THE MAIN GAME (by Nick)

In many ways visiting the Pacific Islands has been the whole focus of our trip, OK so we have taken nearly 2 years to get here and we have had a ball so far but the next 9 months of cruising from the Galapagos to Fiji is the MAIN GAME! Hundreds of remote reefs and islands just begging us to go spearfishing, surfing, sports fishing and kitesurfing in their clear waters. All those years we spent on the mine in the Kimberley of North West Australia we were motivated by a dream of once again exploring those pacific spots but this time on a bigger, faster, more comfortable boat ….. with more toys! Coming to the Galapagos for me (Nick) marked the start of the voyage across the Pacific and the islands so far haven’t disappointed

GAME ON!

The Galapagos have been on the world surfing map for a couple of years now following a few magazine articles in 2005 & 2006, but a few people have been in the know for longer. One of those is our new mate Eddie. He owns and runs the Wavehunters surfing resort on the island of San Cristobal. Eddie’s not a big bloke but he charges whatever he is doing like a bull. He surfs damn well and is generally the life of the party, not only has he given us a few late night salsa lessons but he also slid me in on a boat trip to a secret surf spot with his clients from Oregon and Hawaii ……. and took these photos of me surfing. He really is a good fella.

A great day - with a great bunch of guys

It was an awesome day, the paying surfers were a bunch of good guys and they didn’t mind having me along, even when I caught the first wave of the day .... but that might have been because when I fell of on that first wave my leash snapped and I spent the next quarter of an hour swimming to get my board back. We surfed this spot on our own for four hours in the morning till the tide got too high then had lunch, checked a couple of other spots and returned for another 3 hour session in the afternoon on the dropping tide. Everyone had some epic waves. I have never seen sets like the ones that hit San Cristobal that day, It would be dead flat for 10 minutes, then a set of 12-18 super clean, solid double overhead waves would appear. I guess it was because the waves had been generated in the North Pacific Ocean, up near the coast of Russia – over 10,000 kilometres away and during the 8 day trip south the waves had bunched up a bit.

A bueaty goes unridden

The surfers we have met who have been coming here for years reckon this is the worst they have ever seen the waves here, They say that normally there is a lot more big days. I would have liked to surf some of the spots on a big day but have been really happy getting to surf pretty much every day we have been here.

Blue´s surfin too

As you can see Blue is surfing pretty good now days, this is at Punta Carola a world class wave on its day (not quite this day) and only 300 meters from where Pina Colada has been anchored for the last month.

Sea Lion Action

We have had a lot of interaction with the sea lions here. I have had them tugging on my leash when I am surfing, we have been chased around by them on the dock and we have had to kick them out of the dinghy a few times. The most fun we have had with them occurred a few days ago when I was trying to scrub the hull of the boat to get a bit of extra speed for the long sail to the Marquises. This young female turned up and started buzzing me at first then she propped under the hull and we eyeballed each other through the gap between the prop shaft and the hull for ages, we would stare at each other then my nose would get too close to hers (about 8 inches) and she would release a cough of bubbles at me, I’d pull back a bit, she would creep forward, I’d blow some bubbles of air and she’s back of a bit … it was classic. Blue got in the water with the camera and we got a few shots of her swimming with us. I got some amazing video of her catching a small fish from around our rudder and then playing with it like a kitten and a half mauled mouse. Eventually we got too cold and had to get out but she probably would have played with us all day if we had stayed in.


By the time you read this we should be on our way to French Polynesia, it’s our longest leg of over 3,000 miles and it promises to be a long, slow, light wind trip, where ever you are try and whistle up a bit of a breeze for us…… don’t whistle too much though, we don’t want a late season cyclone!

The Galapagos Islands

These famous islands pop up on their own volcanic platform right on the equator about 600 miles from the Ecuadorian mainland, hence the winds during our passage from Bahia de Caraquez (17th to 21st Jan) were very light. Raquel (aka Mag) took watches too. In the sloshing hours of night she saw tidal waves looming in front of the moonless galaxy, heard whales’ guttural groans and took us on some exiting tours of inky waves, topped with phosphorescence and flashing foam. It has been hard to steer straight without an autopilot. We caught whatever we dialled up, Mag got a 20lb Dorado (which Nick dove into retrieve after it slipped its noose), I caught a 25 lb Tuna and Nick landed a 18 lb Wahoo, each fish one day (of eating) apart. The tawny outline of Punta pit became visible on the morning of the fifth day and we sailed down the east coast of San Christobal before rocking through some severe tidal streams around the corner to Wreck bay, the provincial capital. We passed a huge white waterfall falling off the black rugged cliffs into the heaving sea below. This was a special sighting for these otherwise dry islands, caused by the tail end of El nino. It’s been a wet wet season here and the gently climbing slopes shone bottle green then disappeared into blurred grey clouds at the top of the island at 730 m asl.

Eddie, cousin of our Bahia friend Mario, unexpectedly called us on VHF as we entered Wreck bay to welcome us and invite us to his house/luxurious shorefront hotel for a cold drink. We felt so special and lucky to know locals before even setting foot ashore. Eddie runs the Wave Hunters operation in the Galapagos, actually he pretty much runs the Galapagos. Two sailing boats, ‘Gato Go’ and ‘Little Swan’ were anchored along with twenty or so wooden, rust streaked, fishing boats. A pong drifted through the air, not of fish, not directly, but of sea-lion poo. Brown languid sasages, barking and snorting, weighed the side decks and dinghies of all the boats despite various barriers and barbed wire strung up in defence against the inevitable collection of foulness that resulted from the sea lions resting there. Amusing for us – they can’t quite lurch from the sea onto Pina Colada’s high decks.

Eddy showed us around the colourful shore side settlement; where the Port captains office was, the immigration, police, etc, then left us to wash, relax and settle in. Within the first couple of days the three of us had sussed out the surf breaks around the island and we had wandered through the new and beautifully constructed interpretive centre that displays all sorts of interesting information about the islands natural environment and history. We explored the various walking trails constructed through the rocky dry forest to vantage points with old military cannon installations, huge fibreglass statues of Darwin surrounded by his subject animals, and some tidy wooden balconies overlooking cliffs where frigate birds breed above bays coloured blue and green.

We hung out at the Wave Hunters Hotel on a number of occasions, dining on delicious Galapagos slipper lobster, pork steaks, chicken, salads etc then going out dancing and drinking with the guests and staff. One night, after going ashore with Eddie and his surfy guests to one of the two local bars we entertained 6 or 7 people on Pina Colada until the eastern sky turned apricot above the town - great night!

On another day, Raq and I rode the mountain bikes up the road to the top of the island. The ride was relentlessly steep, steamy and testing. Mag was going to rip my head off for suggesting the whole idea but her legs were too wobbly for her to stand up from the verge where she had collapsed (fortunately, as I was feeling it too).

Raquel, Nick and I met Dad in the hot open foyer of the airport on the 28th of Jan and immediately set off to pack in as much sightseeing with Raq there as we could before she flew out the following day. We hired a taxi and visited a tortoise enclosure 14 miles north. The tortoises were spread throughout the 30 acres due to the recent rains, and not congregated at the man made watering holes. However along the trail we encountered two or three large ones (150 kilos +) and various other individuals of smaller sizes including some fist sized ones just a few weeks old that were being fed in a pen. A tortoise would make a nice pet on board, you don’t have to feed or water the bigger ones and they can live for up to one year in the hold of a ship. Approximately 100,000 tortoises were harvested by sailing fleets since the Galapagos were discovered in 1535, causing the extinction of four subspecies.

In the highlands the four of us followed a path to the top of a volcano to look at a crater lake ‘El Junco’ which is about as big as a footy oval. Mosses and liverworts dangled off the branches of a solitary orange tree on the crater rim. The regular rain gauge was empty but the horizontal rain gauge bucket was overflowing due to the clouds. We had sunset coldies and dinner on board before everyone crashed out.

Mag commenced her gigantic leg home

The water temperature is fairly cold which moderates the air temperature; the mild climate is influenced by the Humboldt current which drags arctic waters up the side of South America where they mix with equatorial currents and counter-currents to make a rich soup that supports a magical and diverse sea life. The morning of Mag’s departure we added to the diversity by having an early morning swim at Playa Mann. In the moments of saying goodbye to Mag, I was lost on how to express the thanks and fitting farewells to our adventure, there had just been so many different sites, people, and experiences across hundreds of brilliantly beautiful and sadly awakening miles. We have many amazing memories from our trip together.

Sea lizard

Dad and I sat on the beach at La Loberia whilst Nick surfed. Some locals were harassing the sea lions on the rocks. Dad and I both jumped to our feet and shouted for them to stop. Dad then approached them and gave them some pointers on respectful behaviour: who else was going to teach them when their parents were illegally fishing from the rocks at this ‘visitor site’. The signage was pretty explicit on both these points.

It seems that there are rules for the tourists then those for the locals. Development here is happening full bore, there are inadequate facilities for waste management, recycling, sewerage, policing of harm to wildlife, dog and cat registration and pest inspection. For example I saw some tourists photos of a licensed fishing charter, run by a big fat local guy, where they were catching and killing sharks in a protected ‘visitor site’ for fun. Dad and I had paid $US30 a piece to dive with the sharks in this very place just a week before. Whilst we had been there we saw people trawling at the site. I didn’t see any hammerheads though! On another occasion I was speaking with the same big fat guy saying that I understood that he, being local was allowed to catch slipper lobster whenever he wanted and the spiny lobsters were out of season. He misunderstood me and replied ‘ yes but just don’t let the Parks Rangers catch you’! Lately we have learned of two tourists paying a local for the fuel to go out daily, catch 100’s of kilos of fish then selling them. Bloody typical exploitative, short sighted, greed driven bastards. We are the same everywhere.

The following day we prepared for a few days in the islands by buying up at the municipal market. This typical market is roofed and screened in by iron bars. The concrete benches and coves were set about with fresh produce behind which the proud growers stationed themselves. We bought a watermelon and other fruits and vegetables. When options are lacking I console my self with the idea that if the bugs won’t bite it then neither should I. Dad and I explored the town and visited the interpretation centre as Nick tackled the jobs list on board before scribing his mark on a few waves at Cannons. For dinner Dad shouted us at the Flamingo bar. This restaurant is situated on the site of the original soda bar in the township. By process of elimination we eventually discovered that the restaurant only had enough food for a single serving of three different dishes which took forever to arrive. A noisy protest march went by, apparently the new President, Corrello, has disbanded the congress to save money.

A tour with Gustavo

Bright and early Dad and Nick took a dinghy tour to capture the sea lions on the fishing boats. Dad and I had arranged to go snorkelling and were picked up off the boat after breakfast. Two other couples joined us on the tour that went firstly to Isla Lobos. Here we cruised close to the rocky shore to observe marine iguanas, seals, boobies, nesting frigate birds and the vast untouched green flanks of the island. Outside the settled areas, there are few marks made by man on these islands. 98% of the land area is protected for the native animals as well as the feral ones (goats, donkeys, pigs, dogs & cats). We coursed across the blue ocean to Leon Domingo and snorkelled with the sharks. Everyone saw lots of Galapagos sharks, black tips, white tips but Dad was the only one to see a hammerhead. My highlight was a school of burley ~40kg yellow tail tuna than moved through the deep blue below, their silver finlets shinning like little diamonds down their backs. We moved to snorkel with the sea lions at Isla Lobos. The pups followed Dad like a bunch of rats in Hamelin snaking and whirling through the bright blue water just out of arms reach. We landed at Playa Ochoa to warm up and Dad lay in the sand amongst a group of sun bathing sea lions, he was approached by a curious pair of youngsters and took it as an invitation to start tickling bellies and flipperpits. It shows just how relaxed these animals are.

Boobies everywhere

We set sail for Santa Maria at 0300hrs and made landfall at the anchorage near the Devils Crown just after lunch. This visitor site is a small partly submerged crater with a gentle drop off to seaward of more than 100 feet. Because the current was quite strong we drift snorkelled with the dinghy getting into the deep water upstream where numerous Galapagos sharks were swimming about us in mid water, drifting through the shallow crater, then getting out again on the other side. We saw bombies surrounded by dense schools of baitfish. You could form a virtual cave inside the schools that would block out most the light and close in behind you. We moved to the famous Post Office Bay for the night, although unfortunately we could not go ashore because we did not have a qualified guide on board. Large tour boats left in the night and new ones were there at dawn.

Getting around the islands in taxis

We left Santa Maria after a hearty cooked breakfast bound for Isla Isabella and motor sailed past Isla Tortuga on route. This is the huge broken semi circular rim of a sunken volcano. Inside the rim, schools of tuna were turning the deep blue ocean the colour of a shallow lagoon by tilting their silvery sides to the sun. Boobies soared and dived on bait near the surging cliffs and frigate birds pursued them for their quarry. On Isabella, Porto Villamil is a beautiful anchorage protected from the south-east by a curved rocky spur that harbours a large shallow lagoon with fishing boats and, for once, no other tourist boats. The Port Capitan came out to us in his panga for the signing-in formalities. We dinned ashore on delicious seafood in a restaurant where a BBC film crew were having a debriefing dinner after there time here filming a nature series. A 12yo had won the presenters part. We also got talking to a couple of vetenary assistants who were working for Nature Balance’s spaying and neutering program in the islands. We arranged to accompany them on a boat tour the next day to Cabo Rosa.

Penguins on Isla Isabella

Cabo Rosa

To get to the convoluted and spectacular waterways pooled around the pillars and bridges of black vesicular rock, our boat driver had to time the powerful breakers and charge inshore between waves. The sharp black basaltic lava is now vegetated by cacti and occasional tufts of grass. Turtles cruised through the emerald green waters, Galapagos penguins stood on rock islands pecking out there moulting feathers and schools of surgeon fish clung to the watery shadows. It was absolutely beautiful. Dad discovered a very old miden of turtle bones and the largest most ancient cactus I have ever seen. We snorkelled after wandering around on the lava and explored a little a labyrinth of submerged arches over white sand. Planning home in the fiberglass panga we saw hundreds of green sea turtles on the surface in an annual breeding gathering and great flocks of Audbons shearwaters paddling and feeding on a tide line. A lady screeched as she saw a manta ray leap out of the water and we circled a rocky islet to take photos of masked and blue footed boobies.

Fate had it that at the little bar with the scraggy tree decorated in coloured bottles we met up again with Tim, the resident kiwi from San Christobal and he invited us to join his tour group up Cerra Negra the following day. Couldn’t have worked out better. Dad took us to dinner again and Buffy, the vet assistant joined us. She was able to give us the gossip on conflict between the National Park Service and the local Shire. One wants uncurbed development and wealth and the other wants to keep the island sacrosanct. Giant tortoises have been kidnapped over the issue! The vets had to leave the island because the Mayor had withdrawn their funding despite past events where wild dogs had killed hundred of marine iguanas. Sad.

"änd into town rode the Magnificent three"

Cerro Negra

The morning dawned bright and we dinghied ashore, then taxied to meet Tim and his multinational tour group before taking positions on the back of an old cattel truck fitted with bench seats. Tim really had to gun it up the steeper dirt roads. We got a great look at the changing vegetation from coastal to arid, through the transition into the Scalesia zone up to the highland Pampa zone where mosses and liverworts clumped at the pale twisted branches of the trees and wild guava and blackberry choked the roadsides. After a brief and amusing riding lesson from Tim (Dad told him he’d never ridden in his life) Dad rode Radish along side a bloke from Texas and the local horse handler to the top of the volcano and Nick and I walked in pursuit with about 8 or 9 other friendly people. The volcanic crater is the worlds second largest, Norongorro in Tanzania being the first. The floor stretched to the distant rim with an unbroken charcoal carpet of crusted lava. The regular eruptions, the last of which was in 2005 ensure that no vegetation intrudes on this bleak expanse. We were lucky the day was so clear and from the high cinder covered slopes we could see for miles. A Parks guide gave a tour of the lava field to a steaming vent another 1.5km on foot. Every conceivable form of basalt lava could be seen. Hair like shards, silvery chunks, bubbly glass, rusty, dense, pumice, pink , globular, tubes, driblet cones, you name it. Nicks uni days came rattling to the front of his mind. We were dusty, dirty, hungry and tired. We ate a late lunch at a restaurant on the square and returned to PC.

This guava really appealed to the tortoise

Santa Cruz

The next day was spent motor sailing to Porto Ayora on Santa Cruz. The bay was open to the prevailing south easterly chop and the numerous tour boats were all anchored fore and aft. We found a little gap, dove on our anchors and taxied ashore for a delicious meal amongst the bustling souvenir shops and tour outlets.

In the morning Nick cleared in with the Port Capitan while Dad did some souvenir shopping. We flagged a taxi and visited the Darwin research station where a young American volunteer failed to answer most of our questions but was very kind in showing us around the tortoise and land iguana enclosures. From there we taxied to ‘El Rancho’, a fallow fruit orchard on the edge of the National Park where giant tortoises roam about eating the windfalls and other specially planted grasses. It’s the best way to see Galapagos tortoises – in the wild! On the same property there is a 600m long lava tunnel, big enough to drive a train through apart from one low constriction that required my emergency poncho (EP) to be laid out so that we didn’t get too muddy slithering through. I’m sure we surprised our taxi driver with our cleanliness; he was waiting at the other end with a bucket and rag. Another 1.2 km lava tunnel had been recommended in my Galapagos book and rather than miss out Dad and I sent Nick through to give us a vicarious account. He just about beat us to the other end, and we were riding in a cab. To finish our island tour we were driven up the smooth sealed roads to La Gemelos. These two deep craters are up in the moist Scalesia forest and are the result of surface layers of lava subsiding into a subsurface magma chamber, or as our taxi described it, a big bubble bursting. For Dads last night we dined in a lovely sidewalk restaurant where a gecko popped out from the folds in the table cloth to take our orders. The gecko then decided to join us for the remainder of the evening taking his place on my shoulder. Tim spied us and also joined us for a time as we quenched our thirsts with cold Brahma beer. We drank to Dad’s safe return to Australia.

It had been great having Dad join us for ten days in the Galapagos. The three of us took a scenic bus and boat ride to Baltra island. The old American WWII strip was busy with planes coming and going and Dad snuck through the gates at about 11 am after another quick skirt around the souvenir shops. Nick and I spent the night at Santa Cruz before returning to San Christobal. I slumped lazily about PC with no one to talk to for a couple of days - it was weird getting used to it being just Nick and I, and most the time it was only me because Nick was surfing three times a day. Eventually I forced myself to look at the boat list. For the next two weeks Nick and I sweated our butts off sanding and varnishing the doghouse, cleaning inside and catching up with business. We installed the new autopilot drive unit, George, who will help us get to the Marquesas in early March all things going to plan. At the moment Pina Colada, Nick and myself feel ready for the next adventure.

Peru by Mag – details comming soon!