Category: 2009 Galapagos – Marquesas – Tuamotus – Tahiti and the Society Islands Blog

Dear F&F,
May 17-19, 2009

Because the Galapagos rules limit where private yachts can go, Scott arranged for us to go on this boat for 1 week of scuba diving. We have been on 4 live aboard dive trips of this kind in the past. The last was about 13 years ago. It is a splurge & hopefully a \”vacation\”. I know this sounds funny since we are retired. But the first night I woke up & the boat was underway & Scott was also right there asleep, it was so strange. Neither of us on watch. Free from any responsibility of maintaining or caring for the boat. No navigation to figure out. No watching the weather. No cooking por moi – a real leisure cruise, with diving – my favorite!

The Boat: I was upset at first by the horrible smell of mildew in our below deck cabin. Scott had requested an upstairs one with a view & windows that open, but we were lucky to get a cabin at all. Even though he booked this trip in February, it was the last room available. Once we got underway the ventilation system kicked on & the smell improved greatly. Or else I got used to it. Anyway, our cabin is fine. The motion of the boat is less on the lower decks than above, so from the point of seasick prevention it is better that we are down low. We have two twin beds, mine is a bit higher, but they are not bunk beds. Scott\’s is a bit longer & separated on each side of the small room. Plenty of drawers under the beds, surface area & a closet to stow all our stuff. It seems like we brought everything but the kitchen sink! We moved on before the other guests arrived, who all came by airplane from various places, & had strict luggage limits. We are so used to having everything with us all the time that it was hard to leave anything behind. We moved in with 3 dinghy loads of stuff!

Dive Gear: We had been told by email from the boat company that we would not be allowed to bring our own scuba tanks. The reason we prefer to dive with our own tanks is that they are steel, not aluminum, so heavier & less weight is needed on our weight belts. The first dive was a \”check out\” dive so the dive master could see how we handle ourselves underwater. I used my dry suit for the first time in several years & was pleased that it was not only toasty warm, but I felt very comfortable managing it. Diving with a dry suit requires one additional hose from my regulator to be able to put a little bit of air inside my suit to relieve the \”shrink wrap\” effect as I descend. The water is about 5 degrees cooler than at Coco Island so I expect to be in my dry suit most of the time, although I brought my new 6 mm wetsuit since it may be warmer in the northern islands. With their aluminum tank I needed to wear 18 lbs! We spoke to the dive master after the checkout dive & he had no problem with us bringing over our own steel tanks. Their panga driver gave us a short ride to where our boat was anchored & we brought back our tanks. Scott\’s steel tank holds 95 cubic feet of air, which gives the big guy an equivalent amount of air to my 80 cubic feet. I was able to take 10 lbs off my weight belt, so am much more comfortable.

Other Guests: It is an international group. Two Canadians from Calgary: one a retired woman dentist originally from Tanzania. The other Calgarian owns property in Costa Rica where she hopes to build a house & retire. Three guys from Monterrey, Mexico including one who has done the \”Tour de France\” four times and was a team mate of Lance Armstrong. One New Zealand Guy. Honeymooners from England. Two guys from Buenos Aires. A beautiful couple from Curacao: he is originally from the Netherlands. She does not dive, but is enjoying herself anyway. A couple from San Fransisco that we hit it off with right away. Scott & I are by far the most experienced divers. Some are really newbies, or have just not been diving recently. We help them get their act together whenever we can.
There are only a couple guys besides Scott doing underwater photography or video. So it is not a competitive crowd which is great, very mellow. Everyone is friendly & easy going. The Latins speak enough English so that we can communicate with them. Scott & one Calgary women seem the oldest of the group, although besides the young newlyweds everyone seems in the 35-45 range.

Crew: I think there are as many crew as guests (15). Our cabin is cleaned & tidied up several times per day by Darwin (gotta love the name). When we get out of a dive there are warm towels. They feed us snacks & hot drinks (cocoa or tea) besides breakfast, lunch & dinner. I am really enjoying being served & not cooking at all. We are always hungry after a dive so it is hard not to eat too much. After the last dive, alcohol is included if you wish & I\’ve been enjoying the Vino Tinto from Chile (red table wine).

Dive Highlights:
Yesterday I DID get to snorkel with penguins. They are so cute. Not much larger than a seagull. Standing or hopping on the lava shore rocks or swimming fast below. I have always loved penguins. They make me laugh. *SEE VIDEO GALLERY*

Dive #2 today at Wolf Island was the best so far. Non-stop sharks – both hammerheads & Galapagos sharks. A couple of eagle rays. A few turtles. Lots of moray eels. Plenty of fish of every size & shape. Unfortunately Scott had some technical difficulty with the video so did not get as much great footage as he could have. C\’est la vie. We have regaled the group with our stories of San Benedicto manta rays & shown them the \”Manta Magic\” video which is always a crowd pleaser.

On Dive #4 I got soaked on the inside. I felt the water flooding in as soon as I did my back roll from their panga into the water. Not a pleasant feeling. It wasn\’t like I was going to freeze to death, so I continued with the dive & did not alert Scott to my problem for about 30 minutes. He noticed me hugging myself, trying to keep my armpits warm. I was able to finger spell (sign language) to him: \”total wet\”. He understood & we notified the dive master that we were going to ascend. The light was already dim at 5:30 pm so I didn\’t feel guilty for taking him out of the water, we didn\’t miss much. It was a rather dull dive. We searched for a tear in a seam or the seals at the neck & wrists but could not find a breech. We suspect I had just not completely closed the waterproof zipper & through that small opening water flowed in. The deck hands were most kind in helping me rinse my fleece long johns in fresh water & took them to the boats dryer. We hung my suit inside out. I will try it again tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was prawns which were delicious. It is a treat for me to have seafood at every meal that it\’s offered. Scott is not much of a fish eater, so I don\’t usually prepare it for us. We also had chocolate ice cream for dessert, so my day was complete. We are in bed by 9:00 p.m. & up at 6:00 a.m. They keep the boat on Ecuador time (Central) even though the Galapagos is actually 1 hour earlier (Mountain). I guess it helps the guests feel less jet lagged & the \”wake up\” call at 7:00 a.m. does not sound as early as 6:00 a.m. Scott told me they do this to keep boat and the main office in Ecuador on the same time zone.

Yesterday besides 2 dives and snorkeling with the penguins, we went ashore for a hike up to a viewpoint where we saw the signature photo (Tower of San Bartolome) from on high. It felt good to exercise on land & the view was worthwhile. For the photographer he would have preferred a sunrise view than the sunset. But in the moment it was great.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
May 12, 2009

We hired the taxi driver/guide recommended by the check-in agent we used to go sightseeing on San Cristobal Island. There are only roads in the southern portion of the island, but they do go up to almost the highest elevation. The highlights were:

Seeing the marine iguanas on a rocky beach. They almost blend in with the black lava rocks they perch on. They let you get quite close & look very much like mini-dinosaurs. *SEE PHOTO GALLERY*

We drove by a hilltop with wind-powered generators, like they have on the way to Palm Springs. This provides 50% of the islands power needs. The other 50% is by traditional diesel generators.

We drove through a few different climate zones. High up at a volcano called El Junco it was very foggy & at first we saw nothing but the mist. Then we waited & could get a glimpse of a lake in the center of the extinct volcano, formed from rainfall. It was cold felt like we were in San Francisco, whereas down by the coast it feels warm & tropical.

We went to a preserve where they are assisting the survival of the giant tortoises. These enormous \”E.T. faced\” creatures do not begin to reproduce until 25 years old and can live to well over 100 years old. The female lays only 8-10 eggs a year, and in the wild only 1 will survive. With the assistance of incubators & semi-captivity they have increased the survival rate to 5 or 6. The little ones are so cute. But the big ones are awesome. Unfortunately it was not feeding day. They only feed them 3x/week. We did see 1 near the entry that seemed more free-ranging, chomping on a leaf. It is a very large site so they have plenty of habitat to roam. But they seem content just slowly walking into their little water pond or out of it. Mostly they just sitting there, patiently letting we tourists take a thousand photos. *SEE PHOTO GALLERY*

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant with lovely grounds. Many beautiful native trees & plants. We enjoyed sitting outside. The appetizer of half a pomelo (similar to grapefruit) was the highlight. The meal itself was nothing special – a chicken leg, rice & a couple token vegetables. Dessert was half of a canned peach. The main benefit of this stop to us was speaking to a large bus load of American tourists. They are touring the many islands aboard a large power catamaran. We asked questions about their impressions of Santa Cruz Island which we had considered taking the \”ferry\” to visit. We will have an opportunity to see the Charles Darwin Center there when we are with the dive boat, so we will probably not go on our own. The other island of interest is Isabella, but it is a 30 minute airplane ride. We will inquire about the cost & consider a day trip there.

Otherwise, we are getting ready to join \”Sky Dancer\” for a week of diving in 5 days.

Scott & Cindy

Dear F&F,
May 11, 2009

We knew \”Sky Dancer\” was scheduled to move from Santa Cruz back to San Cristobal that night so I was looking for her. Just before 5:00 a.m. she appeared. Scott got up & spoke to their captain on VHF radio asking if we could follow them in. He said yes, so we had the benefit of a leading boat plus first light. What a difference! Many cruising boats, including several other catamarans. Plenty of room for everyone. Flat water, as the island protects Wreck Bay from the wind & swell.

We flew the Q (quarantine) & Ecuador flags & then I conked out from 6:30-9:30 a.m. Scott took the dinghy ashore on a scouting mission since we needed to find an agent to check in. We heard that other boaters had a perfectly fine stay at Academy Bay a month or so ago. So we suspect the weather has everything to do with the conditions there. But it was certainly more crowded & seemed very industrial to us. Scott quickly found 3 agents & after we got a thumbs-up from the dive master on one of them, we engaged Bolivar. He took our passports & copies of our other documents yesterday. Otherwise Sunday was a recovery day. Today he showed up on the dot at 9:00 a.m. & we went him to Immigration. We don\’t get our passports back until tomorrow. I guess they want to check if we are wanted criminals or some such thing. To get our international Zarpe to leave we will contact the agent 2 days before our departure date. The fees here are not as expensive as for our stay at Coco. There was no onboard inspection by the Navy or required fumigation as was rumored.

The fearless sea lions climb onboard wherever they can. *SEE PHOTO GALLERY* All the catamarans with our inviting stern steps are targets. We tried stringing lines across but that is not much of deterrence. The small ones wriggle under. They could easily make their way up into the cockpit, although they have not done this yet. We love to see them in the water, but it is not so amusing to have a large wild animal outside the front door, or blocking your way to your car (dinghy). We have to figure out a better way to block them. They cough & sneeze & bark & take turns knocking each other off the steps. It is pretty funny, as long as I can keep my Good Humor hat on.

On the taxi boat to shore (50 cents each – such a bargain) we met a couple of other cruisers. One couple is leaving for the Marquesas today. She said they enjoyed a land tour here with a taxi driver recommended by Bolivar. We arranged the same thing, beginning at 8:00 am tomorrow.

I need to start being more realistic on what these third world places are going to be like, despite romantic names like Costa Rica & the Galapagos. The town here is very similar to Turtle Bay, in Baja Mexico: dirty & depressing (in my opinion). The shopping opportunities are limited to small \”tiendas\”. The meat is not of a quality that I am willing to eat. I am so glad that Mike can bake bread. We will be eating a lot of beans & rice on the way to the Marquesas…

We had a half hour stop at an internet site, but not good enough to do Skype so not very interesting to me. I did get to retrieve Skye\’s e-card for Mothers Day, so that was worthwhile. We had a soft serve ice cream cone. I left the shore visit feeling quite down. I think the fatigue of the passage combined with uneasiness about leaving the boat unattended for a week while we go diving, plus the burden of provisioning with limited resources have put me in a funky mood. Hopefully tomorrow we\’ll be getting out to see the real beauty of this place and help wash away the blues.

Hope to send a happier Galapagos report after tomorrow. I am most looking forward to snorkeling with penguins a week from today!
Scott & Cindy