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American Spirit II - Day 42; Valentine's Day & Swimming with Turtles; Friday, February 14, 2014



Up at 5:30 AM. Sea lion still on transom. Looked up at me. Luckily we had blocked access to the cockpit with a recliner, or this sea lion could have ended up in our cockpit. That would have been challenging to get rid of him then.

About 10:00 AM we boarded a water taxi into town, then walked a mile or so to an 'interpretation' center, where the history of the Galapagos was adequately explained by pictures and wall charts. After that we made our way to a beach, where we snorkeled. The underwater topography was rocky with many fish. The water temperature was 82 degrees. While snorkeling, we came upon 2 large turtles, one with a 4 foot in diameter shell and another 2 1/2 feet. The larger turtle stopped me from following him by turning around and forcing me to retreat. Later we observed him poking his head into a hole in the bottom, foraging. The water depth was shallow - 5 or 6 feet.

Darlene snorkeled for only the second time in her life; and had a great time in watching the turtles and fish, which were in abundance.

Once back on the shore, we encountered a baby sea lion and its mother. The baby was nursing. Other sea lions were spread along he beach and rock areas. The day before a person from another boat had snorkeled here, and a bull sea lion had 'pushed' him back.

Late in the morning planes were observed flying over the anchorage and landing. While doing so they were only 200 feet above the water, and our boats.

We were notified by Rally Control that 17 boats in our fleet had failed their bottom paint inspection. Apparently divers had inspected their hull during the clearing in inspections. As a result, they were going to be required by the Ecuadorian government to sail 63 miles to the northeast Saturday night, and then to have a diver hired by the government clean the foreign organisms off of their hull. Not knowing exactly what these prohibited foreign organisms are, I suspect it may be something as simple as a barnacle. From leaving to sail to the cleaning location and return will take probably 24 hours. I've never heard of such an event in my life.

Brian Fox


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