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Starblazer - Galapagos update



Kicker Rock tour on Saturday was interesting but sadly not spectacular, the highlight was probably the Spotted Eagle Ray. On Sunday they saw hammerhead sharks! The guided walk to the first bay and the snorkelling were good, though, and our guide was very informative. Almost as soon as we got back to Puerto Baquerizo we set sail for our rendezvous point, 70 miles away. So many boats had failed the inspection that the price went down!

By about midnight the wind increased a little and we sailed for the last five hours, passing within 6 metres of the waypoint. We were lucky and were in the first group to be scrubbed and made our way back to Isla San Cristobal to meet Richard and Stephanie, who had booked into an hotel for the night. Monday morning we were one of the boats that were rechecked and passed so on Tuesday we left for Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz.

Richard was in his element, tweaking the sails, setting the cruising chute etc. but sadly the wind died and we couldn't make the required course so the engine went on. We went ashore to try to book some tours for the next few days but found they were all booked so had to rethink our schedule as we could book tours from Saturday onwards. We also couldn't just pull up the anchor and go because we hadn't yet been cleared in and needed a Zarpe, a permission form, to sail to the next port. Checking in the next morning was quite easy and we organised a Zarpe for Thursday to sail to Isabella. Richard and Stephanie took a ferry there, checked into an hotel and booked two tours, a spectacular volcano walk and a 'turtleicious' snorkelling one.

We motored all the way on Thursday morning then John set about changing the propellor! The fancy Brunton Autoprop, which varies the pitch of the blades according to speed, had started vibrating horribly yet again and it seemed likely that the bearings are shot. The previous prop had fortunately been on the boat when we bought her. Rather than don full diving gear, John tied a tank and regulator to the prop shaft and snorkelled/dived down to it. The prop came off easily with the puller, fixing the other one on was a little more problematical as he couldn't line up the hole in the shaft with the castellations on the nut to insert the split pin, then the air tank ran out! Richard tried but said the nut was too long. After minor surgery to the nut the next morning, John quickly finished the job. We had a good evening ashore with Richard and Stephanie and Ehrling and Gro from Saphir.

Isabella is a far less developed island than either San Christobal or Santa Cruz. Puerto Villamil is a pleasant little town with dirt roads and more marine iguanas than we have seen on any other island! They aren't really bothered by people and some were busily digging holes on the beach while others just lazed on the stone pier. We went snorkelling in the lagoon and saw some huge parrotfish and angelfish but sadly no penguins or turtles. Though we are less than 60 miles from the equator they do have penguins here because the South American current is rather cool.

We returned to Santa Cruz to meet up with Richard and Stephanie again, they'd returned by ferry to take a trip to Bartolome which they said was very good. We discovered yet another problem. The generator failed again with a blockage in the cooling water system, probably caused by a loose bit of gunge finding a small pipe to settle in! However we had booked a couple of trips so boat maintenance had to take second place. The first trip was to Plazas island where they have discovered some unusual hybrid iguanas. Male marine iguanas have mated with female land iguanas, their offspring display characteristics of both, being able to climb like the males but eating the diet of the females. The offspring, like mules, cannot reproduce. There is a large sealion colony there with many young ones which were playing in the water. We also saw a lot of birds and the naturalist who accompanied us was very informative. There were masses of shearwaters nesting on the cliffs, swallow tailed gulls sitting on eggs, a masked booby, a red billed tropicbirds, lots of frigatebirds, yellow warblers and Darwin finches. One blue footed booby conveniently flew past at the right moment, just as the naturalist was saying they were usually found on another island! While frigatebirds are a common sight in the Caribbean, I have never seen one in close up until one glided along on the updraught caused by the boat, just 6 to 8 feet above our heads. One look at the beak and you begin to wish it was further away, especially when it angled its head own to get a better look at us!

Our second trip was to Santa Fe, an island we passed on our way from San Christabal. We anchored in an enclosed bay and went ashore to see a breed of iguana unique to Santa Fe. The naturalist who accompanied us on this trip was extremely good, telling us a lot more about both sealions and iguanas. We also saw Galapagos mockingbirds, Galapagos doves and a stunning Galapagos hawk which was sitting on top of a tree. As the group walked away it followed them from bush to bush! We then went snorkelling, again accompanied by the naturalist. Apart from the large colourful fish, the highlight was probably the 5 white tipped reef sharks closely followed by close encounters with sealions which swam past us or the rays or.... It was great.

Back on the boat John attacked the generator and he and Richard flushed the cylinder block, then blasted air back through several times and it seems to be better. Only time will tell.

While I have been writing this the pelicans have been diving for fish. They fly along with a black bird, possibly a shearwater, in close attendance. As they come up they get attacked by the black birds which sit on their necks trying to keep their heads down in the water. So far every one I have watched has managed to lift its head and swallow its catch.

Joyce


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