As you may remember, back in June 2010 we took a family vacation to the Galapagos to celebrate Janie’s birthday (Rankin’s mother) . We were so excited, because this time we were back only now we were on our own boat.
We left Las Perlas (Panama) around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 29th. The winds were light so we tried to fly our spinnaker (a light weight sail), unfortunately, it got tangled so we dropped it and pulled out the jib. The next day light winds called for the spinnaker again, so we made repairs, raised the spinnaker and had a nice spinnaker sail for the next couple of days. Over the next few days, the winds gradually increased and we were visited by a large pod of dolphins. Winds continued to build and by Day 6 of our trip were blowing at 25-30 knots which brought about 10-12 foot confused seas nothing life threatening, but not comfortable. Day 7 (Wednesday, April 4th) with winds and seas still up, our starboard prop seems got fouled by something … good thing we had another engine. By Day 8, the wind and seas dropped and we were forced to motor, and we arrived San Cristobal Island (Galapagos) on Day 9 (Friday, April 6th) around 4 p.m. We quickly created our sea lion defense system (SDS) and then stopped by Saol Ellie (Patrick & Myra) for happy hour.
We spent about a week touring around the San Cristobal island visiting the Interpretation Center, provisioning with fresh fruit/veggies, sitting in internet cafes and constantly fending off the sea lions each night in a somewhat rolly anchorage.
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| We arrived at the Galapagos |
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| On walk to Interpretation Center, we saw this boat |
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| Art made from plastic which washed ashore |
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| Good old fashioned mail box! |
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| Sea Lions still managed to get through our barriers |
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| Sea Lion barriers on Gypsea Heart |
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After about a week, I took a hiatus and flew back to St. Louis for a few months. Rankin and Gerry continued the adventure across the Pacific and began their journey on Tuesday, April 17th.
