Or... let's all sing the same old song "Working on boats in exotic places..."



In an inspection of our rigging yesterday, Dave found a key component of the rigging broken. It is called a 'toggle', and it connects the backstay to the mast. It is a machined stainless steel part that is very important to keeping the mast up. It would have been a disaster for this to break at sea. And we can't even move out of the harbor here without locating a replacement part. For now, we have a couple of extra halyards helping to hold the rig up.

Needless to say, there is no West Marine in Isla Isabela. And even West Marine wouldn't have this part in stock. So we've been brainstorming several ideas to try to get a replacement. Here are some of the options we've thought thru

1. Have it made locally in Isabela or Santa Cruz. Problem: Need the correct stainless steel bar stock, not likely to be off-the-shelf here

2. Have a friend in Panama, headed this way soon, try to get it made in Panama. Problem: timing issues

3. Gram from Visions of Johanna, anchored next to us, is flying to England to get a new Autoprop (theirs has a manufacturing defect and they need an immediate replacement--due to logistics of shipping stuff into Ecuador, they have opted to go get the replacement vs trying to have it shipped here). Problem: he will only be on the ground in England for a couple of days, probably not enough time to get his own stuff done, much less get parts for us fabricated.

4. Get someone in England to get it fabbed and get it to Gram before he leaves. We have contacted another CSY owner in England, and he said he'd check with his rigger.

5. Have a guy we met in Quito get it fabricated there, with Gram dropping off the old part and bringing back the new part. We met a really nice guy who lives and works in Quito. He is checking with a couple of machine shops to see if they have the right stock and if they can get it done in time. This is our current most likely prospect.

Dave thought he had spares, but it turns out the spares he had don't fit the two big toggles holding the headstay and the backstay. So whatever we'll do, we'll try to get 2 made, and use the unbroken one currently on our headstay as a spare.

Labels: Galapagos, Maintenance

Since sitting in this nice quiet anchorage, and getting ready for a big passage, we have been participating daily in the Panama Pacific Net every day.

This is a sleepy little net--hard to keep going during the off season, because everyone has either left to go across the Pacific, transited through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean side (which has it's own net), or are sitting in Balboa Panama, or Golfito, Costa Rica (both are 'black holes'), or have stashed their boat in Ecuador and are off traveling.

But it's almost Pacific Crossing Time, so boats are starting to move. There's a whole slug of boats waiting out Tehuantapeckers and Papagayos (areas of strong winds on the Pacific coast of Central America), trying to come south and see a little of Central America before they 'jump' into the Pacific. There are a bunch of boats in Bahia and Balboa, also getting ready to go. So the net is starting to perk up from 4-5 check-ins to 10 or so. In March, there will be 30 or so boats out moving around every day.

Yesterday I was 'net control' and two new boats checked in from Nicaragua... Fugue and Odyle. They are far away and light (hard to hear) anyway, but when you hear a boat named so screwily, as a net controller, you just have to work through it.

"I heard something like 'Oh-dul', could you please come back and spell that phonetically?" Because they were hard to hear, and kind of new, so they weren't good at phonetics, it took several times before we really got it. (Odyle, as they pronounced it, rhymes with yodel--could someone have really named their boat that?)

On this sleepy little net, many of the net controllers don't listen on the net when it's not their day for net control. So these guys will have to repeat that every time they check in for the next week or so. And on every other net they ever check in on.

Sheesh, can you imagine?

The same day, we had a boat named Fugue. (pronounced Few-zshshz) Another sheesh.

But we are one to talk, I guess. We have had to spell our boat name for net controllers, too. And people tend to remember the Paws part, but not the Soggy parts. We often get called Salty Paws, and even once, Slappy Paws.

(For those of you not familiar with boat radio 'nets'... A net is a gathering of boats in a semi-organized fashion at a particular time of day on a particular frequency. In the harbors where boats tend to congregate, we have VHF nets daily to pass information among boats in the harbor. The VHF is limited range, though--good only for 20 miles or so. So most cruising areas also have HF nets, where boats can talk with each other across longer distances. The Panama Pacific Net covers a pretty wide area--we are currently handling check ins for boats from southern Mexico to Peru, and out to the Galapagos, and into the Pacific for a couple of hundred miles beyond the Galapagos.

A 'net control' is one person designated to run the net for a half hour or so... asking for 'check ins' or 'traffic' and letting the boats come in one by one to call their friends or share weather information or ask questions about the next port they plan to go to.

There is another net that we will pick up once we get a little further west, called the Pacific Seafarer's Net. It covers the whole Pacific Ocean!)
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At 1/27/2010 1:45 PM (utc) our position was 00°57.95'S 090°57.73'W

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Labels: Galapagos

After sitting in dry coastal Ecuador for nearly a year, what a blessing it is to finally get some real rain.

It has been raining now for the past 24 hours, off and on. It's not the heavy downpour that we are used to in Florida, but a nice, steady, drizzle.

Though we are no longer stressed about water, because of our hefty watermaker, it is still nice to finally have abundant water. It has literally been more than a year since we have experienced rain like this.

Dave spent most of the afternoon out playing in the rain--scrubbing down the decks, the cockpit, and the dinghy. We have filled our water tanks, and captured some extra in buckets to do laundry with.

OK, now we're ready for it to stop.
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At 1/27/2010 1:45 PM (utc) our position was 00°57.95'S 090°57.73'W

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Labels: Galapagos

One of the 'joys' of 3rd world living is that nothing is ever on a schedule. At least not on OUR schedule.

In spite of being in South America for over a year, we still have yet to get used to their mid-day break. Every place in town closes down about 12:30, and stays closed until 2 or 3pm. The best (cheapest, fastest, and with A/C) internet place in town is closed between 12:30 and 3pm. It is 2:45, Dave came into town on an errand, and I want to snatch some internet while he's in town.

I know EasyNet will be closed until 3pm, so I stop at the other internet place--one that is a little more expensive, not air conditioned--but open more often. The sign says 'Open', the windows are open, but the door is locked and nobody is there. Hmmm. Another internet place on the way, that usually has a big 'Internet' sign out front, is also closed.

Well, it IS a hot, sleepy day, and there are almost no tourists in town right now. The town gets busy Mon-Tue-Wed when the live-aboard tour boats stop here. But the last one left at noon today, and there won't be another until next Monday.

So up I go to EasyNet, hoping maybe someone will be there. I can hear the A/C running, but the sign says closed and the door is locked.

So now I am sitting on the sidewalk in the shade, the ants running around my feet, and wondering when they might open. It's now 3:05 pm.

Stupid Gringo that I am...I will sit here and swelter instead of taking a siesta, like everyone else in town.
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At 1/27/2010 1:45 PM (utc) our position was 00°57.95'S 090°57.73'W

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Labels: Galapagos

Soon after we arrived at Isabela, we were approached by one of the lanchas that do day trips around Isabela... It turned out to be Fabricio, who was the guy who took our friends on Visions of Johanna on the Tunneles trip. We had heard this trip was 'the best in the Galapagos'. So when Fabricio told us he had a group going the next day, we agreed to go with him (cost: $60 each, we provide our own lunch/snacks and snorkel gear). Fabricio cell # 080927845.

He picked us up at 9am on our boat. It turned out that our group had swelled to 3 lanchas of about 6 people each. Each boat had its own lancha driver, and Fabricio drove one boat and was the official park-authorized tour guide. Fabricio was born in the Galapagos and has lived almost all of his 28 years on Isabela. He's a handsome enterprising young guy, and knows enough English to get by.

Los Tunneles are collapsed lava tunnels on the shoreline, about 20 miles south of Puerto Villamil. The lancha ride was about an hour over the open ocean, along the coast. There was big swell with a light chop on top. With twin 100-HP Yamaha outboards, our boat could fly when the waves weren't too bad. At one point we got to a place where there was obviously some current (the waves were steep and choppy), so we slowed down to negotiate the waves.

The entry into the tunnels area is very tricky. There is a small channel between breaking waves, and the driver has to time his entry between sets of waves. Once inside, all was calm. But it looked like a moonscape.

The first stop was a small islet, where there was a small colony of Galapagos Penguins. These little guys are only about 12-16 inches high. They are the only penguins found in the northern hemisphere (the north end of Isabela extends slightly over the equator, and there are some penguins there). They were cute and we could get pretty close in the boat.

Next, we progressed in the boats through a series of small lagoons. On either side of us were lava islands and arches. The boats stopped at a spot and we were able to get out and walk around a big pool of water. In this natural pool we could see sea turtles, sharks, Eagle Rays, parrot fish, and of course the odd sea lion, just swimming lazily by. There were actually multiple pools, all connected by natural archways. So the animals could swim, we could observe, and nobody bothered anyone. While scrambling around the rocks, we also saw marine iguanas and the famous blue-footed boobies (a bird with azure feet).

When everyone had their fill of the pools, we loaded back up in the boats, and moved to a spot where we could snorkel. This was similar in terrain... multiple connected pools. When all 18 of us got in the water, it was hard to see much. But Fabricio did his best to show us the things there were to see. He showed us a cave with a bunch of Galapagos sharks, resting. He showed us some large sea horses (there were 2 pair, each about 6-7 inches high). Then he pointed us toward a lagoon a little further on, and said "go swim with the turtles". For me, this was the coolest part.

I am not quite sure why, but there were 10 or more sea turtles in this little lagoon. And they weren't afraid of us at all. As long as you held still and weren't thrashing around, they'd swim right by you. I got well away from the other snorklers (who WERE thrashing around), and just hung out. In the Caribbean, you barely glimpse a sea turtle before they swim rapidly away. I even saw a couple of guy turtles nosing around a cute girl turtle.

Later, in the boats, we went around a small point to a larger lagoon, and in this lagoon there were literally a hundred or more sea turtles. Everywhere you looked, there was a giant sea turtle head popping up. This area may well be a mating area for the sea turtles. There were some really nice beaches nearby for laying eggs. (In San Cristobal, we saw sea turtle tracks all over the Puerto China beach, so we know it's the season).

On the way back, in the ocean, we saw a squadron of at least 4 big Manta Rays. These guys are huge--about 6' long and 8' wide.
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At 1/27/2010 2:24 PM (utc) our position was 00°57.95'S 090°57.73'W

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Labels: Galapagos

Re: Sunday, January 17, 2010

Moving from Port to Port in the Galapagos: Even with a cruising permit (the Autografo), we have to check in and out of each of the 3 main ports. We had arrived in Santa Cruz on Thursday afternoon, and provided our paperwork to Bolivar's cooperating agent in Santa Cruz. Visions, who arrived at the same time, did the same with their agent.

When we decided what day we were leaving, we called our respective agents to let them know that we were leaving early on Sunday.

It turned out that we paid $25 more for the same paperwork than Visions did. Visions' agent checked them in and out on Friday afternoon. They paid only $12.48 for each, in Port Captain fees. This is paid to your agent who then gives you the bill (factura) from the Port Captain with itemized costs. OUR agent checked us in and out late on Saturday afternoon. So we paid double what Visions paid, because we were on a weekend. When we protested having to pay double for arriving on a Thursday, we got rapid-fire Spanish. We later talked with Bolivar about this, who didn't give us any satisfaction either. He knows we are unhappy with what happened, though. Next time we will know better.

Before we left Puerto Ayora, we had to get our stern anchor up. Last time Visions was in Puerto Ayora, they had bent their big Fortress anchor trying to get it out of the firm sand. So when we deployed our Danforth off the stern, we bouyed the heel of it, so we could trace the line and pull it out backwards. Since it had only been there a day, it wasn't that hard to retrieve. (The last time we deployed a stern anchor, Dave had to don dive gear and dig it out by hand)

We followed Visions out of the harbor, and had a nice 35 mile beam reach to Isabela. We motored a little longer than Visions did, and so ended up ahead of them. But once we turned off our engine, they easily caught up and passed us. This gave us a nice opportunity to take pictures of each other under sail.

The entry into Isabela was easy--we had 2 sets of waypoints... one set from the Ecuador Cruisers Guide and the other from Visions (who got them from someone else). And Visions had been in there before.

We finally had our anchor down about 5pm, at 00°57.90S, 090°57.74W. The anchorage is in a nice mostly-enclosed bay. Much much nicer than Santa Cruz. If you're in the right spot, there is a nice sand bottom about 10-15 feet deep. There are rocks and some shoals, so don't go in any farther than we are, without having good light and a good knowledge of the tides.

On the way in, Visions called the Port Captain on Channel 16 and asked if it would be OK for us to come in in the morning to check in with them. They said that was fine. So we did show up at the Port Captain's office in Puerto Villamil at 9am, and though the process was slow, we got checked in, with no agent (neither of our agents have a cooperating agent on Isabela). It cost us each only $4.01.

Within minutes of getting the anchor down, we had 2 sea lions playing around our boat, and a pair of sea turtles mating nearby. We can see a Galapagos penguin colony from where we are anchored. The town is a sleepy little place that reminds me very much of a out-island Bahamas town.

Labels: Galapagos

Re: Friday-Saturday 15-16/Jan/2010

Once we got the shopping done, Scott and Dave and I walked out to the Charles Darwin Research Station. This is operated by the Charles Darwin Foundation, which is an international not-for-profit corporation dedicated to research and preservation of the Galapagos as a World Heritage Site.

There we visited more turtles, including the famous 'Lonesome George'.


George is the last remaining turtle of his sub-species from a particular small island. They have been trying to get him to mate with females from other similar sub-species, with no success. They had a breeding program similar to San Cristobal, and also some land iguanas we had not seen before. A lot of their effort is based on trying to keep invasive species out of the Galapagos (and eradicating those that have already been established.). For example, the wild goat and wild cat populations, brought by former settlers, cause the turtles big problems. Likewise, non-native plants crowding out the native plants, are also very bad. So there were exhibits on those issues as well.


Next, we hired a taxi driver for $10 an hour to take us around to the sites in the highlands. These tours normally cost $50 per person, but with our Spanish, we made do with a spanish-speaking taxi driver who knew all the places. Over the next 4 hours we toured the cooler highlands of Santa Cruz. We drove through the towns of Bellavista and Santa Rosa and later, the tiny town of Camote.

First we stopped at Los Gemelos (The Twins), a pair of collapsed lava craters, interesting enough for a 5 minute walk and a few pictures.


Then we went to a 'turtle ranch' and Lava Tube place, at Rancho Primicias, near El Chato Turtle Reserve. We opted to pass on the turtle ranch--we have already seen more than enough turtles. But it was neat driving in, with giant Galapagos turtles hanging out on the side of road munching on grass. The lava tube was pretty cool, essentially a very long cave... where a shaft of lava ran... the outer shell cooled and the inner lava kept going, leaving the long tube.




Finally, we drove out to Garrapatero, which turned out to be just a nice beach with some marine iguanas, kayaks for rent, picnic tables, etc.


By the time we got back to Puerto Ayora, we had spent almost exactly 4 hours. So our 'highlands tour' cost us only $13 per person instead of $50. (Moral: Keep studying your spanish!)

We arranged with our taxi driver to pick us up at the water taxi dock in the morning, to take Scott across the island to Baltra, where the airport is. It is possible to do this trip with a short taxi ride and a bus, but Dave and I wanted to ride along to see more of Santa Cruz, and make sure Scott got to the airport OK. Doing it by bus would have taken us all day, so we opted for a $30 R/T taxi ride (about 45 minutes each way), with Scott paying half the cost. We left Scott on Saturday morning at the Baltra Ferry Dock--a short ferry ride and a short bus ride to the airport. It would take him 2 full days of traveling (with an overnight stay in Guayaquil) to get home to Austin.


On Saturday afternoon, we went with the crew of Visions of Johanna to see Las Grietas. To do this we took a water taxi to the Hotel Finch dock, opposite the town, and walked 3/4 of a mile over rocky terrain. We weren't sure what Las Grietas was... thought it was a snorkeling place, so we lugged all our snorkel gear along. It turned out to be a fissure, or grotto, filled with salt water, but not on the ocean. Kind of like the local swimming hole. A little underwhelming, but the price was right.



On the way back, we tried to stop at Hotel Finch for a beer and a swim in their pool, but they requested that we spend at least $10 per person, so we left without a swim.

There are a few more tours that are possible in Santa Cruz--and a lot of full day boat trip excursions. Plus some SCUBA diving. But the harbor is really rolly, boats are jam-packed in there (mostly live-aboard Galapagos tour boats). The swell forecast was still such that no one wanted to pay $120-$160 for a scuba trip. So we left with s/v Visions of Johanna on Sunday for Isla Isabella.

Labels: Galapagos