Snorkeling Highlight of our Lives (to date)

We think we've figured out how to stay here in the Galapagos, see what we need/want to see, and not break the bank.  Bolivar is the MAN!!!  We've now taken his advice on the second tour of the island, and this one was definitely worth the price of admission.

In his own words, Bolivar is our agent and believes that his job is fix our problems, and in general make our life while here on Cristobal as perfect as it can be.  He always offers to take our trash to town, he's fixed our fumigation paperwork, and he has ensured that the Park officials are happy with the state of the boat.  The latest in his recommendations was a "buddy" of his, who has a boat for touring the islands, and for fishing.  Along with our gang of six, Bolivar showed up with a 3-pak of Ecuadorians and we were away for a day of fishing, snorkeling, and beaching.

The ONLY man to know in town!

Bolivar and his captain friend were keen to do a bit of fishing along the way, so at various times they threw their hooks out.   With the exception of a "bambini" barracuda, they were thwarted in catching everyone a bit of yellowfin for a sushi dinner.  However....

The day started out by heading directly away from Cristobal, past the only two sailboats in the harbour, and out to a rock that all of us sailors had seen coming into port.  

No photoshopped colour - Sundancer and Mar de Luz

The Rock - A Baby Island with it's own light

Due to an entire flock of petrels showing the way, the guys were hoping for a few strikes here but it was not to be.

This island, called Leon Dormido was our destination.  The Sleeping Lion didn't look too much like its namesake, but the gap was the site for our snorkeling adventure.  It's known for hammerheads and other types of sharks, which we all hoped to see, sort of.  

Leon Dormido

We saw what we came to see.  It was truly like being in the middle of a Galapagos documentary.  The rays of the sun shining down through to the depths, the deep blue colour, the vertical walls of the rocks plunging to the sea floor, and a layering of marine life; the six of us snorkeling at the surface, the marine turtles lazily swimming just below, second floor down were the spotted rays, which looked to be about 4-5 feet in diameter, and then the sharks.  All those sharks!  None of knew how many there were, but suffice it to say that there were "enough".  Slowly patrolling the channel, these guardians were obviously well fed, as the countless schools of fish, the turtles, us....they just didn't seem too interested in any of it.  For which we are grateful!  

Ron was able to take some pretty amazing footage on our GoPro, which due to slow internet upload speeds here, you can find via this link on YouTube, if you are interested.  

http://youtu.be/lNmo7BATyCc

http://youtu.be/qRHXzsMeaYE

Consider our minds blown, and despite what friends have said about the sea life we will be seeing in the upcoming months, we wonder if anything will ever be able to top this. 

Another stop, but this time at a deserted island, complete with lots of interesting plant growth patterns.  At first, when I saw them on the beach, I was sure it must have been someone's handiwork, but further into the mangroves, we came upon this under the water.

 

As I mentioned, Bolivar is a good man to know.  We had wandered through town upon our arrival, inquiring at various tour agencies about a trip out to Leon Dormido, and had gotten quotes in the range of $75-100 per person.  We had our own snorkeling gear and wetsuits, we didn't need a picnic lunch, and we had Bolivar - the cost was $84 for the both of us for this 6 hour excursion.   

It looks like we'll be moving on in the next day or two.  We've decided, after much discussion to bypass Santa Cruz.  Although this is the place that has the most tours, and supposedly is a very lively town, we've also heard that the anchorage is crap, being quite rolly.  There are moorings, but friends on Aros Mear, after a very uncomfortable night, decided that anchoring was better.  As the anchoring area is very small and tight, a stern anchor is needed to keep your boat from swinging into other close-by neighbors.  We don't really like tight, and we're not here to be a part of a lot of tourists, so we'll just head over to the westernmost island, Isabela.  Plans today include replenishing provisions we've used up in the last 3 weeks since leaving Bahia, as well as to top off the 15 gallons of diesel we've used up so far.

Until next time....

Living in a natural zoo

The common perception, which is a MISperception, is that although you've paid the money to be here in the Galapagos, this is only the start of the bloodletting.  Many websites and blogs that we had read, informed us that if we wanted to see anything, not only did we have to have the $100 park pass in hand, but we also had to pay for an "official" guide, which of course, would eat up some more pennies.  We've paid the big bucks already to be here, so we're scouting out what we can do without having to pay additionally.

Our walks to the various snorkeling spots had paid off in the form of new marine life spotted, but we were now ready to spread our wings abit and see the rest of the island.  Yesterday, along with another boat that had joined us having also recently arrived from the mainland, and another random traveling couple, we piled into a taxi truck to head north to the La Galapaguera, which was a breeding and protectionist habitat of those wily Galapagos Tortoises.   The money saved was in the form of not going via a tour agency in town, but basically just a random taxi driver that had been living on San Cristobal all his life, therefore he knew a thing or two about those turtles.

First off, we headed to a lake called La Junca, which is a caldera lake, and serves the entire island with fresh water.  As strange as it may seem, this area is almost constantly shrouded in fog, and as such, photos opportunities were limited.  In a burst of silliness, as we all knew we'd be traveling around in a taxi, all 6 of us were shod in flip flops.  The hike up to the lake, had us all slipping and sliding, struggling to keep upright while trekking in the mud and misty grass.  In between banks of fog, we were able to just glimpse the water's edge, but only if you tried to focus on it.  Take your eyes away, and the lake disappeared again.  Apparently, this is fairly typical, even during the dry season.

Off we went to visit the Galapaguera.  In its heyday, there were upwards of 100,000 of these prehistoric-looking beasts lumbering around, but then as is typical, the Europeans arrived, and made off with countless turtle steaks deep in their holds.  Another wave of folks from Guayaquil also decided in the mid-1900s that the oil derived from said turtles, would make an excellent fuel for street lights in their town.  And so the numbers declined further.  I'm not sure who figured out that these guys made for good press, but someone must have seen that people paying over a bunch of years to take photos, might be good publicity for the islands, and for Ecuador in general.  So we bought into the program, and got our requisite pictures. 

Is this my best side.....

Even the tortoise world has conflicts

....or is this?

His knees look like mine feel after a lifetime of snow skiing

Photo evidence - "we were here"

 The Center also has a very successful breeding program - 60% of the eggs now hatch, as opposed to a 20% success rate in the wild.

Babies everywhere - these were 1 month old

After seeing the turtles, we headed off to Puerto Chino, the location of the finest sand on San Cristobal.  It was like talc, and from a high cliff overlooking the water, we saw massive marine turtles swimming, too.

So the grand total of our tour cost us $15/person, and that included a tip for our driver.  Combined with the fact that the day lasted for 6 hours, I'd say that was money well spent.  

Yup, our life in the zoo, and it costs about the same as the one in San Diego!

We think it should be called Sin (without) Progresso

We kid ourselves into thinking that as we are actively participating in the "sport" of sailing, that this means we are active.  Some days we are active.....walking from the salon to the galley (4 steps), turning the page of a book, (if we are REALLY active, 6 pages), washing dishes builds up arm strength, and cleaning the floors (all 12 square feet of them).  Some days we are even out sailing, and that entails looking at the sails, and sometimes bringing in the sheets a foot or two at a time.  On EXCESSIVELY, HUGELY and OVERLY active days, we may clean the bottom of the boat, or raise the dinghy out of the water.  It's a tough life, this.

Yesterday, we put our fitness levels to the test in going for a bike ride, which entails more than just a ride.  First, we have to remove the bicycles from the shower where they are normally stored while underway, then we need to get them onto the panga to go to shore, then we need to unfold them, install and pump up the tires, strap the backpack to the rack, make sure the cables, and brakes, and seat height are all perfect, and only then can we begin.

When we aren't using the bicycles, I hate them.  They take up a huge amount of room, either on deck or below, they are usually dirty, and greasy, and due to the sun attacking their storage bags, they now only have shreds of cloth protecting their bits, and the boats', from damage.  However, when we are using them, I love having them around.  While in La Paz, Mexico, we used them daily for several months, we kept them ashore for 7 months (and only used them once) while we were in Bahia del Sol, El Salvador, and most recently we were able to keep them permanently at the restaurant that we were anchored in front of in Bahia de Caraquez.  We used them there weekly, riding over to the surf community of Canoa to drink beer on the beach, and eat pulled pork sandwiches.

We had patiently been waiting for the weather to clear - typically here at this time of the year, we have been told that there is usually drizzle and overcast skies til sometime around noonish, and then slowly it clears up so that by 2pm, there is lots of sunshine.  We had decided a few days ago that we needed to see the town/community of El Progresso, which has a rather brutal past and instead of going by taxi, we would do it with our bikes, so yesterday morning around 11am, we called Boni our faithful watertaxi guy, hauled the bikes into and out of the panga, and off we went.

It was all uphill - not just an incline like properly made roads in North America, but "let's go in a straight line to get to where we need to go, regardless of how steep it is", uphill. Fortunately, the sun hadn't broken out in earnest yet, and there was a perfectly placed cemetery in order to get off and wander around.  I let Ron wander elsewhere so that I could fill my heaving lungs in peace.  Why is it that cemeteries are so interesting?  I think much info can be gleaned from reading headstones, and the message here was that it seemed disproportionately filled with people that had died between the ages of 10-30.  It seemed odd.

Further on we came to a small community, reportedly inhabited by 500 people.  I don't know if they all work in Baquerizo, but I think we saw only 4 or 5 people, one of course was sweeping dirt, one in a wheelchair, one sitting in the park, and a few children in some semblance of a school.  The mirador was awesome with a regal 360 degree view of the sea, the faraway port and an extinct volcano.    

In the mid-1800's, an established penal colony was created here, and a megalomaniac called Manuel Cobos figured these convicts could also be conscripted as slave labourers.  Cobos had his hand in all the pies; agricultural, cattle raising, and fishing, and saw fit to also create his own money, to be spent in his own stores.  I think he read the same business model as many of the industrialists of the day.  Suffice it to say that after 30 years of this bullshit, the convicts had had enough, and we saw the resulting tomb, although the body was later exhumed and sent to Guayaquil to be given the once over.  More specifics can be read here: http://www.galapagos.org/about_galapagos/colonists/

An exhilarating downhill ride, which caused me to wonder and worry if I had tightened the hubs on my wheels sufficiently, and a descent great enough to cause ears to pop, and we were back in Baquerizo in time for cocktail hour.  

I shouldn't complain....much

I guess when you consider that in the not-so-distant past, vagabonds around the world were using the dreaded traveler's check in order to get needed cash, I shouldn't complain. It is shocking, however, how quickly one set of expectations becomes the norm. Traveling as we have over the last few years, standing in line at a bank is practically unheard of. The ever present ATM machine, that timesaving banking convienience that has saved countless hours of needless linestanding, has to be a traveler's best friend. And when it doesn't work....it is a brutal wakeup call.

As you know, we have had a money dilemma. We were in debt to our agent to the tune of $145 ($45 remaining for our Autografo + $100 loan he was able to give us), and I wanted/needed to get some money in our pocket and this debt paid off. Our Monday morning goal was to accomplish this and I wasn't looking forward to it.

Sure enough, by the time we had got to the bank around 11am, the entire town of Baquerizo was standing in line ahead of me, so I put on my "Tranquilo" hat, and stood along with the rest. An hour later, I got to the teller, and sure enough, she shook her head to say no, not here, you have to go outside to use the machine. Which we had done on Friday, to no avail. I wandered over to the manager, and proceeded to rail, in my most comical agitated spanish, but again soliciting the dreaded "no" headshake. Of course, according to him, there was no problem as at the next island over, Santa Cruz, there was another bank called Banco Pinchicha which would be able to help. I was aware of this, but I wasn't over on Santa Cruz, I was here on Cristobal and that bit of info wasn't going to solve my problem.

You know how when you call up the airlines, and you want a certain routing.....and the first reservationist can't figure it out, so you call back and reservationist #2 is no help, but you know the game, so you throw the dice and call back to wind up with reservationist #3, and she apparently has the magic fingers that her coworkers don't have. I've determined that banking works the same way. I had tried 2 different cards at the ATM machine on Friday, and was thwarted. After having no luck inside the bank, I went back to the machine and rolled the dice, bringing out yet another card, just to see.... Of course, that one worked. This third card had the same attributes as the first two. Shrugging my shoulders, I pocketed $600 and Ron and I continued on our way.

We were off to La Loberia, a sort of nursery for sea lions. We wandered through lava encrusted dirt roads, down side streets, and past the airport, and the sand quarry, and the newly contructed soccer stadium, and found ourselves finally on a road heading back towards the ocean, which had a beautiful course sand beach, and more baby sea lions pups than we could take photos of. We swam with them, took selfies with them, and watched not overly protective mums lazing about. Rays, tons of fish, and countless sea lions....it all feels a bit surreal to be interacting in an environment we have watched documentaries on, read books about, and heard tales of all our lives.

The Galapagos.....as a cruiser, it's our HOME for the time being.

There has to be a wifi signal somewhere!!!!

We're settling in here at Puerto Baquerizo, and have already made a few friends. Boni (or some variation of the spelling) is the water taxi guy. An affable fellow, that apparently speaks some sort of garbled, mangled, and slurred spanish that I can only "just" understand, is as close as a channel 14 call away. After taking a look at the dock here, and seeing all the sea lion activity that we frankly have to avoid when we step from the taxi to the dock.....we've opted to leave our dinghy on the foredeck and utilize Boni's services for the duration of our stay. When we didn't have any money to speak of, we talked about putting the dinghy in the water, but now that we are flush with $20 bills, we'll continue to be lazy, and just use his services.

Yesterday was a lazy day. There is a unspoken determination to see "all" that this island has to offer, as we are only here for a week or two, but arriving on the 1st, officialdom and a visit to the Interpretation Center on the second day. Day 3 had us in the water snorkeling and a couple hours walk.....yesterday we needed to chill. Around 11am, we finally got our act together and decided that a comprehensive tour of the town would be just the thing, along with trying to find a decent internet signal we could access from the boat. It was Sunday, and after the past two weeks, it looked like the townsfolk were taking a much needed and deserved siesta. About 10% of the shops were open, and none of them had wifi. On a side street, we did find a farmer spreading out coffee beans to dry in the sun. We inquired as to when they'd be ready and he said he needed another 5 days. We hope to go back and buy several packages, and at $5/pound, we reckon that was a pretty good deal. We'll roast them ourselves along the way, perhaps when we run across some free power somewhere.

The day we went snokeling, we had seen a Hotel called Casa Playa Mann, and Ron said it had a pretty good wifi signal we could see from the boat. We popped in there, and although they usually didn't sell beer, we stayed for a few and got to know the owners and their kids, one of which had just returned from a year in Australia, going to University there on a scholorship. We told them all about this new documentary that is out, called "The Galapagos Affair: Satan comes to Paradise", which tells the story of a murder/mystery on Floreana Island. Jose had heard about it, so we copied it onto a thumb drive, and in exchange for their hospitality, we handed over the movie for them to enjoy. As they say, "their house is now our house". We've been adopted.

So the way that most people explore the Galapagos is in a boat that is based out of Santa Cruz island. You fly into one of two airports here, and then onto a mini-cruise ship, ranging from 4-40 rooms. In this vessel, you are toured around all the various islands, which can be a better way of seeing this area. With an Autografo, which we applied for and got, we are only allowed to stop at 3 ports. In any of the other locations, its required to have a guide with you, so on a personal sailboat, it's impossible. We've heard that these boats range from $200-1000/person/day, so we doubt that they are in our budget, but a few of the day trips we are going to go on, as they range up to $100/day. There is one we've heard of on Leon Dormides, which has you swimming with hammerheads, and huge manta rays. We'll keep you posted.....

Last night in our little anchorage here, we had 10 of these boats, all disgorging their passengers into runabout dinghies, and then ashore. With a roll of the eyes, we say "Tourists!", because of course now that we've been here for 4 days, we are "locals".

Today we are off to a place called La Loberia, meaning the place that the sea lions hang out. Apparently, there are lots of turtles there too. It's several kilometers away, so we'll take a picnic lunch, and our snorkeling stuff, and have a burn around the airport, which is in that direction, too.

Standing by....

first SHARK!!!

January 3, 2015 (yikes, already?!) dawned finally, with a little sunshine. It's been squally here, with the skies looking exactly like they've been in Bahia for the last 7 months. We were looking forward to some bluer skies, but until yesterday, we were thwarted. It was gorgeous out, and the water took on an even more turquoise shade of blue. Our first excitement came about when Bolivar showed up, and asked if $100 would be enough. (I had sent him an email the day before to let him know that money seemed to be an issue). In the 4+ years we've been traveling, this is the FIRST time that we've gotten a loan from a local. He must have seen this dilemma before, as it didn't seem to phase him too much. The day before I had yet again gone through all our drawers, and pockets, and wallets, and pouches, to see if I could wrangle up a few more pennies, and low and behold, a $20 bill miraculously appeared. And with the $100 that Bolivar gave us, we were feeling flush again. He indicated that on Monday, we would be able to go into the bank and get it sorted out, so that will be the first order of business.

But until then....

We were off to go snorkeling. The day before, our first trip ashore, we went to investigate the Interpretation Center, and having read all about the interesting goings-on here on San Cristobal, we found that there was a trail to a nearby beach, called Las Tirejetas (the Frigates). Vowing to return with gear, we went back for a bit of a snorkel, which worked out perfectly as the sun was still out.

(An aside - the day we arrived and continued to clean the bottom of the boat, after 2 hours in the water, I had the symptoms of early hypothermia. I could not get warm once out of the water. Hot broth, and tucked underneath the covers fully clothed, it still took an hour to stop shaking. The water here, fueled by the cold Humboldt current, has not started to warm up yet. Although in the low 70's, these temps will sap your body heat pretty quickly. For snorkeling, we grabbed our wetsuits to include with the rest of our snorkeling gear.)

A short 45 minute walk later, we arrived at the grotto where we slipped into our suits (not as easy as a few years ago, for some strange reason) and dove into the water. There were a few sea lions which came to investigate, and we swam with them for a while. Lots of fishes, and the cleanest, clearest water we think we've seen since we left on our sailing trip. Then.....SHARK! Funnily, it was a bit of a nonevent, the guy just slipped by me, and went on his way. Although I'm not a shark expert, I want to say that it was a white (or silver) tipped. Seconds later, before I had a chance to yell at Ron, he was yelling at me to come and look at a ray. Again, we aren't experts, but perhaps it was a cownosed ray.

After this excitement, we were congratulated ourselves on an excellent first day swim.

Rules, Regulations, and having a personal "fixer"

For all coming behind us.....

Entering the drizzly bay yesterday morning, we found the free yellow moorings the National Park provides to all visiting sailboats. There is a bollard on the mooring, which you tie your own lines to. Very sturdy, very practical, and even better, the price is right. After a quick radio call to "El Capitania del Puerto, El Capitania del Puerto, este es el velero Sundancer", we made our presence known. I did send an email via sideband to our agent Bolivar (more on him later) to let him know that we had arrived, and within 2 hours, he showed up with the Port Captain, a diver and a woman from the Health Department.

As explained by Bolivar, the Galapagos actually operates as it's own entity. The rules are extremely strict, and are frankly in a complete 180 degree turnaround from the very recent past, when tortoises were hunted and killed almost to extinction to provide oil for lighting the streets of Guayaquil. While the woman from the Health Department looked in all our cupboards, and took photos of our trashcan, a scuba diver was insecting the bottom of the boat, while at the same time the Port Captain was quizzing us on our holding tanks, and safety equipment. He told us he didn't want us to die in Ecuadorian waters, so.....out came the certification of radio license, the registration of our EPIRB, the paperwork regarding our most recent life raft inspection (fortunately done in Manta a few months ago), inspection of flares, and life jackets, and interestingly, our "papers detailing our Mariner's Qualifications". Now this is a joke, as neither Ron nor I are certified as anything (well, perhaps insane, but nothing else). We reckon we've come all the way down from Oregon with this boat, is this not certification enough that we know how to get from point A to point B? A bit of quick thinking on my part, and I pulled out an Oregon Boating Certification card, that I had obtained while I was huddled in a hotel room outside of Vancouver, BC, in order to add legitimacy to my need/ability to be in the states with our new boat. Sure enough, he copied that number down. Paperwork, people, dazzle them paperwork and perhaps a bit of bullshit.

You just never know.....

...and now we come to hiding pineapples.

Unlike in crossing the Panama canal where you are able to handle all of your own paperwork, here in Ecuador it is a requirement to have an agent when you leave/arrive into any port. Based on internet and personal recommendations, we chose Bolivar. Bolivar Pesantes. A bit like James, James Bond. Bolivar is a "fixer" and it was a lesson in watching him finesse the officials on our arrival.

As an example, it is required to have a fumagation done on your boat, prior or just after your arrival here. Stupidly, we just assumed it was for cockroaches, and any bugs in general we might have here on the boat. When the Health Department lady inquired (in spanish) "What do you do about mosquitos?", I pulled out the screens we throw over the hatches, and the mosquito repellent. Actually, she was wondering about our fumigation, but the fumigation we had had done in Bahia de Caraquez, prior to departure, did not have the "product" used during the procedure indicated. Bolivar kept mouthing "tranquilo, tranquilo" to me during this entire exchange. By the time they left, we had gone from "you need to have a fumigation today" to...."we'll call again to the company on Monday."

Another example....we had been told, and rumour had it, that upon arrival, the bottom of your boat needed to be clean, or they would point you back out to the ocean, telling you to go 70 miles offshore and "deal with it". We took the rumours seriously, which is the reason we stopped about 50 miles from seeing San Cristobal and jumped overboard to give the bottom a quick once over. Well, the scuba diver that Bolivar brought with him took a GoPro down under the boat, and then uploaded the images to his phone afterwards, sitting on our poop deck. In a quiet "aside", Bolivar told me to go back down, "this afternoon", and continue to clean, collecting various barnacles in a plastic bag, which he would collect the next day (today). We did, and he did, and the National Park guy's arrival today for yet another inspection, progressed without incident. We have now been given the all clear, and as Bolivar said, we are "free men".

Fruits and vegies....pretty strict here regarding the imporation of anything. Bolivar had said that the 2 pineapples we had needed to be stuck away in the refrigerator, and that bunch of bananas we had been slowly working our way through, yup, get those in the refrigerator too. Trash is all to be separated, and we needed to show them our "recycling bins", also known as plastic bags. I had remembered reading something about this, and had one bag with a few beer bottles in it, one bag with a plastic bottle, and my bin in the galley with organic waste. We were given the thumbs up.

We've nicknamed Bolivar, "the fixer".

So now we only have one more thing to worry about....and in typical fashion, it's about money. Every dollar bill we had on board went to Bolivar for all the fees collected by the Galapagos from private boaters, all $1185 of them. We came up $45 short, as the banks in Bahia had run out of money due to the holdays when we were withdrawing money. Not only do we now owe our agent $45, but today when we went ashore, the ATM refused to cooperate. Of course, tomorrow is Saturday, and then Sunday, so hopefully by Monday we'll have this money thing sorted. We're going to rely on our personal "fixer" to come to our rescue. If not, we can't even pay the water taxi guy the $1 to get to shore.

Cruising is sooooo very exotic.

Bolivar told us that if we needed help, that's what he was there for. We're going to make him earn his fee.