Log Date: March 20, 2005

Location: The Galapagos

We sailed into the Galapagos on Sunday March 13th.  Had a great transit from Panama. A total of 7 days at sea - about 900 miles.  We were able to sail 50% of the time which is pretty good considering we were in the Doldrums(NO WIND and GLASS SEAS).  We are officially in the South Pacific - we crossed the equator on March 12th at 4:21PM.  As we crossed the equator we offered up a shot of Brandy to Neptune asking him to keep us safe and give us good winds...probably shouldn't have been so cheap with the liquor and given him the whole bottle...but he has been good to us so far. 

We went to the Port Captain to check in on Monday - figuring we wouldn't be charged the overtime rate for clearing-in but they charged us anyway.  Neither the Port Captain nor Immigrations spoke English.  I went with Susan as the translator.  Which was quite the joke since my Spanish is "muy mal"  or "very bad".  The Port Captain had an English/Spanish translator program on his PC. Made for an interesting time.

The Isla of Santa Cruz and the town of Puerto Ayura is what I would call an "anywhere" tourist town.  There are numerous t-shirt stores, 20 restaurants and about 25 hotels (some boast running water). Prices are not bad for a small island and they use the good ole US dollar here, just like in Panama.

There are small cruise ships that offer more of a rustic adventure than say the QEII. Hiking, bird watching, and of course diving and snorkeling are common.  This is suppose to be some of the best diving in the world - but everywhere we have been has boasted that! They do say the white tip sharks are friendly. Hmmm...I'm sure the hammerhead sharks are friendly also?  Can't wait to go snorkeling in my black wet suit and fins. I'll find out how friendly they are as I'll look like a tasty sea lion. I only have to remember to swim faster than the slowest person in the water. So that's why you never swim alone!

Went to the Charles Darwin Research Center.  Due to man and the goats, dogs, pigs, etc… that MAN has brought to the island it had nearly wiped out the tortoise population.  The Center now takes the tortoise eggs from the wild and hatches and raises them until they are 5 years old or so.  Then they repatriate them back into the wild.  The center has pens that you walk in with the large tortoises.  It was a little weird at first but we thought about it and figured we could outrun the tortoises if they started to get aggressive.  They are BIG but they lumber along like they have really bad arthritis.

At Tortuga Bay we saw sea iguanas that are either really cute or really ugly. One just sat there and let us "click" away.  Then s/he decided to go for a swim and we got movies of that.  Not sure I want to be swimming with one of these cute/ugly prehistoric creatures however they are a lot smaller than the "friendly" white tip sharks I suppose.

We walked through "the Lava Tubes" which were created by rushing rivers of lava. The outer surfaced of the lava flow cools quicker than the interior and formed a "tube". This one was about 30ft high and 20ft wide but it had a wall with about 2ft opening just before the exit that you had to crawl on you hands a knees a short distance to pass through - then it opened up again. They made me go through it - I was all for going back the way we came in. It is not a place for the claustrophobic that's for sure!

On to "Los Gremelos" (the twins) which are two HUGE pit craters that are several acres in size.  They were created by volcanic action, it was explained. An underground "bubble" which collapsed the land above it. Very stunning with the verdant fauna that covers it now.

There are Blue Footed Boobies (seabird) dive bombing all around the boat from 50-100 feet high, wings tucked, straight down - fishing I guess.  You'll be sitting on deck and hear this LOUD "KERPLUNK" a couple of feet away and in a second you see one of these birds surfacing the water.  I never see them with a fish in their mouth -

I think they are rather poor fishing birds and that is why they dive bomb for hours.  I hope they don't miscalculate and hit the boat.

It is hot and sunny at the equator - the water in the harbour is a bit chilly at 87 degrees.  Most of the way here it was 94 degrees.  

Enjoying Life Onboard and Having a Ball!

Laura and Susan

SV Mystic Traveler