SAN CRISTOBAL WAITING ON MAIL

March 29, 2012

Well we´re still in Baquerizo Moreno waiting on mail.  It appears that our mail is held up by Customs in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  The reason appears to be two small anodes for the Volvo Penta engine.  Our friend and fellow shipmate, John, had purchased these for me and sent them to our mail address.  When I had the shipment posted via FedEx from St. Brendan´s Isle, it was flagged by Customs.  I might have to have it forewarded to Acadamy Bay in Santa Cruz if it doesn´t arrive by next Tuesday.  Getting mail has become a major problem.  It doesn´t seem to make any difference if you use FedEx or not.  They don´t seem to have a timely procedure to get it cleared from Customs.

Yesterday it rained from mid morning to early afternoon.  We managed to catch 20 gallons of water with containers.  If we had a more efficient way we could have captured 100 gallons.  Everyone in the anchorage was on deck taking showers and gathering rainwater.  Today it is raining again and a huge swell has set in from the SW.  GRIB files ( these files come from NOAA and other sources and show the predicted wind, wave pattern over several days) show heavy weather in the Southern Ocean that is generating the swell.  Just beyond the anchorage there are 10 ft waves breaking on the reef.  The anchorage has a 6 ft swell rolling in and the boats are dancing and rolling all over the place.  I had wanted to climb the mast once again but not in this swell!  Instead we left the boat and came into town to view the big surf in "La Loberia".  This is the place where we swam with the turtles and Manta Rays.  Today it was being pounded by 10 ft waves.  Phyllis will post some pictures on the blog.

I starting to get anxious to move over to Isabela Island and then Acadamy Bay in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island.  This will be our final island in the Galapagos.  We will provision, get our sailing clearance papers (zarpe) and start the long voyage to the Marquesas.  Right now there has been little to no wind and those that have left have been motoring and lying ahull. They are making a slow go of it.  Maybe we´ll be more fortunate and find some wind when we leave.

In the meantime, it´s a great place to be.  The harbor is well protected so we´ll stay here until the mail arrives or the swell diminishes.

What we have here on San Cristobal are sea lions.  The difference between a seal and a sea lion is that the latter have visable small ears.