Day 54: Galapagos – 28/02/10

Mike wakes me up around midnight for my watch.  Anchor watch, in a crowded anchorage, I have discovered, is much more nerve wracking than a night watch in the middle of the ocean where there really is very little to bump into (the odd whale and floating cargo container excepted!)

The surges and swinging continues all through my watch and I look constantly at the depth gauge and go out into the cockpit after each 180 degree swing to make sure we return to our original position.  Our anchor is probably dug in so tight now that we will probably not be able to get the bloody thing out again!!

Sleep is not easy with the constant grinding and graunching of the anchor chain over the rocks underneath us as the boat swings and I am awake when Mike comes in with tea and the announcement that we will be moving before low tide (8 am) as he is not happy with our position.  We move, our anchor coming up surprisingly easy once Mike unravels all the twists in it caused by last night’s constant swinging, and anchor in thirty feet of water, near Brown Eyed Girl.  We have a huge amount of chain and this is no problem for us.

On the way we pass another Privilege yacht owned by Rolando, someone who Mike was talking to three years ago on one of his sailing forums.  He had invited us over to his boat yesterday but Mike was not comfortable about leaving Jeannius.  Rolando’s boat is registered in Road Town, BVI.  Another example of us living in a very small world.

In our new position we settle down to do some jobs.  Mike goes off with Jared to dive for our stern anchor.  He has the GPS co-ordinates of where the anchor was placed and is hopeful that they will find it. 

Photo:  Loading Jared and his dive equipment

Photo:  Off to search

They are gone for over two hours and when they return, our stern anchor is not with them.  It turns out that Jared dived over the whole area and it is just nowhere to be seen.  The only possibility is that some opportunist bugger not only helped himself to our fender, but to our anchor as well.  Thank you very much.  That’s another $300-400  by the time we replace the anchor, fender, chain and warp.

My job is the laundry.  Although I am still in the middle of my love affair with Parker (the completely non'-automatic twin tub) he is very slow and demands almost constant attention (sounds like some of my ex-boyfriends!).  I put on four loads of washing, starting at 9.30 am and it is after 2 pm before I have finished.

After a nap Mike gets up to make a cup of tea and notices a huge pelican is sitting on one of the bow seats.  No doubt, when he goes, he will leave us with a little present!

Photos:  Today’s stowaway

He lets me approach to take a photo, only fixing me with a warning glare when I get very close, but makes no move to leave even when I try to shoo him away.  Brazen bird.  I only stop getting closer when I can see with my own eyes just how sharp and curved the end of that beak is!

In the evening We go to The Rock, a bar restaurant that serves as the World ARC office in Puerto Ayuro, supposedly for happy hour only you can only choose from a couple of drinks to have the 2 for 1 offer (as I find out when I order two Baileys and it comes to $13).  We leave in search of a restaurant with Tom, Graham and John and eventually choose an Italian restaurant (as you do in the Galapagos).

Bill, Rosemary and Matt are there along with Jim from Ocean Jasper and I go over to chat for a while and get the lowdown on what is good to eat.  Matt recommends the pasta with shrimp and mushroom, which is what I order.

Photo:  Rosemary, Bill, Jim, Matt and me

Rosemary points out an interesting sign for the toilets.

Photo:  Do you think there’s a PooPoo room too?

Photo:  Mike, Graham, John, Tom, Jim and me 

Our meal is lovely but there is no desert menu so we all head off to the local ice cream parlour.  Mike and I behave ourselves (I don’t know why) and order a single but Jim stuffs himself with a double.  I wish we had too.

It takes us a while to get a water taxi back to the boat and the driver looks more than a little disgruntled when he realises quite how far out we are.  The sea is quite rough and it is quite tricky for Jim to get off using just one arm.  His other is still quite sore from his tumble yesterday and he is still wearing my sarong in lieu of a triangular bandage.