Leg 2 - Galapagos Day 6 - Night arrival in San Cristobal

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Wed 26 Feb 2014 16:07

Position           00:53.62 S 089:36.92W

Date                0130 (EDT) Friday 14 February 2014

                        0030 (Local – Central American Time)

 

Arrived at Puerto Baqeurizo, San Cristobal, Galapagos, 862nm travelled from Panama, 811 through the water

Distance run from noon (EDT) – 89nm over the ground, 90nm through the water

 

Well as predicted we did arrive in the dark, although helped along by a bright nearly full moon.  Being one of the last to arrive in Puerto Baquerizo meant that finding a place to anchor was to some extent made easier as we just had to take a spot outside everything.  It was great to stop.

 

During the afternoon, at about 1400 we were joined by this passenger who took up residence on the pulpit (rails at the bow of the boat) whence he/she stayed until we had to shoo it fof to put the anchor down some 12 hour later.

 

 

 

This is a Red Footed Booby.  Unlike its blue footed cousin this bird has claws rather than webs as it roosts in bushes.  This also makes it very good at perching on yacht rails and a number of the Rally yachts picked up similar passengers that appear to fly out from the islands and take a lift back.  It gave us something to look at and was very unconcerned by our presence.

 

Something that I omitted from yesterday’s entry caused me some concern.  At 0900, whilst motor sailing with all plain sail set, I had just recorded in the log a speed over the ground of 7.1 knots when I noticed the speed dropping over a period of 5 seconds to 2.1 knots.  The engine note did not change but some large force was sowing us down.  Looking over the side I saw three blue polypropylene lines streaming from the keel, they must have lodged on the bulb at the bottom of the keel.  I took all of the sails in and then gently motored in reverse.  To my great relief the lines dropped off the keel and I was able to work my way around whatever it was that we had snagged.

 

Safely at anchor we settled down for an uninterrupted sleep with the prospect of dealing with Galapagan / Ecuadorian bureaucracy later in the day.