The Galapagos Adventures

 

An update to our journal is many months overdue, but for some reason I just haven’t felt in the mood to sit down to write it.  However, at the moment we are confined in quarantine here in Suva, Fiji until we can be cleared in after the weekend and so there is no better time to catch up.

 

We anchored in Wreck Bay close to ‘Mariah’ which is a large catamaran on a leisurely delivery trip from the Seychelles to Tonga and last seen in Panama.  We were amused to see a sea lion fast asleep on the sugar scoop of one of their hulls.  This was to become a common sight and we were soon to have several of our own squabbling over who had sleeping rights on Moonbeam’s sugar scoop.

 

In fact, as soon as the dinghy was in the water it was adopted as a sleeping platform by anything up to three of these fascinating creatures.  They were most indignant if we wanted to borrow the dinghy to go ashore and one of them when shooed off one side of the dinghy promptly swam under it to endeavour to climb back on the other side.  It was wonderful entertainment throughout our stay in Wreck Bay – that is apart from having to clean up after them!  They were obviously doing very well on San Cristobal because there was a large colony resident on one of the beaches and indeed draped all around the small town of Puerto Baquerizo Marino.  You had to step over or past those of them choosing to sleep on the dock when going ashore.  They are such ungainly creatures on land but so graceful and acrobatic in the water.

 

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By now, of course, it was getting late – the tide was coming in – no one was talking to us on the radio and our English speaking guide was clearly a bit rattled.  Willem was complet
ely unfazed by this, but you know what I am like.  It is just not in my nature to be comfortable relying on other people – particularly since there did not seem to be a contingency plan.  The ranger’s assertion that we needn’t worry because their colleagues would come to look for us just didn’t seem to very reassuring.  Well it was obviously too late to walk back through the forest so if we were not picked up we would have to spend the night in the mangroves with the forest creatures not to mention the crocodiles for company.  I caused much hilarity by making a bow to turn a stick to light a fire, something I had seen done but not tried myself.  This was not easy (no leatherman remember) and Willem thought I was just fashioning an arrow with which to shoot the guide!

However, happily my efforts were not needed as we eventually heard an outboard engine in the distance and we were duly picked up and taken back to the Ranger Station.  It is interesting that none of us would have set off in the right direction if left to ourselves as we had become totally disorientated in the forest.  The guides invited themselves for a beer and a Moonbeam T-shirt in the evening and we set off for Isla Cebeco the next day.  Isla Cebeco was about 30 miles away and had its own whale and a ship parked in the bay from which we could bunker some fuel before setting of
f for the Galapagos.

The 750nms Isla Cebeco – San Cristobal took us 4 days 20 hours in predominantly calm winds and glassy seas and we had to motor for a total of 73:45 hours.  We caught one dorado but lost three lures so it was as well that we were not relying on our fishing skills to survive.  We crossed the equator on 2nd March at 2242 UTC at W088 19.8 and celebrated with a glass to Neptune, a glass to Moonbeam and a glass to us!  Apart from the marine life, escorting gulls, a half sunk wreck and a couple of ships we had been alone once more.  When we anchored in Wreck bay, Isla San Cristobal, it was 0900 on 3rd March and there commenced our Galapagos adventures.

 


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