On our way back after lunch and a second dive the wind picked up sharply and water started to break over the boat.  No problem for the flat deck between the hulls, but as the anchor locker in the starboard hull had no cover and sufficient water was coming aboard to fill the wells in between the open cabins and spill into them, we duly started sinking with a marked list to starboard.  At first the dive master (Fernando’s relative) seemed unconcerned but he suddenly woke up to the danger.  Although the divers all had BCDs, I couldn’t find any life jackets in the area so marked and the bilge pump had a capacity of about a litre a minute, so the cockpit was filling up too.  Now don’t forget that we had come 11200nms in Moonbeam, a thousand of which Jane and Willem had been with us, so the thought of being shipwrecked on an un-seaworthy dive boat was unappealing to say the least.  The dive master had the good sense to slow right down and head towards the shore which although rocky could have been a refuge in extremis.  At the same time we all moved aft to the port quarter whilst the crew bailed with an energetic urgency seldom seen in the natives.  Others held cushions up at the bows to try to reduce the inflow of water and we finally made it back to the cove where we had stopped on the way out.  Not to be phased by this (and after all it was on the itinery) we were dispatched overboard to swim with the sea lions whilst the crew continued with the clean-up.  The sea lions were wonderfully playful and so graceful in the water.  They did not seem to mind us being amongst them and they would twist and turn very close by, but without touching you.  And so another Westermann Adventure came to an end.

 Clearing in took several attempts and the whole of the following day.  I parted with port fees, light, harbour and buoyage fees together with a fee for the fumigation certificate even though no one had come to the boat let alone fumigated it.  This was all done with Johnny’s sister in attendance but not actually doing anything!

 To lighten things up we watched the antics of a heron perched on the anchor chain picking off fish as they swam by.  Pelicans also had a use for the boat by swimming alongside the hull and scooping up fish in their bill when they were corralled against it.  We had arranged with Fernando for a large delivery of fuel and he duly pitched up with his entourage and a selection of battered containers from which the fuel was siphoned into our tank.  It was just as well that I had a good stock of fuel filters!

 The next day was spent on an island tour, firstly through their coffee plantations and then on to a conservation area to see giant tortoises.  An effort to breed them in captivity was having some success and when they were big enough they were due to be released and returned to their natural habitat.  When they were little they were protected in the conservation area from predators (such as rats) that had been introduced to the islands.  Next stop was for coffee at a plantation house.  Unfortunately there was no hot water for coffee because the plantation owner had run out of matches to light the gas.  You will remember that Willem had been laughing at my attempts to light a fire when had been abandoned on Isla Coiba, so it was with great pleasure and endless amusement when I was able to rummage in my rucksack and find a lighter!  Coffee was back on!

 

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When we went ashore we were met on the dock by Fernando and his two camp followers.  Fernando was San Cristobal’s Mr. Fixit and he was to be tripped over anywhere and everywhere we went.  We had already talked to one of ‘Mariah’s’ crew about the snorkelling trip that he had been on to Kicker’s Rock and swimming with sea lions and so we duly booked a trip with Fernando’s brother/cousin/other relative who ran a dive shop for the following day.

 I was anxious to check-in and so started our interaction with Ecuadorian bureaucracy.  The Port Captain’s office was staffed by Ecuador navy personnel, none of whom spoke very good English, so we had to manage on Sarah and Jane’s Spanish.  We were sent away until after lunch and on our return were confronted with a flat refusal to check us in without an agent.  Consequently, the rest of the afternoon was spent tracking down one of the two agents reported to have offices in town.

 Eventually we made contact with Johnny’s sister who had a desk in a small grocery store.  Now Johnny operated out of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz and we had exchanged many emails over the previous six months as he tried to persuade us to use his services, and we tried to make up our mind whether or not to use the boat to explore the islands.  This had been discounted as an option when we discovered it would cost at least $1000US per day.  His fee for agency was $300US to act for us and obtain a Zarpe (cruising permit), which I was unwilling to pay.  We settled after much haggling on $150 which was paid to his sister.  For what was actually done by both him and his sister rather than by me, it proved to be $150 too much!

 However, having engaged the services of an agent, we arranged a rendezvous at the Port Captain’s office for the day following our snorkelling trip.  Meanwhile, Fernando had taken our passports to immigration and returned them to us duly stamped for a small fee when he found us having a beer at a café on the front.  The dive boat duly picked us up the next morning.  It was a combined trip with the four of us snorkelling and eight or ten others going for a dive.  The dive boat was a catamaran with two (different) outboard motors and a cabin fore and aft of an open well in each hull.  It had a large flat deck between the hulls forward of the cockpit which was situated in a well aft.  We had a good trip out to Kicker’s rock with a stop for us to go snorkelling whilst the divers did a weight check.

 Kicker’s rock is a small island 100m or so high, split into two by a cleft which was 15 to 20 m deep.  The divers were briefed that they would be dropped on one side of the island and to go through the cleft with the tide and the boat would pick them up on the other side.  We were to follow the same guidelines but on the surface.  Sarah was not keen on this but Jane, Willem and I set off for a magnificent treat.  Below us in crystal clear waters were white tip and hammerhead sharks cruising amongst shoals of reef fish and rays – what an incredible sight!

 


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