Onward to the Galapagos….

Sunday, March 3rd, as we begin our journey to Galapagos, we find ourselves in summertime, lake-like seas; waves and swells are absent.  As is wind. Once again, we motor along.  I much prefer the sound of the wind over the motor. However, these very flat conditions provide the perfect opportunity to bake banana bread☺️.  Feels like home - the activity of baking, but also the sweet smells wafting from the galley. 

This sail will take us a little over three days.  Uneventful days and nights of primarily motoring on calm seas. We continue our routines with periodic interruptions by the fishing rod demanding our attention as it suddenly whirs!  On Monday, the rod roars and we have something huge on the line, taking the lure and diving, running out most of the line on the reel.  As Rob and Calvin take turns battling this deep diving beast, our excitement it may be a humongous tuna, turns to other possibilities.  Rob says it feels like we’ve hooked a car. As the creature fatigues and begins to break the surface, we realize with dread we’ve hooked a huge, beautiful ray.  A Manta?  We aren’t sure - we can only see the white of part of its belly. There’s no way we can get it to the boat to remove the lure, so we cut the line and hope the best for its survival. Bummer for all of us.

Our success fishing improves the next day.  Calvin brings in a nice mahi! We’re so excited (especially Ellie 😄) it’s not another skip jack with its very dark meat.  Calvin and I filet it and later we’ll grill it for dinner. That afternoon, we spot Pilot whales swimming with dolphins.  Their large, dark grey, rounded foreheads distinguish them from other whales.  A few hours afterward, another pod of dolphins quickly swims past us, seemingly on the hunt.  One of them jumps 15 feet straight up into the air and lands on its back.  We see them in the distance behind us in a  feeding frenzy with more jumping and big splashes as they land. 

There is an unusual tradition when one sails for the first time across the equator. The 400 year old ritual of “Crossing the Line” consists of King Neptune (a seasoned line-crosser) baptizing all the “pollywogs”(those who have never done so) who then become “Shellbacks” after crossing the equator. This baptism consists of dumping seawater over the pollywog’s head and toasting King Neptune with a beverage. We begin receiving photos and videos of other boats as they cross the line, with someone usually dressed up as a ridiculous King Neptune and leading the baptismal ceremony.  Seeing as no one on Jolie has crossed the equator via sea faring vessel, we dress up our stuffed sloth as King Neptune. Calvin has us all in stitches as he leads the baptismal rights in super slow Irish-accented sloth speak. This is followed by the seawater dumped over our heads and the pop of champagne.  Our celebration was a little premature - at sunset - because we knew the actual crossing would be in the early morning hours and no one wanted to be awake outside his or her designated watch hours. At 3:45 am on Thursday, March 6th, it just so happened I was on watch to see our position on the navigation chart change from N 0 00.001’   W 88 36.683’ to S 0 00.001’   W 88 36.683.  Pretty cool.  This is so different than changing hemispheres in a plane.  I’m not sure I even noticed?

We see the silhouette of the Galápagos Islands in the distance and know we can’t delay an additional cleaning of the hull any longer. Fortunately, the sea state is calm.  Rob, Calvin and I jump in the water with our various scrubbies and brushes and set on the task of removing any green particles below the waterline.  It’s surprising how much has grown since the last cleaning in Coiba.  Of greatest concern, is the bow thrusters and the centerboard compartment.  Rob and Calvin focus on those areas and I scrub the waterline and as far under the hull as I can dive comfortably (I’m a pansy diver - diving too far under the boat spooks me.) After over an hour of working, with the great blue abyss below us (I try not to think about Jaws), we’re happy to get out of the water and on our way. While we were in the water, Ellie was working in the boat setting up all the necessary labels that Galapagos requires - signs that we have to post around the boat, like DO NOT DISPOSE GARBAGE OVERBOARD, DISCHARGE 12 MILES OFFSHORE for each bathroom holding tank, labels for ORGANIC WASTE, NON-ORGANIC WASTE, RECYCLING, etc.  We’ve also been advised to set out all safety gear (fire extinguishers, life vests), medical kits, eco-friendly cleaning supplies, on and on. 

When we finally arrive in San Cristobal at the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, it’s about 3 pm.  In about 20 minutes, we are boarded by 10 Galapagos officials, along with two divers who will examine the hull. We are quite nervous about the hull, fearful we may be rejected because they find growth in the centerboard compartment.  None of the other Oysters have a centerboard, so we’re unsure how this will play out.  If we are rejected, we will have to go about 80 miles off shore and try to clean the hull again.  However, we’re not sure we can clean it any better than we already have.  Rob and I discuss our other option, which would be sailing straight to the Marquesas.  We don’t feel ready to take on that three week sail yet, so we’re praying this will work out.  All the officials are very friendly and happily accept a cold Coke as they work. Rob and I furtively watch the diver, who dons only snorkel gear to check out the hull.  Phew! We’re hoping for this because it’s more difficult to see the compartments if you’re not under scuba. All seems to play in our favor.  The officials have had a really busy day and they have one more boat after us.  Thus, they ask few questions as they look around Jolie.  We’re so relieved when the diver announces the hull is clean.  We’re officially in the Galapagos!!