I am supposed to go to the market today to buy all the fresh fruit and vegetables but it is a bit rough in the bay and I can’t face the water taxi (I wonder why!!!?) so Mike goes instead, armed with shopping list.
He returns just before 9 am with some of the right things, none of some items, and some items I didn’t ask for. For example, I get a huge supply of plantains when I asked for bananas and a mountain of potatoes when I asked for just a few (and given that I haven’t cooked a single ordinary potato on the boat in the last eighteen months, this pile is a little strange), and about thirty heads of garlic (although I have to admit, one can never have too much garlic).
The quality is also pretty poor. I have to peel all the carrots immediately, dice and freeze them too as they already have big black spots on them and everything else has to be washed and left to dry on the cockpit table before it can be stowed away to ensure we bring no insects on board.
We go ashore in the afternoon (the sea has calmed a little and getting in the water taxi is not a problem) because we all have to present ourselves to immigration officials to check out. As we pass The Rock I see Marie-Anne and go in to give her the printout with details of my camera. By coincidence, Sara and Rolando are there too and we are able to arrange for them to come over to the boat in the morning to check out our new rigging. They invite us to join them while they eat but we have too much to do so we have to decline.
We head up the road to the area where the fishermen unload and sell their day’s catch, and are rewarded with a great piece of wildlife entertainment. Under the fish preparation table is a sea lion who waits patiently for scraps to be thrown to him, He sits upright, flippers extended, watching each of the fisherman in turn to see who will throw something to him. In the background there are another two sea lions although they seem more interested in sleeping than anything else.
The area is also full of pelicans who also want those same scraps. As we watch, two land at the far end of the table and like naughty children, edge their way quietly nearer and nearer the pile of scraps to the side of the fisherman. Every now and then he waves them away and they scuttle backwards, huge wings flapping, then they start edging closer. One eventually pinches something and flies off, not wanting to share. They are not at all fazed by people and ignore me completely, coming to within a couple of feet of me while I film it all. It is priceless.
Mike and I get to the internet cafe and I upload some more blog and use Skype. I had fully intended to visit the artisan centre that Sarah recommended but we run out of time because we have to get to immigration at one of the local hotels.
After checking out of Ecuador (the Galapagos islands are part of Ecuador), Mike manages to get my netbook online to use Skype and I get to have a longish chat with Victoria, although the line is bad and keeps cutting out.
Judith (Brown Eyed Girl) arrives and we say goodbye - she is flying to the US tomorrow – chronic sea sickness makes the long passages impossible for her, just as they do for Marie-Anne (Noeluna).
After the skippers’ briefing, Mike and I head back to the boat. Most people are heading for the bar but it is after 6.30 pm by now and I do not want to be in a water taxi in the dark, given my recent dunkings and the sea is still a little rough where we are moored. This time, we get a good taxi driver and he holds the taxi boat in a good position, allowing me to just step off onto the back steps.
I make angel hair pasta with garlic and chilli and we both think of Jim, especially as he’s not there to do the washing up!
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