2 men and 10 horses died of thirst before the lost Bishop of Panama who “discovered” the Galapagos declared his search for fresh water here a failure. Tearing apart prickly cactus, marooned sailors searched for water finding only a briny liquid. In the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin reflected on which parts of the tortoise contained the best water when they were slaughtered. Water has long been an issue on these islands.

Water continues to be a problem today. On the first island we visited, San Cristobal, enough rain falls that the deep wells can still support the growing population but contamination is a pronlem. On Isabela the wells are struggling to keep up with the rapid growth. When we passed the water treatment plant and asked about water, Xaivier our guide, dropped his eyes and said “Don’t drink the Water.” Poor septic systems have contaminated the limited groundwater supply. Here in Santa Cruz we biked past several “deep wells” but the water to serve this bustling community primarily comes from desalination. On every island much energy is spent moving water. On Isabella a motorized tricycle with two men on board when buzzed back and forth again and again. Moving quickly with piles of empty blue 5 gallon bottles toward the port the tricycle slowly returned with full bottles carefully balanced. Silver trucks with pipes dripping out the back pump water up to the blue tanks atop homes, businesses and schools. Gravity drags the water down the faucets. Water is not served at restuarants. In the Spain a lunch would come with water here lunch comes with juice, liquid squeezed from a tree. Water delivery trucks low on their suspensions due to the heavy weight follow us up in the highlands delivering blue bottles of water for human comsumption at the small communities. Human drink from motorized pumps atop the blue jugs. Livestock drink water from troughs refilled by rainwater captured from their shelter’s tin roofs.

Gurgle splurt hum. The pump spewed the last few drops of water from our water tanks into the sink this morning. In the Northeast of the US we are in a fairly water rich environment with good control on our septic systems. There may be complaints about the smell but the water is safe. In Jamaica there were protests over water access – a similar struggle between wet highland and dry coastal region. Today was our turn to be ask for a water delivery. Javier our agent arranged for a water delivery. The water taxi that normally holds 20 people arrived with two large tanks of water to fill our tanks. $100 seems like a bargin to fill our tanks although the energy cost of making drinkable water from the sea is high. This water should get us 3000 miles to the Marquesas but water is scarce in French Polynesian and we will have to start our own shipboard energy intensive water production. If the sun shines we can claim it is renewable but if we run the engine it will become an oil based product.

A day spent tiying up loose ends. Telemedicine, computer cables, finding a way to send postcards, exploring hidden coves and getting our passports stamped. A dinner with sailing friends who will be our informal network as we turn our faces towards the setting sun heading towards the Marquesas.

Bird Note: Last night at dinner we counted more than 240 cattle egret flying past toward a rookery near the high end hotel on Finch Bay.