Fai Tira Blog Monday 15th March

Fai Tira In Santa Cruise. Galapagos 0:44.81S 90:18.47W

Well we’ve now been in the Galapagos for four days and it’s brilliant. We’d both tried to get a feel for the place by reading up on the way across, So we knew some of the history. Like the fact that the islands were accidently discovered by Tomas De Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama. In 1535, whilst on his way to Peru: his ship was becalmed and swept 800 miles off course by currents. Both he and a thirsty crew were disappointed by the apparent dryness of the place and left without even giving it a name, although he did call the giant tortoises Galapagos because of the similarity of their shells to the shape of the Spanish riding saddles. We also knew that they provided temporary haven to a bunch of, considerate, English pirates that plied these waters seeking to offload the Spanish of some of their burdensome cargo of gold. And we also knew that they remained uninhabited until 1807 when Floreana was then occupied by a lone Irishman by the name of Patrick Watkins (They do have particularly good potatoes here!!!) and of course. Thanks’ to Charles Darwin, we had some idea about the evolution of species

However, no matter how much we’d read, we were never going to be prepared for the abundance of wild life with an apparent total acceptability of human beings, at a level almost verging on that of contempt.

At this stage though, and before I go any further, I feel the need to apologise. It’s only just occurred that our last blog might just have arrived as people were about to indulge in the consumption of food and if that is the case, the ensuing shock, caused by the photos, could have done untold and possibly permanent damage to their eating habits and digestive systems.

Anyhow, that out of the way back to the Galapagos. We first caught sight of land around mid day on Thursday and it was the 10^th of March. We’d motor sailed down on a more Southerly course, for short while, in an endeavour to give ourselves a more favourable run in and break away from the interminable close hauled sail configuration that had been providing us with such laborious and, at times, tedious progress.

It worked well and we approached on a beam reach making about 5 knots, although we now found ourselves affected by the vagaries of wind deflection and acceleration, caused by the adjacent land masses.

Surprisingly the first island to come into view was our final destination Santa Cruise. Whilst the seemingly nearer and smaller one, San Cristobel, lurked under a shroud of mist somewhere off to our port side.

It was an odd sensation, to at last catch sight of this, almost mythical, place. Somewhere that had for a long time felt like one of the important milestones of the holiday, oops I meant journey, no, sorry that should have been adventure.

Anyhow it wasn’t long before we were to get a taste of what was to come. We were still 25 miles off and still looking for sight of land, when a head popped out of the water to the stern of the boat, and we were subjected to a quick scrutiny by a seal, before it disappeared silently beneath the waves. I suppose you could say, at that point we were given the seal of approval (Sorry I think I lied when I said that in future I’d leave all the crap jokes to Pete)

Also within the next short period Pete said that he’d caught sight of the fins of a white tipped shark, all this activity, what a great prelude.

As the Island became clearer, the silhouette gave confirmation of its volcanic origins, shortly to be backed up when we entered the lava rock faced surroundings of the natural bay at Puerto Ayora, where we would be at anchor for the next 2 weeks.

After 6 days at sea we were eager to get ashore so with the boat quickly secured and with the aid of one of the numerous water taxis, we found ourselves standing on the island.

The first impact was of the vibrant colours of the clothes and the predominance of red, but by far the greatest impact was the co- habitation of the wild life. This is a bustling, If small, town, and, straight away, there were seals laying around within touching distance and lizards and small iguanas in the most unexpected places. Even the flies are tame (you just can’t shake the bloody things off) .

After a quick watch of the local teams playing volley ball (must be their national sport) in what would pass as the town square, we made our way to the Rock Bar and met with the other BWR guys for a big catch up. This bar was to be the central meeting place for the rest of the stay.

During the course of the next few days we visited the Darwin Centre (more about that later), Pete went diving, I made an early morning trip to the brilliant fruit market, we took a taxi ride to the highest point of the island with our bikes explored and cycled back, had a few really good and cheap meals in the area known as the kiosks, had an official BWR lunch and swim at the adjacent beach with the rest of the crews and are now anticipating our organised cruise on the boat Daphne starting in 2 days time.

Below are pictures taken at the fish market with some of the local wildlife.

I must just say a few quick words about the market and bike ride.

The market is weekly, on a Saturday and starts at the unsociable hour of 5am. I arrived at about 7.30 not really knowing what to expect, I kind of thought that it would be quite small and low key. Those illusions were quickly dispersed. It was big, well supported, massively colourful, bustling, noisy, smelly and atmospheric......Brilliant.

I stayed for most of the morning, had breakfast, took some photos of interesting faces, did some sketching and even managed to miss the Ireland Wales Six Nations match in the process, it was being broadcast in the Rock. Did manage to see the England game, but shouldn’t have bothered.

The bike ride was great. The highlights being the trip down to the tortoise viewing point where we were able to see them in the wild, the huge sink holes, the lush surrounding vegetation and rain forest with its unique variety of trees and the little village not far from the main town that I propose to go back to,,,,,,, and just sit.

So there we are onwards and upwards to the next bit of excitement. If you want to get a taste of what we’ve got to look forward to, on our cruise, have a look at the following Itinerary.

Bye for now Pete and John.

YACHT DAPHNE – ITINERARY

Day 1 Wednesday: - Bachas/ Baltra Island
Pick up from Baltra Island. The deserted, picturesque beach Las Bachas at the northern shore of Santa Cruz invites you for a swim in the crystal-clear water or to relax in the sun. Afterwards you will be visiting the bay Caleta Tortuga Negra which is close by. This bay is surrounded by mangroves where you can spot pelicans and herons. While snorkelling you can have a swim with the turtles, white-tip sharks and rays.

Day 2 Thursday: Plazas South - Santa Fe
Located on the east of Santa Cruz, the main characteristics on the small island South Plaza are the Opuntia cacti and the carpets of red sesuvium, a succulent plant that turns green in the rainy season. The cactus is the main food of land iguanas, which are usually found resting at the cactus shade. The island contains one of the largest sea lion colonies, swallow-tailed gulls and red-billed tropicbirds nesting, and boobies roosting on the south cliff of the island.
Santa Fe has one of the most beautiful coves in the archipelago. A turquoise lagoon with two small white sand beaches are protected by a peninsula where sea lions rest. A trail runs alongside the coast and then crosses through an Opuntia Forest. These prickly pear cacti are the largest ones in Galapagos. The Santa Fe species of land iguanas are larger and of a paler yellow than on the other islands. After the hike you can swim or snorkel in the bay in the company of sea lions.

Day 3 Friday: Española Island-Punta Suarez-Gardner Bay
One of the oldest islands, Española is small and flat with no visible volcanic crater or vent. Punta Suarez is one of the most outstanding wildlife areas of the archipelago, with a long list of species found along its cliffs and sand or pebble beaches. In addition to five species of nesting seabirds there are the curious and bold Española Island mockingbirds, Galapagos doves and Galapagos hawks. Several types of reptiles, including the brilliantly coloured marine iguana and the oversized lava lizard, are unique to this island. When heavy swells are running, Punta Suarez is also the site of a spectacular blowhole, with thundering spray shooting 30 yards into the air.
Gardner Bay is on the eastern shore and has a magnificent beach. This beach is frequented by a transient colony of sea lions, and is a major nesting site for marine turtles. Around the small islets nearby, snorkelers will find lots of fish and sometimes turtles and sharks. On a trail leading to the western tip of the island you'll pass the only nesting sites in the Galapagos of the waved albatross, huge birds with a 6-foot wingspan. Albatross nest here from April to December and represent the majority of the world's population of this species.

Day 4 Saturday: Floreana - Pto. Cormorant / Devil's crown / Post Office Bay
Floreana Island is perceived as one of the most exotic Islands of the archipelago. At Punta Cormorant you land on a green olivine sand beach. Following a 100 m long path you will soon reach a lagoon with flamingoes, white-checked pintail ducks and other shorebirds. The trail goes on to a white beach made of grinned coral, so it looks like flour. This is the green sea turtle's nesting place. North of Punta Cormorant and eroded volcano, Devil's Crown, is a snorkel's delight. To the west, Post Office Bay keeps the legendary post barrel that whalers used to send their mail.

Day 5 Sunday: Santa Cruz – Highlands and return to Puerto Ayora
Ride by bus to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island (time of duration: 30-45 minutes). You will see how the vegetarian changes as you go higher.  You will also visit an area where you will be looking for the Giant Galapagos Tortoises, which are dome–shaped tortoises unique to the island. Time will be allocated to see a lava tunnel (an amazing natural formation and the product of the various eruptions on the island) and the circular shaped Twins Pit Craters, an area formed by the sinking or collapse of the ground and where you can now find several different species of endemic and native plants, as well as a variety of finches and other birds. You will be dropped off at Puerto Ayora to go back to your own boats