WE'RE HERE!
Our Current Position is: 00 53,777 S
089 36,776 W
We thought it would take about six or seven days but we hadn’t reckoned on the incredible adverse currents and who’d have thought that the only wind we’d find was directly on our nose. How stupid, we should have known that when Calypso goes out sailing, she never finds absolute ideal conditions.
However, no complaints. It was great to get back “in the saddle” again and fantastic to know we are moving onwards.
Our biggest surprise was not catching a single fish. Not one! And this despite the fact that Paul put out at least three lines early every morning with a teaser line as well. Can’t believe it, no sushi, no sashimi, no nothing. We better have some luck on the next leg – three thousand nautical miles without catching anything could make for a very hungry crew aboard this boat.
A last minute visit to the fresh fruit and veggie market in Panama City proved to be quite an eye opener. Tons of wonderful stuff but our ability to store was limited so we didn’t dare get too much; it would just spoil before we could use it. However, the outing was quite an experience.
We, along with our friends aboard Vagabond, finally left Panama City on the Wednesday afternoon, heading just to the nearest island of Taboga where we spent a quiet night tied to a mooring ball in a fairly picturesque village bay. As per the usual format, we had planned to leave a day earlier but as luck would have it, the first thing in the morning, the fridge died! Several hours of investigation and re-wiring had the culprit sorted out but Paul now had to repack all the tools he’d used which left things a tad too late. Decision made, let’s just watch another sunset from La Playita.
Early the next morning, we set out for the Las Perlas islands a further 40 miles south and had a pleasant sail to Isla Chapera where we dropped the hook between two islands with pleasant beaches. Our main task during this stop was to scrape all the growth from the hull acquired over a couple of months in the nutrient rich waters of Panama City where we had grown a virtual tropical garden beneath us. This certainly does not make for speed.
We spent the Easter weekend here, scrubbing and doing final preparations and were happily joined by our friends aboard Bamboozle, an English couple who were on the original trip from Cape Town to St Helena with us.
Unfortunately, Murphy stepped in again. We were hit with a fairly serious water-maker problem which could have meant us turning back to the mainland but thank goodness for Paul’s perseverance and Otto with his wonderful bag of tricks and resourcefulness, it was up and running by day’s end.
All three of us then made the trip down, with spinnakers flying, to the southwest island of San Jose, an ideal departure point for the long trek to Galapagos. This large island is apparently privately owned and the bay where we spent the night appeared to be miles away from any form of civilization; peaceful and remote, with very active fish life and the sights and sounds of macaws flying overhead.
It had been our plan to cross the equator at around 84°W but, due to the currents, we simply couldn’t make it far enough south in time. We finally crossed at around 86° at one in the morning by which time all we had to offer Neptune was a cup of tea. Hope he doesn’t take umbrage.
This was also the time where I dug out a blanket. We haven’t used one since shortly after leaving Cape Town and here we are, approaching the equator and I was sitting on watch in the cockpit so cold I couldn’t feel my feet.
On the bright side were the dolphins. On several occasions, they played around us for hours and performed aerobatics right next to us, belly flopping so close that we actually got wet. What a sight! One of the other boats spotted a couple of small whales that they thought might be Orcas or pilot whales. It wasn’t until we got right up to Galapagos that we finally saw seals frolicking with curiosity as the boat moved through the waters.
So often when one is travelling in the company of other yachts, a day out and you never see them again. Amazingly enough, we saw a couple of yachts on the horizon quite often and Vagabond in particular, so that we arrived at our destination just an hour and a half after them and were able to keep in contact via VHF most of the way. A Dutch yacht that we'd come into contact with en route, was also visible on the horizon quite often and arrived at the same time. It was so nice to be able to "chat" while out there.
As we sit at anchor here on San Cristobal, the seals hop up onto any boat with a low enough scoop and, believe me, they seem to be able to climb to some amazing heights. Calypso only has a bumpkin (platform) at the stern that is much to high for them but they still try from time to time.
The Galapagos islands are a province of Ecuador which are administered as a national park. All native mammals, reptiles and birds are, consequently, a protected species.
The archipelago lies astride the converging El Niño current from the Gulf of Panama and the Humboldt current from the south. These currents flow side by side and can influence the water temperatures between the north and south islands significantly. Due to the plankton-rich Humboldt, fish thrive in the waters here and large sharks, tuna, lobster and crayfish abound.
We have anchored at Wreck Bay on the island of San Cristobal, however, the world renowned Charles Darwin Foundation Biological Research Station is on Santa Cruz some distance away. Unfortunately, strict regulations do not allow visiting yachts to move from one island to another without permits and advance permission so we cannot take Calypso over to Santa Cruz. Rather, we'll have to take a fairly uncomfortable ferry ride in order to visit the centre.
As we've only just arrived, we'll be looking into various tours available to make the most of our short stay here.
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