Day 48: Ecuador to Galapagos – 22/02/10

Mike wakes me up late for my 2 am watch because he is having such a lot of fun sailing.  Apparently there’s about 18 knots of wind, we are doing between 8 and 9 knots and the seas are pretty smooth.  I do wonder why, if he is having such fun, he bothers to wake me up.  He could stay there and have fun and I could enjoy myself being asleep!  I decide to keep my mouth shut though and drag myself out of bed and settle myself in the helmsman’s seat.  It’s only raining lightly from one of the squalls that are still hanging about, but it comes sideways into the cockpit and pretty soon I am like a damp dog – only not smelly!

Once I wake up properly I appreciate the ride on the waves (I’m always grumpy when I first come to).  I decide to try to capture the phosphorescence that is stirred up in the wake of our boat’s hulls and sort of manage it although the photograph doesn’t do it justice.

Photo:  Sparkling phosphorescence in the water

As my watch wears on, more and more yachts appear on the horizon all around us.  We have caught some of them up as they try to slow down to arrive into the harbour in daylight.  Mike sleeps in the salon for the first time for a while as the weather is a bit more lively and he’s up and about when Jim takes over as land is now showing on the radar.

We cross the finish line at 0854 am and are accompanied by a seal (or sea lion) and a heavy bout of rain.  Mike and Jim get the sails down and I go on anchor duty.  They are already wet do I put my wet weather gear on which unfortunately has lost the waterproofing on the arms.  I stand in the pouring rain (does this sound familiar to anchoring in the BVIs?) and glance around.  I have to say that arriving in the Galapagos is like arriving on a wet, grey day in Wales, only warmer.  As we motor around the bay, we see that a lot of the yachts that arrived last night have early morning stowaways – seals are sleeping on their back steps and they don’t like being disturbed!  Apparently they even get into your dinghy when you leave it at the dinghy dock.  That could be interesting.

Photo:  A large bull sea lion roars from the breakwater behind us

We have to wait on board until the customs officials have cleared us in.  This is irritating on two counts.  First, the Galapagos islands are administered from Ecuador and we have only just left Ecuador so why do we have to go through this process again, and second, it wastes a day.  We can’t do anything until the paperwork is complete.

Photo:  Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal

The customs official and the WCC agent come on board around 2.30 pm to complete the paperwork and do the boat inspection.  Just after they arrive, I hear a thud, and a third body arrives on board – a sea lion.  Jim names him Ron (Ronseal – get it?)  Anyway, Ron sits on the back step for a few minutes, scratching, nibbling and hissing, completely unperturbed that I am filming him standing just three feet away.  When he has finished grooming himself, he just flops over the side and swims off.  Priceless.

Photo:  Ron Seal arrives ……

Photo:  ……checks out his surroundings ……

 Photo:  ……and starts grooming!

By the time the officials leave, it is pouring with rain again so we decide not to to into town until happy hour.

You are only allowed half an hour at the dinghy dock and when you return to the dinghy you are likely to find a sea lion in it, so we get a water taxi into town.  We see some of the crew from Destiny, the other Privilege 435 and join them for a drink, then head to happy hour at the hotel where the WCC have their office.

Now my understanding is that happy hour traditionally consists of reduced price drinks.  Not so in this bar.  Apparently there is a list of drinks that you can buy cheaper but no one wants those and so we nearly all end up paying normal prices for inferior prices.  They won’t see our custom again.

We head back to the boat quite early as it is now dark and Mike has not put the anchor light on.  When we arrive we do not see any sea lions on the boat which is good because I didn’t fancy fighting my way past one.  I cook a curry, we watch and episode of Green Wing, then it’s bedtime.

 

Our position is:  0 deg 53 min S, 89 deg 36 min W

Distance so far:  2574 nautical miles