We made it to the Galapagos! As requested, pictures included. The sail
from Las Perlas to San Christobol took about 7 days. To enter the
Galapagos, there are very strict protocols. It took us almost two
days to clear the boat and crew through customs and immigration. The
local staff was fairly overwhelmed with the 40 ARC sailing vessels
that arrived within several days of each other. Due to more and more
non-native marine species being introduced in the ports of Galapagos,
each boat had to have it's bottom inspected by an official diver. 18
of the 40 boats were found to have microscopic algea and/or
barnacles. Our boat, Dasha Way, is only 8 months old and has been
cleaned twice. Unfortunately, we had a 4 inch section of bottom paint
that had been scraped off and there were several little barnacles.
This bought us a free ticket to the “Tour de Nowhere.” All 18
boats had to travel 60-70 miles out to sea to have Galapagos divers
clean their hulls. Luckily, minimal crew was needed and we were able
to get a hostel, complete with a bed and fresh water showers while
the boat was out.
One of our favorite places on San
Christobol was Las Tijeretas, an area of rocky cliffs where the
locals go snorkeling. Las Tijeretas is the location where Charles
Darwin first landed and explored the Galapagos. We walked to this
spot several times, as it was about a 25 minutes from the
Interpretation Center. We saw hundreds of species of fish and got
great pictures. Several seals scatter the rocks, and gave us quite a
scare when they darted from behind us in the water. On the walk back.
a little ice cream shop provided the perfect post-snorkeling treat.
The lady that owned the store had an 18 month old boy, Mateo, who
took a liking to Brian. He would hop right into Brian lap and curl
up. Brian taught him some strange dance moves that will certainly
embarrass Mateo at some point later in life.
The ARC plans organized activities at
several ports. These activities sometimes include socials, happy
hour, dinner, and local tours. The fees each boat pays to participate
in the ARC covers the expenses. In the Galapagos, the ARC organized a
tour to Kicker Rock, a world renowned dive site in the Galapagos.
The site is especially known for it's great diversity of sharks,
including hammerheads, blacktip, white tip, and the Galapagos shark.
As the hammerheads circled us, you could hear Lauren screaming
through her snorkel. Brian got some disturbingly close pictures of
the hammerheads lingering below.
We paid a cab
driver $60 to take us and 3 other ARC crew members to locations on
the opposite, more remote side of the island. The driver stayed with
us for about 6 hours and gave us fun facts about the things were were
visiting. El Junto is a crater lake inside an active volcano. We
hiked around the volcano and watch birds bathe in the fresh water.
Jacinto Gordillo Breeding Center of Giant Tortoises is home to the
Galapagos's tortoise breeding efforts. Small tortoises are confined
to cages until their survival rate in the wild increases. Afterwards,
we had our packed lunch in the sand at Punto Chino.
On February 18, we sailed to Isabella.
We spent about 5 days on the island. Just before sailing to Isabella,
Brian developed severe gastroenteritis so our first stop in Islabella
was the local hospital. Brian spent a day in the hospital receiving
IV antibiotics and hydration. We spent another three days in a
hostel, re-hydrating before beginning to explore the iguana and
penguin covered beaches. The hospital on Isabella is ocean front and
healthcare and medication is free to everyone. Our only expense was
$3 for the IV needle.
The island of Islabella is much less
inhabited than San Christobol. A cab driver took Lauren and a few
other crew members on a tour of the local hotspots for wildlife. The
Wall of Tears was constructed by prisoners. The wall is said to be
haunted because of the harsh treatment of the prisoners who built it.
The volcanic rocks look like they were very heavy to move, but the
wall itself is not really that long. Islabella is home to penguins,
seals, iguanas, and flamingos! Laguna Salinas is a little lagoon just
outside of town that is filled with bright pink flamingos. From a
distance, the beach La Playa Amor looks like it is scattered with
volcanic rock, but on further inspection, its covered in hundreds of
iguanas. We did a few hours of snorkeling at Concha y Perla, but did
not find any penguins.
Walking down the street one evening, a
6 year old girl ran up to us in the street and held out her hand and
said, “STOP!” She pointed at Brian then pointed up a palm tree
where her cat was 25 feet from the ground. This girl kept motioning
for Brian to climb the tree and recover the cat. Brian, motions to
this girl, “No way!” Disappointed, the girl runs off to find her
parents. After the girl runs off, we coax the cat down out of the
tree. It descended backwards in a spiral. The girl comes back and is
ecstatic that her cat has been rescued. We spent the rest of our time
in Islabella enjoying the local past time of laying in hammocks and
napping. Brian has promised to build a hammock hut when we get home.
On February 23, we arrived at our final
Galapagos destination, Santa Cruz. Puerto Ayora is definitely the
biggest port we have been to in the Galapagos. We spent a day
exploring a the Santa Cruz highlands with a taxi cab for $15 each.
Memorable moments of the day included taking our clothes off to
slither through narrow spaces in muddy lava tunnels and a beautiful
cab ride through Santa Cruz's National Park. The highlight of the day
was walking a highland trail and finding two 80-120 year old
tortoises mating. It was pretty special to see (and hear) the
tortoises mating in the wild, especially after visiting three
tortoise breeding centers and never seeing any turtle loving. The
special moment continued as Brian crept up about 2 meters away from
the tortoises to photograph (and video) the strange mating ritual.
The moment ended abruptly when Brian realized he was standing on an
ant hill and stinging ants were crawling up his legs. Luckily, Brian
quickly handed off the camera so we also got the “ants in the
pants” moment on video.
Brian did a two tank dive out to Gordon
rocks on the NE side of Santa Cruz island. This site lived up to its
expectations as a great spot to see large sharks up close. The dive
was only 60-85ft but proved to be a fairly technical dive due to the
currents ripping through the underwater volcano. Gloves were needed
to protect your hands while climbing around on the rock structures.
This location is near the convergence of three major ocean currents,
1 warm from the North and 2 cold from the West & South. Every
couple minutes you could see vertical thermoclines approaching.
Probably could have used a thicker wetsuit.
While Brian dove, Lauren visited The
Charles Darwin Research Center. The Center is home to the research
offices of scientists doing projects in the Galapagos. The research
center is famous for being the home of Lonely George, who died in
2012.
We took a snorkeling day tour around
Santa Cruz. In one location, three sea lions came right up and played
with us in the water. It almost made you dizzy while they swam
circles around Brian. Our favorite stop of the day was Las Greitas, a
fissure of rock filled with very cold water. The rock formations were
beautiful and Brian jumped off the rocks with the local kids.
In Santa Cruz, we had time to socialize
with some of our favorite boats, Celebrate and Clementina. The owners
are from Seattle and Germany, respectively. On Sunday, we set sail
for the Marquesas (approx. 3,000+ natuical miles), the longest passage
of trip. We will be sailing with a Norwegian couple aboard a Najad
570 KO-KO (www.ko-ko.no). We will
be posting blogs from sea so check it out. Also follow KO-KO on the
fleet tracker
(http://www.worldcruising.com/
Talk to you in the Marquesasa!
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