Panama and Galapagos Islands

---

Panama and Galapagos Islands

Our last blog was posted on the 23rd of April and at that time we were pretty hopeful of leaving Panama in a couple of days after that. We ended up leaving Panama (for the first time) on the 26th of April, the day after Debs birthday. We got away well and about 40 miles out we lost our autopilot and had some engine troubles so we had to turn around and head back. First analysis was that we might be up for a new autopilot which was going to delay us no end but it turned out that some connections to the computer module needed a bit of attention and after that it was as good as new.

We then planned to leave a couple of days later but then disaster struck the anchorage we were in with the arrival of a horrific electrical storm which caused one of our friends boats to be struck with lighting causing horrendous damage to their boat. There appears to be no rhyme or reason as to boats being struck as there were at least 20 boats in the anchorage, all with different height masts and lightning was hitting the water in different places but Liberty was the only boat struck.

We could only offer moral support to these guys who have had so much bad luck since starting out with them on the A.R.C back in November last year and it is and was just so unfair. So the new date was set to head off was set for the 3 May. One of the upsides of coming back to Panama was being able to catch up with Gary, Janine and the guys from High 5 who thought we would have been long gone and it was so good to be able to spend some more time with them after our brilliant time together in Cartagena and San Blas.

We also got the chance to head into Panama’s China Town for Yum Cha, didn’t really compare to Sydney’s China Town and The Sussex Restaurant Yum Cha but still a really nice change. One of our disappointments was our late discovery of the Old Town of Panama. We had heard it was just a few ruins but not so moriaty. The buildings that had been restored are just stunning and I am sure that once all of the buildings in this part of town are restored to their former glory, it will rival, if not beat Cartagena as being a must see part of the world.

We hoped to leave late in the afternoon of Monday the 3rd but the approaching huge storm coming towards Panama City hastened our departure big time. We were just in the process of getting ready to haul the dinghy up when Luke spotted a turtle in the water that seemed to be in some sort of bother. On closer inspection, he found that it had a huge piece of fishing net wrapped round and round its neck and fins and was in a desperate state. I grabbed a knife and we caught the turtle and were able to be able to finally cut the poor thing free. It must have been trapped for a long time as one of it’s fins had actually been cut off by the ever tightening net line. Once we got all the net cut off, it was able to swim away quite well so we hope like anything that it will be able to fend for itself and survive.

So all aboard and lets make way. We tried to see the guys from liberty before we left but despite our best efforts we just didn’t get that chance and left with sad feelings that we were on our way and they were still trying to get their boat sorted. The impending storm soon made us refocus on our passage and we spent the next few hours dealing with the strong squalls, strong winds, driving rain and dodging ships heading toward the canal. We could see them clearly on the A.I.S but from our radio conversations with the crews, it was obvious the weather conditions were not allowing them to pick up our small boat on their radars.

We had nearly 900 miles to get to the Galapagos and for a while the conditions were great and then we had a really mixed bag with little or no wind, strong wind on the nose, short sharp seas which caused the boat to pound through and strong counter currents. The highlight of the trip was being able to cross the equator and we had come pre-prepared, allowing King Neptune a chance to come and visit us, a party on board and a time to make special sacrifices to the sea. We sailed across the equator late in the afternoon, literally coasting ‘over the line’ and then the current pushed us back across again, so of course there was only one thing left to do and that was go back over again, so in the space of a few minutes we crossed the equator three times!! The other good thing about this passage was the new watch system that Debs devised whereby we had set watches for the first time. Debs does the midnight to 3.00am / 12 noon to 3.00pm watch, I do the 3.00am to 6.00am / 3.00pm to 6.00pm watch, Nikki does the 6.00am to 9.00am / 6.00pm to 9.00pm watch and Luke does the 9.00am to 12 noon / 9.00pm to midnight watch. Having set watches seems to allow the body clock to get into some sort of routine and we are confident this system will work really well on our next long passage from the Galapagos to the Marquesas.

Our intended anchorage in the Galapagos was San Cristobel and we decided to arrive during daylight hours to make our entrance as safe as possible. Out of the three islands that allow port entry, it seemed that San Cristobel offered the best options. We made the north west point of the island just a bit after sunrise and it was a really nice sail down the lee of the island to the anchorage entry.

We got in about 7.30, happy to see Fancy Free, Erasmus, Stardancer, Grommet and Morning of the Earth still in the anchorage and those guys came over and had a cuppa with us and gave us the ‘heads up’ about customs and immigration before the officials arrived.

Not long after, Bolivar, our agent and the officials arrived on the boat and obtained all relevant details and after much form filling and discussion we had to leave the boat and head off into town to go to the immigration office.

The local advice was not to take your dinghy into the dock and leave it there as the local sea lion population love to make them their home so we boarded one of the few water taxis that service the anchorage and headed off for our first Galapagayan experience. It was a mixture of shock and excitement to see so many sea lions, some swimming about the harbour and heaps of them lying about in the sun at the taxi / dinghy dock. The obviously consider themselves the rightful owners of the harbour and surrounding area and make no effort to move out of anyone’s road at all. The younger ones are just like pups and play so similarly in and out of the water. One of my favourite sights is to watch the sea lions lying on their back, backstroking lazily in the water without a care in the world. It would appear that the life of a sea lion is one of sunbaking, swimming, eating and sleeping, in no particular order.

So customs, immigration and fumigation was all attended to and then it was off to lunch at a local restaurant where for a delicious soup, chicken and rice and a passionfruit juice for $2.50!!

We had a look around the town and were happy to be back on shore and of course in the Galapagos Islands, a place where everyone who visits raves about. We had a couple of options as far as seeing other islands was concerned, one being to pay a hefty fee for an autographo which would allow us to visit Isabella and Santa Cruz and then organise our own tours of the islands. The other option was to go on an organised 4 day tour encompassing Floreana, Isabella and Santa Cruz with all excursions, accommodation and meals included. A lot of other crews from boats who had been here before us had made this option and raved about it so we decided that would be our choice. It was great to catch up with Gordo and Sal from Morning of the Earth who we hadn’t seen since Bonaire and we had a few beers and wines on their boat before they had to head off the next day for further adventures.

So after a couple of days of getting our land legs back and settling into normal sleep patterns we did a great day trip around San Cristobel with Roger and Greg off Fancy Free, visiting the organic fruit orchards, the Giant Tortoise breeding centre, the crater of a volcano and a beach full of young and adult sea lions. Great day out and super value. See the Giant Tortoises ranging in age from 3 months to over 100 years old was just amazing.

We had a very early start for our four day tour, having to be at the dinghy dock at 6.30am but after clearing customs we boarded our boat ‘Andy’ and headed off. We were joined by the crew from Stardancer, Aussies Keith and Phil and Phil’s partner Di, along with two German sisters, Francis and Suzie. We really had a great bunch on board, headed by our Galapagan guide, Pedro.

We spent the next four days visiting the main islands of Floreana, Isabella and Santa Cruz and some of the smaller islands nearby. We did plenty of snorkelling and swimming with the sea lions would rate as one of life’s truly great experiences. We saw heaps of Giant Tortoises, did a 20 kilometre walk around the rim of an active volcano, walked through the lava tunnels, visited the pink flamingos, the penguin colony, saw heaps of white tipped reef sharks in their natural resting place among the lava gutters near the harbour, got to see a fair bit of Floreana, Isabella and Santa Cruz and had a sensational time. We got back to San Cristobel Monday afternoon, absolutely and totally knackered after a brilliant non stop 4 days. What a treat it was to actually stay in a hotel and shower away in hot water, watch telly, have electricity and air conditioning!!!! Woooo hoo. On top of that, heaps of great food and even better company. Worth every cent of the money we paid and gave us the chance to really enjoy the Galapagos.

So after we came back we then set about getting the boat sorted for what is to be our biggest passage yet, 3000 + miles to the Marquesas. Water and diesel had to be brought on board and being a bit isolated, the cost for both is quite high with water costing USD$3.00 for 5 US gallons and diesel is USD$3.60 per US Gallon.

We received an email from Ghost advising us that they had some pretty serious rigging problems and imploring us to check and double check ours before we left, something that is done as a matter of course but I think that with the problems they have had, Lukey might have just made doubly sure everything was ok.

Unfortunately Nikki and Debs picked up a bug on our tour and spent two or three days feeling pretty crappy with nausea and aches and pains ruling their day. There is a pretty serious outbreak of Dengue Fever on the island so we are keeping fingers crossed that none of us catch that.

We have been making great use of our new wind generator and it has been giving us lots and lots of green power that we have never had before. We used it extensively as a tow generator on our passage down from Panama but with the light winds and counter current it wasn’t all that effective but we are hoping for better output on our passage to the Marquesas.

It is now Saturday afternoon and we are fully fuelled and watered, boat has been checked and re-checked. Debs and I went to the fruit and vegi market this morning and stocked up and yesterday Deb’s did a cook up to give us those first few dinners when we head off. We had thought about leaving this afternoon (Saturday) but have decided to go out for dinner tonight with the crew from Stardancer and Francis and Suzzie and then head off in the morning. We have had really big swells rocking and rolling into the anchorage for the last few days and as the forecast is for the swells to ease tonight and some favourable winds tomorrow we think that an early morning start tomorrow is our best option.

The Galapagos is truly an incredible place and we have really enjoyed our time here with the amazing wildlife, incredible scenery and wonderful people. We have also made some new friends on boats we haven’t seen before and we look forward to seeing more of them on our passages toward home. I am hoping to be able to post our positions and maybe some news about our passage on a website we can access via our sat phone. The web address is http://blog.mailasail.com/sysunboy so all being well we can get enough access to be able to do that. Once we are back in internet land we will continue to use our normal blog site.

So all that is between us and French Polynesia is 3000 miles of open Pacific Ocean. We are, of course, hoping for a good safe passage with favourable winds and seas and having crossed that piece of the ocean it puts us that much closer to home to be with you guys and lots and lots of catching up!!!

Till next we blog………….

---

Comments

[bazza]

great update sparksie......sounds fantastic....i am currently in bali for a week,but does not rate aginst the Galapolus isands! safe passage