Galápagos!

Vega
Hugh and Annie
Tue 21 Mar 2017 01:03
00:53.7N 89:36.81W

“A steady, gentle breeze of wind and gloomy sky” - Charles Darwin 15 September 1835

Such was the impression that Darwin had of the Galapagos as Captain Fitzroy anchored HMS Beagle in what is now called Wreck Bay on San Cristobal and where Vega is also anchored. Conditions are just as Darwin experienced with low, dark cloud, thundery rain and a rather gloomy approach from seaward.

We have had an amazing run down here with only one short period of motoring - eventually approaching San Cristobal under bare poles, keeping the speed down, so as not to arrive in the dark. How Fitzroy and his contemporaries managed without GPS and decent charts remains a mystery to me. We seem to be one of many yachts sailing around with an unused sextant buried somewhere on board - kept as the “essential” backup.

The first surprise here is that the shoreline is covered in lush green scrubby vegetation. The impression given by Master and Commander is of unremitting bare rock. There is even forest on the upper slopes of the volcanoes. However, much in between is not lush and, as Darwin noted, “Nothing could be less inviting than the first appearance……. The black rocks heated by the rays of the Vertical sun like a stove, give to the air a close & sultry feeling…… The country was compared to what we might imagine the cultivated parts of the Infernal regions to be.”

The Galapagos is a National Park and highly regulated. An agent to sort things out would appear to be essential and we have the Romero family concern doing this on our behalf. We were met by Juan Carlos Romero (his brother Johnny runs the agency but was too busy sorting out a private American mini cruise liner to meet us in person). Juan Carlos was immediately concerned that we had weed showing under the hull. The diver to inspect the hull, along with all the other officials, would be coming out to visit us in two hours and Juan Carlos implored us to clean the hull before they arrived - unobtrusively of course as hull cleaning is forbidden once within the national park. We were a bit miffed and disbelieving - Vega had been lifted out in Panama and every last vestige of weed and barnacles scraped and pressure washed away. However, closer inspection was a shock and we were indeed rather weedy. An hour later the three of us had worked our way over the hull with plastic scrapers and pan scourers  - feeding an enormous shoal of fish in the process while the dark shapes of sealions glided beneath. This taught us two things. Firstly the reputed 10 year life of Coppercoat antifouling may, in our case, be somewhat less. Secondly it is quite possible to do a thorough clean, even the bottom of the keel, without drowning or needing an aqualung. We will repeat the exercise from time to time before considering new Coppercoat in New Zealand. At 1600 the diver arrived with his GoPro camera and spent an age filming the bottom of the hull - or perhaps not because when he reappeared we got the thumbs up and were congratulated on a very clean hull!!

All the formalities went smoothly barring an issue with the fumigation certificate from Panama which expires while we are here. We were assured subsequently that this was official ”jobsworth” and we should not be concerned.

Still, unlike Darwin, we now at least have bars and cafes to revive us and hopefully to provide wifi. There is even hope of somewhere that can provide the necessary connections for the gas cylinders. You do have to run the gauntlet of the sealions to get ashore though.