October 10, 2013
Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos (Ecuador)
00*44.885S – 090*18.53W
We made it out of San Cristobal and into Santa Cruz, no thanks to our agent from YachtGala who was nowhere to be found, but thanks to their competitor Sail’n Galapagos Yacht Services who picked up the slack and took care of us. So far, our agent has been—to say the least—dismal, but I reserve my final conclusion till this trip is over. Regardless, we dropped anchor in Puerto Ayora, turned DOMINO’s bows into the swell and tossed our stern anchor… bungled that so badly that we must have entertained the whole harbor on this quiet Sunday afternoon! Well, the Park Services guys helped us out, fished out our stern anchor and tied our stern line to one of the big yellow mooring buoys that dot the bay. Indeed, the harbor faces SE and the incoming swell, so all boats are encouraged to deploy a stern anchor. Water taxis will gladly help you with it. Even in this low season, the harbor is crowded, especially Thursday to Sunday when all the charter yachts come in. We favored the East end of the bay, even though the swell may be a bit bigger on this end, because the water traffic on the West end is quite heavy. No need to drop the dinghy: Water taxis from the Co-op do the run for 60 cents during the day, $1 at night. It’s a very civilized way to go; we can’t remember the last time we used water taxis enjoying being able to go out at night.
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| Stern line is a must |
This is the low season, “Garua,” a season of morning mists and overcast, mild temperatures (21-26C) and cold water brought in by the Humboldt Current. Comes December, it will be “Invierno” or what the locals call Winter, with still cold water (18C and warming up) and warmer days, but rain. Only February through April is considered “Verano” or Summer, when flowers bloom all over the island, the Panama Current brings warm waters, and the Northerlies bring warm winds from Panama… warm winds and all the sailors on their way to the Marquesas. Then, it’s Garua again, from May to November, with the coldest month in August-September. We’re finding October-November to be a good season, not too hot, where tour operators and taxis are ready to give discounts and great service. If we don’t like the weather outside our windows, we just wait 20 minutes and it’s sure to change. We’re not snorkeling very much yet, the water is cold, but our stay is not over yet!
It’s a great time for land excursions. The Darwin Research Center is another turtle preservation center, much like the Galapaguera in San Cristobal, but worth the walk. But “Solitary George,” the main attraction at the center, died last year, the last specimen from his island, never having found a mate in captivity. There are BIG words on the Islands: Ecology, Preservation, Organic… the kids are brainwashed with it. Yet, we’re seeing oxymorons: plastic bags in all the stores to bag everything from fruit to T-shirts, and the curious plastic watering systems that are supposed to help the endemic plants get a better start. Hundreds of plastic pots… not very ecological in my opinion.
The fish market is one stop we always like. The local cold-water spiny lobster is excellent and affordable (2 large lobsters for $25) and the local red fish “Brujo” seems quite tasty. Only the locals can fish inside the park, with proper license, and their catch is monitored and tallied. When the fisherman’s Co-op has reached the quota for the year for threatened species (lobster, slipper lobster) the fishing stops. Only the local licensed fishermen are allowed to fish inside the park, a limit that extends 40 NM out of each outer-most point of the islands. These conservation efforts, started in 1998, should help revive the shark population as well as other threatened species such as the sea cucumber.
It’s a beautiful 2.5km walk through the dry forest of Opunta cactus. Did I mention I fell in love with this giant cactus, the only cactus that grows like a tree, and whose spines eventually fall off to leave a rich caramel-color bark? Host to the little Cactus Finch, this big cactus is totally Galapagos!
At the end of the paved walk is Playa Tortuga, a site where marine turtles come to lay their eggs (December-March). It’s a splendid talcum-powder sand beach dotted with black lava rocks where surfers share the waves with marine iguanas and where water fowl of all kinds tried to get into our picnic.
It took JP all his powers to persuade me to walk “all the way” to the end of the beach. There, we found a lagoon with totally calm and warm waters, benches under the cover of mangrove trees, and more lava cliffs and Opunta Cactus. Perfect spot for a nap!
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Of course, visitors come to the Galapagos to see volcanic features. We went on a hunt for laval fjord, lava tubes and volcanic gas bubble.
LAS GRIETAS – We asked the water taxi to drop us off at the Hotel Finch dock and started on a long walk to “The Grottos.” I’m not a good walker and found it difficult to traipse across an uneven trail made of basalt pillars, lava rocks, jutted edges and rounded boulders. Yet, it was a marvelous walk along a lagoon of pink salt flats, and all the way up to a fissure in the lava rock. At the bottom, a limpid blue tongue of water beckoned the many swimmers who dove and snorkeled the brackish water of this deep fjord between two sheer lava cliffs.
THE HIGHLANDS - For $40, one of the cabbies from the Taxi Co-op took us on a 4-hour tour of the highlands. As in San Cristobal, the vegetation changed as soon as we started to climb. Even though the highest point is only at 500 meters, there are three vegetation zones. At the “finca” Chato Dos, we donned boots and walked around the farm.
In this reserve, dozens of giant tortoises were grazing in total freedom and for miles and miles around. It’s not so at the drier season, when the animals hunker down to save water, or stay by the watering hole provided by the farmer. After a cup of the local coffee (yes, they grow coffee, but also mandarin, oranges, guayava) we took off for the lava tubes.
Still climbing the highland through a forest of mossy Scalesia trees, we reached “Los Gemelos,” twin crater-like features that result from the collapse of lava bubbles, not from a volcanic eruption. The red moss hanging from the Scalesias are now a protected specie: no more harvesting and processing of the moss to build baby Jesus mangers at Christmas time!
A dozen of large charter yachts have anchored around us in the last 24 hours, signaling the pending start of the season. While they’re cleaning, painting, refurbishing, we’re taking a day of farniente and shopping, hoping that our agent will have our Zarpes ready to take off tomorrow… we’ll see!
Until then…. Going to cook us one last cold-water spiny lobster!
dominomarie
