Hot News

March 16, 2001 ~ March 31, 2001

March 31, 2001

We were up early and into the dinghy by 8am in order to stop by *Cherokee,* *La Boatique,* *Calypso,* and *Hooplogog* to wish them Bon Voyage and a very safe journey to the Marquesas, on our way to David's appointment with Dr. Aldebaran, Milwaukee to fix an aching tooth. David felt that it was dying, but Fred put a sealer on it and it has been fine. Thank you very much, Fred! He is still grinding his teeth, even with his tooth guard on!!! Fred asked him, "WHAT stress????"

We moved our anchor and then went to the Magic Cove to snorkel with Anna and Ron from *Lazy Jack* and Richard and Joy from *Fair Hippolyta* (I have had NO responses as to who Hippolyta might be????Let me know the answer for the Big Prize of the day!!!! Also, of note is that she was also designed by Chuck Paine and was built about 12 years ago. I don't know where she was built. They are British so possibly she was built in England.) The Magic Cove is located in a lagoon between the anchorage and the ocean. We anchored the dinghy and walked along a trail (maintained by the National Park) very similar to hiking on lava along the coasts of Maui in Makena. We walked along an overlook with a railing where we could see about six white tip sharks swimming along a channel beside this lagoon. We walked around to a pebbly beach on the inside of the lagoon and snorkeled with the fish, sharks, sea lions and eagle rays. The visibility was terrible, so it was rather frightening with the sharks so "up close and personal." When we left the water and the beach, we were severely threatened by a male sea lion! He wanted HIS beach and swimming hole all to himself!!!! We then walked to the ocean side where we saw numerous black marine iquanas and sea lions sleeping lazily in the sun! Unfortunately, I did NOT take my camera, because I didn't know what the conditions would be. We had intended to return and take pictures, but did not make it back to the Magic Cove. We are sorry to have no pictures to share with you.

After lunch we swam around the boat ten times for exercise, did a load of wash, and worked on emails.

March 30, 2001

We were up early and frantically called *Aldebaran, Milwaukee* at about 6:30am when they were only a couple of inches away from the local fishing boat (with all the locals just looking at the space between the two boats!!!). They weren't awake and didn't have their radio on....but they swung apart and nobody was hurt or damaged, thank heavens!

We got the dinghy ready and followed Julie and Barry on *Cherokee* in to the dock...the Great Circle Route around the edge of the anchorage so that we would know how to avoid the rocks and the sandbar at low tide!!! The anchorage is full of lots of sea lions, pelicans, frigate birds, turtles, rays!!! Very Very beautiful spot! Much drier than the other islands with more cactus! We pulled the dinghys up the beach and walked to town. We stopped at Dora's Place and met a delightful lady, who will arrange horseback riding trips, diesel, laundry, and has a restaurant! We then stopped at the bakery where we just purchased some goodies, since we purchased enough bread at Academy Bay to last for a few days. We checked in with the Port Captain and he gave us two weeks!!! Not sure if we will stay that long, but we have our usually LONG list of items to accomplish and we want to walk to the Wall of Tears, the tortoises, and go horseback riding up the volcano! Villamil looks more like what we had expected of the Galapagos, sand roads, 1400 total people on this island, with quite a few small stores, and it is VERY (so close to the Equator) hot! Stores close about 11am and don't re-open until 5pm, if at all!

We returned to the boat, had lunch and spent most of the afternoon reanchoring near the edge of the harbor, where the other boats have stern anchors, since four more boats arrived this afternoon. We hope to move into a little better position tomorrow after four boats head to the Marquesas!

March 29, 2001

We were up early and made the boat ready to sail (we are motoring again...hope we have a chance to sail some! We are also really rolling, since we have no sails up to stabilize the boat! I hope that I can continue on this computer and answer some of your much appreciated emails. I hope the old stomach will cooperate!)! We had to exchange our borrowed DVD's (they are sooooo expensive!) and pick up glasses for Laura on *Muna* from the folks on *Quando*. We had also received an email too late last night to pick up some special milk for Pete and Susan on *La Boatique* who are in Villamil, ready to leave for the Marquesas on Sunday. I asked a number of boats if they could bring it for them! Plus we had to deal with picking up that huge stern anchor. Thank heavens! There was no wind, but quite a large swell was entering the anchorage. So, we finally left Academy Bay, Santa Cruz at about 8:30 am.

So we are on our way to our last island in the Galapagos, Isla Isabela, where we will be anchored in Villamil. We arrived about 4pm after we caught a spanish mackerel, just as we were entering the harbor, just like we did while entering both Wreck and Academy Bays! Unfortunately, we need to get a BIG fish, that we can stash away in the freezer and will give us 8-10 good meals!!! But Thanks for this fish....it definitely is better than nothing!!! We are grateful!

This is a very difficult anchorage to get into, between the reefs with the surf, and it is a very narrow anchorage, with rocks to one side and shallow areas on the other. To make life interesting some boats have stern anchors, others do not, and there are a couple of fishing boats with lots of rope rode out! We spent until midnight checking our position in relation to the other boats around....every boat had a different itinerary and the fishing boat was much much to close! We will have to reanchor in the morning!

We were also able to talk with Dave on *Soggy Paws* in Rio Chagres on the SSB and hear how their trip is progressing. We really miss those guys on *Camryka,* *Homeward Bound,* and *Soggy Paws!* Sure wish they were heading west with us! We understand that *Homeward Bound* is heading to Florida and will sell the boat and build a house after they return in June.

March 28, 2001

We did update this website using the cd and program given to us by Phil on *Iwalani* yesterday afternoon. However, we just had an email saying that the pictures were there but it was only updated until December 6. We are REALLY confused as to what is happening and would really appreciate some feedback from you guys!!! You need to contact us directly on the boat, we have NO access to this maui net email!!!

We also borrowed a DVD "The Last of the Mohicans" from Mitch on *Komfy* yesterday and really enjoyed it. Add that to your list of "must sees!" We put the new computer on the shelf by the tv and ran a cable to the stereo, so we had fantastic audio!!!

We were up early and had to wait about a half an hour to get a water taxi with *High Drama* to tour the Darwin Center with Yvonne. We saw all the tortoises being fed and walking around (just like on Monday), but we did learn alot from her! We then went shopping at the supermarket and the bakery, pretty slim pickings since the barge was being unloaded! We watched a car come in on the barge as we were coming in on the water taxi!!! (so, no picture!) We took all that back to the boat and had lunch! We returned at 3pm (everything closes for siesta between 12 noon and 3pm!!!) to look for Teva type shoes for me, but all were made for "Tongan feet!" I had gotten terrible blisters the other day from walking in wet and sandy Scot flip flops! We did purchase two hats and then went to the market to purchase fruits and veggies to get us through as long as possible, since we have been told that there isn't much on Isla Isabela. We then went to El Frio and purchased two frozen chickens andtwo blocks of cheddar cheese. Her frozen food is at the bottom of the container, so she hadn't gotten her order yet. Just poor timing on our side!!!

We returned to the boat (VERY tired after all the walking in 100 degree heat and humidity), stowed all, had showers and a quick bite to eat and went to bed early!!! We had the rolliest night of all, even with a stern anchor out! Really big swell coming in!! We also heard from *Capers* who just sailed in from Wreck Bay that they had really really big swells coming in there. Poor Eric...missed all that surf!

March 27, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!!!! Hope your day was very special!

We are planning on doing more shopping, food, fresh fruits and veggies, plus touristy items today! We might take a bus to the other side of the island and we want to go to the Internet and up-date this....Hope it works!!! These will probably be the last pictures until Tahiti unless they have internet places in the Marquesas and the Tuomatus and this system works! We shall see. We wish everyone....a Happy Spring! We love you all, miss you and wish that you could experience this absolutely incredible PLACE with us! Keep well, keep in touch and God Bless you all!

March 26, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAT on *Aldebaran, Ireland*....What a lovely place to celebrate your birthday here in Academy Bay in the Galapagos!!!

We had another very busy day!!! We blew our horn for a water taxi about 9:00. We checked in with the Port Captain here at Academy Bay and requested a zarpe to leave for Villamil on Isla Isabela for Thursday. He charged us $4.60 (really $4.80 because he only had 20 cents change!!!)! We then went to the Police Station for Immigration and we checked out of Ecuador. We understand that there is no Immigration in Villamil and they must fly your passports back here....that is much too scarey!!! So, we are all set and if we have problems with the port captain in Villamil, we already have our zarpe to the Marquesas!!! The only thing that we are concerned about now is how long they will allow us to stay in Villamil? We want to do some tours there and would like to have the trade winds fill in a little more before we head to the Marquesas. So....I guess we will see!

We then walked through the town to the Darwin Research Station and observed the huge land tortoises after they had been fed this morning. Many of the other cruisers went about 8am and they said that they were very active! By the time we arrived, two were fast asleep and the other male was just able to lift his head and check us out, while we took a few pictures, and fall back to sleep. They feed them three days a week: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays! I guess they sleep the rest of the time! They must need to work very hard to carry that huge shell around. The brochures said that they can live to be 200 years old and weigh up to 550 pounds. We walked around and saw poor Lonesome George, who is THE last of his particular species of land tortoise. We are hoping to purchase their book on all the history of this fascinating creature! Then we saw the breeding areas where they have the young ones in different areas and at age 5 years, they will place them back in the wild on different islands. They are hoping that the tortoise will eventually be able to make it on their own!!!

After we walked around the whole compound, we headed for a restaurant, since everything was closing for siesta. We were going to have lunch with*Aldebaran Milwaukee* whom we hadn't seen since the San Blas, but the restaurant had nothing but cerviche, priced from $6 up. We thought that was a little high for the four of us, so we went to another restaurant where the boys had a huge hamburger and french fries, David had an omelet and I had a pizza with cokes...all for $15!!! We went to the supermarket, fruit market and fishing store to pick up items and returned to the boat to stow it all. The guys went back in our dinghy to purchase gas and diesel! We had been warned that there were two different pumps: one starts at $6 and charges $2+ /gal while the other one (for locals obviously) goes back to $0.00 and charges 80 cents/gal. He is THE only place in town!!! The taxi driver pumped their gas, so we got the "local" rate!!! The town is very quaint, slightly touristy with more shops than at Wreck Bay. The feel of these towns in the Galapagos is very nice: the people are friendly, everything is clean and quite neat even though quite poor, and we understand from Karina (our guide on San Cristobal) that there is no crime!!! A nice place to raise a family! The streets are mostly cobblestones! Not very many cars!

We had hoped to go in for pizza tonight with many other cruisers, but the wind is blowing pretty hard in the anchorage, plus most of us, were in town all day and had lunch there....so, not many people went in!!! We just had dinner here, doing a load of wash and finishing up this website so we can post it before we leave on Thursday.

March 25, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA on *Lazy Jack* !!! Sorry we were not with you to help you celebrate!

We slept in until about 7:00am and realized that about four boats had left, including *Lazy Jack!* Hopefully, we can catch up to them in Villamil and maybe head to the Marquesas about the same time and get caught up on their adventures. *Iwalani* arrived this morning (must have done an overnight!) and *Sunbow* arrived this afternoon from Wreck Bay. We talked with *Aldebaran* and *Muna* this morning about things to do and see, etc here. Mitch on *Komfy* came over to discuss our anchor....and we re-anchored!!! We had a terrible time getting our stern anchor up!!! But I think that we are in a better position now. We are just wondering how anyone would leave their boats here and go on four day tours....This is a VERY open anchorage with lots of wind and swell, and not always in the same direction.

I have been working on this website most of the day...plus cleaning. Eric is working on the picturees. David is taking a swim around the boat for exercise and Jason has been working out. We need to cook that tuna for dinner. We enjoyed "The Pelican Brief" with a bowl of popcorn. Very suspenseful!!! We recommend it highly...but not very restful and not many laughs!!! A John Grisham lawyer movie with Julia Roberts!

March 24, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Helen on *Muna*!!! Hope your day was special!

We were up early to leave early, but we listened to the nets and Ron and Anna on *Lazy Jack* asked if we wouldn't bring their mail to them in Academy Bay from Pete and Gay on *Giselle.* We said ok, but we had put the dinghy away and they weren't up yet with their VHF on, so....we pulled up the anchor and went over to them and woke them up...and retrived the mail!!! We left Wreck Bay on San Cristobal Island about 7:15am and headed (motored, no wind!) to Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido "Sleeping Lion") which is a cathedral of tuff rising from the middle of the ocean off Stephens Bay about 10 miles to the Northeast of Wreck Bay. We saw many sea birds (masked and blue footed boobies, great frigates and tropicbirds) who nest on the slopes. We passed a hammerhead shark very close to the surface as we approached the rock (so much for snorkeling!!!). *Altaire* with Paul and Suzette from Seattle were just arriving from Panama, so we took pictures of each other. They were gutsy (stupid???) enough to go through the narrow channel between the sheer tuff walls, cutting through from east to west. We have pictures of them!!! There was a great deal of surge and we just felt like it was not safe enough to take our larger boat through!!!! But the majesty of this rock is just awesome! We were sooo glad that we had traveled about 20 miles out of our way to see it. We arrived on the southern side of the island because we came across from Ecuador. Most of the other boats arriving from Las Perlas, Panama, come between Santa Cruz and San Cristobal from the north.

I worked on this website almost all day yesterday. We sailed with the spinnaker, but the wind died and we had to motor sail (main and genoa) the rest of the way. Fortunately, we can top off our diesel tanks in Academy Bay and again in Villamil before we head to the Marquesas. We managed to catch one small tuna....lost three other ones!!! Something has got to change or we are going to starve!!! I hope that they have some canned tuna here and some chicken.....

We arrived in Academy Bay, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos at about 5:30pm (which is a little late especially with the sun right in our faces!). (00 Degrees 44.89S and 90 Degrees 18.52 W) after about 55 miles (8626.7 miles now on our log). Ron on *Lazy Jack* came over and helped us anchor and then put out a stern anchor. The anchorage is crazy!!! It is VERY crowded and has lots of tourists boats, plus there was a swell running (it is completely open to the ocean!) with 15+knot winds!!! Not exactly what we were expecting. We managed to get secured and have a quick bite to eat....we were all tired for some reason!

March 23, 2001

HAPPY SPRING BREAK!!!! Julie and Chris and all other students!!! We had hoped Julie and Chris could join us here, since it is so spectacular, but they are really overwhelmed with their studies, birds and doggie!!!! We are hoping that they will spend 2-3 weeks with us in Tahiti after they are in Maui!

I worked on the website and spent quite a while getting out items and restocking our shelves (like napkins, oatmeal, deoderant, toothpaste, vitamins, etc). Oh to have a nice convenient pantry!!! David and I snorkeled over to the beach, saw a marine iquana and lava lizards on the rocks, plus swam with two sea lions and met Fernando, who had gone to the university near Cuenca and spoke some English. Very friendly!!! Back to the boat to make her ship-shape to sail tomorrow!

March 22, 2001

Today was rather a lazy morning with rain, thunder and lightning, so we slept in!!! I cleaned while Eric worked on copying cds (Phil suggested some ways that we could update this website at internet places using cds...so I am busy trying to finish the hot news so that he can see if it works. Then we won't have to bother Chris and Julie!!!), while David cleaned the waterline of the boat. I worked on more updating and emails on the computer.

After lunch we headed over to town to do errands and check out. I forgot to mention that as we meander through all the fishing boats to reach the beach, we enjoy watching all the sea lions laying around on top of these boats. There is an old catamaran in the anchorage where they climb up the back stairs and then walk around on deck!!! They will also lay down inside the boats and all you see are the tops of their heads and hear them!!! We noticed that many of the boats have barb wire around the top to keep them off! We had been warned that we might have trouble with them on our "sugar scoop" swim platform, but since there were so many boats there, they didn't bother us or our dinghy, which we never hauled out of the water. We cleared out of the Port Captains office (had to pay $38 in anchoring, etc fees....but that sure beats $220+!) for Saturday departure for Academy Bay. David guarded the dinghy (Jason didn't want to clean it out again!!!) while the boys and I went shopping! We bought some nice t-shirts and bread, but couldn't find another watermelon....I wouldn't pay $7 for one!!! It was getting very busy in the anchorage with about 10 more boats arriving today...must be about time for us to leave!!

March 21, 2001

HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX!!!! We just realized that we are celebrating the FALL equinox here!!! We have lost our spring and summer!!! Oh...well...I guess that is the price we must pay for NO hurricanes or typhons as they are called in the southern hemisphere!

We were up early (in fact, we listened to the 6am net.....There was a time change....we are now one hour earlier than Florida time....for the first time since we arrived in the Galapagos!) so that we could dinghy in at 7am in order to get all the good produce at the market early!!! It took us quite a while to find it, but we were able to get some papayas, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, a delicious watermelon (wish we had bought more!). We also bought one of the very large beans which we had seen on the bus in Cuenca...it was 8 cents!!!! Should have bought more...it was delicious!

We went back and found that about six new boats had arrived from Panama, so we visited with many of them before returning to the boat to clean and work on emails. (yes, I know that we are behind in our communications... Please continue to be patient!!) When David was net controller on our second day out of Salinas, he was bombarded with about 10 new boats after he asked for other boats on passage who would like to check in!!! The boats were all arriving in the Galapagos from Panama!!!

After lunch we dinghied over to the town (it was raining) and then walked to the Intrepretive Center, which was funded by Spain. It was finished in 1998 and definitely worth a visit. It is very well done and very informative about both the human and natural history of the Galapagos plus a conservation exhibit, in both Spanish and English. All of us, including Phil and Amy *Iwalani* walked along the incredible trails through the rocks all the way to the top of Frigate Bird Hill (stairs up to the wooden viewing platform at the top) and then over to snorkel with the somewhat reluctant sealions. There were lots of locals with kids, so we snorkeled to the other side of the bay and then left. They were definitely not as receptive as on our previous visit. We were very late returning to find that the kids had been playing in the dinghy again!!! This is NOT how to keep cruisers happy and spending money in your town!!! Jason NOT pleased about having to clean out the dinghy again!

We enjoyed Karina's gift of habas fritas for dinner....quite good! Looked like fried lima beans!!! We thank her again! We also enjoyed the delicious candies....very different and very good!

March 20, 2001

We had booked an island tour with Gustavo for 8:20am, but he did not arrive until 9:15am! Phil and Amy *Iwalani* went also. We went in a twin cab truck with seats in the back (all of their taxis are like that!) and Karina was our tour guide. She is married to the surfer (Eric talked with him and looked at all the pictures they have in the restaurant of the surf here!) brother of Gustavo. She works for TAME airlines and speaks English very well, but unfortunately, is not really a tour guide. We drove first to Laguna El Junco (Crater Lake) at the top of the volcano at an elevation of 700 meters, driving through the town, farms and another town of Progresso. We hiked up the hill to the top of the crater and then walked around the entire lake and saw all the frigate birds high above and several pintail ducks in the water. We then stopped at a tree house (which was closed) and then went to a view point with a fantastic view of Isla Lobos and Kicker Rock. Unfortunately, it was slightly hazy and there was no horizon, no differentiation between sea and sky! We then drove to the south coast of the island to La Loberia, where we walked among the rocks and saw many black finches, one of Darwin's famous finches, (very difficult to take a picture of a black bird on black lava rocks!!!) and black marine iquanas. We walked over to the beach where there was a large colony of sea lions. When they saw that we would coming into the water, they came very close in and were jumping all around. We had a wonderful swim with them and one was actually biting our fins (a bit scarey!!) like when they are playing with their young! Eric and David had gone further out and were terrorized by some of the large males....I guess they were afraid that Eric and David were going to run off with a few of their females!!! (more pictures, I hope)

We returned to town where we had a delicious lunch of seafood chowder, rice dish with squid, plantains, mashed potatoes, and passion fruit juice at Gustavo's family's restaurant, Rosita's, at about 2pm. (But I STILL had to make dinner at 6pm for this hungry crew!). Two more boats arrived today, while one left.

March 19, 2001

Eric went surfing at 6:45am.....It is really amazing how early Eric can get up....especially to go surfing!!! He was back in time for all of us to head in to town (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) to check in with the Port Captain. The beach landing is a little tricky in the swell and then we had to carry the dinghy up to the top of the beach over some of the rocks to avoid the high tide (that is why we needed the boys!). We were VERY concerned about checking into the port captain with our zarpe to the Marquesas. We had been told to copy our boat papers, passports, zarpes (both Panama and Salinas), etc. So, we walked in with all those copies....with our Panama hats on....and he just took all the copies that he needed from the pile......NO PROBLEMO!!!! He told us to return when we wanted to check out for the next island!!! So, going to Ecuador saved us the $228 entry fee ($6 per net tonnage...the US Coast Guard says that we are 38...who knows where they get that amount!!!), plus $15 each for passports. We were happy!!!!

We stopped to introduce ourselves to Phil and Amy on *Iwalani* from Georgetown, Maine whom we had met on the morning net during our crossing. Amy is a vet and Phil is a boat builder...we found that we had lots in common!!! Only problem is: They might head back home .....We have a couple more days here in the Galapagos to convince them to continue on with us!!!

Gustavo brought us 60 gallons of diesel (@ $1.10/gallon not a bad price)...only problem was that he was about 3+ hours late!! David and I snorkeled with the sea lions and snorkeled along the coast by the fish canning factory ruins. We saw lots of large and beautiful fish.

We had spanish mackerel for dinner....was delicious!!! We need to catch some more fish!!! We did a load of wash after dinner!!! About four boats left the anchorage, heading on to Academy Bay. We are supposed to have 21 days in four different anchorages here in the Galapagos.

March 18, 2001

We were sooooo tired that we slept through our alarms and woke at 8am!!! The guys worked on cleaning the sand out of the dinghy and putting up the sunshade. Eric tried to fix the dinghy motor, which is not running up to par! I worked on cleaning up the insides and on some administration and my inventory.

After lunch, Eric went surfing (Ecuador has surfing comparable to Hawaii, especially on this island!!!) with Nic from *Shakti* anchored next to us. They even brought back a fish for dinner which they snagged while trawling home. Jason stayed aboard to work out (Yes....he is crazy!!) while David and I walked around on the trails to the Northeast of our anchorage. Eric dropped us off at the Ruins of the Fish Canning Factory where there were many sea lions swimming in the water. We decided to swim with them when we returned so we walked on the trail to the beach (there were surfers off that point also, but Eric and Nic had gone to the othe side of the harbor) and then walked along the coast where there is a cannon (it still had grease on it!!!!...we understand these were placed here by the US as a base to defend the Panama Canal during WWII, however, nothing was ever used.) We continued along the coast on a very well maintained trail (Galapagos National Park) with many viewpoints with awesome vistas (hope some of the pictures appear on this website update!). We could see laval lizards on the rocks, blue footed boobies and frigate birds in the sky above, and little finches and yellow warblers which approached very close to us in the trees. All the animals and birds seem to have no fear of humans, in fact, they seem to enjoy contact with us!!!

We hiked around to Sea Lion Cove, which is just below Frigatebird Hill (Cerro de las Tijeretas). There was one fellow just about to enter the water to snorkel when we arrived. Brent is working on the large Ecuadorian/Galapagos National Park Research Vessel which was anchored next to us in the harbor. He is a biologist with degrees from Mississippi and Colorado State University in Fort Collins! We were also joined by Pam and Roger from *Cap d'Or* from England. So, we entered the water with them and spent about an hour snorkeling with the sea lions (a mom and her three off spring). They are very playful in the water...just like little puppy dogs!!! They do loops and spins, come up from behind and hug each other, and would come right towards us and than dart away!!!! What an unforgettable experience!!!! We also saw many brightly colored fish, especially wrasses and angelfish, which are very different from any we have seen before. We don't have a Galapagos fish book, so I can't tell you what they are. There was no coral there, just large boulders with a rocky shore line very similar to Makena. The Galapagos Islands remind us of home on Maui! They are volcanic also with much the same vegetation (they are drier, so have more cactus), but looking on shore from the anchorage, it looks like looking up the slopes of Haleakala, except not as tall!!! We hiked back over to the ruins and radioed Jason to pick us up (Eric hadn't returned yet). Poor Jason had to row all the way since he couldn't get the engine started!!!! Eric needs to spend more time on that engine!!

We had the Skipjack tuna for dinner and it was delicious....got pretty rolly but we didn't reanchor!

March 17, 2001

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NETA!!! At 87 years young!!! Hope it was a very happy day! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! especially to Pat and Olivia on *Aldebaran, Ireland*!!!

We could see lights on land at about 4am just when I went on watch. It looked much closer than it was! We caught a Spanish Mackerel at 9:30am just as we were entering the harbor at Wreck Bay on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos after 4 days 2 hours at sea. We saw the wreck on the reef when we entered and were later told that it was the oil tanker responsible for the oil spill that we all heard about a couple of months ago. Luckily, they were able to contain it, but there are still yellow pontoons to collect oil and we understand that there is still some aboard. They apparently are planning on removing it and the oil in the very near future. We also heard that all the hotels and private homes were filled with reporters during the oil spill!!! Wreck Bay is located at 00 Degrees 53.76 Minutes South and 89 Degrees 36.74 Minutes West. We have 8580.1 miles on our log through the water with 480.49 for the passage from Salinas. However, we covered 560 miles on our paper chart!!! (just all depends on the currents, etc.) Jim on *Liberator* called us on the VHF to give us some informaion about the anchorage. Malcolm from *Muna* came over to visit and tell us everything we needed to know about San Cristobal and to invite us to his birthday party and St. Patrick's Day Celebration ashore at about 5:30pm!!! We were tired but decided to go anyway!! We can always sleep, but we can't always celebrate St. Patrick's day with Pat and Olivia from *Aldebaran, Ireland* and wish Malcolm a Happy Day!

We had lunch, put the boat back to normal anchorage status, got the motor on the dinghy, took at short rest, and went ashore about 5:30pm. We had quite a crowd: *Aldebaran, Ireland*, *Muna,* *Sunbow,* *Someday is Here,* *Fair Hippolyta,* *Voyager,* *Liberator,* *Cap d'Or,* and *Peace and Aloha.* We had beer and pizza for dinner and sang Happy Birthday and many Irish songs, accompanied by the Spanish guitar player!!!!! We arrived back to our boat rather late, about 9:30, after saving our dinghy from the playful children on the beach, who had filled it with sand and tried to start the motor! (We weren't very happy about that!) Then many of the tourist boats entered the harbor and were anchoring in front of us and much too close, so we were up until 1am watching them to see if we were going to have to reanchor!!! (We had already reanchored once, since the first time, our anchor was in lots of rocks...can't have that because it can chafe through the chain and it also makes lots of noise as it is dragging around on the bottom. Music which is NOT conducive to restful sleep!!!)

March 16, 2001

Another day of passage making....no fish but we did see lots of very large dolphins. We had to motor again, we need more wind!!!!....but just the right amount...I am still not complaining, I would rather have this compared to 45 knots with 16 foot breaking seas!!!! Thank you!