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 !
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