Sailing across the Pacific on a yacht has always been Rob’s dream, and before meeting him, I never ever imagined myself doing the same thing.  The thought of sailing, never mind doing a full-on ocean crossing, didn’t even cross my mind.  But here we were doing just that, and one of the many upsides of this experience was visiting some rare and off-the-beaten track destinations.  Cue the Galapagos Islands, an archipelago part of Ecuador and situated approximately 1000km off the West coast of South America.  Our last blog post had us arrived and anchored safely just off the island of Isabela.  At the time we were waiting to be cleared by the authorities.  It was quite a process to get that finalized but the red tape wasn’t as bad as we had expected it to be.  Our expectations were based on other cruisers reports about how difficult they found it to enter the territory, for example, being sent back out to sea to clean hulls, having organic food confiscated, having to have the whole boat re-fumigated etc, having their rice and flour examined with a fine tooth comb for bugs and so on.  However our experience was a walk in the park compared to other boats, except for the amount of time it took.  We had health authorities board the boat on the morning after our arrival.  We were told it was so our temperatures could be taken but we were just asked the routine questions… anyone with fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, joint pain etc.  Captain was too scared to say his joints are always sore just in case the health authorities didn’t realise it was just caused by his old age, rather than being Ebola related!  There after we had to wait for the rest of that day on board until the next set of paper pushers could come do their thing.

The authorities arrived the next day (so we spent two nights on board without being able to go ashore) and inspected everything, including the engines, bilge pumps, fridge and freezer and all organic produce.  Luckily the officials didn’t look at the hull (which is Murphy’s Law because we spent some more time cleaning it the day before) and they didn’t feel the need to confiscate or fumigate so we were cleared within an hour of them coming to have a look see.  Whoohoo!  As soon as they left we were on the dinghy and headed for land!  I am very happy to report that I didn’t walk wobbly on terra firma or feel like the earth was moving when it wasn’t… I must have been born to sail, wink wink!

First thing Rob and I have to say about the Galapagos is WOW… we were so happy to have had the opportunity to go there.  Everywhere we looked we just saw volcanic rock and solidified lava.  The town, Puerto Villamil, is bigger than expected.  It is pretty rustic in appearance but is well maintained with packed dirt roads, quaint wooden road signs and quite a few accommodation and eating options.  We reckon with all the infrastructure development going on (including a new sewerage system) it is going to become a real tourist trap in a few years time.  The locals really seem to make an effort to be eco-friendly, with recycle bins all over the place and minimal litter.  Construction seems to be with local materials, for example walls and roads are built using lava rock.

Prices are quite expensive with the US Dollar rate but again that was in all the touristy places.  We looked into renting some kayaks but USD35 for 90 minutes of paddling didn’t seem worth it.  We decided to take a guided hike up the Sierra Negra volcano where we walked along the ridge of the caldera and on to another smaller volcano, Chico.  Both volcanoes are still active, and you could actually see the fissures and cracks in the crater where the last eruption occurred.  The change in landscape from one side of the island to the other (which doesn’t get rain) is shocking – from greenery jungle type vegetation to a Mars landscape in a matter of metres.  According to the guide the last eruption in the archipelago was in 2009 but apparently they are quite small eruptions and don’t threaten the population.  Ironically about one month after we had departed, there was quite a large eruption on Isabela, and I’m almost sorry we missed one of nature’s spectacles.  We also rented bikes and cycled to an area along the beach called The Wall of Tears which is the remains of a former penitentiary used for “political prisoners and common delinquents” between 1946 and 1959.

The nature in the Galapagos is absolutely spectacular to observe.  And we are not the only ones to comment on this.  It was while visiting the Galapagos that Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution.  I’ve already mentioned previously the seal on the back of the boat.  We had more visitors come say hi for a few hours, and they are quite comfortable around humans.  Seals line the dinghy dock wallowing in the shade and are so content to just lie there and let the humans walk past or over them to get to the road.  They even jump up onto the benches to have an afternoon snooze.  Rob and I had an amazing experience with a couple of babies who were having a great time frolicking around the boat.  We jumped into the water with masks and swam with them while they playfully swam under and around us.  If we kept pretty still they came extremely close and blew bubbles around us for amusement.  All this while the mommy lay in the sun on the back of the boat, having an occasional look see by sticking her head into the water, checking all was okay, and then went back to her sun tanning!  One freakish moment was when we had climbed back onto the boat and were rinsing the masks when I looked overboard and saw a shark about the same size as me swim out from under the boat (where we were a minute ago) being chased away by one of the babies!  Needless to say we didn’t get back into the water after that!  We also had a close encounter of a seal kind, coming into contact with a male seal that had got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning and chased us down a walkway, preventing us from getting to a snorkel spot on that particular day.  One would be surprised how quickly a lumbering seal can actually move on land!

There are a lot of marine iguanas around too.  Not my favourite but they tend to be a bit more cautious and move away when humans approach.  On our cycle ride we came across a sign saying “Playa del Amor” or Beach of Love and when we got there we saw it was the nesting area for iguanas!  The iguanas were also in abundance on the main beach, poking their heads out of holes in the sand, and needless to say I almost jumped sky high when one unexpectedly popped up next to my foot.  We mentioned the penguins in the previous post, but there is another species of bird called the Blue Footed Boobie and they are quite fun to watch.  Evening times in the anchorage were so busy with birds and in certain parts, it was a feeding frenzy.  Frigate birds swoop down and scoop fish up with their beaks but the Blue Footed Boobies are the ones to keep an eye on.  They soar high up into the sky, spot their targets, tuck their wings in to become streamlined kamikaze birds and dive head first into the water, completely submerging themselves for five or so seconds where after they bob up to the surface and take a big gulping swallow of all the fish they caught.  This is repeated again and again until their bellies are so full they fly away, barely a meter above the water because it seems they can’t lift themselves any higher!  Isla Isabela is also known for its giant tortoises and one afternoon we took a walk to the breeding centre to go have a look.  Apparently scientists were only able to recover 18 from the wild as early settlers used to eat them, but now with the breeding centre there are over 200 which are slowly being introduced to the wild.  Rob and I were lucky enough to see two outside of the breeding centre when we did our bike ride.

On our last day, Rob, Captain, First Mate and I took a taxi ride up into the agricultural district to visit a local farm and buy some fresh produce for our next sail.  It was a wonderful day out; the farm had pretty much everything we wanted, fresh from the ground.  We were told we could also have lunch so we were expecting to have a local, home-cooked meal with the farmers but we ended up being taken to a fancy restaurant for a four course meal, which was absolutely delicious!  Needless to say we were stuffed after that, and if we hadn’t been driven down the hill back to the boat, we would have rolled with our full tummies.

The morning of our departure had us heading ashore to buy the last few supplies, fresh bread and lots and lots of eggs.  We were lucky with the eggs as every single store we visited was sold out, and only expecting a delivery later that morning.  Rob, on a mission, went in search of the delivery truck and managed to buy direct from the supplier off the back of his truck!  We hit the road so to speak at 09h40 in the morning, saying farewell to an amazing week in the Galapagos and looking ahead to some exciting times in French Polynesia.  But first, three weeks in the open ocean with no land in sight!  Read all about it in the next post!