Just returned to the yacht after two days visiting other islands in the Galapagos Archipelago and what a wonderful time that was .... just too short of course (isn't this always the way !)
Tour Day 1 - Saturday 21 March 2009
Saturday morning we were all up at dawn which, being the March Equinox was a 6 o'clock. A hasty breakfast and then calling for a water taxi to take us from our anchorage in the bay into the town jetty. Scotty dropped his sunglasses off the edge of the stern platform and fell off after them forgetting that in his pocket was his new digital camera. Alas salt water does not agree with it and it has ceased to work since...
Our man Bolivar (a ship's agent of sorts) met us with a taxi for the airport. These taxi are generally Toyota Hilux (or Mazda equivalent) with a cab with seats for 5 and an open tray at the rear. What fun - I get to ride in the back. Arrival at a deserted airport gives time for photographing some lovely little blue butterflies warming themselves in the early morning sun on a round bush with thin leaves. Some lovely closeup shots. The airport also has some interesting sculptures of local animals and birds - a killer whale and the head of the Booby (there are two species - blue footed and red footed, we only saw the blue [see later pictures]). AFter a while the airport came to life and we were processed and led to the plane, a twin prop 8-seater.
The flight from San Cristobal to Isabela took about 40 minutes over open ocean - see this page for a plan of the islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands
The air is fairly hazy around here so long distance views even from 4500 feet do not go far, but the views down were wonderful especially our approach to Puerto Villamal, the small settlement on this the largest of the islands. The sea water is a cristal clear turquoise, parts of the land are still barren lava flow (some 200,000 years old we were later told and not yet vegetated). In the distance faint views of a volcano (Volcan Sierra Negra) the nearest to Puerto Villamil. The rest of the island looked very green and lush.
We were met at the airport by our guide for the day - arranged by our man Bolivar - Senor Selsar, a short man, very tanned, with a mass of white hair under his blue cap. In his friendly, knowledgeable way he toured us through the day with pretty good broken english. First he took us to our accommodation in his own house and that of a friend just down the road. OUr route took us across more barren cold lava flow and past the electricity generator which hummed and clattered loudly in the quiet morning air. Small dark finches darted around - these are known as the Darwin finches (los pinzones). Once settled we jumped back in the Hliux and were driven off on our tour which took us to :
- salt lakes just inland of the sea to see flamingos - none around
- giant tortoise breeding centre
- a neach to walk among marine iguanas
- a lava tube connecting to the sea
- a the site of a prison camp with the remains of a wall built by the convicts
- up a hill to view the distant volcano Cerro Azul
- on to a place to see turtles (there weren't any)
- back along the beach
then lunch in the centre of Puerto Villamil.
The afternoon was taken up with a boat ride out to some rocky islands lieing next to the port area of Villamil where we went snorkelling in a slightly cloudy sea, saw a few Galapagos penguins, and then back ashore for a walk over a lava field quite different from those seen before. This was all jagged and rough with spikes covered on their southern side by white lichen - a scene worthy of Dante's inferno. Here we saw many beautiful red and orange crabs, more marine iguanas, penguins and the lovely blue-footed booby.
By now the sun was sinking in the sky so we returned to our boat and back to the shore. A small side tour took us to Concha de Perla a small platform bathing area which was too busy to stop at. After showers and a rest we walked back to the main square of the town and had dinner there. I returned to my very lovely room and went to an early bed - 8.30 ! It had been a long and wonderfully fascinating day.
Pictures here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/GalapagosIslaIsabela21Mar09# and I am sorry not to have time to label them all - I hope they tell their own story !
Tour day 2 - Sunday 22 March
Awake before dawn after a most refreshing sleep, I decided to go out walking with the camera. It was quiet and cool, finches flitting around and a soft breeze wafting through the scrub. Down at the dock I saw a penguin flying through the clear water, more sealions, crabs and a snowy white heron (or egret ?). Boys were on the beach working on their boats. I had earlier passed a large boat cut into three pieces - amazing to see how they are constructed. And also home to a small colony of wasps. I returned to the swimming place which was now deserted and the water flat calm - no need for goggles to see the fish swimming in the clear water. It was quite magical swimming there in the early morning and sealions cruised curiously by.
Just after 7.30 we collected by our driver and taken to the airport, again deserted. Later, after processing, our plane returned and took us back into the heavens on another wonderful flight this time up to Isla Santa Cruz, the large island in the middle of the archipelago. The airport is actaully on the small island of Baltra which was a US base in World War 2. This is where the flights from the mainland arrive and was crowded with tourists. Here we were met by Jose who shepherded us onto a local bus for the short ride to the ferry to Santa Cruz. OUr ferry ran out of fuel half way across the short straight [remember this]. On Santa Cruz we jumped into Jose's Hilux - and again, o joy! - I got to ride in the back. The road road across the island runs straight south-west for a long way and then curves south and southeast into Puerto Ayora.
On the way we stopped at a huge sink hole - formed when a gas bubble occurs during an underwater eruption which hardens and the later the top collapses leaving a large crater hole. Then on to another lava tunnel. This time the tunnel ran for some 200 metres underground, at one point the roof was so low we had to crawl under it and at later rose to some 8 metres. Well lit it was reminscent of lime caves in other parts of the world. Further on the road we stopped at a ranch and saw some giant tortoises in their natural state including a couple mating .... something that can take up to 4 hours! Scotty tried on an old tortoise shell. OUr final point of tour was to the Charles Darwin Research Centre. Here much research is done by the international scientific community into the ecology of the islands and ways to control introduced species. Here is a another tortoise breeding centre, and some captive land iguanas. These are orange brown in colour, whilst their much more numerous marine cousins are black.
After a quick lunch we got onto our boat for the 2 hour ride back to San Cristobal.... Remember the ferry from Baltra to Santa Cruz running out of fuel ? Well half way across the sea our boat also ran out of fuel so there we were olling about in the shortish swell with a fine chop on the top. Several passengers were not well ... happy to report that our crew fared well. After about 2 hours a relief boat arrived with four large drums of fuel and took most of the passengers off. We got back to Puetro Moreno at 6.30. Curiously the crew did not seem in the least concerned. Amazing adventure.
And so we returned to NEREID after dinner ashore in Puerto B Moreno.
Pictures from the day are here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/GalapagosIsabelaToBaltraSantaCruzAndBackToSanCristobal#
General impressions of our time in Galapagos :
The people here are very friendly, relaxed and easy-going. The towns we have seen are clean and well kept generally and in the case of Puerto B Moreno that work on improving the seafront is really good. Of course everything has to come here by ship so it is more expensive, but there is enough variety of product to satisfy our needs. Fresh food, though, is freshest when the boat comes in (of course) and it came in with us - so buying fresh on Monday, our departure day, was not so good.
The scenery is spectacular - I wish we had had time to visit a volcano and peer into the caldera, or even get close to the one that erupted last year (May 2008) but such is life.
The wildlife is extraordinary as we all know, but to see it up close - and very close - has been amazing. The sealions around the bay here in Puerto B Moreno are very friendly - as I write this one has just been to visit our stern transom - again. Quite fearless.
On Isabela and Santa Cruz, seeing the giant tortoises both in captivity and in the wild was all I hoped for. I learned that the introduction of goats, pigs, rats, dogs and cats has been more catastrophic even than the decimation caused by whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries (we know from records that 100,000 tortoises were taken for food - they would live on for months onboard piled up on each other - something we would not countenance today). Additionally they were killed for food - it is thought maybe 200,000 were killed. Each island had its own sub-species - on Isabela we were told there were 12 subspecies living on and around the different volcanoes... three of these are extinct - the rest recovering due to human assistance. The eggs hardly survive in the wild now - animals and fire ants (introduced aslo) eat the eggs. But the breeding program is working well. You can see me with tortoises - really wonderful creatures.
The iguanas are fascinating too - I did not know there were land iguanas - the marine iguanas are well known. The males are quite a bit larger than the females. Rather ugly creatures even so - only a mother could love one ! They sit in the sun to absorb heat, and when they reach the right temperature they turn around and point at the sun - less surface area to heat up.
The penguins were penguins - we did not see too many of them. The blue-footed booby was lovely - it is not mating season so we did not see the dance they do presenting their feet to each other - but we've seen this on TV !
Isla Isabela is a much younger island still with active volcanoes, so the landscape here differs from Santa Cruz which is well farmed and cultivated. It is more wild. Lots of cactus, very dry, and the remains of the penal colony - that wall built just for punishment - most interesting.
Santa Cruz was quite different and very green - plenty of farming here and indeed, the place where we saw the tortoises mating was a ranch. I was told it was possible to hire horses and ride out into the national park in which we would have seen many more tortoises. It was also a lot of fun riding in the back of the car ! Such child-like pleasures .....
The weather has been wonderful really. I thought, being near the equator, we would be very hot, but the days have been warm and dry with a breeze mostly which has been really pleasant. Quite a dry heat too which is comfortable too. The sea is a clear blue, sometimes turquoise, sometimes pale blue, sometimes almost indigo, and a delight to swim off coral sand beaches with sea-lions flopping about on the shore. And at night the clear warm sky is full of stars.
How blest am I to be able to be here, experiencing this. And to see that these islands are now the subject of so much care and scientific interest. There are challenges to be sure - modern life requires certain standards of living that cause havoc with nature (plastic plastic plastic - again). However .....
To be honest it is hard to describe accurately in a short article like this, and with time constraint (I must post this before we sail in a couple of hours) so I will end here and just say - look at the pictures. Next stop the Marquesas ....
Final pix - Farewell to Galapagos ! http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/FarewellToGalapagos#
Monday, March 23, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
PANAMA TO GALAPAGOS - Thursday 12 to Wednesday 17 March 2009
Our planned departure from Panama was delayed by two days due, firstly, to the muffler on the engine being repaired and then, secondly, to a problem with the alternator. We were running the engine to charge the batteries in the evening of Wednesday 11 March when David noticed that the battery was not charging. He tried a number of ways to diagnose the problem without success. So the next morning we contacted Jay, a young american who is sailing solo up and down the coast of south america in his ketch and who speaks fluent spanish. He was very happy to help us.
In order to save time we took NEREID round to the marina to fuel. The fuelling dock was busy and in any case the tide was very low and NEREID would not have been able to get alongside until the afernoon. So we used the dinghy and fuel drums to bring fuel over to the yacht. These eight extra fuel drums are needed to get us over the long passages between Panama and Galapagos, and then the longer still passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas and Tahiti.
David and Jay returned with news that the alternator was broken and in repair for collection in the afternoon. Having fuelled we returned to our anchorage on the west side of Isla Flamenco. The alternator was later collected and fitted - alas it still did not work so a quick dash back to the engineer was required. The alternator was working - the problem was eventually diagnosed as being something else. Once fixed we were able to be on our way.
We had dinner onboard, with Jay, and then, under a full moon we hoisted the main, weighed anchor and motored out into the Bay of
Panama. It has taken us six days to get from Panama to the Galapagos archipelgo. This is pretty good going - it is 900+ nautical miles and much of this time we have been in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) otherwise known as the Doldrums. This area moves with the seasons and can be from 50 to 300 miles wide. We did not measure this, and we one fair day of wind. Most of the rest of the time we were motoring. Fortunately the extra fuel we were carrying saw us through this period. This is what the Doldrums look like - glassy seas : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/InTheDoldrums?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXWk-WNmcn4-AE#
On the way we have had clear nights under a million stars, a waning moon each night, rising later and later, one time change, and a journey towards the Equator where we experience 12 hour days and nights. And of course we crossed the Equator. It is quite a bump really. This is the fifth time I have crossed it - the other times were while I was in the Royal Navy ... twice to the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas in 1983 and 1985. We crossed at 0433 on Wednesday 17 March much to the excitement of those who had not done it before. I did get a photo of our chart plotter just after we had past over .... at the moment of passage I was photographing the others ! http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/CrossingTheEquatorAndComingToSanCristobalGalapagosIslands?authkey=Gv1sRgCOyO1qq4zv3-4QE#
And then finally yesterday we came into view of the Galapagos islands .... the first being Isla San Cristobal. Our approach was down the west coast of this long island with a small hump appearing first, followed by surprisingly green slopes, then a brown piece of laval flow which runs behind a large granite, volcanic block of immense grandeur. On passing this we turned to run between the main island and a flat-topped rock with a large menhir broken off on the north side. Eventually we came to the south-west point of San Cristobal to Wreck Bay and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, a small town and one of the ports of entry to the Galapagos Islands.
There is a good piece in wikipedia on the islands – go here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands
We were greeted by turtles and sea-lions – the latter are here in abundance indeed – everywhere, on the beaches, on the jetty steps, on the back of your boat, in your dinghy (if you let them)
We had to stay onboard overnight and through part of the next morning waiting for customs clearance and immigration procedures (pratique). Once done we all went ashore in a water-taxi. It is good to stretch the legs after a period at sea. The town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is really quite nice - very lovely foreshore which they are working on hard to improve with noteable success. Photos here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/PuertoBaquerizoMorenoSanCristobalGalapagos?authkey=Gv1sRgCNK657TIkfSvLQ#
I wandered about the small town, found an internet café to pick up e-mails and then took off on a walk around the edge of the town to the local Interpretation Centre – its very good. See some pictures of it in the collection for this blog.
Out the back of this Intepretation Centre runs a long walk – through the scrub bushes over crumbled lava flow rocks (all black and brown) and up to a high look-out. A very fine view is had from here, and then the path winds down into the scrub again, past a swimming and snorkelling place with amazingly clear water, and then up to another lookout, on again round to the south and a further lookout this time with a 1942 British gun placed there in 1972 ….. quite why I do not know ! The path carried on down towards the bay where we are anchored. Several beautiful clean beaches are here – mostly of coral sand with small shells. Here in the sunset a number of sealions were either fighting or courting – hard to say which but there bumping each other did not seem too hard, serious or long either. Made for some good photos. http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/SanCristobalVisitorInterpretationCentreAndWalkingTheNatureTrail?authkey=Gv1sRgCOv377z_2ICqSA#
And then finally in the gathering gloom I made my way back to the town and caught a water-taxi back to NEREID. Shortly after I returned a dinghy pulled up alongside with an invitation for me to go over to a 38 foot steel yacht TETEGA owned by English John, crewed also by an English John (both of whom now live in New Zealand) and Canadian Taylor. Very nice to visit other boats and see the difference of living standards. Their much older boat is smaller, less spacious but well fitted out with mahogany furniture – really very pleasant. And on this note you can go here to see pictures of NEREID from the inside – something I have omitted to show you before. Go here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/OnboardNERIEDWhatSheLooksLike#
That brings us up to date – tomorrow we are off on a tour of other islands and this time I expect to see the famous giant tortoise. What fun !
In order to save time we took NEREID round to the marina to fuel. The fuelling dock was busy and in any case the tide was very low and NEREID would not have been able to get alongside until the afernoon. So we used the dinghy and fuel drums to bring fuel over to the yacht. These eight extra fuel drums are needed to get us over the long passages between Panama and Galapagos, and then the longer still passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas and Tahiti.
David and Jay returned with news that the alternator was broken and in repair for collection in the afternoon. Having fuelled we returned to our anchorage on the west side of Isla Flamenco. The alternator was later collected and fitted - alas it still did not work so a quick dash back to the engineer was required. The alternator was working - the problem was eventually diagnosed as being something else. Once fixed we were able to be on our way.
We had dinner onboard, with Jay, and then, under a full moon we hoisted the main, weighed anchor and motored out into the Bay of
Panama. It has taken us six days to get from Panama to the Galapagos archipelgo. This is pretty good going - it is 900+ nautical miles and much of this time we have been in the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) otherwise known as the Doldrums. This area moves with the seasons and can be from 50 to 300 miles wide. We did not measure this, and we one fair day of wind. Most of the rest of the time we were motoring. Fortunately the extra fuel we were carrying saw us through this period. This is what the Doldrums look like - glassy seas : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/InTheDoldrums?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXWk-WNmcn4-AE#
On the way we have had clear nights under a million stars, a waning moon each night, rising later and later, one time change, and a journey towards the Equator where we experience 12 hour days and nights. And of course we crossed the Equator. It is quite a bump really. This is the fifth time I have crossed it - the other times were while I was in the Royal Navy ... twice to the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas in 1983 and 1985. We crossed at 0433 on Wednesday 17 March much to the excitement of those who had not done it before. I did get a photo of our chart plotter just after we had past over .... at the moment of passage I was photographing the others ! http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/CrossingTheEquatorAndComingToSanCristobalGalapagosIslands?authkey=Gv1sRgCOyO1qq4zv3-4QE#
And then finally yesterday we came into view of the Galapagos islands .... the first being Isla San Cristobal. Our approach was down the west coast of this long island with a small hump appearing first, followed by surprisingly green slopes, then a brown piece of laval flow which runs behind a large granite, volcanic block of immense grandeur. On passing this we turned to run between the main island and a flat-topped rock with a large menhir broken off on the north side. Eventually we came to the south-west point of San Cristobal to Wreck Bay and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, a small town and one of the ports of entry to the Galapagos Islands.
There is a good piece in wikipedia on the islands – go here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands
We were greeted by turtles and sea-lions – the latter are here in abundance indeed – everywhere, on the beaches, on the jetty steps, on the back of your boat, in your dinghy (if you let them)
We had to stay onboard overnight and through part of the next morning waiting for customs clearance and immigration procedures (pratique). Once done we all went ashore in a water-taxi. It is good to stretch the legs after a period at sea. The town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is really quite nice - very lovely foreshore which they are working on hard to improve with noteable success. Photos here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/PuertoBaquerizoMorenoSanCristobalGalapagos?authkey=Gv1sRgCNK657TIkfSvLQ#
I wandered about the small town, found an internet café to pick up e-mails and then took off on a walk around the edge of the town to the local Interpretation Centre – its very good. See some pictures of it in the collection for this blog.
Out the back of this Intepretation Centre runs a long walk – through the scrub bushes over crumbled lava flow rocks (all black and brown) and up to a high look-out. A very fine view is had from here, and then the path winds down into the scrub again, past a swimming and snorkelling place with amazingly clear water, and then up to another lookout, on again round to the south and a further lookout this time with a 1942 British gun placed there in 1972 ….. quite why I do not know ! The path carried on down towards the bay where we are anchored. Several beautiful clean beaches are here – mostly of coral sand with small shells. Here in the sunset a number of sealions were either fighting or courting – hard to say which but there bumping each other did not seem too hard, serious or long either. Made for some good photos. http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/SanCristobalVisitorInterpretationCentreAndWalkingTheNatureTrail?authkey=Gv1sRgCOv377z_2ICqSA#
And then finally in the gathering gloom I made my way back to the town and caught a water-taxi back to NEREID. Shortly after I returned a dinghy pulled up alongside with an invitation for me to go over to a 38 foot steel yacht TETEGA owned by English John, crewed also by an English John (both of whom now live in New Zealand) and Canadian Taylor. Very nice to visit other boats and see the difference of living standards. Their much older boat is smaller, less spacious but well fitted out with mahogany furniture – really very pleasant. And on this note you can go here to see pictures of NEREID from the inside – something I have omitted to show you before. Go here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/OnboardNERIEDWhatSheLooksLike#
That brings us up to date – tomorrow we are off on a tour of other islands and this time I expect to see the famous giant tortoise. What fun !
Saturday, March 7, 2009
RETURN TO PANAMA - 27 February to 3 March
We said farewell to Golfito on Friday 27 Feb, late in the afternoon. It took all morning for David to complete formalities having chased over town from one office to another, being delayed by ofices being empty. His comment was that they don't encourage us to visit - formalities took ages to complete on the way in. Having fuelled we motored out of Golfito into the Golfo Dulce and were able to sail some of the way. However the winds were light and for the next two days we spent a lot of time motoring down the coast of Costa Rica,with a mixture of light winds.
Saturday 28 Feb I record in my journal "long day, lots of motoring, hot, slept in the afternoon, homesick". This is true - much as I am excited about this adventure, I have now been away for 2 months, and after 7 years in Sydney in a very settled, enjoyable, fullfiling and busy life, I have changed direction and altered my life radically in a short time. David and Sarah are lovely, the yacht is very beautiful, and I am seeing new things most days. The pace of life is much slower than in my city life, and I miss those who I love a great deal. But then David & Sarah feel the same and we will be happy to point NEREID towards Australia next week.
And on the way will be more exciting places to see - so keep watching this space.
The rest of our voyage back to Panama was frustratingly slow. At the bottom south west corner of the bay of Panama (Bahia de Panama) is the Punta Mala (Bad Point literally). Here the wind picked up from the north, and a strong current ran against our course, so we sailed and motored across both wind and current way off the course we wanted which added another day to our reckoning. Eventually we came out of the current and the wind backed a little enabling us to do some long tacks up the bay. We passed to the west of the Islas de las Perlas (see earlier Blog) and came at length to the approach to the Panama Canal by which time it was night. we had a spectacular sunset which you can see.
Sailing NEREID is mostly very easy - much easier than I expected, and am used to. She is fitted with GPS and a fine and useful Plotter which tells us where weare. No drawing on charts. She also has self-steering governedby some fancy electronics - with this we can sail close to the wind and trim the sails by altering course by as little as 1 or 2 degrees. Of course when tacking across the wind we need still to haul on sails. Other than that a lot of our cross-ocan sailing involves a lot of sitting around. we have been very lucky with the weather - fine, sometimes hot, days - some good winds, more motoring than I expected. I am wondering how our long voyages will be. At some stage on our way to Galapagos we will cross the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (the Doldrums) which could be 50 or 300 milees wide and across which we will have to motor. More on this later...
This will be my last Blog until after the Galapagos. Enjoy some pictures of wildlife - Fred (a black gannet who hitched a ride on our pulpit one night as we motored down the coast of Panama and stayed there until we hauled up the Genoa at 3.00 in the morning), and a huge pod of dolphins who joined us the next morning. Some fine jumping ! see the pictures here : http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/WildlifeCostaRicaToPanama#
So to all my dear friends and family who are following this - keep us in your thoughts and prayers as you are in mine. Missing you all in the midst of adventurous wanderings ....
Saturday 28 Feb I record in my journal "long day, lots of motoring, hot, slept in the afternoon, homesick". This is true - much as I am excited about this adventure, I have now been away for 2 months, and after 7 years in Sydney in a very settled, enjoyable, fullfiling and busy life, I have changed direction and altered my life radically in a short time. David and Sarah are lovely, the yacht is very beautiful, and I am seeing new things most days. The pace of life is much slower than in my city life, and I miss those who I love a great deal. But then David & Sarah feel the same and we will be happy to point NEREID towards Australia next week.
And on the way will be more exciting places to see - so keep watching this space.
The rest of our voyage back to Panama was frustratingly slow. At the bottom south west corner of the bay of Panama (Bahia de Panama) is the Punta Mala (Bad Point literally). Here the wind picked up from the north, and a strong current ran against our course, so we sailed and motored across both wind and current way off the course we wanted which added another day to our reckoning. Eventually we came out of the current and the wind backed a little enabling us to do some long tacks up the bay. We passed to the west of the Islas de las Perlas (see earlier Blog) and came at length to the approach to the Panama Canal by which time it was night. we had a spectacular sunset which you can see.
Sailing NEREID is mostly very easy - much easier than I expected, and am used to. She is fitted with GPS and a fine and useful Plotter which tells us where weare. No drawing on charts. She also has self-steering governedby some fancy electronics - with this we can sail close to the wind and trim the sails by altering course by as little as 1 or 2 degrees. Of course when tacking across the wind we need still to haul on sails. Other than that a lot of our cross-ocan sailing involves a lot of sitting around. we have been very lucky with the weather - fine, sometimes hot, days - some good winds, more motoring than I expected. I am wondering how our long voyages will be. At some stage on our way to Galapagos we will cross the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (the Doldrums) which could be 50 or 300 milees wide and across which we will have to motor. More on this later...
This will be my last Blog until after the Galapagos. Enjoy some pictures of wildlife - Fred (a black gannet who hitched a ride on our pulpit one night as we motored down the coast of Panama and stayed there until we hauled up the Genoa at 3.00 in the morning), and a huge pod of dolphins who joined us the next morning. Some fine jumping ! see the pictures here : http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/WildlifeCostaRicaToPanama#
So to all my dear friends and family who are following this - keep us in your thoughts and prayers as you are in mine. Missing you all in the midst of adventurous wanderings ....
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