by Judy Handley | Mar 27, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 161, Year 1: Day Two on the Sulidae
Date: Monday, March 27, 2006
Weather: Clear Blue Skies and Hot
Windbird’s Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
Sulidae’s Location: North Seymour and South Plaza Island
First Stop: North Seymour
Highlight: Land of Mating Frigate Birds and Blue-Footed Boobies
We started our morning by heading to North Seymour. This is an island just north of Santa Cruz. Lenny, our naturalist guide aboard the Sulidae, had briefed us on Sunday evening of what we should see during our travels on Monday. North Seymour is a very small island of volcanic rock uplifted from the ocean bottom. It is dry and has only a few Dwarf Palo Santo trees and Opuntia cacti, but it is home for lots of sea lions, marine iguanas, and as mentioned in the “highlight” for this stop–mating frigate birds and blue-footed boobies. The Sulidae anchored and we headed ashore in the panga. The rocky shore was lined with birds of all kinds, as well as sea lions and iguanas. Once we were ashore, we started our walk through a Blue-footed Booby colony. We did not see nesting boobies here, but we saw many couples engaged in the courtship rituals. They do a little dance, raising one foot and then the other, and then the male spreads his wings. The pairs we were watching stood side by side and often their beaks would touch. It looked like they are kissing! They are such funny looking birds with such bright blue webbed feet and we were thrilled to see so many.
As we continued our walk across the island, we next came to a Frigate Bird nesting area. Frigates have the largest wingspan-to-weight ratio of any species of bird. Their wingspan is as large as an albatross. They look like they simply hang in the sky, hovering and gliding everywhere here in the Galapagos. The males are black and the females are black with a white throat patch. There are two varieties found here: the Magnificent Frigatebird and the Great Frigatebird. The Magnificent has a purple sheen to their black feathers while the Great has a green sheen. The spectacular thing about these birds is the bright red throat patch displayed by the male during mating season. That is now and the males were gliding through the air with their red “balloons” fully inflated. It was spectacular to watch. And then we came to the nesting area and there were pairs everywhere sitting in the tops of the low Saltbush in their nests of sticks. The red throat pouch is just beautiful. We also saw many young frigates
There were many land and marine iguanas here and lots of seals, but the birds definitely stole the show. After returning to the Sulidae for a snack, we then snorkled along the low, rocky coastline. We saw lots of beautiful fish here. Some of the varieties were the same as those we had seen in the Caribbean, but the fish here must take vitamins. They were much larger than their Caribbean relatives. The King Angelfish was one of our favorites. It is the only angelfish in the Galapagos and is a dark bluish-purple with a white stripe cutting right across its middle from top to bottom. The dorsal and and anal fins are a bright orange to yellow and there is a “crown” of light blue dots on the forehead. The ones we saw were close to the maximum length of a foot and a quarter. We also saw Giant Damselfish which are a dark blue with white edging along the fins, Yellowtail Surgeonfish, and Orangeside Triggerfish. These fish were about the same size as the King Angelfish, some a little smaller. We saw lots of smaller Yellowtail Damselfish and Panamic Sergeant Majors. The Sergeant Majors are usually yellow-white with vertical black stripes, but many of the ones we saw today were blue. We found out that the color change happens in the breeding male. We saw lots of Leather Bass which are gray to olive green in color with white blotches and small black spots all over the body. There were Blue-Chin Parrotfish which we had seen in the Caribbean, but a new addition was the Bumphead Parrotfish which indeed has a big bump on its head. Another fish we saw with a bump on its head was the Mexican Hogfish. The most colorful of the small fish here was the Cortez Rainbow Wrasse which sports colors of violet to reddish green to blue. Needless to say, snorkeling here was beautiful, but add to the fish the fact that we were swimming with sea lions at the same time. These guys are so graceful in the water and not the least bit afraid of humans. It wasn’t quite lunchtime and we were already becoming overwhelmed with the Galapagos wildlife. We are beginning to understand why these islands are often called the “Enchanted Isles”.
Second Stop: South Plaza Island
Highlights: Iguanas, “Charlie” the Sea Lion, Tropicbirds, and Nesting Swallow-tailed Gulls
We left North Seymour and motored past the white sands of Mosquera Islet. As we headed south, Santa Cruz island was to starboard and we were able to observe the volcanic rock wonders along the coast. In a couple of hours, we arrived at South Plaza. This island was also uplifted by tectonic action. There is a North and South Plaza, but no visitors are allowed on North Plaza due to scientific research underway there. Close-by, Cerro Colorado, known as the Red Rock, rises up out of the sea. South Plaza is covered by Sesuvium or Carpetweed in various shades of green, yellow, and red. It indeed does look like a carpet on the rocky island. The type of carpetweed that grows here is Sesuvium edmonstonei and is endemic to this island. We were greeted at the dock by “Charlie”, a famous territorial male sea lion who lives here with his harem. He has been known to be quite aggressive, even biting if you get too close, but today he stayed in the water and just barked at us.
This island is home to many iguanas, both land and marine. The yellow-brown land iguanas had mustard yellow heads and were literally everywhere. We now know why one of the t-shirts sold in the Galapagos has a caution sign with “iguana” written on it. We had to watch constantly or risk stepping on one of the tails of these prehistoric looking creatures. On the south side of the island, there is a dangerous cliff where guides have actually fallen and been killed or hurt badly. We proceeded cautiously but truly enjoyed the to see their speckled eggs. They nest right on the rocks on the cliff. The sea lions, marine iguanas, and birds all live in harmony here. We snorkeled here after our walk and had a great time with the sea lions. Louis, one of the guys on our tour from Switzerland engaged in a sea ballet with the friendly sea lions and it was quite a show. I added one new fish to my list—the Giant Hawkfish, also known as the Hieroglyphic Hawkfish due to its interesting designs.
by Judy Handley | Mar 26, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 160, Year 1: Day One on the Sulidae
Date: Sunday, March 26, 2006
Weather: Very Warm and Partly Cloudy
Windbird’s Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
Sulidae’s Location: Tortuga Negra
Today was the first day of our tour of the Galapagos Islands on the Sulidae. This is a 63-foot sailboat that is over a hundred years old. It was made in Denmark and is the picture perfect pirate boat. There is a captain, a ship’s cook (phenomenal), a bilingual naturalist guide, a young man who takes us out in the small panga (dinghy), and another crew member that serves the food, helps with anchoring, and various other tasks. This is not a luxury liner, but we think we made the right choice for us. There are two couples from Germany aboard, three young people from Switzerland, a young female physician from Michigan, and the Handley-Goldstone crew.
Heather, Jed, Mark, and I arrived at the Baltra airport this morning to meet someone who would take us to the Sulidae. Baltra is an island just to the north of Santa Cruz. There were supposed to be other passengers arriving on the 0930 flight, but no one showed up. So they took us to the boat and we waited until almost 1400 for the others to arrive. While waiting, we had a fantastic lunch prepared by the ship’s cook. Once we were all aboard, we took off for Tortuga Negra. This is a mangrove bay on the north side of Santa Cruz. We went out in the panga to explore the mangroves and saw multiple Galapagos sharks, eagle rays, oyster catchers, herons, and marine turtles. When we returned to the boat, a snack of Brie, Vienna sausages, salami, and cut vegetables was waiting for us. We then went out for a snorkeling adventure where we saw spectacular fish even though the water was cloudy. Jed saw a two meter long shark and a large orange octopus, but the rest of us saw only the fish. After an hour in the water, we were all a little cold, so headed home. We arrived to find fresh popcorn and hot showers awaiting us.
Dinner was another wonderful venture and now everyone is on deck watching sea lions and sharks in the water. In fact, I think I should sign off for now so that I can enjoy the sights as well. Tomorrow we will go to two different locations to view marine and land iguanas, blue-footed and red-footed boobies, magnificent and great frigate birds, and loads of sea lions. We will snorkel once in the morning and once again in the afternoon. I’ll let you know tomorrow night what prizes we find.
by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 159, Year 1: Leaving for Our Tour of the Galapagos Islands
Date: Saturday, March 25, 2006
Weather at Anchorage: Back to sunny weather, clear blue skies
Daytime Air Temperature: No Change–82 degrees F daytime
Water Temperature: No Change–77 degrees F
Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
Busy, busy day getting ready to go for our five-day tour of the islands. I will not be able to send e-mails while on the cruise, so there will not be another log entry until Friday, March 31. Our agent here, Johnny Romero, would say, “No worries.” You won’t hear from us, but we will be fine.
Heather and Jed had a great day today exploring Tortuga Bay. They walked further than Mark and I were able to do, and made it to the lagoon. They saw many marine iguanas, Darwin finches who sat with them and begged for their lunch, and much, much more. I think the Galapagos are becoming more than hot, flat, and a lot like home for them. These were not called the Enchanted Isles for no reason.
We will have a full report when we return from our tour. Until then, we send our best to all.
by Judy Handley | Mar 24, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 158, Year 1: Heather and Jed Arrive
Date: Friday, March 24, 2006
Weather at Anchorage: Change—cloudy, intermittent rain, no wind
Daytime Air Temperature: No Change–82 degrees F daytime
Water Temperature: No Change–77 degrees F
Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
What a great feeling to have your children come visit you when you are so very far away from home. During the Christmas holidays, both of our children were able to visit us in the Caribbean. Today our daughter Heather, and her husband, Jed, arrived to spend the next couple of weeks with us and we are so excited to have them here. Justin, our son, is currently in Atlanta with DoubleEdge Theatre and is not able to visit right now, but we are hoping he will be able to visit us in the South Pacific in the early fall. So for now we will enjoy Heather and Jed. And since we were not able to go to Atlanta to see DoubleEdge’s performance of The Unpossessed, half of my family and half of Mark’s are headed there to represent us. That’s what family is all about.
We headed to the airport early this morning to meet Heather and Jed. We had arranged to go by taxi with Jose Louis who had taken us to Cerro Crocker on Wednesday, and even though we got to the dock early, he was there very shortly after we arrived. Johnny Romero, our agent here, was also there. He was so afraid that we were going to be late getting to the airport, but Jose Louis assured us we would make it just fine, and we did. Still we so appreciate Johnny’s constant vigilance to make sure our visit here is “just right”. Heather and Jed spent yesterday in Quito, Ecuador, and really enjoyed it, but evidently political unrest interrupted some of their plans. The President of Ecuador resigned a few days ago and there are protests by indigenous Ecuadorians against the current free trade agreement with the United States. They were not aware of this before arriving, but all was well, and they arrived here safely. On the way back to Puerto Ayora from the airport, we stopped to see the craters of Los Gemelos and visited the Primicias Ranch to see the giant land tortoises. We were not disappointed. There were tortoises everywhere.
The arrival of Heather and Jed did bring a new weather pattern. They brought rain. It has been so long since we have had rain that we no longer bother to shut all the ports when we leave the boat. But today, we should have been more vigilant. As soon as we left the airport, it was evident that we were driving into rain clouds. Thankfully, the rain was light and intermittent and cleared by evening. When we did return to the boat, we were pleasantly surprised to find that everything inside was dry. If it did rain in the harbor today, it must have been a light rain. Lucky for us.
I asked Heather and Jed to give me their first impressions of the Galapagos in five words or less and they said-flat, hot, greener than expected, and not really so different from other parts of the world. I think that is a pretty good summation of this part of the Galapagos. Wildlife is abundant, and some things like the giant land tortoises can only be experienced in a couple of places in the world, but there are many things here that are very much like home. I think the impressions will change when we move to the more remote islands, but we shall see.
by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 157, Year 1: Establishing Residency in the Galapagos
Date: Thursday, March 23, 2006
Weather at Anchorage: No Change–sunny, clear blue skies
Daytime Air Temperature: No Change–82 degrees F daytime
Water Temperature: No Change–77 degrees F
Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
We are not really establishing residency here, but we are beginning to feel like it. We have been here for nine days now, and we are beginning to feel very familiar with Puerto Ayora. It is the kind of place that one could sail into and just decide to stay. We just feel fortunate enough to be given the time to explore here and not have to rush on. Our daughter, Heather, and her husband Jed, arrive tomorrow and we begin our explorations together. We can’t wait.
On Sunday, we leave for a five day cruise of the islands on one of the Galapagos tour boats. During that time, I will not be able to post logs, but I will write them as we travel and post them as soon as we return. We will be exploring some of the islands that are close by and will then head on to San Cristobal and down to Espanola. It should be a good trip. And I won’t have to cook. That makes it all the more inviting!
We spent much of today getting pictures ready to put on the website and getting the boat ready for Heather and Jed. We leave early in the morning to meet them at the airport and will report in tomorrow night on their arrival. They are presently in Quito on the mainland in Ecuador. We have talked with them and they are having a wonderful time.
Note: We don’t know the details, but we have heard by the grapevine that Randy from Procyon made it safely to the mainland and has undergone surgery for stomach ulcers. We hope to find out more detail tomorrow. Our most positive thoughts for a speedy recovery are with him.
by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2006 | Galapagos, Sailing Logs Year 1 |
Day 156, Year 1: A Walk to the Top of Santa Cruz
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Weather at Anchorage: No Change–sunny, clear blue skies
Daytime Air Temperature: No Change–82 degrees F daytime
Water Temperature: No Change–77 degrees F
Location: Academy Bay, Puerto Ayoro, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos
We met Doug and Sylvia of Windcastle in town for breakfast this morning and then took off in a taxi for Bella Vista. That is the next town to the north and the place where you take off to walk to Mount Crocker, the highest point on the island at 864 meters.
Sylvia had arranged for the taxi and the driver was willing to take us up the mountain as far as he could drive, and then walk with us to the very top of the island. It took less than 20 minutes to get to Bella Vista and then we started the slow drive up the bumpy mountainous road. On the way up, we passed coffee and banana plantations. Once we were out of the plantation zone, we drove a little ways on up and then Jose Louis, our driver, parked the taxi and we started our walk. We walked through various vegetation zones, and we walked, and we walked and we walked. The climb was gradual, but it was a tough climb for all of us. It took us about two hours to reach the top, but the view was certainly worth it. It was a wonderfully clear day and we could view Santa Cruz and the surrounding islands with a 360 degree angle. We could see the Daphne Islands, Sante Fe Island, and San Cristobal. We could look down on Puerto Ayora and Tortuga Bay where we walked on Saturday. The view really was phenomenal and made us all feel good about pushing to the very top.
Sylvia and Doug had to make a 1400 launch back to San Cristobal, so once we basked in the glory of making it to the top, we walked very quickly back down. We made a quick stop at Bodega Blanca, the amazing little marine store here, and then to the dock to have a quick lunch before Doug and Sylvia had to leave. We hope to see them again when we reach Isabella. They are great fun and we love exploring with them. Doug got his Masters in geology from University of California Berkeley and then went to work in the aerospace industry at JPL. He has spent much of his professional life studying the geology of Io, the moon of Jupiter that is very, very volcanically active, and he is actually a world expert in the study of sulfur compounds associated with volcanic action. Since we were walking up the side of a volcano all morning, Doug was able to point out geologic details.
While Mark, Sylvia, and Doug were at Bodega Blanco, I walked around the corner to the Naugala office. Johnny Romero was there and he told me that Randy of Procyon had not improved and was being flown to the mainland of Ecuador. We saw his wife Sherri in town before heading back to Windbird, and we sent our best wishes with her. It is the fear of all sailors that some medical problem like this should happen in remote areas. Everyone here seemed to be working to do the best they could, but simply do not have the equipment to do the testing required to properly diagnose Randy’s problem. Hope with us that he will have a speedy recovery and will be back with us here in the Galapagos soon.
Tomorrow we are taking the day off to prepare for Heather and Jed’s arrival on Friday. We can’t wait to share with them the amazing things we are seeing here.
