Day 51: Galapagos – 25/02/10

Mike gets up just before 6 am and I do get my two cups of tea in bed before I heave myself out of it and just give the boat a bit of a once over before the others arrive.  Some of them have never been on a cat before so I want to give a good impression, although, half asleep, I’m sure that my housework is probably not worth the bother.

They arrive around 7.30 am and we leave the bay, heading for Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz.  It is about 45 miles and we should be there around mid afternoon.

It’s a pleasant sail, and almost cooperative winds let us sail the course without much trouble, at times with the two genoas goose winged at the front.  It’s cloudy for most of the day but very, very hot and humid.

I make some garlic bread for lunch and Jim does the angel hair pasta with chilli and garlic.  Both Heidi and Casey make comments about how easy our bathrooms are to keep clean.  They have a huge, beautiful yacht (a Swan 76) but all the bathrooms are teak and they have to wipe down and dry everything after every shower.  What a pain.

When we arrive at Puerto Ayora we put the anchor down then wait for the water taxi to arrive so that we can put a stern anchor down too.  It’s quite a crowded anchorage and all the boats need to lie straight rather than swing.  Heidi, Holly and Casey get into the water taxi with all their luggage.  They are spending the night ashore here then Heidi and Casey are going on one of the 5-day Galapagos trips and Holly is going back home to the US.

The heavens open in the late afternoon, and give the boat a good wash down.  The rain is absolutely torrential at times and puts paid to any plans we might have had about going ashore.  We stay in, eat and watch TV.  We will be here until the next leg starts on Sunday 7 March so have plenty of time to explore when the weather is better.