Landfall Galapagos!!

The island of San Cristobal arose out of the rain and mist like a silent green serpent from the sea.  It was surprising to see how verdant it looked, and what with the rain and all, felt a little like we were returning to the Pacific Northwest.  But no, of course not…..we have fetched the legendary Galapagos Islands!

We ghosted into the anchorage at 9 am and had our hook set by 9:30. An email to Bolivar, our agent, was sent, and we set about tidying up the boat and preparing for the visit from all the officials.  Bolivar showed up at our boat around 10 am, collected all our paperwork and passports, and said he’d be back with the officials around 2 pm.  Perfect….Just enough time to have our celebratory Bloody Mary’s and a nap.  We high-fived, toasted each other, toasted again and generally behaved like giddy fools, which of course, we were…..

The last half of our passage here was about the same as the first half, with the exception that the only fish we could seem to catch were billfish.  We caught a total of 5 billfish, both sailfish and marlin, and so lost a total of 5 lures to Neptune.  John enjoyed it none the less, but I really don’t like hooking them…..They are such beautiful fish and I worry that even though we cut the line, they may not survive the experience and the new lip jewelry.  Alas, even changing to a smaller, different type of lure didn’t stop them from taking it.

The highlight of this portion of the passage was, of course, the crossing of the Equator.  It was truly special and something we’ll remember all our lives!  John diverted our course so that we could arrive at the Equator during daylight hours.  It did add some miles to our passage, but what the heck….what’s another 60-some miles when you’re traveling this far?  🙂 In any event, we arrived at the Equator and crossed it at longitude 85°.  It was perfect!  (Thank you, my wonderful Captain! :))  The water was calm and virtually a lake, and the sun was just making it’s descent in the western sky.  John put the boat in neutral and let her drift as we both went swimming in the refreshing water.  Afterwards, we donned our trusty pirate outfits and went out on the bow where we toasted Neptune, sharing a bit of our champagne with him, and then toasted each other, Mystic, and our God.  From the flybridge, we watched the sun set on the Equator as we sipped cold champagne.  Dinner was delicious…..fresh seared tuna and fried rice with veges as the dusky night sky was becoming lit with multitudes of stars.  Incredibly special and very, very magical indeed!!

And so, here we are……The Galapagos is as special as we had imagined!  We’ve spent the last week in San Cristobal doing a couple of tours and some diving.  The town itself is very cute, with a malecon fronting the harbor.  The sea lions, naturally, believe that it was built for them and they are literally everywhere!  So much fun to watch and observe……Except when they are on the back of our boat!  They LOVE our swimstep and despite our best defenses, the score is sea lions-8, MM-0.  It’s not too bad except when the big bulls take over, and then they really make a mess…..poo everywhere!!  Plus, we had to give them extra points because last night they also managed to dislodge one of our fenders and it has gone walk-about.  I have a life-sized picture of some sea lion on the beach hugging it like a bed-buddy as he snores!  But, it’s hard to stay mad at them for very long…..Like toddlers, they are so adorable and just weedle their way into your affections in spite of their stinky and messy behavior……

The land tour was also pretty special.  We hired a driver and went up into the highlands to see a beautiful freshwater lake that was created from a volcanic crater and also the area where they grow organic veges and raise some cattle.  Most of the land has been taken back to be national park land, but they do still have some farming here.  In some ways, the people believe it is better to do some farming here rather than import everything and run the risk of introducing yet another non-native species of plant or animal.  Anyway, it was all very interesting and there were beautiful vistas of the island and surrounding waters!

We also visited La Galapaguera which is a tortoise reserve in the highlands.  There were nearly every age of tortoise there from a year old to 100 years old, all in a natural setting.  It was created to protect this particular threatened species of tortoise.  There is still a population of them in the wild on San Cristobal, but visitors are no longer allowed to go to that portion of the island, so it was nice to be able to see these creatures and the success they are having with the breeding of them.   Wow…..Are they ever huge!

Then we moved back down to the coast and visited several stunning beaches where we could observe many marine iguanas and the blue-footed booby bird.  There were the ever present sea lions as well, including many babies playing in the shallows while their mothers fished in deeper water.

Another day, we booked a dive to go to Leon Dormida (sleeping lion) which is a huge monolith that rises out of the sea off the coast of San Cristobal.  Well, as amazing as the life is on land, it is on steroids underwater!  We did a 2 tank dive, both of them around this rock islet, and were surrounded by surreal sea life.  First the massive schools of fish would come into view, and then the sharks would enter your field of vision…..quite literally hundreds of them.  We noted the smaller Galapagos shark, as well as white-tipped sharks and yes!……on the second dive, Hammerheads!!!  So, so cool!!  And then we’d see spotted eagle rays gracefully fly by, and coming around a corner would come upon a couple of massive turtles swimming around; then, the school of fish would part in perfect unison to allow a sea lion to swim through…..And repeat.   Just incredible…..And the wall of the monolith wasn’t so bad either!  It was covered with colorful growth and corals and our guide even managed to find a Pacific seahorse for us.  There just are not enough superlatives for this kind of dive!!  I will admit that it was tough dive…..There was current, surge, and constantly changing thermoclines, from 70° to 82° (ugh!), but it was worth every bit of effort!  Utterly stunning!!!  We really hope to get in several more dives before we leave the islands.

Other than that, we’ve just enjoyed walking around town, eating out now and then, and catching up with cruising friends, old and new.  Enchantment came in several days after we did, and Somerset came in a day later.  We’ve also met some new cruising boats, several from the UK and Australia, as well.  Seems everyone is headed to the Marquesas or Tuamotos after their time here in Galapagos.  The couple on Spruce went diving with us, and have promised to share their pictures from the dive when they catch up with us on Isabela in a week or so.  I’ll post them as soon as I can….

So as you can see, we have definitely enjoyed our stay on San Cristobal.  It is a wonderful, picturesque community with some good restaurants and very nice people, but we are anxious to move on to Isabela.  We have heard that it is equal in character to San Cristobal, but has fewer sea lions and more fur seals and…..penguins!  So, as I finish this up, we are underway to Santa Cruz island to briefly check in there, and will move (hopefully…. God willing and the officials are having a good day!) to Isabela tomorrow.

In the meantime, we are watching the passing turtles and Nazca boobies fish off our bow and enjoying extremely calm seas.  LIVVG!!!

Addendum:  We arrived safely at Santa Cruz (Puerto Ayora) and met with Bolivar’s agent here, Sra. Irene.  She was accompanied by the Port Captain and all went very well, as promised.  We have our zarpe in hand, and leave tomorrow for Isabela.  Hopefully, we’ll spend several weeks there, and then return here, when we will get to explore Santa Cruz with Les and Rose…..It looks very exciting with lots to see and do!!  Have I said that we’re loving Galapagos??  🙂

Update:  Pics posted!!

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