Galapagos

Passage to Galapagos (March 2005)

We are in the Galapagos!  Yes, we finally got out of that big city of Panama.  Martin had gotten really fed up with Panama City and would refuse to go into the city (even if lured with a trip to get ice cream).  On what we thought was our final run into the city, Martin was making announcements to anyone that was in shouting range that this was his last trip into this city.  And that he was glad!   There is so much noise all the time in the city—the favorite pastime is to honk your horn at almost anyone—that I’m not sure if anyone heard him.  Our first day on the passage to the Galapagos, Martin caught the first fish (a yummy Sierra).

Our lives have been hectic the past couple of months.  You all are probably saying—oh sure!  I can feel your sympathy pouring out!  Okay—just hear me out for a moment.  This is an interesting lifestyle, but I would never define it as a vacation.    Our sailboat, Ace is not only our house, it is our vehicle.  The complexities of its systems and the brutality of the marine environment shouldn’t be underestimated    As we prepared for this passage to Galapagos and then to the Marquesas,  Lou has been focused on getting Ace ready to make her longest ocean passage, with new sails, some engine repairs, and lots of other maintenance issues..  

In Panama-  we have to haul the boat out again to replace a part we broke when we were last hauled out.  We try the new main sail on and it is cut too long.  There are no sailmakers in Panama City.  So, we have to determine whether it is better to have one of us fly back with the sail or have it shipped.  We find a company that ships only to Miami at a “fair” price.  We ship the sail off hoping for the best.  In the meantime, I’m starting to provision.  Some of the other cruisers going to the Marquesas are provisioning for one year.  I can’t even think one year.  Let alone one week.  Emily and Martin are like most kids, just when I think I got their food preferences dialed in—they change their list and then I have a whole lot of something that nobody wants to eat.  But, I try…I try my hardest.  We hear that many things are expensive in French Polynesia, except baguettes.  Guess what?  Emily and Martin love baguettes—I think we’re going to be okay.  I hear that beer costs $57 a case in Tahiti.  Oh no… do we start home brewing or do I stack up with cases of beer or do we just learn to drink the local drink straight?  You see  my dilemmas.

Lou in his realm of responsibilities was going through the same problems.

I also was responsible for getting our Visas from the French Embassy for French Polynesia.  We had a dear French cruiser friend help us at the embassy.  You know how those French are about speaking French.  My first visit to the embassy was in January to try and figure out what they needed from us to grant a visa.  In the course of that meeting, the requirements changed three times!   So, when we came back to the Embassy to apply for our visas—including bringing proof that should we die in their lovely islands—our mortal remains will be promptly shipped out—we had all of our paperwork in order.  Our French friend came with us and disclosed to me in the waiting room of the Embassy that she had written a letter to the Ambassador describing to him that the way that the woman in charge of granting the visas was not very kind to the applicants and basically, was not a good representative of the French people.  One of the employees at the Embassy had just disclosed to my French friend that the woman granting the visas was—yes, you guessed it—none other than the Ambassador’s wife!!!!  Yikes!  Oh well, we did get our visas after a bit of dramatics.  

When we arrived in Panama in November, we had purchased our friend’s inflatable dinghy.  We had decided to get a new dinghy because our old dinghy had floorboards that had rotted and we asked around and we could not find marine plywood in Panama City.  So, we sold our dinghy (Ketchup—because of her color or Catch-up because when we towed her behind Ace she was always trying to catch up!)   to another cruiser.  Almost from the first day, we had buyer’s remorse.  The new dinghy had an inflatable floor and a few small holes in it.  Lou tried all kinds of  repairs and nothing worked.  They were slow leaks—relatively.  But we were unable to plane with the four of us and so every ride was a wet ride!  In the meantime, the guy who had bought Ketchup was telling us how he found floorboards that would fit.  So, the slow negotiations to get Ketchup back started.  The new owner of Ketchup was a bit cagey with Lou.  But, Lou was persistent, kept his cool and worked along side him.  Lou worked out a deal to trade our new dinghy for our old dinghy.   Lou found marine plywood in Panama City!  He worked at the boatyard and made new floorboards.  Lou did a wonderful job.  Now, Ketchup is better and stronger than ever!  When I took my first ride in her- it was like being back with an old friend.  And she planes without hesitation!

And now about our Passage to the Galapagos:

We sailed with great wind for the first 24 hours.  Then we motored and motored through the doldrums north of the equator  We kept hoping for wind.  If we had to continue to motor, we would not have enough diesel to make it to the Galapagos, because we were fighting 2 knots of adverse current.    The other boats ahead of us were getting more wind, but even more of an adverse current.  Some boats were reporting up to 3 knots pushing them the wrong way.  After 36 hours or so, the wind came back and our worries were over.

Life on Ace on passage goes pretty well.  We have a watch schedule.  Lou and I take the night watches.  Lou does from 8-12 and I do from 12-4.  Then, Emily and Martin take about 5 hours during the day.  Lou and I take the rest.  When we are on a passage, this is the one of the times I feel most in love with my family.  Its just us on this great big ocean.  You feel small and maybe a little bit vulnerable.  But, our family feels strong and happy as we glide along this magical world.  The nights are filled with stars.  One night as I groggily started my watch, I looked up into the heavens and saw a shooting star.  Kalpana throwing the Ace crew a kiss!  That was the inspiration I needed to open my eyes, take a deep breath and be so grateful for the beauty that we are getting to experience.

No one got seasick. None of us took any medicine—I guess we are becoming old salts. On Tuesday, we were closehauled (sailing with the wind just off of our bow).  This is when the boat heels the most (the sideways tilt thing).  Plus we had lumpy, bumpy seas.  A school holiday was declared—some kids have snow days—we have lumpy, bumpy seas days.  I had prepared some meals ahead of time, so Lou and the kids ate.  I didn’t feel like eating nor going down below for anything but the necessities.  Once the winds filled in again—Ace sailed with such balance..  The new sails are beautiful.  We could set the windvane (a self-steering device attached to the stern of the boat) and the sails for hours without adjustment because the winds were so steady.  

Okay, I don’t want you to get so entranced by this idea that you do something crazy like quit your jobs, sell your house and give away all your possessions and sail away.  You know me- I have to be honest!  There has to be one problem, one conflict in this story right?  Can you guess?  Yes, our dear Martin came through again to push us to the brink of turning the boat around and going home (wherever that is!).  One thing I did was to sit down and snuggle with Martin.  We would just talk about what was going on in the boat and in the family.  That worked out okay.  But, ultimately, Lou, Martin and I had to sit down and decide to each make one change in the way we interacted.  

Emily was fantastic on the passage.  Even though her heart was sad to leave many of her friends (and Cherry Garcia) in Panama City.   The group we were traveling with were mostly strangers to us.  They had come through the canal from the Caribbean side.   There were 4 other boats with kids on board.  We had a Single Sideband (SSB) net three times a day where we communicated with the other boats in the fleet.  Emily took the initiative to set up a kids net.  She  ran the kids net very eloquently.  

For our crossing of the Equator we needed to pay our respects to Neptune.  None of us had crossed the Equator on the seas before.  Emily wrote a beautiful poem.  We’ll include it on her webpage.   We played some special music (John Denver’s Calypso).  We gave some champagne to Neptune and Emily and Martin had their preferred Martinellis.  Martin played guitar.  We gave some foreign coins with nautical themes to Neptune.

The next morning we sighted land—the Galapagos, the Enchanted Islands!  We were happy to see them, but also sad to have this beautiful passage come to an end.   Our passage  took us 7 days,  6 hours.  

What we are reading:  

Emily and Martin are both reading Redwall.

Mary is reading The Beak of the Finch (still), Galapagos Islands (ask me about the  sex life of sea lions!) and Sophie’s World (still) to the children.

Lou is reading Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle

Isla Isabela, Galapagos (April 3, 2005)

We have been enjoying the Galapagos, although much of it is reminiscent of being on safari in Kenya.    You have a sense of wanting to “check off” all of the animals you are supposed to see in this enchanted place.  We are controlled in where we can anchor and what areas that we can visit.  We have obtained a cruising permit which allows us to visit the 5 inhabited ports.  Unfortunately, we can not just drop the hook (anchor) wherever it pleases us.   Fortunately, we have had one anchorage at Isla Floreana to ourselves.

We have snorkeled with sea lions.  Yes, sea lions- California sea lions.  Yes, the scourge of Pier 39 in San Francisco and Monterey, California harbor.  Underwater when they are doing their amazing dance of twists and twirls as the come up to you face to face and hold your gaze, you gain respect for their intelligence.  

We have snorkeled with turtles as they let us swim with them and touch them on their backs.  We have had marine iguanas “spit” at us.  (The scientific terminology for this is ejection of salt excess through the nostrils—to warn off potential predators).  

Lou and I got to dive near Isla Floreana with Galapagos sharks, white tipped sharks, manta rays, moray eels and turtles.  I got kind of spooked on this dive.  My weight belt slipped off twice and the second time, my mask filled up with water as I was trying to clear it.  Lou and the divemaster were holding me from floating up since I was wearing a thick wetsuit (the water temp was around 65 degrees ).  I was quickly approaching panic mode, but I got things under control thanks to the divemaster and Lou.  But, all I wanted to do was to get back to the surface.  So, the divemaster went with me back to the dive boat.  Then he returned to Lou and our other dive companion and they continued the dive.

We have seen the giant Galapagos Tortoise.  What an amazing and docile creature!  They are doing many things to secure the tortoise population.  The tortoise was almost obliterated by the crews of pirate ships and whaling ships that found that the tortoise could be kept alive on its back for months in the hold of their ships—making for a tasty meal!  They would not win a beauty contest.  I remember there being giant tortoises in the Topeka zoo.  I wonder if that one was from the Galapagos or from the Seychelles—the only two places where they have been found.  

We’ve seen pink flamingoes, penguins and blue-footed boobies.  I watch the Darwin finches with great awe since I have read this book, “The Beak of the Finch”.  They are evolution in almost visible action.  I just wish that I had the patience to just watch these animals and get to know their lives a little better.  

The blue footed boobies are peculiar hunters.  Here we are sitting pleasantly at anchor when you hear this huge splash next to the boat.  You look out and see the splash rings.  Seconds later the booby appears, looking like “Hey, doesn’t everybody divebomb into the water from 40 feet, submerge about 10 feet or so and pop right back up?”  

And then the other mammals—the humans.  This has been an interesting experience in the Galapagos.  My first take was that I really liked the Ecuadorian people that live in the Galapagos.  They enjoy their islands.  Young and old are at the beaches.  They seem to have a good life.  The siesta is religiously followed with shops being closed from 12-3 everyday.  

However, our encounters with the homo sapiens that are  Port Captains have left me dismayed.  So, we have this cruising permit, which we had to pay an agent to secure for us.  This allows us to visit the five inhabited ports and stay for 30 days (this permit could be as long as 90 days). Many other cruisers do not have this permit.  The regulations say that they can visit only one port and stay for 20 days.  If they want to go to any other island, they have to go by a charter boat.  The Port Captains have let some of these cruisers know that this situation is a “bribable” one.  This just starts an unhealthy dance.  Port Captains and their staff are only stationed in the Galapagos for a year.  This also leads to, how should I say, local interpretations of the regulations.  They move out here with their families away from their homes in mainland Ecuador.  They are not locals.

In honesty, I don’t know what is more dismaying—the way the Port Captains are handling the situation or the cruisers that wish to buck the regulations.  I’m afraid cruisers won’t be allowed in these islands if they keep breaking the rules.  We’ll be seen as a liability rather than an asset.

We have had some wonderful tours of these islands.  We enjoyed the hike and horseback ride around the rim of the second largest volcanic crater in the world and then to the scene of a 1979 volcanic eruption.  This moonscape is awesome to see with little visible life—until you look closely.  The children found an inchworm!  

We also enjoyed being on the island of Floreana by ourselves.  This island was populated by some Germans in the 1930s.  Some of these residents lived in caves in the highlands.  This was where the main fresh water source is and where  the climate is a bit cooler.   The situation got complicated when a German  woman and her two (or three) lovers moved to Floreanna in the late 30s and declared herself Empress of the Island.  This was not a welcome declaration.  The Empress and one of her lovers disappeared.  And there were a couple of other deaths associated with this period.   One of the German families remains there and runs a simple and inviting guesthouse. We were given a guided tour of the caves by some local boys.  Emily and Martin enjoyed getting to know these boys.

Martin and Lou have gotten to go surfing a few times in these islands.  Martin wants to buy another surfboard.  Any money-making ideas for him would be greatly appreciated.

So, our big challenge was the total meltdown of the control unit on our fridge.  We have been in e-mail communication with the fridge customer service people.  But, there is a small chance that we will be ableto get the fridge running again before we take off for French Polynesia.  Neither Lou and I got stressed about this.  I started reading and asking other cruisers about living without refrigeration.  What I’m trying to do is save my cheese and butter.  Which sounds relatively easy.  If you have any recommendations for me, I will love to hear it.  Remember we are in the tropics and the water temp is 65 degrees (thanks in the Galapagos to the Humboldt Current), and will rise to 80 as we sail west.  This will be the lowest water temp we will see so the bilge/hold is not very cool.  Giant tortoises in our hold aren’t an option!  So, think of us when you have those chilled beers and ice in your drinks.  Again, I feel your overwhelming sympathy!  

Lou and I aren’t feeling any anxiety as we prepare to head out on our longest ocean passage.  Ace is in great shape with her new sails!  We have a new set of cruiser friends that we will be communicating with on single sideband radio.  Emily will be running a kids net as we go along.  It will take us between 20-25 days.  We’ll send position reports daily and you can check up on our progress.   Give three cheers for us if we have 150 mile plus days (24 hour period remember!)

Please know we will be getting a great boost from all of your thoughts and prayers as we make this passage.  We will love to get your e-mails.  We love to hear your stories from home.  With this new group of cruisers, I’m hesitant to make close friends.  The goodbyes are hard for me.  Plus, I miss my friends—that just know me and love me anyway—without too much explanation.     

What we are reading:

Lou—French for Dummies and looking for more books

Mary—Beak of the Finch (yes, still!)  

Emily is rationing herself so that she doesn’t run out of reads for the crossing.  She has about ten books, so I think she’ll be just fine.

Martin- Redwall.   

Isla San Cristobal, Galapagos (March, 2005)