Thursday 13.03.08
Position @12.00hrs;S;06.07 W99.21 Distance in last 24hrs;164 miles
Midday yesterday – engine on again- the wind has died. We take advantage of a level boat to clean a few bilges and do a general tidy. It’s flat calm until about 3pm when a breeze starts to fill in from the S/SW, but it’s still right on the nose! We motor all day and decide to continue S/SW to try and pick up the trade winds as soon as possible. Phil and Fay on Tramontana have emailed to tell us they are now below 6 degrees with good 15 knot winds. Worryingly , they’ve not caught any fish either! We enjoy a mid afternoon G&T with treble limes. Chicken soup for tea with the promise of red meat tomorrow to stall a mutiny! We stop motoring at 10.30pm and take out the headsail but the wind soon drops again.We motor…. It fills in again at midnight and we sail again for an hour or so, although still only making 5-6 knots SOG. It’s a dark , cloudy night with only a few stars to be seen. A wee white bird flutters around the stern off and on – we’ve no idea what it is. The engine is on/off a few times in the night but, frustratingly, mostly on! At 5.30am this morning the wind fills in from the South – we’re sailing! The wind is variable from 8-15 knots hitting up to 20 knots during squalls. We sight another yacht on the horizon to the SE – we’re on a converging course. It’s Gray Lady who kindly advise us of fleet positions and an up to date forecast. We sail in parallel for some time. Great to be sailing again –long may it last!!
GALAPAGOS LOG (continued)
Monday 3rd March. We’re up 6ish getting the boat organised for being left for a few days. Scott and Sue phone to confirm they’ll be there to look after it from tomorrow until we get back. We go ashore to leave on our tour at 8 but there’s a delay and we don’t get away until 10. We’re all transported by speed boat back to Isla San Christobal (1.5 hrs), where we’re joining our cruise boat. We arrive on the good ship Estrella and draw lots for cabins. All 5 of us are below deck and Stewy pairs up with Brian from Talulah Ruby (these 2 are going to get on far too well!). There’s 16 of us in total , 2 x crews of 5, 1x crew of 4 and 2 single crew members ; all of us are from Arc boats. We’re pleasantly surprised by our accommodation which is basic but comfortable with bunk-bed cabins, all en-suite and spotlessly clean. There’s a dining room and adjoining lounge bar with drinks , sweeties and books in abundance. Once we’re all settled in we‘re served a lovely lunch and are joined for a beer by Phil and Fay who are planning to leave on their Pacific crossing in a couple of days time. We say our fond farewells until we meet up with them again in The Marquesas! Apparently our guide has not yet arrived so we all lounge about until he arrives then motor round to a bay where we’re taken on a walk to see frigate birds, and the famous blue – footed boobies. We then snorkel with the baby sea-lions when we also also see rays and lots of fish. We’re served snacks when we get back to the boat and we then motor back to the main bay . After dinner we retire to the lounge bar where the crew all come in and introduce themselves and we’re told a bit about what the cruise will involve. A few drinks while everyone’s getting to know each other….. then it all kicks off big style… we end up having a HUGE session, singing , dancing, the chef joins us playing his grater with a whisk , and also singing and dancing salsa and merengue……The crack is brilliant and we have tears rolling down our cheeks with laughter before crawling to bed for our 7am start! Dear only knows what time we went to bed.. all we know is we were all still partying hard when we left to motor to the next Island at 2am.
Tuesday 4th- Friday 7th March.
Well that pretty much set the tone for the rest of the week! Amazingly everyone made it up for breakfast the next day, by which time we had arrived at Isla Espaneola. We went on several tours throughtout the week when we saw both marine and land iguanas of all different colours, sea-lions by the hundreds, blue- footed , red –footed and nazca boobys,finches, breeding frigate birds and sea turtles , Galapagos crabs, pink flamingos, the Galapagos penguin and the Galapagos hawk. We had a few good snorkels although a bit disappointed with the visibility in most places.(particularly Stewy who was wearing someone’s prescription goggles by mistake!!!) On Isla Floreana we went to post some cards at a famous old post–box which was started by the whalers 300 years ago. Mail is left addressed but unstamped for the next person going that way to collect and deliver. Gordon and Val take a few cards addressed to Glasgow and Ayrshire. It’s a kind of eerie Island , although most of us who have read about The Galapagos affair (a real murder mystery which took place about 70 years ago) have probably been coloured by that. Although we want to go to see the village our (rather dogmatic!) guide tells us that locals are not friendly and do not encourage tourists. We have a snorkel then play a game of football with the Estrella crew which is quite a laugh! On 5th March, Annie surprised and delighted to find she has a rare phone signal and manages to phone her Dad, albeit briefly ,on his 80th birthday. Happy 80th birthday Tommy! The morning we wake up in Isla Isabella, we’re hearing Jus Do It on the VHF. We’re a long way from Santa Cruz – surely there’s nothing wrong with the boat?! Shortly afterwards ,while we’re being dinghied out we see a “Just Do It” , German yacht , anchoring in the bay – so we weren’t imagining things! We see more wildlife amid the rugged volcanic landscape and have a wee explore in the village. Annie goes to a local pharmacia to get antibiotics an anti-sceptic cream for a poisoned thumb – its now swollen and pulsating!!! On the last day we return to Isla santa Cruz where we take a bus ride into the highlands and see giant tortoises in the wild There are 5 volcanoes on this island, and a specific breed of land tortoise for each one. We also visit more volcanic geographical features on the island such as the large lava tunnels which you can walk and wriggle through although little Hitler the tour guide won’t let us today for some reason! Every where we’ve been we’ve been amazed by how close you can be to all the animal and birdlife, even the nesting birds. Maybe it’s because they’ve all had so many people stomping around staring at them since Darwin arrived in 1835!
All in all it’s been a great tour. We’ve learned a lot about the specific characteristics of these amazing island and have seen things we’d never have found on our own Our guide could have been better but the boat crew have more than made up for it, the crack has been brilliant and we’re all sufficiently partied out to go on to the next part of the voyage!
We get back to the boat where we welcome Ronnie who has just arrived to join us for the next leg! Poor Ronnie’s not too well but glad to be here and getting busy as usual. Scott and Sue tell us about their fun and games – a boat which anchored after us was too close and refused to move so they had to re-anchor us. Lucky they were there from Strega, and we’re also grateful to Hans and Johanna who helped them.Unfortunately the stern anchor has been lost in the process but again Scott and Sue save the day by diving down to retrieve it. Scott needs quite a few extra weights to get down right enough as he’s been putting on a fair bit of beef round the middle while back –packing around. You’ll need to start counting the tacos Scott!
Amid all this action it’s chaos aboard as Gordon and Val get ready to leave and the boats gets turned upside down as various jobs are undertaken. Stewy and Annie go ashore to get some shopping and source supplies such as gas , ice etc. There does’t look as if there’s much to be had – lots of Arc crews also appear to be scurrying around buying up what they can.
We all go to the Arc prize giving at night – one crew (Whitbread) all dressed as blue boobies – balloons and low cut shirts – you can imagine – very funny and great initiative!
Saturday 8th March
Gordon, Val, Scott and Sue all head off 8am for their flights . Gordon and Val are off back to Bonnie Scotland and Scott and Sue are off to Peru. We say our fond farewells.Ian and Annie go to drop off a final laundry and get more shopping. Ronnie is not at all well today – he’s been up in the night with sickness and “the scoor” . We get an unexpected visit from a German couple , Anke and Martin – they’re the ownwers of the other Just Do It and have come to introduce themselves . They have been confused with us a few times too and we exchange tales of various voyages, and how they named their boat. They confirm they have been in Northern Spain as we tell them we remember in 2005 a marina manager in Bayonna telling us about a German boat called Just Do It. They’re welcome visitors, especially when they back Annie up when she suggests the boys go to get the final shop so she can get on with stowing and sorting out the boat! (later this proves not to be such a good idea when we’re short of eggs and they admit to asking everywhere for “Quavers” instead of” Huevos”!).Ronnie arrives back early as now really not well – he goes to bed and we leave him in peace with water, Gatorade and Dialorite. Ian and Stewy arrive shortly afterwards and we continue final preparations for the voyage. Ian gets into the water to clean the hull but has to stop half way to get to the Skipper’s briefing in time (he and Ronnie finish the hull the next day before we leave). He and Stewy go to the briefing , Annie meets them afterwards and we enjoy a few final drinks ashore with some other boats. Every one in great fettle and looking forward to the voyage despite the forecasted lack of wind.