when you think about what Nordhavns do, and when you think about what Nordhavn owners do…maybe it wasn’t quite so amazing.

But there was something that did catch Toroa’s captain, Dustin Bumgartner, by surprise. Bumgartner has been the captain of 68#22 since she was first delivered in 2011, originally christened Rest Assured. He was there when she came off the container ship in San Diego with another Nordhavn, an N86 called Zembra. He toured Zembra and watched as for weeks the two gorgeous new yachts sat side by side at Nordhavn’s commissioning facility in Dana Point being worked on. For the most part, Bumgartner was dialed in on preparing Rest Assured for her delivery and trip to the East Coast; so from that point, he lost track of Zembra other than to catch up with the owner at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in 2012.

 Rest Assured traveled up to Rhode Island, down to the Carribbean and finally settled in Florida where she was sold in April 2013. Her former owner went on to a larger Nordhavn while her new owner had just come out of a Nordhavn 57 and re-named the boat Toroa. During this time, Zembra was thousands of miles away cruising around Europe.

When Bumgartner pulled into the Galpagos anchorage a few months ago, perhaps he wasn’t overly taken aback by another Nordhavnbeing anchored there, but what was astonishing was that it was Zembra, the very boat that accompanied Toroa on the long trek from Asia to California. The two boats hadn’t once crossed each other’s paths in more than 3 years, and now they find themselves side by side again…in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The owners and crew of Toroa stayed on to island hop in the Galapagos for a month, enjoying scuba diving and snorkeling. Unfortunately Zembra’s owners departed soon after Bumgartner and his crew arrived so there was no time for socializing and reminiscing, but the rare moment wasn’t lost on anyone and Bumgartner made sure to capture the two boats’ reunion with a few snaps.

Toroa is now in Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica until the end of March when she will begin making her way toward La Paz with a stopover in Dana Point to get some work done before commencing up the west coast to spend the summer in Alaska. (Bumgartner admits that Costa Rica has become a favorite of his with the terrific fishing, surfing and friendly locals.) Meanwhile Zembra departed the Galapagos en route to the South Pacific. She’s exploring the French Polynesian islands, currently tied up in Pape’ete.

Once again, the vessels have set off in different directions seeking out their own adventure. Wonder what the chances are these well traveled old buddy boats will hook up again in some other distant part of the world in the future? Probably a lot better than you’d think.