The Galapagos Islands
April 14 - 21
Introduction
We visited two islands in the Galapagos: San Cristobal and Santa Cruz. When we left the Galapagos we stopped in a bay near Isabella island but we didn't step foot on land. Steve awakened us at 9 AM when the first island, San Cristobal was sited. It was a dramatic site, a large mound of land in the middle of nowhere. To get to the anchorage, we had to motor (no wind) along the whole side of the island so we were able to get some good views. We spotted sea turtles and sea lions in the water along the way.
Near San Cristobal is another island named Kicker's Rock or Leon Dormids (Sleeping Lion) that we motored by on our way to the anchorage. Apparently so many explorers laid claim to these islands that they have English names and Spanish names that are not always the same. This island is really dramatic. It looks like the Prudential Rock. The rock is actually split in two with about 10 yards of water in between. We dropped anchor in Wreck Bay on San Cristobal Island around 3 PM.
The bay is full of sea lions. As we drop
the anchor we could hear the loud wolfing sounds from them. The babies sound
like baby lambs. Then when things got settled down we could see the sea lions
swimming in the area or lounging on some of the local fishing boats. During our
stay here we would need to land the dingy on a small beach. This beach was also
a favorite place for the sea lions to hang out. After a day in the town we
would walk back to the dingy and the beach would be covered with about 50 or
more sea lions. If you walk by them most of them will move, others will just
ignore you and you have to walk around them. They are not afraid of people.
Since the tides here are high we would drag the dingy high on beach. So during
low tide there would be about 20-30 feet of beach and sea lions between the
water and us. To clear them out of the way we would walk up to them close
enough to touch and they would slowly get the idea and casually move out the
way with that familiar barking sound. As if to say to us, "ya ya ya, but I was
here first".
There was one funny moment when Pete was getting too close to a baby sea lion that was playing in the surf. Pete was standing in the surf right next to it. It was startled when it noticed Pete was very close and started barking. Then the mother, who was in the water too, started after Pete. As Pete was back peddling up the beach the rather large mother was waddling its way up the beach after Pete barking up a storm. Finally, the mother felt Pete was far enough away and stopped the advance. We were watching and laughing as the whole thing happened.
San Cristobal - Snorkeling at Leon Dormids and Isla Lobos
Snorkeling at Leon Dormids and Isla Lobos is one of the highlights of our trip to the Galapagos. We met a surfer named Chris from San Francisco in town and he arranged for the five of us from Rhum Punch plus himself to get a ride with a local fisherman to go snorkeling. An arrangement like this is technically illegal. All trips are supposed to be accompanied by a certified guide. A guide costs about $100 USD for the day plus additional cost for the trip itself. The local fisherman charged us $80 USD for the whole trip.
The fisherman and Chris picked us up from Rhum Punch at
noon in a 15-foot motorboat. After 1.5 hours of motoring into the current, we
made it to Leon Dormids. The fisherman circled the island. There were dozens of
blue-footed boobies on the rock. These birds are so funny looking. They have
bright blue feet.
Besides the major split in the rock, which goes from one side to the other that the fisherman motored through, there is a small crack that goes about ½ through the island. The fisherman backed his boat into this crevice and then let the 5-foot wave surge push us back out. That was one amazing feat of boat handling.
Next the fisherman stopped in the middle of the split and we all put on wet suits except Steve and went snorkeling. You have to remember that Steve did not plan to be on this trip when he left Canada on his bike back in Oct 2000. Luckily, we bought wet suits for this trip because the water was cold. We saw dozens of fish feeding along both sides of the rocks. We could even see to the bottom, about 30 feet. There were small sharks (3 feet long) near the bottom. We got a perfect view of one as it swam over a patch of sand with the sun shining above. When we snorkeled we would swim up one side against the tide then we would swim to the other side and just go with the tide. The return trip with the current was about three times faster than the other way. The tide surge was really strong.
Next we piled
back into the boat and motored to Isla Lobos so we could swim with the sea
lions. It was a blast. Isla Lobos is a small rocky island right near the shore
of San Cristobal where the sea lions love to hang out. The water in between the
island and shore is about 5 feet deep. We motored in and then got into the
water. When we arrived there were only a few sea lions in the water. They are
so curious and friendly that they swim right up to you. When they swam up to
me, they would approach my face on their backs, and then they would stop with
their face about a foot from my face. They would jut their heads out like they
were going to head butt me. Then they would swim off to my left
or
right side and go right near my body. I would turn and follow as quickly as
possible. I think this is the sea lion version of tag. At one point I had five
sea lions around me playing tag. They are so graceful in the water.
At one end of Isla Lobos were a dozen boobies and frigate birds. The male frigate birds have large brilliantly red sacks under their bills that they inflate to attract females. One of the frigate birds on the rocks had his red sack inflated. It was a big as his body. The birds here are not afraid of humans and we were able to walk within five feet of the birds.
After swimming with the sea lions, the fisherman motored us back to our boat. That evening we were all exhausted from our day of snorkeling and went to bed early.
Pepe, the Giant Tortoise
In the town there is a small one-room
museum that Pete and I visited. It had about 40 stuffed animals in it. There
were sea lions, tortoises, etc. The main attraction for us though was the live
tortoise that they had living in a pen out back. Pepe, the tortoise, is about
70 years old, weights 400 pounds, stands 3 feet tall, and loves to eat bananas.
We asked the attendant to show us Pepe and he took us into the 20 by 40 foot
pen. We walked right up to Pepe and pet him on the head and touched his shell.
The attendant then gave each of us a banana to feed him. When you gave him the
banana he would not take a clean bit instead he would grab one part and keep
trying to pull the whole banana into his mouth. After feeding him a banana, I
backed away. I had my tortoise shell sunglasses in my hand and I think Pepe who
doesn't see too well thought I had another banana in my hand. Pepe kept walking
towards me. I took a few steps backwards and he took a few more steps towards
me. I kept taking a few steps backwards and he kept coming towards me. Soon we
were half way across the pen so I turned around and led Pepe back to Pete and
the attendant. We fed Pepe two more bananas each, took some pictures then left.
Sailing to Santa Cruz
It's a day sail from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz but what a sail. Actually there wasn't much wind so we motored. About 7 miles from Santa Cruz, Alan noticed that the engine oil pressure was low. He checked the engine compartment and saw that the oil filter was leaking. We turned the engine off and Alan and Duane changed the oil filter. Unfortunately the new filter was corroded so when the engine started oil went everywhere in the engine compartment. So once again Alan and Duane changed the oil filter. This time when we started the engine, the hatch to the engine compartment was not closed so Duane could look in and make sure everything was OK when we started the engine again. Well, Duane got a motor oil shower because our second new filter was corroded. Ugh!Alan only had three spare filters on board. Alan and Duane put our last spare filter on the engine. We all kept our fingers crossed when the engine started. Yea, it worked.
Those of you who are fishermen and women will be jealous of our
catch from today. As we were motoring along, the two fishing lines were
trolling behind us. Suddenly one of them started to peel out extremely quickly.
Alan was the first one to the pole. He started to reel it in. It was a struggle
and took about 20 minutes. What was on the end of the line fighting so hard? It
was a 30-40 pound (we didn't weight him, just estimated) yellow fin tuna. This
was about our fifth tuna of the trip. There was so much fish that Alan had to
give some away at the next anchorage.
Santa Cruz
It was so hot in the Galapagos that when we got to Santa Cruz, I wanted to get a hotel room so I could get a long cold shower. So when we arrived Alan motored us into the town dinghy dock and we went and got a room at the Hotel Sol y Mer that is right on the water and we could see the anchorage. Since I wanted to shower more often on the boat Pete and I bought two 10-gallon jerry jugs for extra water on the boat.We only spent two and ½ days in Santa Cruz. The first day we all ran around like crazy doing errands (getting water, food, diesel, etc.). It is amazing how much time and effort it takes to get these simple things accomplished. Take getting water for example. Alan put our 40 empty gallon jugs and his 10-gallon jerry jug into the dinghy. Then he motored over to our hotel's small concrete dock. Pete, Steve and I carried them three blocks to the Galapagos Purified Water Company where a gallon of purified water costs .25 USD. While we are getting our jugs filled, a taxi cab driver comes in to get two jugs filled. We ask him if he will drive us and our water back to the hotel only. He does. Then we put all the jugs on the sidewalk. Then we walk all the jugs about 30 steps to the dock. Duane came up with the dinghy. It took four trips to get all the water transported to the boat and then the 40-gallon jugs had to be stored under the berths in the two aft cabins. The three large jerry jugs were lashed along with our two gas jugs and three diesel jugs to the deck railing at the stern of the boat.
Lava Tubes
We did make time to walk Los Tuneles de Bellavista, a 2,600 foot underground lava tube. Apparently when the island was formed some lava cooled quicker than other streams of lava and the faster moving lava formed this tube. Steve, Pete and I took a taxi to the tube. We asked him to wait for us. The tubes are in some guy's backyard so we walked up to his small shop. He had a large tortoise shell on a table near the door. He asked if we wanted to get in it and get our pictures taken. Pete climbed in first. He was almost too big to get in. Then Steve. Next we paid to go through the tubes and he asked if we wanted to rent a lantern for the walk but all of us had brought our headlamps so we didn't rent the lantern. Then we walked down a hill and entered the tube. It was perfectly round and about 20 feet in diameter. Once we walked in enough to get away from the entrance light, it was pitch black. During our walk we saw quite a few cave ins from the ceiling. In one spot we could see daylight from the ceiling. When we came out the other end, we were in a field with a path that led to a dirt road and our taxi was waiting there for us.Charles Darwin Research Center
On April 20th, we got up at
6:30 AM and walked about a mile to the Charles Darwin Research Center. There is
an exhibit about the formation of the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin, and
evolution. There are also about a dozen pens where the researchers raise giant
tortoises. When they are about 3-4 years old, the tortoises are released to
their nature habitat. In the first pen we saw about 200 baby tortoises. They
were about as large as our hands.
In one pen we saw Lonely George, the last of his kind. He was found 25 years ago. Scientists thought that his type was already extinct since they had not seen a living tortoise since 1954. He is in a pen with two females tortoises that are the closest to his type. The researchers are hoping that he will mate and at least his type will live on in modified form.
Isabella Island
We left Santa Cruz at 2 PM on Friday, April 20. On Saturday morning we were next to Isabella Island. Alan motored into a small cove and turned off the engine. Pete and Steve went snorkeling and swam with about six sea turtles. We were there about a half an hour then we started our Pacific crossing.