Monthly Archives: January 2019

Wayne assisting with dropping the main

Tours around San Cristobal

We wanted to show Wayne the 3rd island since he had not had a chance to explore its endless beauty.  So, we made the 80nm sail from Isla Isabela to San Cristobal.  We left at 0600, used one engine, averaged 6kts and arrived at sunset.

Wayne assisting with dropping the main

Wayne assisting with dropping the main

The next day we took it easy as we’d been running in all directions for the past week.  After a late and leisurely breakfast we headed into town to do some exploring

Next to the Golden Bay hotel is the “Armada de Ecuador.” During off hours, it is guarded by a totally different armada.  It is really funny to see as the sea wolves block the door and the path making it difficult for tourists to maintain a 2 meter distance.  Matt met Charles Darwin and Wayne showed off the local mercardo.  We did not figure out what or why the American flag had 13 stars…your guess is as good as ours – anyone? So much to see here in San Cristobal.

Playing the Tourist

Playing the Tourist

Of course we had another sea wolf photo shoot. I can’t get enough of these pups that are about one week old.  So darn cute.  Fun fact: Galapagos sea wolves are the only  breed of sea lion that nurse their pups for 3 years!

Sea Wolves in front of Golden Bay Hotel

Sea Wolves in front of Golden Bay Hotel

We had lunch at a great place c Galapagos Dreams which has a balcony overlooking the bay.  Explored some well stocked tiendas, had a drink at the Mockingbird and moved the boat closer to shore to make it easier for the water taxis to come get us.

Sugar Shack Galapagos

Sugar Shack Galapagos

Coming up next:

We discover Las Grietas after a short hike.

Los Tunels, Isabela

Isla Isabela, Galapagos

Every good thing must come to an end.  It was time to say goodbye to Matt and Diana on Isla Isabela.  We had such an amazing time exploring the Galapagos, meeting all the wildlife, enjoying good food with the best company. Thank you, Matt and Diana for playing with us on-board Sugar Shack.

Isabella Sight Seeing

Isabella Sight Seeing

Matt, Wayne and I went on a walk about around the small town.  We met some new friends, played on new beaches, and did the general tourist thing on this large, yet remote island.

Exploring Isla Isabela

Exploring Isla Isabela

Isla Isabela does not have an “official” sign like the other two islands. So we made do with this one.

Touring around Isla Isabela

Touring around Isla Isabela

We’ve seen some amazing birds here in the Galapagos.  Blue foot boobies, red foot boobies (more to come on this bird), Nazca boobies, brown foot boobes, pintail ducks, flamingos, and of course the Darwin finches.  These are all over all of the Galapagos islands, not just here on this island.

Galapagos Birds

Galapagos Birds

Coming Up Next:

We sail 80nm back to San Cristobal to show Wayne the sights, see more sea lions, turtles, and fun “must see” adventures.

As explorers, we found an enormous tree house, crater, tortoise sanctuary, and learned about the history of the Galapagos Islands.  We say goodbye to Wayne, do a little more exploring, then make preparations to transit the Pacific Ocean to Chile.

Realtime Passage South in Chile to Caldera

Having recovered and stretched our legs in Antofagasta, it was time to move south and explore some more. We left Friday morning after some fun with the local policies of needing a Zarpe (clearance) to move from port to port just like in the Galapagos. International vessels have a slightly different process than the local boater we befriended and helped us through the process. But alas we were free to move about the country so long as its only where are Zarpe says we can go, thus the next port and only the next port.
Forecast: Nothing much, no wind 5 knots, barely any waves of course what waves and wind there is was on the nose as we head south.
Arturo of the marina came over and helped us untie from the moorings and lead us out of the harbor and wished us a safe journey. The way in and out of the harbor is to line up the street directly to the right of the pier as you high range marker. Keeps you between the jetties and shoals on both sides outside of the break water. Super nice folks at the “Club De Yates” (Yacht club) Its their summer so kids were learning to sail/kayak/swim most of the time we were there.
With only 5 knots of wind and glassy seas, we didn’t even raise the main and just used the engines and waited till the water cleaned up and made water topping up the tanks. Few ships on the AIS screen, mostly much farther away from shore than we are. Beautiful mountains even if they are part of the desert create the coast line we were cruising down. We are heading for a place called “Caldera” supposed to be another ‘tranquil’ bay with some decent protection from the waves when they come. It looked good from the window on the airplane ride to Santiago.
Saturday was just more of the same, beautiful sunny day, glassy ocean, hardly any wind or boats just birds and sea lions and dolphins playing. Thought I saw a whale in the distance but only spotted it once so can’t confirm it.
As we don’t want to arrive at dark we slowed way down, stopped one engine and pulled the other way back just cruising along to arrive at day break. Made all the water we can use, washed the boat with fresh water and made more fresh water after that. Made some pre-cooked meals for later passages, tried some new soups we picked up in the Chilean grocery store and consumed a lot of fruits.
Back in the states I vaguely remember the packaging saying “product of Chile” – and yes, this is where those fresh fruits come from. Lots of grapes, nectarines, dried grapes (raisins), Melons, tangerines and avocados. We found the local produce market in Antofagasta so we stocked up. The bananas come from Ecuador tho.
All good here, just puttering along at 3-4 knots waiting to arrive ‘Caldera’ in the morning and go see what this town has to offer. As Antofagasta was the ‘perl of the north’ and second largest city in Chile our next stops will be in much smaller ports/cities.
Off to explore in the morning, after we check in with the authorities and let them know we are where we should be. 🙂
At 1/27/2019 @ 1:08 AM Our position: 26°35.61’S, 070°51.26’W Traveling 3.3 heading 199T
Google says we are here www.google.com/maps/place/-26.59350,-70.85433