June-05-2006
Dear all…
After 6 days of sailing, I arrived at San Cristobal, in the Galapagos Is. at noon on May 30th.
Two days after leaving Panama, the bilge
pump failed - (because I was sailing against the wind, the waves would break
on the bow and water would run down the chain locker towards the bilge) - and
the alarm sounded. I immediately activated the emergency pump which I installed
for "just in case". But, because there was a lot of water in the bilge,
I decided to activate divert the engine sea water intake to the bilge and that
way empty it quickly. The engine uses sea water for cooling but normally the
sea water is pretty clean and any large particles the intake strainer takes
care off. The last thing I wanted is to have an engine problem but the strainer
was too coarse for the dirt in the bilge and after I activated the valve to
divert the intake water, the dirt/sand/whatever made a pin hole in "oil
cooler" which is an heat exchanger device where the engine oil and the
transmission oil get cooled. I did not noticed the problem until a few hours
later so, stopped the engine and investigated finding the transmission oil contaminated
with water.... Fortunately, had wind the entire way so did not need to use the
engine until about 12 miles from San Cristobal. I used the engine at low rpm
to approach the anchorage and with a mechanic, proceeded to clean the contamination
by changing the oil 6 times and also using diesel to do some of the cleaning.
After it was clean, the mechanic said that the transmission was ok and that
there was no damaged to it. Anyway, after finding the contamination, the wind
picked up - still sailing very closed to it - and the waves continued braking
on the bow so I had to take care of the bilge pump problem. I had been using
the emergency pump and the hand pump every 2 to 3 hours so, had to fix the bilge
pump. After repairing it once and only lasting a couple of hours I decided to
replace the pump which is a real pain to do underway since this bilge is so
deep...but, I did it and the new pump has been working flawlessly since. By
the way, the old bilge pump was 8 years old so, I got good use of it.... Besides
sailing against the wind, it was cloudy the whole way... at the beginning with
rain and after just gray... Some times, at night, I could see some stars - the
Southern Cross is very bright and beautiful...some times the sky would illuminate
silhouettes of some type of brid flying near the spreaders...I would turn on
the lights to see them and they would fly even closer, some times diving towards
the water and producing a chirping sound talking to each other. They approached
the boat about 300 miles from San Cristobal and only came at night despairing
during the day... They call them "Galapagueños". They are some
type of swallow tail gull with large white and/or gray wings...I thought these
birds were showing me the way to Galapagos since for three nights they accompany
me despairing during the day...
The rest of the trip went without any problems - besides some drops here and
there which, apparently, are unavoidable, (other boats reported the same) -
My first impression of San Cristobal was
excellent. I was dropping the anchor when three officials from the port captain's
office asked permission to come aboard to welcome me to the islands...they were
very nice, informative, and friendly...after a little while we went to their
office and completed the paperwork which was done promptly and without any problemas...
They told me the island is very safe, there is no crime not even petty theft
so, it feels pretty good to be hear.
The locals are also very friendly and nice..they appear very happy people...
there are many small restaurants of various qualities... prices vary from 1.5
dollar for an "almuerzo" to 9 dollars for the best a la carte sea
food platter I ever had... breakfast with toasts, eggs, cheese, coffee and juice
cost 3 dollars.. not expensive at all!!
The port is called Baquerizo Moreno and is pretty busy...but, the water is very
clean and there are 3 beaches which are the residence of many sea lions who
are not afraid of people and play all day long with you when going snorkeling.
The air temperature is very nice..from the low 70's to the low 80's and at night,
I had to use a banquet a couple of times
I have only visited the South of the island
where they have a "galapaguera" and saw large (old) and small (very
young) tortoises. The babies were only 3 months old and others were just over
a year old and are in a a station which is running a recovery program of these
animals. They have incubators, separated stalls for different ages, etc, etc.
This giant tortoise reserve also has several species of flora not found anywhere
else ... the vegetation from the sea shore to the top changes at every mile
as you climb up... there are many orange trees - like the ones in the streets
of Seville - but, it does not look like anyone uses them here...the trees and
the ground is full of oranges... I got a couple and one was a bit bitter the
other was a little sweet... I think these are great oranges to make mermelade...
there are may banana trees, some palm trees with dates but did not see any coconut
palm trees...?? there are many wild berries that the locals are trying to eliminate
but these berries called in Spanish "moras" grow like a plague because
the more they cut them the more the grow... anyway, further up the vegetation
changes to brush and low grass - no trees - very interesting the relationship
of water and soil type.. this island is the only one with a very large sweet
water lake which provides fresh water to the population of the island...
I have not had time to do any other visits but I will keep you posted when I
do...
Till next time!
Felipe