July 9 - July 28

Galapagos Islands

What nicer reception could there be, arriving in the Galapagos islands, than being greeted by a sealion! One playfully swam past me as I was at the bow setting the anchor.

I decided to make Santa Cruz my port of entry, because it was more likely to have better services to repair the fridge and genoa sail. It was, however, directly exposed to the swell from the SE trade winds. My friends on La Barca sensibly chose the better protected port, San Cristobal, to anchor. Unfortunately, yachts are not permitted to move between ports. But there was an inter-island ferry I could use to visit and pick up the spare mainsail they'd offered me.

The port captain came out to visit Weatherly on a launch, with an agent he appointed, and I was given an estimate for the fees to stay there, which were very high. I guess they want to keep visitors to a minimum on these special islands.
I handed over my ship's papers, and waited for a fumigation officer to come aboard to inspect the boat for pests.

"No cucarachas ?" the fumigation man asked, when he finally arrived, an hour late. I laughed, remembering the song "La Cucaracha" and now understanding the meaning of the word. He took 20 minutes poking around the kitchen and food lockers and declared my vessel pest-free, and now I have a lovely certificate to mount on the wall to verify it.
My friends on La Barca even offered I visit and stay aboard their yacht, now that I was declared a safe health risk.

By the time the inspection was done, I'd missed the mechanics for the day, to have the fridge compressor opened.

While eating breakfast in the cockpit the next morning, I heard and saw a green sea turtle surface for air. On the way in to shore, aboard a local water taxi, we pass several sealions sleeping on the stern ledge of a motor launch, and more lying on the steps of the ferry wharf.
Nature was certainly all around here.

I found a large, mechanical workshop, and the head mechanic began to open the fridge compressor I lugged over, though he was sceptical it could be repaired.

I left him to the job and went off to find lunch. The restaurant / cafes all have a very cheap 'menu del dia' (meno of the day) for $3 - which usually consisted of a bowl of soup and a main course of fish or chicken with beans or rice, with a fruit drink. I befriended the restaurant owners and the older woman took me to visit the Darwin Research station, where her son worked as a guide. We saw a nice film on the Galapagos islands and animals.
Another informative display explained the challenges needed to be managed in the conservation of the Galapagos islands environment, such as the impacts of tourism, irradication of introduced plants and animals, and illegal poaching of fish. There were pens too, housing iguanas and some endangered species of animals, such as some giant tortoises, at different stages of development.

One tortoise named Lonesome George, from Isobella island, is thought to be the last one of his kind remaining.

Returning to the mechanics workshop, I found he'd finished halfway through the job when he couldn't find the right tool, and then left for the day. The mechanics were closed the following day, Saturday.
Returning again on Monday, I was told he'd flown to the mainland and wouldn't be back till later in the week ! I pressed the office for another mechanic to take over immediately, as time was running out on my immigration visa.

Luis was a very competant mechanic and 2nd in charge of the workshop. He promptly disassembled the rest of the compressor and told me the spare parts required. I looked up the American manufacturer on the internet and phoned them to order the piston and gaskets and have them express posted over. Customs detained them in mainland Equador for 2 weeks, which was frustrating, though not as bad as my friend on another yacht here, who'd waited 30 days for Customs to clear a new fridge compressor.

The mechanic was also able to replace the bearings on my engine-driven bilge pump and it functions perfectly again. Also, after the compressor was installed (and fridge regassed), the fridge compressor clutch kept slipping and a new rubber fan belt snapped. Luis correctly diagnosed the problem to be the clutch plates, which he machined flat and parallel.
The fridge compressor now runs better than before, much smoother having oil inside it !

Now with the official administration over and repairs underway, awaiting parts, I had time to relax and enjoy the islands, the more enlightened reason for coming here.

There was a nice national park trail to Las Tortugas beach, which I walked several times on my stay. It was a great place for a body-surf, with good, rolling waves to catch, and clean, white sand. At the end of the beach were some mangroves and sheltered water, where black marine iguanas lay, often piled on top of one another in groups or possibly families.

I contacted my friends on La Barca to visit them on San Cristobel, and they kindly offered to have me stay aboard their little yacht. Adam and Bronwyn are sailing with their 2 children, Jack and Amy and they were fun to be around. We walked to a beach, La Loberia, where many sealions were basking in the warm sun, relaxing as people might at the beach on a weekend in Australia. I played palas with Jack on the beach, and we watched many marine iguanas on the rocks.

I took my goggles and swum around the rocky bay, passing close to four large, green sea turtles grazing on seaweed. The water was cooler here than in Panama, due to the cold Humboldt current which circulates from the Antarctic. The cold waters allow for animals such as the fur seal, penguins and sea lions to migrate here. The cooler, humid winds also generate misty rainfall on the islands in different distributions, supporting a diversity of vegetation, birds and animals.

I took my time to enjoy a very good museum in san Cristobel, about the origin of the islands, the currents, animals, and of course, about Charles Darwin and his observation of different finches which lead him to his important theory on the evolution of species by natural selection.

The animals really are wonderful on Galapagos, and undaunted by the proximity of humans. I came up very close to photograph some lovely sealions, black iguanas and giant tortoises and they were completely nonchalent about my presence. Some sealions even swam close to me when snorkeling one day in San Cristobel.

I took Adam for dinner and drinks in appreciation for donating their spare mainsail to me, and met Bronwyn and the kids again the following day when they visited Santa Cruz on a tour of the islands. I had been doing my own exploring there, seeing the lava tunnels and tortoise sanctuary with a new friend I made there, and their tour bus picked us up on the road when walking back to town.

We met again for pizzas and listened to their stories of the tour to different islands. My funds were drained just from checking into the Galapagos, and repair bills, so I couldn't afford to go on any tours. But it was interesting to find out what it was like in the other islands.

I went for a run one day with my friend, Patty, along Las Tortugas (turtle) beach, where we saw many black marine iguanas on rocks and by mangroves at the end of the beach. There were hundreds of them, some in groups lying on top of each other, and others lying on the warm black rocks, to raise their body temperature after swimming to eat seagrass from submerged rocks.

Pelicans, boobies and sealions also sat around in the fish markets. The sealions nuzzled their nozes between the fishermen's arms as they were gutting fish, which entertained tourist onlookers.

Finally, I was ready to go, after refridgerator was repaired and functioning. I stocked up with food and filled up water and fuel tanks, and checked out from the Galapagos (3 day extension was granted). My two anchors had intertwined (I'd set the second one when visiting San Cristobel island). So it was several hours later before I was actually moving out of the harbour, into the south Pacific swells.

I sailed along the coast, past Las Tortugas beach, and phoned my dad to use up remaining phone credits, and had a good chat as he was enjoying sundowners in New Jersey. Next stop for me was nearly 3000 nautical mile to the west, and I estimated around 3 to 4 weeks to arrive there, in the Marquesa islands of French Polynsia.