Arrival in the Galapagos Archipelago

Hello All,

Our welcome to Galapagos could not have been better. We approached San Cristobal around 7am in flat calm seas. (And yes, that means from a sailing perspective it was not good, but after motoring for the last 48 hours what was another hour.) We were first greeted by a pod of dolphins out for their morning feed, but a few stopped by for a brief hello at the bow. Then on a number of occasions we were fortunate to witness a manta ray jump out of the water, do a somersault in the air and land with a spectacular splash. The flash of its body from white to black as it flips in the air was awe inspiring. And then in pairs or threes, a march of sea lions would go parading by out fishing for their breakfast. This would not be the last of the close encounters with the sea lions, whether I liked it or not.

We anchored and Darryl immediately went to work on tying lines and fenders at the back of the boat to create a barrier from the inevitable sea lion boardings. He really timed it perfectly as it did not take long for the first sea lion to come along and try out the transom (the back step/platform) where we have managed to limit their sleeping space. Sure it is cute the first time or two. However, right now in the middle of the night when I can't sleep even after 7 nights of interrupted sleep, I am listening to the wheezing and barking of what seems to be the most disgruntled (or maybe it has a cold) sea lion, which is basically parked right at our cabin's back window. Right. How long are we staying here?! The girls insist on naming each one...and no, they have no way of telling them apart as they seem to circulate on a semi regular basis from one boat to another. We have not had a chance to explore the island yet, but are looking forward to seeing some land based animals too.

Jeff and Sandra, I am sorry to hear of your feathered friends leaving you countless gifts to scrub and clean. I am glad they were able to find you as we did keep sending them your way. I guess it is all trade offs, you at least are managing to sail while we burned half a tank of fuel on each engine. And the verdict is still out on whether sea lion poop is any better than bird, in the end I think both species are quite prolific. I hope you continue to have good winds to keep your sails filled!!!

We are now seeing the first rains we have seen in over a month, I honestly can't tell you the last time we had rain. So we might have some wet exploring while here, but on the plus side, the two non-princesses on the boat (Darryl and Iris....in case that isn't obvious) got out in the rain and gave Maple a long overdue scrub. Although the huge squid ink (and I mean the real kind) stain down the one side of boat is going to need more than a little rain to clear off.