Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Galapagos Islands
Our arrival in the Galapagos consisted of wars with the sea lions, port captain and immigration police.
Checking in with the port captain took 4 days of repeated visits—the power was down, it wasn’t ready because the power was down yesterday, the computer was down they were having a meeting and finally it was done. We had fortunately contacted an agent previously and were able to get a permit to visit for 60 days and go to the most populated islands---subsequent boats coming in were refused this permit although apparently they will begin issuing more in 10 days---we have no idea why but such is the bureaucracy of Ecuador.
Next was the immigration police—they had no record of us having left Ecuador for Panama and they said we had overstayed our permitted time--- they then found that we had left Ecuador once but checked in three times????? Anyway after photocopying our stamps in our passports which we had checked as we had got them because we had heard that there can be issues and faxing to Quito it was all resolved and we got another 90 day permit. That took a week. (luckily that we had got the extended cruising visa!!!)
The third battle is ongoing and involves sea lions who view catamarans as a perfect hangout place. After having woken up with them peering down the hatch and having pooped vast quantities of smelly waste we devised a way to keep them off the decks. We had thought we would let them on the steps but after a day or two it was staining so decided to ban them from that too. This was done firstly by building up an obstacle course using bumpers, jerry cans and any other containers we could find. After a few days of waking up to find them sitting on top of all barriers we resorted to making a spike belt of a piece of wood with nails poking up through. After a few yelps for a few nights the word seemed to get around so we seem to have won that battle too. Boats learn quickly not to use their dinghy’s and kayaks as they are great hangout places. We catch the water taxi ashore.
Judy and Jack arrived to join us for 10 days and luckily most of our permits had been resolved so we were able to explore this wonderful part of the world.
We are on the island of San Cristobel which has the second largest town and has a number of restaurants, markets tour companies and t shirt stores but not enough to be overwhelming. The town is laid back and a very pleasant place to hang out in.
Our first major visit was to hire a taxi and take a trip up to the Tortoise reserve. It was fascinating to walk through the woods and discover the huge land tortoises native to this area. They are also protecting the young at the reserve and will release them when they are old enough to survive.
We took a dive tour but unfortunately picked the one day when the currents were strong and the dive became an endurance test and we did not see much. The dive master decided it was too dangerous to do a second dive in the area—a wise decision—so instead we went over to swim and dive amongst the sea lions. This was a treat as none of these were aware that we were the boat who had set out the spike belt and they all obviously enjoy interacting with the divers. They are a beautiful animal in the water and their clumsy land movements are not obvious as they dove and cavorted with us.
The beach near the airport is another site to be visited with the iguanas all over the rocks. I almost got swamped as I attempted to photograph the iguanas close to the breakers but luckily Jack was unable to get a photo so my drenched surprise was not recorded.
We visited the Darwin centre which explained the colourful history of the area and was worth while.
The other major trip we did with Judy and Jack was to Isla Espanola. This is a remote small uninhabited island which is 25 miles south of here which we had to go to with a tour company. This involved getting up at 5am the first morning only for the boat not to arrive with apparently mechanical problems but the infrastructure was not such to let us know. They offered us a trip the next morning which they promised would show but would come at 4am!!! We decided to risk it and luckily it showed up around 4.30 and we set off on the three hours boat trip.
We arrived to a small rocky island and immediately saw brightly coloured green and red iguana’s, crabs, sea lions and blue footed and nazca boobies. This was definitely a highlight and although it was a little frustrating at the speed at which they tour went through we were still able to witness the wonders of this island. We saw boobies barely hatched, iguanas fighting for their territorial rights and another iguana laying its eggs. It was definitely a day worth doing. We saw many bird species including the Darwin finch, which was the bird which gave Darwin the first ideas to consider and later come up with his theory of evolution.
We then motored to a beautiful bay with a white sandy beach (covered in sea lions) and clear blue water where we snorkeled and swam. Compared to Isla del Coco the snorkeling and diving has nowhere near the numbers of fish and sharks but it is interesting none the less and we did see the iguanas swimming in the ocean which was a first.
We enjoyed Judy and Jack’s visit---celebrated Jack’s 60th birthday---he will always remember that one. He helped Ken with many boat projects and I know Ken liked having Jack’s mechanical expertise aboard. I of course enjoyed the “girl things” with Judy and we were sad to have them leave.
We set off tomorrow for Isla Floreana for a few days and then will return here to connect with our friends on Qayaq and Migration.
Checking in with the port captain took 4 days of repeated visits—the power was down, it wasn’t ready because the power was down yesterday, the computer was down they were having a meeting and finally it was done. We had fortunately contacted an agent previously and were able to get a permit to visit for 60 days and go to the most populated islands---subsequent boats coming in were refused this permit although apparently they will begin issuing more in 10 days---we have no idea why but such is the bureaucracy of Ecuador.
Next was the immigration police—they had no record of us having left Ecuador for Panama and they said we had overstayed our permitted time--- they then found that we had left Ecuador once but checked in three times????? Anyway after photocopying our stamps in our passports which we had checked as we had got them because we had heard that there can be issues and faxing to Quito it was all resolved and we got another 90 day permit. That took a week. (luckily that we had got the extended cruising visa!!!)
The third battle is ongoing and involves sea lions who view catamarans as a perfect hangout place. After having woken up with them peering down the hatch and having pooped vast quantities of smelly waste we devised a way to keep them off the decks. We had thought we would let them on the steps but after a day or two it was staining so decided to ban them from that too. This was done firstly by building up an obstacle course using bumpers, jerry cans and any other containers we could find. After a few days of waking up to find them sitting on top of all barriers we resorted to making a spike belt of a piece of wood with nails poking up through. After a few yelps for a few nights the word seemed to get around so we seem to have won that battle too. Boats learn quickly not to use their dinghy’s and kayaks as they are great hangout places. We catch the water taxi ashore.
Judy and Jack arrived to join us for 10 days and luckily most of our permits had been resolved so we were able to explore this wonderful part of the world.
We are on the island of San Cristobel which has the second largest town and has a number of restaurants, markets tour companies and t shirt stores but not enough to be overwhelming. The town is laid back and a very pleasant place to hang out in.
Our first major visit was to hire a taxi and take a trip up to the Tortoise reserve. It was fascinating to walk through the woods and discover the huge land tortoises native to this area. They are also protecting the young at the reserve and will release them when they are old enough to survive.
We took a dive tour but unfortunately picked the one day when the currents were strong and the dive became an endurance test and we did not see much. The dive master decided it was too dangerous to do a second dive in the area—a wise decision—so instead we went over to swim and dive amongst the sea lions. This was a treat as none of these were aware that we were the boat who had set out the spike belt and they all obviously enjoy interacting with the divers. They are a beautiful animal in the water and their clumsy land movements are not obvious as they dove and cavorted with us.
The beach near the airport is another site to be visited with the iguanas all over the rocks. I almost got swamped as I attempted to photograph the iguanas close to the breakers but luckily Jack was unable to get a photo so my drenched surprise was not recorded.
We visited the Darwin centre which explained the colourful history of the area and was worth while.
The other major trip we did with Judy and Jack was to Isla Espanola. This is a remote small uninhabited island which is 25 miles south of here which we had to go to with a tour company. This involved getting up at 5am the first morning only for the boat not to arrive with apparently mechanical problems but the infrastructure was not such to let us know. They offered us a trip the next morning which they promised would show but would come at 4am!!! We decided to risk it and luckily it showed up around 4.30 and we set off on the three hours boat trip.
We arrived to a small rocky island and immediately saw brightly coloured green and red iguana’s, crabs, sea lions and blue footed and nazca boobies. This was definitely a highlight and although it was a little frustrating at the speed at which they tour went through we were still able to witness the wonders of this island. We saw boobies barely hatched, iguanas fighting for their territorial rights and another iguana laying its eggs. It was definitely a day worth doing. We saw many bird species including the Darwin finch, which was the bird which gave Darwin the first ideas to consider and later come up with his theory of evolution.
We then motored to a beautiful bay with a white sandy beach (covered in sea lions) and clear blue water where we snorkeled and swam. Compared to Isla del Coco the snorkeling and diving has nowhere near the numbers of fish and sharks but it is interesting none the less and we did see the iguanas swimming in the ocean which was a first.
We enjoyed Judy and Jack’s visit---celebrated Jack’s 60th birthday---he will always remember that one. He helped Ken with many boat projects and I know Ken liked having Jack’s mechanical expertise aboard. I of course enjoyed the “girl things” with Judy and we were sad to have them leave.
We set off tomorrow for Isla Floreana for a few days and then will return here to connect with our friends on Qayaq and Migration.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Isla del Coco and to the Galapagos
We set off to go to Isla del Cocos---an island owned by Costa Rica west of Panama to do some diving and then south to the Galapagos. We have as much fuel as we can carry as we have over 1000NM (nautical miles) and the currents will not necessarily be in our favour and there has been little wind recently.
We started with a great sail with good winds but as the days went by it varied—light winds in our face—not enough to sail to—so adopted a motor sailing technique. This involves picking as favourable direction as possible using the sails and with one engine going---our catamaran has two—we are able to go along at about 4 knots and optimize our fuel consumption.
The days drift on—we did see one whale and other than that a few birds. Got in a squall which had intense rain and wind one night but apart from that many books get read, sudokus get solved and sleep is taken in tandem.
Ken’s highlight was to catch two marlins, one on one day and another the following day. Luckily the front sail was not either time and using the two engines---another good reason to own a catamaran—I was able to motor in circles backwards as the fish swam in circles around the boat trying to get off. It took us almost an hour each time and finally Ken landed both. They were beautiful—about 6 to 7 feet long with a long sword and a beautiful dorsal fin which fanned most of his back. Ken was able to release them OK---much too much food for us—so after a big rest I am sure they carried on not sure if they had been having nightmares or not. I now declared a fishing ban as our fuel was short and not enough to go in circles forever and besides he could not catch a fish small enough for us to keep.
After 5 ½ days we finally reached Isla Del Coco. It seemed so strange to come across a small island all alone in the middle of the ocean—Costa Rica is over 300 miles away. It is the largest uninhabited island in the world and is a tropical rain forest receiving 280 inches of rain a year. It is a national park with two ranger stations. The ranger who collected our fees---about $100 per day which is how they maintain and police the illegal fishing---told us that it is in 3rd place in the 7 natural wonders of the world and is a world heritage site.
We did four incredible dives near our anchorage. We saw moray eels, marbled rays (about 5 feet diameter), white tipped reef sharks, crayfish, so many varieties and numbers of fish that it was a never ending colour display. The ultimate thrill were the hammerhead sharks. These school in vast numbers in the region and although we did not do the very deep dives where apparently you can see hundreds we saw a school of 24. These are huge sharks with a very strange head shape which have never attacked anyone when they are in a school. It was a little disconcerting watching them swim over, under and around you very calmly and slowly. I did see one who for whatever reason decided to take off and he went so fast that I realized that if any one had wanted one of us for dinner it would have been over before we knew what hit us. Anyway fortunately none did, so we were able to enjoy the wonderful spectacle. It equaled the best dives we have ever done, which were on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and far surpassed any others. The sheer numbers of fish was awe inspiring, schools and schools of so many varieties it is impossible to relate on paper how spectacular it is.
There are dive boats which come out for 7 days from Costa Rica with divers who dive around the island. I am sure no-one goes home disappointed. The dive boats very kindly refilled our tanks for us so we were able to do four dives each; there are no facilities on the island whatsoever.
We took a walk on the island to the magical waterfall which cascades into a lovely pool which was very welcome after a sticky hot 2 hour walk. The foliage is lush and beautiful and the island although only 4 miles long rises to 2800 feet.
After 4 incredible days there it was time to head to the Galapagos for the next sector of our voyage. No wind was in any forecast so motoring was to be in our future.
We motored for the first two days and then had a really nice sailing wind for 24 hours. The last day we had to motor again. We had a current all the way with us so were able to sail in to the Galapagos with still fuel left---it had been a concern with over 1000 miles to sail we weren’t sure how far our fuel would take us.
How do you know when you are in the Galapagos????
When you are awoken in the morning by a seal on your boat peering in at you down through your hatch above your bed!!!!
If only they didn’t poop all over and lie on your cockpit cushions making everything stink they would be cute.
We are watching the ongoing battle by sailing vessels to outwit them and keep them off. So far the seals are winning.
We started with a great sail with good winds but as the days went by it varied—light winds in our face—not enough to sail to—so adopted a motor sailing technique. This involves picking as favourable direction as possible using the sails and with one engine going---our catamaran has two—we are able to go along at about 4 knots and optimize our fuel consumption.
The days drift on—we did see one whale and other than that a few birds. Got in a squall which had intense rain and wind one night but apart from that many books get read, sudokus get solved and sleep is taken in tandem.
Ken’s highlight was to catch two marlins, one on one day and another the following day. Luckily the front sail was not either time and using the two engines---another good reason to own a catamaran—I was able to motor in circles backwards as the fish swam in circles around the boat trying to get off. It took us almost an hour each time and finally Ken landed both. They were beautiful—about 6 to 7 feet long with a long sword and a beautiful dorsal fin which fanned most of his back. Ken was able to release them OK---much too much food for us—so after a big rest I am sure they carried on not sure if they had been having nightmares or not. I now declared a fishing ban as our fuel was short and not enough to go in circles forever and besides he could not catch a fish small enough for us to keep.
After 5 ½ days we finally reached Isla Del Coco. It seemed so strange to come across a small island all alone in the middle of the ocean—Costa Rica is over 300 miles away. It is the largest uninhabited island in the world and is a tropical rain forest receiving 280 inches of rain a year. It is a national park with two ranger stations. The ranger who collected our fees---about $100 per day which is how they maintain and police the illegal fishing---told us that it is in 3rd place in the 7 natural wonders of the world and is a world heritage site.
We did four incredible dives near our anchorage. We saw moray eels, marbled rays (about 5 feet diameter), white tipped reef sharks, crayfish, so many varieties and numbers of fish that it was a never ending colour display. The ultimate thrill were the hammerhead sharks. These school in vast numbers in the region and although we did not do the very deep dives where apparently you can see hundreds we saw a school of 24. These are huge sharks with a very strange head shape which have never attacked anyone when they are in a school. It was a little disconcerting watching them swim over, under and around you very calmly and slowly. I did see one who for whatever reason decided to take off and he went so fast that I realized that if any one had wanted one of us for dinner it would have been over before we knew what hit us. Anyway fortunately none did, so we were able to enjoy the wonderful spectacle. It equaled the best dives we have ever done, which were on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and far surpassed any others. The sheer numbers of fish was awe inspiring, schools and schools of so many varieties it is impossible to relate on paper how spectacular it is.
There are dive boats which come out for 7 days from Costa Rica with divers who dive around the island. I am sure no-one goes home disappointed. The dive boats very kindly refilled our tanks for us so we were able to do four dives each; there are no facilities on the island whatsoever.
We took a walk on the island to the magical waterfall which cascades into a lovely pool which was very welcome after a sticky hot 2 hour walk. The foliage is lush and beautiful and the island although only 4 miles long rises to 2800 feet.
After 4 incredible days there it was time to head to the Galapagos for the next sector of our voyage. No wind was in any forecast so motoring was to be in our future.
We motored for the first two days and then had a really nice sailing wind for 24 hours. The last day we had to motor again. We had a current all the way with us so were able to sail in to the Galapagos with still fuel left---it had been a concern with over 1000 miles to sail we weren’t sure how far our fuel would take us.
How do you know when you are in the Galapagos????
When you are awoken in the morning by a seal on your boat peering in at you down through your hatch above your bed!!!!
If only they didn’t poop all over and lie on your cockpit cushions making everything stink they would be cute.
We are watching the ongoing battle by sailing vessels to outwit them and keep them off. So far the seals are winning.
Panama to the Darien
We finally left Panama City with all things fixed---for now—and headed to the Los Perlas Islands.
We were actually on our way when we received an email from Migration---our friends on their trimaran---to say they had our exit zarpe from Panama and so we must have theirs. This, if you know anything about clearing boats in and out of countries this is a HUGELT IMPORTANT document!!! We were with them when we did our check out and even though they were done before us I guess the port captain had mixed them up. They were about to enter the Galapagos and we were still in Panama!!! We then diverted our course to the only island in the Perlas with internet and managed to get a good enough signal to scan and send them their copy---ours awaits us in the Galapagos.
The next morning we set off for the Darien. This is a little visited are in the South of Panama near the Columbia border. There are the Woonaan tribal people who inhabit this area—they are a mix of the early Spaniards and the local Indian tribes people. They live a simple life and create wonderful woven baskets which take them weeks (or months) to make and are very expensive in Panama—even more so in the USA.
We headed into the Gulf and found the entrance to the small river we had elected to go up first. It wound its way up surrounded by mangroves inhabited by all kinds of birds, The river was small and we carefully found our way up—in a rising tide situation, in case we grounded and could wait and float off. We managed to get up to the anchorage and shortly after a family in a dugout canoe came to check us out. After giving the children paper and crayons and the family water we set off in our dinghy the few more miles up to find the local village. We arrived at an area where a few dugout canoes were in the water, tied up the dinghy and followed the path to a small village. As the children saw us they proceeded to follow us—we felt like the pied piper as we walked through the grass huts. They were up on stilts—a testament to the wet season which fortunately is not now. They had no baskets for sale at that time but were very friendly and we did trade a small piece for some coffee and sugar we had bought with us.
As we left the children continued to follow us and 3 teenage boys jumped in their canoe to follow us to our boat. These boys carry around a transistor radio each which is tuned to Panama City rap music—ipods are out of their budget, also wearing baseball caps sideways so is not very different from teenagers all over. We let them come aboard and fed them candies, drinks and printed them the photo we had taken of them. They showed no desire to leave—perhaps ever—so we offered them a tow back with our dinghy and they waved cheerfully as they went back to their village. The village has 100 people---three quarters appear to be children---and these three along with two others go to school in La Palma—the nearest town---probably an hour or more in a boat of some kind. The other children are younger so I assume have some schooling in the village.
Our anchorage was beautiful and at the witching hour (sunset) the howler monkeys begin their serenade and the parrots all fly back to wherever they sleep.
The next morning at 7am we were awoken by someone whistling and it was a man we had met the day before who was wondering if we had any spare glasses. We found him a pair of reading glasses we had and he promised to return with some fish when he caught some—we were leaving so never did get them.
We then headed to a much bigger village up a larger river. We motored up and set anchor at some islands and headed up 7 miles in the dinghy.
We passed dugout canoes with families fishing on the way who wave happily to us and then we finally came to the village. Naked children were swimming near the village---I assume the crocodiles which frequent the area do not go there??
We were met by village men who want to have us look at he tagua (a nut which is carved) and the baskets, as well as pay $5 and be able to take as many photos of the village as we want.
Arriving in this village where the women were unabashedly walking topless with tattooed breasts we had to act as though we are accustomed to such apparel—or lack of it—and not ogle.
We said we wanted baskets so were led up to a hut where they banged the gong to alert all of the women that prospective buyers had arrived. Many women complete with bags of baskets and tagua carvings now showed up and displayed some on a table and the lesser pieces were on the floor in front of each artist. There was a wonderful array and they are truly beautiful. The largest ones they were asking $500---probably could have got it for $400 were out of our budget but we did bargain for a couple---I still had a credit for my birthday and Xmas gifts---I had told Ken not to get me anything so I could splurge when such an occasion should arise. I got a small impeccably crafted one which was perhaps one of the finest I had seen anywhere and a larger one which we will send home with our next visitor to store it for us till we return. Ken bought a toucan mask which looks great on our wall and I chose a basket for Judy who is visiting us in the Galapagos and had asked me to find her one.
We met a young lady who was with the Peace Corp and had Kristen’s dream job (pre family). She was living in the village for 2 years and was helping them develop a market for their wonderful crafts in the US. The people are lovely and she is enjoying her time there.
Our last night was serenaded again by the howlers---a sound we have come to expect anywhere near land in Central and South America and will be a lasting memory for us.
Tomorrow we set off across the Pacific leaving the American continent behind as we embark on our next installment of our cruising adventure.
We were actually on our way when we received an email from Migration---our friends on their trimaran---to say they had our exit zarpe from Panama and so we must have theirs. This, if you know anything about clearing boats in and out of countries this is a HUGELT IMPORTANT document!!! We were with them when we did our check out and even though they were done before us I guess the port captain had mixed them up. They were about to enter the Galapagos and we were still in Panama!!! We then diverted our course to the only island in the Perlas with internet and managed to get a good enough signal to scan and send them their copy---ours awaits us in the Galapagos.
The next morning we set off for the Darien. This is a little visited are in the South of Panama near the Columbia border. There are the Woonaan tribal people who inhabit this area—they are a mix of the early Spaniards and the local Indian tribes people. They live a simple life and create wonderful woven baskets which take them weeks (or months) to make and are very expensive in Panama—even more so in the USA.
We headed into the Gulf and found the entrance to the small river we had elected to go up first. It wound its way up surrounded by mangroves inhabited by all kinds of birds, The river was small and we carefully found our way up—in a rising tide situation, in case we grounded and could wait and float off. We managed to get up to the anchorage and shortly after a family in a dugout canoe came to check us out. After giving the children paper and crayons and the family water we set off in our dinghy the few more miles up to find the local village. We arrived at an area where a few dugout canoes were in the water, tied up the dinghy and followed the path to a small village. As the children saw us they proceeded to follow us—we felt like the pied piper as we walked through the grass huts. They were up on stilts—a testament to the wet season which fortunately is not now. They had no baskets for sale at that time but were very friendly and we did trade a small piece for some coffee and sugar we had bought with us.
As we left the children continued to follow us and 3 teenage boys jumped in their canoe to follow us to our boat. These boys carry around a transistor radio each which is tuned to Panama City rap music—ipods are out of their budget, also wearing baseball caps sideways so is not very different from teenagers all over. We let them come aboard and fed them candies, drinks and printed them the photo we had taken of them. They showed no desire to leave—perhaps ever—so we offered them a tow back with our dinghy and they waved cheerfully as they went back to their village. The village has 100 people---three quarters appear to be children---and these three along with two others go to school in La Palma—the nearest town---probably an hour or more in a boat of some kind. The other children are younger so I assume have some schooling in the village.
Our anchorage was beautiful and at the witching hour (sunset) the howler monkeys begin their serenade and the parrots all fly back to wherever they sleep.
The next morning at 7am we were awoken by someone whistling and it was a man we had met the day before who was wondering if we had any spare glasses. We found him a pair of reading glasses we had and he promised to return with some fish when he caught some—we were leaving so never did get them.
We then headed to a much bigger village up a larger river. We motored up and set anchor at some islands and headed up 7 miles in the dinghy.
We passed dugout canoes with families fishing on the way who wave happily to us and then we finally came to the village. Naked children were swimming near the village---I assume the crocodiles which frequent the area do not go there??
We were met by village men who want to have us look at he tagua (a nut which is carved) and the baskets, as well as pay $5 and be able to take as many photos of the village as we want.
Arriving in this village where the women were unabashedly walking topless with tattooed breasts we had to act as though we are accustomed to such apparel—or lack of it—and not ogle.
We said we wanted baskets so were led up to a hut where they banged the gong to alert all of the women that prospective buyers had arrived. Many women complete with bags of baskets and tagua carvings now showed up and displayed some on a table and the lesser pieces were on the floor in front of each artist. There was a wonderful array and they are truly beautiful. The largest ones they were asking $500---probably could have got it for $400 were out of our budget but we did bargain for a couple---I still had a credit for my birthday and Xmas gifts---I had told Ken not to get me anything so I could splurge when such an occasion should arise. I got a small impeccably crafted one which was perhaps one of the finest I had seen anywhere and a larger one which we will send home with our next visitor to store it for us till we return. Ken bought a toucan mask which looks great on our wall and I chose a basket for Judy who is visiting us in the Galapagos and had asked me to find her one.
We met a young lady who was with the Peace Corp and had Kristen’s dream job (pre family). She was living in the village for 2 years and was helping them develop a market for their wonderful crafts in the US. The people are lovely and she is enjoying her time there.
Our last night was serenaded again by the howlers---a sound we have come to expect anywhere near land in Central and South America and will be a lasting memory for us.
Tomorrow we set off across the Pacific leaving the American continent behind as we embark on our next installment of our cruising adventure.
Friday, February 15, 2008
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