40 Nautical Miles

February 16 – 19, 2018

Puerto Baquerizo, San Cristobal, Galapagos

Since the time of Darwin, the Galapagos Islands have been famous for their wildlife and were once popular with cruising yachts. The area has now been almost closed to visiting yachts by the authorities as there are only three anchorages cruisers are allowed to visit. This is ostensibly to protect the wildlife but more importantly to make money.

All three boats that arrived on Friday were sent 40 miles offshore to reclean their bottoms and we were one of them. After five days at sea and having just cleaned our bottom less than two days ago we were not happy. Apparently there was a handful of tiny barnacles on the underside of our keel. One boat chose to leave as they were only two on board and didn’t feel safe cleaning their own bottom offshore, nor did they want to pay for a diver to do it. The diver, who does the inspections works for the authorities and charges over $1,000 to go with boats and clean their bottom. We then all pay another $100 for a second inspection. In most of the Galapagos, you have to go on a tour to snorkel or explore, the average snorkeling tour cost $120 per person. One skipper was fined for snorkeling in the anchorage. Every other stop on this cruise we have felt very welcome but not in the Galapagos.

I was impressed with the wildlife when I went ashore. There were sea lions, birds, crabs and iguanas everywhere. It seemed odd though that the wildlife was co mingled with people in a commercial port. This was not the natural, remote setting I was expecting. Unfortunately this was the situation on all the islands we were allowed to visit. I am sure there are untouched places in the Galapagos, just none you can visit on your own.

While on San Cristobal, we walked to a beach where we were allowed to snorkel. There were sea lions and big sea turtles, but the visibility was not very good. We also had a fun and interesting day tour when the four of us split a $60 cab fare ad visited the Junco Volcano with fresh water lake, Ranco Mandita Restaurant for lunch, a tortoise breeding center and Playa Chino Beach. It was interesting to see the agriculture around the volcano as well as the fresh water lake that filled in the volcano. Our lunch was authentic local food with great presentation and the best aromatic iced tea I have ever had with fresh lemongrass and mint. Walking through the tortoise breeding center was like stepping into another world as the flora and fauna was so unique. The word “endemic” is used throughout the Galapagos and refers to plants and animals that are found only in the Galapagos. The tortoise center had many species not seen anywhere else in the world. On the way to Playa Chino Beach, I noticed lots of the Opuntia Cactus that are seen throughout the Galapagos. They grow like a tree rather than a bush, the pads and fruits are a source of food for iguana and tortoises. World ARC organized a Kicker Rock snorkeling and out island beach tour. The weather was rainy the day we went, so it was cut short and there was not much wildlife to see.

The Galapagos sea lions are a subspecies of the Northern Hemisphere California sea lions. They were everywhere and adorable to watch on land but at night they were a nuisance. They would climb onto the back of the boat to rest; they were noisy, smelly and very dirty. They penetrated our barricade of fenders the first night and one was looking at us through the hatch over our bed. After that Dan reinforced the barricade and kept them out of our cockpit area.

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