Altair Cruising Log

Panama to Galapagos to Marquesas

We have a bit of catching up to do as we have covered a few thousand miles since we last wrote from Panama. The winds were light on the voyage from Panama to Galapagos taking us nine days to cover the 900-miles, which was just the same as our passage five years ago. The moon was up for most of voyage and we had some great natural displays including a large meteor streaking towards earth, it's intense green flame lasting in the evening sky for what seemed like minutes. By far the brightest shooting star we have ever seen. Another day we had a huge pod of dolphins, perhaps 50, jumping out of the water and cavorting around Altair. There were even some cute little ones, maybe newborns. Paul tried to take some photos but only managed to get ocean and a fin or two. It was hard to know where to look, as with dolphins on all sides it seemed we were always catching some amazing leap into the air just out of the corner of our eye. It makes us feel special when they come to play with us and always makes us smile.

We crossed the Equator on the seventh day and made a toast to king Neptune promising to treat his domain and all his creatures with the utmost care in hopes that the King of the Sea would look after Altair on all her voyages.

We celebrated Easter with a nice cooked breakfast then pondered what to have for dinner during the course of the day. Just before the deadline for a decision on dinner, the bungee cord on the fishing line snapped with a loud twang! And a very nice “two meal tuna” came aboard with out much of a fuss. The dinner decision was made.

As we neared the Galapagos we entered the Humboldt Current coming up from the Antarctic and it became very chilly. It was surprising to be sailing along the equator but wanting to wear fleece vests on watch and sleep under blankets on the off watch.

At dawn on the ninth day of our passage we sighted the grand colossus of Kicker Rock as we drew near to San Cristobal in the Galapagos. We closed for a closer look at the vertical cliffs and took a few photos then sailed up the shoreline on our approach to Wreck Bay. Five years ago we were convinced by friends to take Altair through the gap between the main rock and an offshoot, a gap of about 50 feet wide, certainly got our heart rates up. It was an exciting moment and fortunately photographically recorded by friends on S/V Peace and Aloha. This time with no one to take photos we elected to give this a miss and did not go through the gap.

Upon our arrival in Wreck Bay Paul looked through the photo album of our last visit. Moments later we heard an out board outside. The man in front of the water taxi was about 5 feet 6 inches with a football players build; he had sleepy eyes on an oval face. Our eyes locked, he leaned his head to the side and pointed at me like throwing a baseball. Paul spoke first “Remember me?” His face split into a huge Cheshire cat grin and he looked at the boat name again and asked “Two years ago?” Paul said “Five years! Come on aboard I was just looking at your picture in the photo album!” Sure enough it was Fernando. Five years ago he and his family operated the Scuba Bar on the waterfront, a yachtie hang out. We had done an island tour with them on our arrival followed the next night by a lobster dinner for 25 people. It was nice to be remembered and he soon invited us to a wonderful dinner of excellent wahoo steaks with rice and salad. Fernando’s wife, son and his mother Cecelia became fast friends and through the next week we were often together. They made us feel like we belonged wherever we ran into them from the veggie market to the dentist. Good friends that we plan to remain in touch in years to come.

We really enjoyed our second visit to the town of Wreck Bay where the Baker Family lived for six months when Paul was three years old. It was interesting to see how the town has changed and prospered in the past five years with the island receiving more direct flights from mainland Ecuador. The people were very happy and friendly with lots of small restaurants, hardware stores and souvenir shops populating the quaint coble stone streets. Panaderia Frigata quickly became a daily stop for delicious rolls and other baked goods including our favorite from last time - pan chocolate, a wonderful breakfast treat similar to a cinnamon roll but made with cocoa powder. Almuerzo, the excellent lunch specials were a bargain at only $2.50, starting with soup then followed by fish, chicken or meat with rice, salad and juice. No choice, just what was being served that day, but almost always delicious. There are now four internet cafes to choose from up from only one in 2001 and the same good fruit and vegetable market on Saturdays.

In the fall of 2000, Ecuador switched to using the US Dollar as their currency. So in Galapagos we did not get to use a new interesting currency but then we didn’t need to worry about spending the our extra cash before leaving. And we discovered what happen to all of the Sacajawea Dollar coins that did not seem to work well in the US; they are alive and well used in Ecuador.

Walking around the island we saw numerous Blue Footed Boobies, Sally Light Foot Crabs and Marine Iguanas but probably the critter that is most prevalent and totally endeared themselves to us were the sea lions! Many new sailboats are designed with a swim step and open transom, those type of boats often found sea lions snoozing in the cockpit. Many yachties took measures to try and erect an obstacle coarse to keep them out, but they always seemed to squirm aboard. Fortunately they were not aggressive, they just felt they had rights to any comfortable napping spots and we had to agree that boats seems more comfortable than the local volcanic rocks. We enjoyed having the sea lions swim with us whenever we were in the water and constantly cavorting around the boat, never tiring of watching their antics. At the beach the young ones would pop up among the frolicking kids or waddle right up the beach and stretch out next to a family picnic. While we were snorkeling a young sea lion pup introduced Paul to a new game -- swim to the bottom blow a single bubble of air and follow it to the surface then pop it with your nose! Needless to say, Paul needs some practice, but he and the sea lion pup played for a good 20 minutes at this game.

Private boats are limited in where they can go in the Galapagos to the five main anchorages on the five inhabited islands, but this gives good scope for exploring. If you want to venture to some of the other islands, you need to pay to have a Professional Guide on board. The other option is to take day trips or multi-day excursions on one of the many boats operated in the Galapagos. In 2001 on our first visit to Galapagos, we visited San Cristobal, Isabella and Santa Cruz with Altair then took two one-day tours to other islands within the marine national park. In this way we got to see land iguanas on Plaza and Santa Fe plus swim with penguins on Bartolome. This time we returned to San Cristobal and Isabella but added a stop at Floreana in between the two and did not do any other trips.

Floreana is the least inhabited of the five islands with a population of about 200 as compared with about 10,000 on Santa Cruz and 2,000 on Isabella. It’s a very small and sleepy island but was once one of the main stops in the Galapagos by old sailing ships to get fresh water, tortoises for meat and to leave or pick up mail. We marveled at the long hikes over harsh scrubby ground the sailors needed to make up to the interior of the island to get fresh water. And especially carrying empty barrels up and full barrels back down. Floreana is most known for Post Office Bay. Sailors would leave letters in a barrel and ships making their last call before heading home around Cape Horn would collect any letters destined for their home port. This tradition still continues but with passengers from the various tour boats and cruise ships dropping off and picking up mail. We left a few post cards and collected some that are on their way back to the US with us on Altair.

As part of our day trip to Post Office Bay (we were not allowed to take Altair to this bay) we had a most incredible snorkel at Corona del de Diablo. The clear water was a bit chilly from the Humboldt Current but we saw sea lions, penguins, octopus, and heaps of multi-colored fish and all displayed in the interior of a sunken volcanic crater.

We also visited with the Wittmer Family that has lived here since 1932. It was fun to look back through their books signed by the many yachts that have visited over the years. Best of all was finding the page filled out by good friends Bill and Marti Lohr when they visited in 1959 and other friends of theirs who visited in 1962; both some of the original member of the Seven Seas Cruising Association.

The next stop was sleepy Villamil on the island of Isabella. The picturesque little town has grown rapidly in the past five years and is not nearly as sleepy as last time. Although the streets are still sand, expansion of the airport will soon bring jets, probably 737’s, from the mainland direct to Isabella. We’re not sure if this is a good thing or not but they call it progress. In 2001 there was only one tour offered to visiting yachties -- a truck-horse back-hiking trip up to one of the volcanoes on the island, which was spectacular. In 2006, tourism had expanded and there are now several tours offered in addition to the volcano trip. This is our favorite anchorage in the Galapagos and we mainly hung out, relaxed and prepared for our passage to the South Pacific while penguins and boobies swam and fished around the boat.

Three days before our planned departure from Galapagos we received an email saying Paul was being offered his old job. After a week of numerous emails, faxes and phone calls, all was confirmed, paperwork completed and it looks as though Paul once again employed. Fortunately Boeing agreed to a September 1 start date giving us enough time to sail Altair back to Seattle and complete our voyage together. We can’t believe how the timing has worked out. We just hope that all of Paul’s coworkers who lost their jobs in recent years will be recalled as well. While it is nice for one of us to have a job to return to Paul will be jumping back in with both feet shortly after hitting the dock and not have the gradual re-entry we had planned.

So off on the next leg home. The 3,000-mile passage from Galapagos to the Marquesas in French Polynesia is one of the longest passages in the world. In 2001 we had a most excellent if boisterous trip completing the passage in just over 20 days, saw no other boats or ships and caught no fish. This time the passage took us exactly 22 days, we saw seven fishing boats, two freighters and caught three-mahi mahi. In 2001 we had steady SE trade winds just as advertised in the brochure. This year the winds were less settled, or organized; we made numerous sail changes and ran the engine for many hours. But it was nice to catch the fish.

As with all passages we check in each morning via Single Side Band Radio with the other boats in the area, sometimes up to 30 boats on this passage. Each boat gives their lat/long position, wind conditions, fish caught etc. Early on with this radio net we started a daily quiz that added fun interaction and gave us something to think during the next 24 hours. The fishing prize went to the Norwegian sailboat Blue Marlin with a family of four who caught their namesake, a 40 kilo blue marlin; Paul joked and said “good thing they didn’t name the boat Blue Whale”.

We made landfall on Sunday 4 June at the bay of virgins on Fatu Hiva at the southern end of the Marquesas. Our arrival confirmed our memories of this being one of the most dramatic landfalls of our entire voyage. But tales of our adventures here will have to wait for the next installment. We will be leaving in a few days for Hawaii, a passage of about 2,300 miles that should take two to three weeks.

Hope this finds everyone well and enjoying summer, or winter, depending on your hemisphere.

Suzette and Paul
Altair at Anchor
Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva
Marquesas, French Polynesia
Friday 16 June 2006