Fw: Storyteller, Day 2
Storyteller
Tue 11 Mar 2008 21:12
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Position, 04.20S 95.02W
After a frustrating morning chasing light winds and
with nothing on the fishing lines, we pulled some frozen fish out of the
freezer. Within five minutes we had hooked two lovely tuna, which have been
lovingly filleted and will provide the next few meals. We are being guided
through the doldrums to the south east trades by Bruce, our weather forecaster
from Perth. Many of the yachts have become followers of Bruce of whom one
remarked today, 'He's the best thing to come out of Australia since Kylie
Minogue'.
Tony's views on the Galapagos
follow...
I knew this would be a great visit from the moment
the nocturnal wedge tailed gulls started to share the night watches as we
approached -- beautiful, delicate and ghostly.
This confidence was slightly knocked when we
arrived at the capital on Isla San Cristobal for immigration and refuelling. The
first two went surprisingly well but -- refueling? Our time for the refueling
dock was deferred and deferred until it looked as though we would be lucky to be
finished by midnight. And reports were that the diesel was coming out of an
elderly and rather dirty tanker so the filter had to be cleaned every ten
minutes.
Fortunately the Port Captain pulled the plug on
further reuelling and then we listened to a conversation between the crew of the
one boat that had refuelled and its owner ashore that went something
like...
"Have you finished refuelling?"
"Yes -- just"
"Are you coming ashore for a meal?"
"Still thinking about it"
"When do you think you might be
ready?"
"About an hour and a half."
"That long?"
"Well -- we have to clean the boat and
ourselves...."
In my innocence I wondered what all this cleaning
was about. The following day I found out.
There was a change of plan. The diesel was
delivered to the boat in heavy 20 gallon containers that we had to swing aboard
and siphon the fuel from. They were accompanied by a large, clean gentleman who
said things like "No capitano -- you do not do the work -- I do the work" before
disappearing astern to spend the entire 2 1/2 hours (excluding clean up) that
the refuelling took speaking on his cell phone and bludging soft drinks off
Sue.
But we were fuelled up and ready to go -- to Puerto
Ayora on the Isla Santa Cruz where it all happens.
The first thing to do here was sort out payment of
the entry fee to the National Park and complete a little form that goes with it.
This form sensibly enough asks you to rank activities you are interested in in
order of priority and includes walking, birdwatching, snorckeling, diving,
geology and so on. It also included enjoying the solitude and experiencing the
remoteness.
Now let me say at once -- organised tours do not
actually do solitude or remoteness. And organised tours, whether day tours or
longer are the most practical way of seeing what the Galapagos has to offer in
the limited time available. Still it is rather daunting to arrive at one of the
limited number of access points to find, typically, a small cruise liner and
half a dozen cruise boats from which the population of a small town seems to be
being ferried ashore in groups of 12-14 each with their obligatory guide. But it
works -- we got ashore with our guide and moved around the marked trails at a
leisurely pace -- had birds, iguanas and sealions so close that you could sit
and be photographed with them. And we rarely saw, let alone bumped into, another
group.
Now the hard question -- what did you like most? I
can't answer that. I'll start with the snorkling which I undertook because it
was that or twiddle my thumbs. It was fascinating. The sealions seemed to like
the others more than me but I was joined by a shark as a professional
courtesy.
The iguanas look very alien but have their own
charm. The marine iguanas climb vertical cliff a good 100 ft high to sun
themselves at the top before returning to the sea.
The sealions are clowns. I could watch their little
family groups for hours. They also like climbing onto boats (especially
catamarans) and seats intended for people -- but that's life.
Then there were the giant tortoises and the
impressive programme by the Charles Darwin Research Station for restoring their
population. Overall though, for me, the birds were the highlight. I had to see
the finches. The boobies (like our gannets) were absolute clowns and their
pattern diving for fish suggests training by a former stuka pilot. The pelicans
are memorable for their formation flying (more so in Las Perlas than Galapagos)
and the flamingos for their colour and grace: the frigate birds for their
delicate skill in the air; the gulls, terns, tropic birds and petrels for
their clean beauty and company at sea. And that still leaves the volcanoes,
landscapes, wonderful beaches, complex vegetation -- where do you
stop?
I had better mention fishing. There isn't any! ...
except for a small number of traditional commercial fishermen handlining out of
small open boats. The Galapagos islands are one big (200 mile exclusion
zone)marine reserve and whale sanctuary. And you see fish like you did in NZ
when I was a kid and more... I did pick up a few pointers on cutting up tuna
though.
A lot of work is being done by international
agencies such as UNESCO to conserve Galapagos. It is bearing fruit and well
worth supporting.
Sue adds: apart from the prolific wildlife, which
exceeded our greatest expectations, the highlights were a magnificent
craft gallery featuring exquisite objects from Panama, Ecuador and Peru,
and the local farmers' market which we visited at 6 am on Saturday morning to stock up for the long voyage ahead. And yes,
Rosemary and I did help the local economy by buying a few lovely pieces from the
gallery.
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