American Spirit II - Day 34; Last Full Day in Las Perlas Islands; Thursday, February 6, 2014

Today is one of the few days that we had to get up early for a Rally event. At 7:15 AM something called a 'Hash' is being run by the World Cruising Club. During this event we walked around the island following symbols left in the road way. Once done, drinks and fruit awaited us back at the Romantica Hotel. The fruit included pineapple, water melon and mango.

During the Hash we walked past a mini mart, so I jumped in and bought a bunch of groceries for the boat. Some items we were short of.

Once back on the boat, we spotted a fuel barge tied up to a mooring buoy in the anchorage. Motoring over in our dingy, we bought 15 gallons of diesel fuel at $5.00 a gallon, which was put in our yellow jerry jugs. With that extra fuel, we'll have no problem making it to the Galapagos Islands even if we have to motor the whole way.

The rest of the day was spent in the Romantica Hotel, loading pictures into computers; reading; and making a trip to the grocery store to buy two more cases of beer.

At 4:00 PM the Skipper's meeting was held at a local church near the hotel. Subjects covered included the race to the Galapagos; weather conditions; where to anchor in San Christobol, where we clear into; how to move around the different islands; and what to expect from the local officials when clearing in and when visiting each island. As part of the clearing in for the Galapagos, 8 officials will come to our boat to inspect and clear us in. And they will all come at the same time. Also, every time you move your boat from one island to another, you have to give the local authorities 48 hours notice, then clear out of the island you're on and clear into the island you're going to. Also discussed was the full day Kicker Rock Tour that we will be taking on San Christobol, and that sea lions will try to get into your boat and dingy. The Kicker Rock Tour apparently includes swimming with Hammerhead Sharks. Because of the abundance of food in the Galapagos waters, the sharks aren't bothersome to humans.

At 7:00 PM a BBQ was held at the hotel, sponsored by the World Cruising Club. Racing awards were given out for the sail boats in Leg 1 from St. Lucia to the San Blas Islands. There were 3 classes in the competition: Class A, Class B and Multi Hull. There were also 2 'random' awards given out; recognition of boats that submitted pictures to the WCC to post on the web site; and 5 awards (flutes, actually) were given to boats whose logs were informative. Even though American Spirit wasn't officially a participant in Leg 1, as we met up with the fleet in the San Blas Islands and not St. Lucia, we were fortunate enough to receive one of these awards for our log entries. Two of the other 4 boats were Nexus and Celebrate, both boats we've spent some time with. Way to go Russ, Laurie, Charlie and Kathy! This is the second award that we have gotten. The first was taking 2nd place in the WCC trivia quiz held in Shelter Bay, where we received a colorful Balboa Beer Bucket filled with beer. That beer bucket will be going in the trophy case along with the flute.

Brian Fox