The Galapagos are a real surprise…
We expected to arrive at a lava-rocked, desolate set of islands in the middle of nowhere – instead we are anchored in Academy Bay, right in the heart of a bustling city! There are restaurants, internet cafes, interesting tourist shops, and people everywhere! All of the goods here come from Quito, Ecuador, and the bay is full of barges unloading boxes of food and equipment onto the docks.
The only way to get from our boat to land is by water taxi, at a reasonable 50 cents per person. The US dollar is the currency here – it is quite exciting to know what coin 50 cents actually is!
It was a 700-mile sail from Golfito, Costa Rica to here. We had a nice stop in the Cocos Islands, about 300 miles out. The diving was beautiful there – both Molly and Jessie went scuba diving with Jim and saw eagle rays, sharks and lots of big fish. Cocos Island is a National Park, and is protected for a circumference of 12 miles around the island. There is supposed to be no fishing at all within that boundary, but the rangers on the island have a barn full of miles and miles of fishing nets, hooks, and floats that they have confiscated in the park area. There is a very active volunteer program on this small island. Students and would-be park rangers wait for up to a year to help here on Cocos Island. The eco-system is very fragile here, and they are trying desperately to save the island. It is over- run with wild boars and goats that were brought here many years ago by Germans who thought they might want to colonize Cocos. They soon found out that it was too remote and hard to manage, so they left, but the pigs stayed.
We had a “crossing the Equator” party on Monday morning on our way here. Everyone swam across the invisible line and received little gifts. The ocean was as flat as a windowpane. In fact, it looked like it had been polished with Windex, and you could see your reflection in it. Is this the same ocean that slapped me around like a redheaded stepchild just 24 hours earlier?
We are busy trying to organize a few tours while we are at the Galapagos, and are going to go scuba diving on a dive boat. Our friend Dave Dow from Hawaii will be joining us here for the long trip to the Marquesas; 3600 miles of nothing but ocean! It is cooler here than in Central America; the Humboldt current runs through this area and keeps the water about 10 degrees cooler that we have been seeing. The sky is kindergarten blue, and the people are helpful and friendly.
At an outdoor restaurant yesterday, a seal walked up from the bay, past the customers and into the kitchen. He must have been a “regular”, because the cook just tossed him some food and kept on cooking. I’ve never seen that in Seattle…
We will try to post another update before we leave these enchanting islands – we can’t wait to see tortoises, big iguanas, penguins and blue-footed boobies!