05/19/2012, 01 03.81'S:90 52.77'W, South of Isabella
We are underway. Its 8pm and we are just passing south of Isabella. COG 259mag. SOG 7.2kts. Wind about 14kts.
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05/18/2012, 00 44.817'S:90 18.541'W, Academy Bay
False Alarm. We haven't left and won't leave until tomorrow, Saturday morning.
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05/17/2012, 00 44.817'S:90 18.541'W, Academy Bay
We will be leaving here in a couple of hours. I have tried to upload a gallery of photos, but there is not enough bandwidth. So maybe when we get to the Marquesas.... We've had a great time here. The kids learned a lot of Geology and Ecology. And were able to see some wonderful wildlife up close.
So long Galapagos
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05/14/2012, 00 44.817'S:90 18.541'W, Isoleta Mosquera, Galapagos, Ecuador
Here is a picture of the juvenile seals saying hello on Isoleta Mosquera.
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05/14/2012, 00 44.817'S:90 18.541'W, Puerto Ayora, Academy Bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador
So, we've been here a week. The town of Puerto Ayora is a fairly bustling little tourist town. Lots of restaurants, bars and shops. And the harbor is a swell filled sloppy ride at anchor, with a lot of tourist boats. Much to avoid, ha ha. But once you get out side of the town and harbor, it is the magic of the galapagos. Beautiful scenery, and amazing wild life. So far we have see lots of sea lions, lava lizards, marine iguanas, land iguanas, pelicans, boobies, frigates, penguins, finches and other birds of many varieties, and of course giant tortoises. It is well worth coming here, but it really sucks to have our boat stuck in one lousy anchorage while paying to ride on crummy tourist boats! Around town we have also had the pleasure of visitng the Darwind tortoise breeding center--home of lonesome george. You should look him up on the internet. The picture is not of lonesome george, because my pictures of him were lousy. The breeding program has been very success ful
Our first day trip was to the Island of North Seymour which is just north of Santa Cruz--where we saw Frigates and Blue Footed Boobies nesting. Many baby birds as well as lots of marine iguanas, land iguanas, and sally lightfoot crabs. They were all tame enough to walk right up to them (except for the crabs). On each trip you are accompanied by a naturalist who tells you everything you would want to know about the wild life, and about the geology and geography of the islands. Very educational for the kids. Although we got very close to the birds, the Naturalist suggested that we don't touch them for fear of generating a fear of humans in them. Its quite amazing to walk up to a huge frigate bird sitting on a nest and have it just more or less look at you curiously.
After North Seymour we went snorkeling and saw a couple of white tipped sharks and loads of tropical fish. The fish were interestingly very similar to fish we have seen elsewhere in the tropics, but with differences in colors or patterns or size.
Then after lunch we went to the small island of Mosquera, which is more or less a large sandy spit with some rocky parts. It was covered with Sea Lions. We spent a couple of hours watching them sun bathe and play in the waves. It is also breeding time for the sea lions so we saw lots of babies and juveniles. The juveniles were especially frisky and curious. Our naturalist had us sit on the sand and wait, and very soon a whole gang of little guys came up to sniff everyone. When they sniff they put their noses right on you. One even decided to take a little taste of Rivers, and actually left a tooth mark on one of her toes!
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Wished I could have joined you and will have to live thru your posts.
Love you all! Linda
05/05/2012, 00 44.817'S:90 18.541'W, Puerto Ayora, Academy Bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador
We made it. We are at Anchor in Academy Bay. Just arrived about half an hour ago, and we've already had a seal swimming around the boat. Pretty relaxed trip overall, though we had to motor far more than we would have liked. It is fairly common to have to motor as much as we did, since we have been in the doldrums. The Galapagos are only barely on the north eastern end of the south pacific trades. And more usually you still have to motor south and east of here to get to the trades.
Our agent met us as we were motoring in, and directed us to a place to anchor. We are anchored with our bow anchor out, and our stern tied to a mooring buoy. It is a pretty wide open anchorage, with a good swell coming into the bay. But it is calm compared to places like Rum Cay or Mayaguana in the Bahamas. Lets hope it stays that way!!
Tonight will be a quiet night to catch up on rest.
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05/05/2012, 00 31.194'S:88 58.569'W, en route to galapagos
Its 4:46am Galapagos time, and we are about 20nm ENE of the N tip of San Cristobal. And I can smell the island. Its dark still, so I can't see it yet, but I can definitely smell it. It smells wonderful. Unexpectedly like farmland, without the manure. I think I can see a shadow of the Island in the moonlight, but not sure yet. As soon as the sun starts to come up we'll be able to see the Island.
We are not actually heading to San Cristobal, we are heading to Acadamey Bay on Santa Cruz, which is still another 78 miles away. We are presently suffering wind on the nose, and are worried that we won't get in before dark. No big deal if we don't, but it will be nice to sleep through the night again....
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05/04/2012, 00 06.967'S:86 56.016'W, en route to galapagos
We have crossed the equator. I believe that means we are all deep water sailors now. Or Shellbacks. We crossed at about 5:15am today (panama time) 10:15zulu. Amy and I cracked open our prize bottle of Port. The kids had cookies (i guess we all had a couple :)). I dressed up as King Neptune, and we told them about some of the old crossing the line traditions--but since Amy and I were first timers, we didn't think we could engage in the proper hazing...
Current position is as of 15:20zulu (from now on I will use "z" (aka zulu or UTC or greenwich mean time) time, as it will be less confusing when crossing time zones. Panama was the same as Eastern Standard or at this time of the year Central Daylight time. The Galapagos are UTC - 6, which is the same as Central Standard or presently an hour earlier. See zulu is much easier....
Current SOG is 6.8k, COG is 257Magnetic.
We expect to arrive in Academy Bay on Santa Cruz, town of Puerto Ayora, tomorrow afternoon sometime.
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05/03/2012, 00 25.086'N:84 39.857'W, en route to galapagos
Another day another squid. Picked up 7 squid on deck this morning. I want to get some when they are fresh, so we can eat them. But they always seem to be a bit dried by the time I get to them.
Each night we've been attracting a small flock of gulls that fly around the boat. Apparently these gulls are unique to the galapagos area, and unique in that they are the only gulls that hunt at night. They fly around our boat and eat everything that seems to get scared up--likely squid and flying fish. They also seem to make a funny sqeaky/clicking noise. Our Galapagos book says it is believed that they use this for echolocation.
Fairly nice day today. We are sailing at 7.3 kts, COG 255Mag (essentially the rhumb line to Santa Cruz from our current position). Wind is at about 60 degrees apparent at 11-12kts true.
All is well.
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05/02/2012, 00 59.367'N:82 14.364'W, en route to galapagos
Its 2pm and we've just had a nice meal of Skipjack tuna seared in a cracker crust with soy and ginger. The tuna was caught at 12:30pm. MMMmmmmm.
The picture is of a little fellow who paid a visit to our fishing lines yesterday afternoon. A booby of some sort :). And not just for getting caught in our lines.
Our present cog is 257mag at 5.5kts. Very sunny and warm.
No big mahi on the lines today. But the tuna was a nice fat 10lb fellow. And so far nothing around the prop today. Knock on wood.
All is well.
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