Sunday 2nd March
KICKER ROCK
Although we were eventually offered the Kicker Rock tour for Saturday, we had by then decided to dive there instead, aside from Sue who did well on her first attempts at snorkelling. We are joined on the dive boat, by Hilton from 'Lady Kay' and a Canadian girl doing field studies from her Uni. Hilton dives every weekend at home and used to dive professionally!
It was just an everyday sort of dive: Loads of Galapagos Sharks, Hammerhead Sharks (including a 15 footer!), turtles, rays etc! Pretty stunning actually! So everyone really enjoyed it!
I along with JB and Lindsey wimped out on the second dive, my excuse was the usual pain in my right leg which I didn't think would stand up to another dive, although we went snorkelling instead!
Barry: This is my first log entry, so by way of introduction. I am the Irish bloke on board, and will be with Robert, Malkey, JB and Lindsey for two months of their epic 15-month circumnavigation. I joined the guys in Salinas, Ecuador, and will be on-board QuasarV as far as Tahiti. They are a tightly knit crew and it has taken me a little time to eek out a job or two that I can call my own and contribute to life on board. I was delighted to hear that my predecessors Bob and Lori were the only fisherfolk on board and have eagerly acquired their tackle box. I will also be sharing Robert's galley duty, tough shoes to fill!
We had an awesome day today! After a quick refresher dive, it was off to Kicker Rock for our first dive of the day. We were dropped off beside a sheer wall and descended quickly to 20 metres before making our way through a channel between the two pinnacles. Victor, our dive leader, came to JB's rescue early on and gave her a tow to get through the very strong swell and current. Our efforts were quickly rewarded with as Several hammerhead Sharks came into view and circled around. It was truly awe-inspiring to be so close to these majestic hunters. It was lucky for us that the waters around the Galapagos are so rich that they had absolutely no interest in us and seemed to tolerate our trespass into their domain. One was about 5 metres long and came within 3 metres of us. The second dive was very challenging, with an even stronger swell and current. It was exhilarating to hold onto the rock wall, as the current tried to pull you back, and then shoot forward with the next surge. The audience of turtles, rays and a myriad of fish must have been amused by our antics.On the way back we stopped at Lobo Island to snorkel with the Sealions, what a blast! The pups were especially playful and they would cavort all around us with such ease. JB got a great photo of one of the pups pulling the tail of a marine iguana as it shimmied through the water. now there's an animal that deserves to have it's tail pulled.
Stay tuned!
We sail overnight to Puerto Ayora leaving at about 10 pm.
Sunday 9th March
THE BIG ONE!
Yes, the start of a nearly 3,000 mile leg to the Marquesas. With not much wind forecast (certainly) at the beginning it could be a long haul and undoubtedly our longest time at sea ever! At this moment in time 19-21 days at sea is probably right, but time will tell! We have about 3 days supply of diesel for the engine as the rest will be needed by the generator and to keep in reserve for emergencies.
Malcy, JB and Lindsey arrived back this morning from a 2-day tour to Isabella. Sue left this morning on a long journey home, unfortunately she was ill again this morning as she has been for half the trip, which regrettably rather spoilt her holiday!
Barry and I went to collect the fruit and veg, which Barry had organised on Saturday morning and it was delivered to a water taxi at the harbour. By the time it was all washed and stowed it was 15:30 and guess what, the start of this leg was 12:00, but as we have no interest in the position side of this rally we are not concerned and as you may remember we have yet to make a proper start!
So we settle down to another day of no wind starting on the engine heading for the waypoint of 5 S and 100 W where the ARC's weather forecasters reckon we will pick up the SE trades. However this is 635 nm away!
In the meantime JB has started writing her book, which disputes the theories of the famous management book 'Everything's Negotiable'. She has yet to formalise the title, but the working one will probably be 'Nothing's
negotiable!' Confirming the authenticity of the famous terrorist joke!
As we are now a week behind with the log I will send the corresponding day last week with a daily log of the current day. Although we can only scratch the surface with the photos we will send the best 7 shots mainly of wildlife in the Galapagos.
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