This page contains our Log en-route to New Zealand for April 2007. We will keep a running Log via ShipTrak when we are at sea and this page will be updated as and when we are able to access the Internet.
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2 - 7 April 2007 The Galapagos have lived up to
expectation in every way so far. We have spent our first week in
the Islands on Isla San Cristobal, anchored in Wreck Bay off of Puerto
Baquerizo Moreno, one of the 3 ports cruising boats are allowed to visit
within the National Park. There are about a dozen other cruising
boats in the Bay, many of whom we have met before so it has been good to
remake old acquaintances. The wildlife is fantastic and really has
no fear of man. The Sea Lions occupy most of the town's sea front
and commandeer any vantage point they can on your boat, the steps to the
dock and even the benches of the promenade! The catamarans fair
worst as the Sea Lions can climb easily on to their scope sterns.
Our Australian friends on a Cat' they are delivering from France to
Australia woke to find a large (6 foot) male not only in the cockpit,
but curled up on their cushions with his head on a pillow! They
had real difficulty evicting him. Other Cat' owners have gone to
elaborate lengths to deter them, but nothing seems to work and they find
a way to make themselves comfortable. Unfortunately they leave a
dreadful mess, which really smells bad! Other highlights for us
this week have been walking among Giant Tortoise, diving with Galapagos Sharks and
Eagle Rays, watching Blue Footed Boobies (yes they really do have blue
feet), and, best of all, just swimming and messing about with the young
Sea Lions. They were so inquisitive and were just like puppy dogs.
They will hang on to the end of a rope and you can pull them so close
you end up nose to nose. The pictures below were taken with a
standard lens! The diving was not as spectacular as some we had
done in the Caribbean, mainly because there is no reef to add colour.
The rock is volcanic and rather grey and the visibility poor due to the
amount of organic matter floating in the nutrient rich water, which, of
course, is what attracts such a variety of species to the Islands.
That said, it was pretty special to see such large predators and we plan
to dive as often as we can whilst we are here. We also walked
around the Lagoon El Junco, which is an extinct volcano now full of
fresh water where the Frigate Birds made a great spectacle diving and
skimming the water to drink. The lake is the only fresh water on
the Island. The Giant Tortoise were also very special and we stood
and marvelled at the fact that some might just have been around in 1835
when Charles Darwin was here with HMS Beagle as they live to be around
180 years old. They were also far bigger than we imagined them to
be and far more active. Competition among them for the best
grazing was quite fierce, if a little slow! We also saw the famous
swimming Marine Iguanas; we are not great reptile fans, but they are certainly
like nothing else we have seen on our travels. They graze
underwater and cling on to the lava with their log claws in strong
currents and swells.
We have been granted a stay of 30 days in the Islands, so we plan to leave San Cristobal on 10 April and sail the 45 miles over to Isla Santa Cruz for a week before going on to Isla Isabela. Each island has unique species and we are looking forward immensely to exploring further. Boat maintenance also continues as always, and we are very conscious that we will be at sea for about a month when we leave here on our way to French Polynesia. We dived on the boat again to replace the broken variable pitch propeller with the fixed one and we have sent it back to the UK for repair. That job took dives on two days and the water was very cold, never mind the help from the Sea Lions! However, Oasis is in good shape and we are very pleased with the way she is performing and looking after us. We still often look down on the anchorage and think she is the best looking boat here!
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno Supplies Arriving Sea Lions on the steps
Walked around the Lagoon El Junco
Marine Iguanas
Giant Tortoise
Dive site at Kicker Rock Eagle Ray Galapagos Shark
Playing with young Sea Lions!! 7 - 15 April 2007 We moved from Isla San Cristobal, and Wreck Bay off of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, on the morning of the 7th April. There was no wind so now that we have a propeller again we motored the 45 miles and took the opportunity to make water and charge the batteries. We were looking forward to the trip with the expectation of seeing more whales; however, the fog came down shortly after we left and we saw very little that didn't show up on radar! We did see a young albatross that was resting on the water. The fog cleared about 8 miles out from Santa Cruz as we passed the island of Santa Fe, which we saw the bottom 50 feet of under a very low cloud base. We anchored fore and aft with a bow and stern anchor holding us bow into the swell in a busy Academy Bay off of Puerto Ayora around 1:30pm. We cleared in with the friendly Ecuadorian Navy Port Captain and set out to explore the town, which is very different from our last stop. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno had the feel of a fishing village, whereas Puerto Ayora is very much geared to tourism. Not unpleasant, but different and we are glad that we made our landfall in the more sleepy Wreck Bay. Since our arrival we have visited the Volcano and explored the Lava Tunnels which we had to almost lie down in some places to get through. We also visited a crater which is 45 metres deep. We have seen lots more Giant Tortoise, both land and marine Iguanas and dived Gordon's Rock, which is famous for its Hammerhead Sharks. The pictures below show some of the highlights. However, the highlight was the dive. No pictures of the Hammerheads I'm afraid as we were too busy watching them. Two 10-12' Hammerheads cruised past very close; however, Hazel had the experience of a lifetime. A very large Green Turtle took a fancy to her and would not leave her alone. He came so close that he was almost laying on her chest, unfortunately he was as big as her! The water and weather is much warmer here as we are now in a warmer current flow, which has made it much more humid. The pictures below are our favourite of this very special encounter.
The fish market had some interesting customers! Sea lions, iguana, herons, frigate birds and pelicans compete with humans for the fish.
Lava tunnels and volcanic crater
Land iguana which was about 3' long and the English 'One Foot in the Grave!'
Diving at Gordon's Rock with spotted eagle rays
Close encounters! 16 - 21 April 2007 We were joined very early on
the 16th by Erik and Sandra, our Dutch friends we met whilst diving,
whom we'd offered a lift to Isla Isabela. We had the anchor up and
were on our way just after 7am on a beautiful, still morning.
Unfortunately, we had no wind to sail so we motored the 45 miles in calm
seas. We had high hopes of seeing lots of wildlife on the way, but
saw very little until we reached Tortuga Rock which is a spectacular
volcano top rising from the sea bed which is now flooded and forms a
steep sided crescent shape. It was nice to have company,
particularly as it was a new experience for them as the rest of their
trip around the World has been on land by various means. We
arrived around 3pm to find the anchorage busy but well sheltered.
We found a spot to anchor just clear of the surf line and headed into
town, by water taxi, to complete formalities with the Port Captain.
We arranged with the taxi driver to take us back at 8pm so that we
Some of the wildlife we encountered, flamingo, penguins and blue footed boobies
White tipped sharks Our last day, Henry took us in his panga (a long narrow open topped fishing boat) 45 minutes along the coast to where the lava flowed into the sea. It is difficult to describe it other than as a flooded moonscape. The ride in through the surf was pretty scary as the passage through the reef was far from obvious. His 25 years of experience paid off and we got through some very dramatic surf, either that or the force was with him! Once inside the surf, we entered a series of lagoons, flooded caves and tunnels populated by dozens of very large turtles, spotted eagle rays, manta rays and sea lions. Its hard to imagine a place that could equal the number of large marine species as this one. One manta ray had a wingspan of at least 12'. We snorkelled through the lagoons amongst these wonderful animals and will never forget the experience. We also had a paddle around which was find in the lagoons but hard work against the current going from one lagoon to another. The ride back through the surf was just as dramatic as on the way in, with 14' breaking water all around us. How Henry got us through we will never know, we just hung on and hoped his two powerful outboard engines would make it. It wasn't until we were through the surf when we saw that Henry had a life jacket on and we didn't! We will leave the Galapagos with some wonderful memories of a very special place and we feel very honoured to be allowed to visit.
Some of the sights we saw, volcanic sculptures, blue footed boobies, a spotted eagle ray and Steve paddling! The other Friday, we couldn't understand why we were not allowed to buy a beer in any of the bars or restaurants. It happened again on the Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday evening, we managed to speak to someone who could tell us in English what was going on. The Ecuadorian Government were holding elections on the Sunday and all bars and restaurants are banned from selling alcohol for two days before and one day after any election to ensure that the people are sober whilst voting and understand the result. They also hold elections on a Sunday to get as many people as possible to vote. Do you think this would catch on in the UK? I suspect it would be the biggest vote loser in UK history! |
Some
180 years old 
11 months old
2 years old
could
eat ashore, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The tide
was so low that we had to climb out of the taxi and pull it through the
shallows. A little disconcerting as we saw sharks coming in and
could hear a pilot whale blowing in the lagoon which unfortunately later
died after
beaching itself. To add insult to injury, it cost us an extra 50
cents for the trip as it was after dark despite getting back to the boat
wet to our waists! Puerto Villamil, the only town on the Island,
is much more the Galapagos we hoped, and expected, to find. It has
no paved roads, just sandy streets and small houses in amongst mangoes
and volcanic rock which comes right down to the shoreline. Isabela
has five volcanoes and the last eruption was in 2005. We explored
the largest of the volcanoes on the 17th by horseback. The lava
was still warm in places, with fresh sulphur and steam present.
The crater is the second largest in the World and it took 45 minutes in
a truck and an hour and a half to reach the crater lip. Our guide
explained the unique flora and forna that has evolved on this specific
volcano as we walked for an hour across the lava fields. It was a
very special day; however, Steve was walking like John Wayne at the end
of the day and decided that man should not spend that long on a horse! 
We
spent the following day onboard as a large swell made the anchorage very
uncomfortable. The boats were all swinging in different directions
and we spent the night and most of the day experimenting with different
anchor combinations to try to make life more comfortable. The
swell died down as quick as it came that evening and we had English
friends from 'Reflections' and 'Splinter's Apprentice' over for drinks.
We also visited the site of an old prison and the El Muro de las
Legrimas or Wall of Tears. A huge wall about 190' long, 20' wide
at the base and 60' high built for no other reason than to provide hard
labour for the penal colony. The prisoners eventually mutinied and
killed their guards for their cruelty. Few before them had ever
left the Island. We also spent time in the dinghy exploring the
lava islands around the anchorage where we saw literally hundreds of
marine iguana, blue footed boobies, penguins and white tipped sharks.
The sharks seemed to enjoy cruising back and forth through a collapsed
lava tunnel and it was not unusual to see around 50 at any one time.
We didn't swim!! Instead we contended ourselves watching the
penguins fishing around and under the boat, whilst being dive bombed by
boobies.
