Sorry for the way past due update! The blog serves as our journal, and, as I tell the kids when they are rolling their eyes at having to write in their journals on a daily basis, memories and the emotions tied to our adventures get lost quickly if we don’t stay on top of our updates. So now I am reliant on our photos to reminisce all of the amazing things and conjure the emotions tied to all those awesome experiences….
As I write this, we are on night number one of a 15-20 day crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. The plan is to check into the Marquesas in Hiva Oa, where we will spend about a week, before moving to Nuku Hiva. So long to our Spanish-speaking countries; crunch time to learn some French basics!
Time to rewind to the last blog post and bring you up to date. We left San Cristobal to head back to Santa Cruz, where we originally checked in, to get some boat repairs started (anchors and more!) and check off more sites.
Our first excursion was to Isla Seymour, where we were treated to seeing massive land iguanas and frigate birds doing their best to attract mates using their blown up throat pouches, dances and songs.
Our next excursion was a dive/snorkel in Floreana. We loaded onto our boat and Gabriel immediately noticed that there was water in the fuel filter. The crew shrugged off his concern; however, the boat was definitely not running well for the two hour journey to Floreana. We had two beautiful dives, and Bella and Luna were able to try out an introductory scuba dive!
We set off to return to Santa Cruz and quickly realized that the journey was going to be… inefficient. With the contaminated fuel, the return trip took an extra hour (at least).
Our last excursion in Santa Cruz was a dive in Isla Bartolome and Cousins Rock. This was my second favorite dive after Kicker Rock. The topography was beautiful: colorful fish and coral filled the tiers of rock and the ocean was filled with highlighted by sharks, turtles and rays.
Bella and Luna did a second exploratory dive with lots of sharks and sea lions.
Not only did we have great dives, but we finally saw the famous blue-footed boobies (Paul then could finally buy one of the hundreds of “I love boobies” souvenirs 😆).
And we saw our first penguin! On our return trip, we were escorted by a pod of dolphins the good part of the way back! What a great day!
After the long boat ride for the Floreana scuba dive, we decided it would be easier if we moved the Sea XII to Floreanna as a pit stop on our way to Isabella. We left at 4a.m. and arrived at Floreana at 8a.m. for an island tour, food and some snorkeling.
Floreana is the smallest of the four inhabited islands, boasting a population of 160 people. We enjoyed our tour of the highlands, visiting tortoises that were cared for by park officials as the tortoises had been kept as pets by a family 50+ years ago and could not fully fend for themselves due to their high nutrient expectations.
We learned the history of the island to include the three inhabiting families, one of which was an extremely disliked baroness who was accompanied by her two lovers. My favorite thing about the island were the elaborate pirate caves and labyrinths cut into the stone.
After our walk, we were treated to a delicious local lunch and were given postcards. Floreana is known as the post office bay due to a mail system started in the late 1700s with a barrel that carried letters for passing sailors to deliver. We all filled out our postcards and deposited them in the barrel, hoping for a future visitor to send on to our family and friends (yes; we took cards to mail also, although not sure when we will be at a place that has a post office!) Realizing that it may be months or years before our cards are sent, I purchased more postcards to send to family, but upon inquiry, found out that the Galapagos Islands no longer have a post service; the barrel on Floreana is indeed the only post office!
We left Floreana after our day tour to head to Isabela, the last of our islands to visit on our boat. We arrived late, and it was intimidating dropping an anchor in the obscureness of the night, knowing dangers surrounded us on three sides. The next morning, I swam into the beach for a run (loving my dry bag swim buoy!). I found Isabela very different compared to the other islands. Unpaved roads, beachfront shops and restaurants. One of the unique characteristics is that the town runs along a 5km stretch of beach, leading this island to seem like the party island, full of spring breakers ready to both explore nature and party.
The port is about a half mile walk from town, and we headed into town in the afternoon to rent bikes to visit the Wall of Tears. The Wall of Tears was built from 1945 to 1959 by prisoners when Isabela was used by a penal colony, resulting in the deaths of thousands.
The next day we took a shuttle to the highlands, where we mounted horses to ride to the Sierra Negra volcano. It was Paul’s first and very painful time riding a horse, due to the horse stepping hard on his toe after a failed first attempt at mounting – muy oucho!
It was incredible to ride along the large shield volcano with a crater over 13 km in diameter and last active in 2018!
Butts sore from the saddle-not-saddle, we dismounted the horses to walk around Volcan Chico, an incredibly beautiful landscape filled with lots of small volcanos and hot spots. This was our last excursion with Gabriel, to whom we bid “adieu!” the next morning – the two weeks he was with us flew right by! We wonder……….. who will visit us next?
While Paul worked, the kids (yep, Bella and Luna are now just bunched in with “the kids”) and I took a tour to the sulphur mines in the caldera (crater) of the Sierra Negra volcano.
We then headed to Volcan Trillizo, where we descended 150 meters inside a crater, filled with lush layers of fern. Once at the bottom, we unhooked our gear and walked around, squeezing into a cave filled with minerals. What a fun and challenging adventure!
Our driver stopped st we could check off our last animal of the Galapagos – the flamingo!
Our last excursion of Isabela was a water tour to Los Tuneles, tunnels formed from collapsed lava fields. The clear water and maze formed by lava flows were stunning, unable to be captured by camera. The captain showed impressive skills, navigating in between the various lava structures!
We had a blast snorkeling through the underwater tunnels before snorkeling amongst mangroves to find seahorses and an abundance of sea turtles.
Our visit to Isabella complete, we headed back to Santa Cruz for a third time to finalize boat projects and provision for the big crossing. Paul fought his continued foot pain to do one last dive with me at Gordon Rocks, where we battled underwater currents to see several hammerheads.
Once again, a lot of boat work was done in the Galapagos; my favorite being our new flopper stoppers! (How fun of word is that?!) Thank you to Paul’s cousin, Gabriel, who visited us for two weeks and Viko, a local skilled in all the things – he managed a work crew for boat repairs, provisioned for us, and helped us organize when I stared at all the food, not knowing where to start.
Life is the good and the bad and we had to test out the Galapagos healthcare twice. Early during our second visit to Santa Cruz, we discovered that Hannah had what we thought was swimmer’s ear, but was really a ruptured ear drum (thus ending all diving and underwater fun).
Paul made the second trip to the emergency due to a high fever and bad case of The Mad Tortoise’s revenge. Paul and I likely ate dirty fruit, leading to Paul getting IV fluids (I am tougher and didn’t need medical treatment, lol). We also went to a fabulous dentist to get our teeth checked and cleaned; thankfully nothing unique about the dentist with exception of it being in the Galapagos!
We enjoyed sharing Easter traditions with Bella and Luna, dying Easter eggs, hunting for baskets and eggs, egg wars, playing team Easter games and enjoying a nice dinner out.
No pictures were captured, but again, as usual and probably for always… Paul won the day for Smigus Dyngus. Just like every year…. I forget, and then he ever so nicely just douses me as I try to enjoy my morning coffee… Even though their last name is Polish, this was Luna and Bella’s first experience of this awesome tradition! One can only hope they bring it home and incorporate it into their family traditions on SV BellaLuna!
Our last hooray were my handsome lunch date with Andrew and manicure date with Claire.
We sadly had to say goodbye to Luna and Bella. They were a special addition to out family for Panama and the Galapagos, and we will miss them greatly! We put them on a plane to intercept the SV BellaLuna in Costa Rica. They have plans to keep heading south towards Panama. Until our paths cross again!
A day late, we headed to the north to the island of Baltra. Baltra, just north of Santa Cruz island, is where the fuel dock for boats and airport are.
So here we are, fuel tanks and bladders full and fully provisioned, fingers crossed for fair winds and following seas.
