The Enchanted Isles
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Fri 21 Apr 2006 16:17
We have had a wonderful 10 days in the Galapagos
and they are every bit as lovely as we had hoped. Not only are the islands
beautiful and the wildlife spectacular but the little town of in Wreck Bay where
we have based ourselves is charming and the locals extremely friendly. It
is also totally safe which makes a pleasant change after the mean
streets of Colon and Panama.
We have made a range of expeditions to explore by
car, boat and on foot and each trip has produced special moments
and "buena vistas". Our Spanish despite our efforts has shown little sign of
improvement and our guides have been without exception entirely without English
leading to extensive use of the phrase book and a dependence on a wide
range of sign language. If the animals are watching us while we are watching
them they must wonder why some humans have yet to develop the ability to
communicate using speech!
We have seen many of the unique local creatures
from lumbering giant tortoises to swimming iguanas and the comic looking blue
footed boobies but I think for both of us the most magical moments have come in
the water. The first was when swimming in a deserted bay cooling off after a
hike across the lava covered landscape. As we snorkelled along the base of the
rocky cliffs we were joined by a pair of playful sea lions racing towards us and
then shearing away at the last moment. After a while we were making our way back
to climb out of the water and they kept popping up in front of us only a foot or
two away and pleading for us to carry on playing. The second occurred during a
dive around the spectacular kicker rock. Having already had a wonderful dive
with countless fish, Galapagos sharks and a circling family of sting rays we
were lucky enough to see big hammerhead shark cruising along the rock
face. Memories not to be forgotten.
Today (Friday 21st) our thoughts now turn to the
next passage, our longest to date. We are planning to leave tomorrow morning
after a final visit to the local market for last minute fruit and
vegetables. Fatu Hiva, the most south-easterly island of the Marquesas is
about 3000 miles away and is the first of the Polynesian Islands. We are hoping
to make the trip in 20 to 25 days but this will depend on how soon we manage to
pick up the south east trade winds and the westerly flowing current. We are
already talking to a number of yachts on this passage and it is always nice to
know we have friends in front and behind us to chat with daily. We will update
our position on this site regularly if you are interested in seeing our
progress. We hope there will not be much else to tell you apart from tales of
fair winds and of hauling large and tasty fish on board!
Finally in our last posting we mentioned the sea
lions endeavouring to come aboard Savoir Vivre. Remarkably they eventually
figured out a way and as you can see from the photo enjoyed lounging in our
cockpit as much as we do. Fortunately only the agile little ones can
make it up. You really would not want to share the boat with one of the big
smelly old brutes.
