Gone Fishin´

Or out to lunch or whatever you want to call it. We are off in the morning to the Marquessas. After almost 30 days in the Galapagos we are out of here. Our last stop was Isla Isabella where we enjoyed lots more wildlife including small penguins fishing under our boat on a daily basis and a lagoon filled with hundreds of large sea turtles. No pictures this time as this place only has painfully slow dial-up. No uploading here so they will have to wait. They will be the last pictures for awhile as my trusty Sony Cybershot has gone to the great electronics store in the sky. No backup? Yeah, that right. Sad I know, so no more until I get a new one or it magically comes to life or one of you brings us one in French Ploynesia. On to the good. We have 3000 miles and reports of good winds out there. We are traveling with other boats for safety and fun. Although we will mostly just be in contact by radio. We are not likely to see much of each other with varying speeds etc. But radio contact is propagating over 1000 miles so that will be our connection to the world. We will talk to you on the other side in about a month or so.
We speak French now...so Au Revoir!!!

mas galapagos photos

This morning at 6am Mark woke me up to see little 1-2 foot reef sharks who were busy fishing for their breakfast right off of the stern of Scholarship. Groups of 5 or 6 cruised around along with a little school of manta rays. So much to see without even leaving home. We are heading off to Isla Isabella in the manana. Our last island will hopefully allow us to see even more wildlife. In the meantime we are getting ready for the big passage to the Marquessas. There are a lot of other cruisers here that will also be getting underway in the next few weeks. We all spend a lot of time speculating about the wind and how many days it will take to go almost 3000 miles.

A visit to the Charles Darwin Center

Beggers at the fish market
The new fancy dinghy cover handmade by Mark

Open it iguana...

The Galapagos Islands are known for iguanas. Our first experience with a Galapagos iguana was one afternoon on the beach in San Cristobal. Walking along the path Mark noticed all these trenches in the sand where it looked like someone had been dragging a garden hose. It was an iguana track, and large on at that. We found the big kahuna hiding in the shade of a tree. The afternoon sun was punishing so as we got closer he crawled slowly further into the bushes. We decided afternoon was not the time to see these creatures so the next morning armed with coffee and my camera we hit the beach again for a morning walk with the iguanas. They are absolutely fascinating and we spent about two hours getting up close and personal while they posed for photos as the ocean sprayed them with each new wave. On to the next island we encountered another beach not friendly for swimming or even surfing but an iguana mecca. They lay in piles along the whole beach. Only glancing up occasionally if you come to far into their personal space. Also the iguanas spit at passersby to say hello or more likely as a warning but it´s not so daunting as they usually cannot be bothered to move. These guys are swimmers and after several attempts to coax into the water it took me in the water first to finally see one swim. Our third iguana beach, here on Santa Cruz is beautiful white sugar sand. We pitched out umbrella next to a salty lagoon. As I stepped slowly into the cold water the iguana got right up to the water and jumped in right next to me. Putting his little legs back and cruising around like a snake with his sturdy tail. Really cool.

Galapagos...Isla San Cristobal

I can honestly say that trip from Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador to the Galapagos was dreamlike and our most enjoyable passage to date. 530 miles and four and a half days of flat seas and enough wind to keep us sailing without the motor most of the time. We arrived in the early morning to the misty fog of Isla San Cristobal. There was no actual island in sight (except on radar) until about a mile and half away. As we rounded the bouy there it was, a harbor full of commercial and crusier boats alike, our new home (for the week anyway). As we dropped the hook we could faintly smell, but definately hear the barking and moaning of a legion of sea lions in the background. The first to welcome us to the Galapagos was indeed some very playful sea lions. Flipping and gasping as they circled Scholarship. There little puppy faces are irresistable to me and I have to restrain myself from taking too many pictures of them. They seem to be in harmony with humans here. It´s not uncommon to find one in your dinghy or one passed out the street close to the malecon. That is the very tip of the iceberg as far as wildlife is concerned. In our four days here we have encountered several birds I would deem exotic, marine turtles and iguanas and of course many fascinating gigantic land tortioses. On the way back from the totioses we even found a 300-year-old tree with a bar in it. Today we hit the water for some snorkeling with the lobos del mar (what sea lions are called here). A bit colder than I had expected, actually a lot colder. A lot like California water. Glad we have those hefty 7mm wetsuits stashed in the bilge. I will be wearing mine soon. Our Galapagos permit limits us to visiting only four of the thirteen islands. A few more to go, so we will be moving on in a day or so. Below are some photos from San Cristobal. Enjoy.

Banos!

Yes bano is the spanish word for bathroom and even those with the most limited spanish know this word and may wonder why anyone would visit such a place. The city we visited in the Central Sierra of Ecuador is called Banos (there is an accent over the O, not sure how to do it on the keyboard). The town is named for the numerous natural hot and cold springs that surround it´s valley. These springs are caused by Tungurahua, a very active volcano that was either smoking or belching lava the whole time we were there. We spent four days in Banos hiking, biking, eating great meals and just enjoying the drizzle and refreshing air we miss at sea level. All of this and we were also joined by our good friends from Phoenix, Karena and Josh. They met us in Quito and we traveled by treacherous bus ride up to Otavalo for a weekend of hiking and shopping at the famous market. I was all shopped out from our visit there in September but hopefully Karena and Josh found some fun stuff to take home with them. From there we traveled to Banos and then Karena and Josh took off for a few days in the Galapagos. Mark and I traveled back to the boat ( in Bahia de Caraquez) to get ready for our next passage, also to the Galapagos. We will have three weeks or so to enjoy the islands before we set off for our biggest adventure ever, sailing to the Marquessas. Don´t feel bad if you need a map. I did when we first started planning this trip. Check back in a few weeks for some Galapagos pictures. xo Liz & Mark
A side note..many of you leave comments with questions but no email to repsond to, so if you want a reply please include it in your comments.

Happy to be at the top of the mountain

On the way down

This donkey made a sound like we have never heard before

Getting ready to bike the avenue of the waterfalls

Karena not quite ready for lunch

Josh and Karena crossing the canyon on little tiny cable

Looking more realxed on the way back

That is us down there getting misted by the huge waterfall

Adios Panama

After two great months in Panama it was time to head south back to Ecuador. We had made plans to meet up with friends in early March so off we went with our temporary crew member Ross for one more week in the Perlas Islands and a wonderful 4.5 day passage to Ecuador. Having crew turned out well for our passage as it afforded Mark and I a bit more sleep and Ross himself provided us with plenty of comic relief. Below, a few pictures of one last Panama party on Scholarship. Also Ross dressed in a wig for his first maritime equator crossing. Traditon calls for hazing for new crew. Because of our tiredness after 4 days at sea Ross got off easy.

Pat, Bobby, Mark, Suzie and Ross a few days before departure

Barbara, Joanie, Jerry and Carrie aboard Scholarship

Mark & Ross out for a spin at Isla Pedro Gonzalez in the Perlas

Yes Mom, that is your wig!

Ross checking out the view from the mast

Panama Canal

Before we left Panama City we were lucky enough to be line-handlers for another sailboat transiting the Panama Canal. Friends of ours knew we were interested in going through so they let us know that Barbara and Cori of sailing vessel Incresent Moon were looking for help. Every sailboat going through is required to have a captain, an advisor and four line-handlers. Excited to see the extent of the canal we set off from Panama City on the Panama Canal Railway bound for Colon. After a few hours in Colon we set off on our adventure. After the first set of Locks we were moored in Gatun Lake for the night. The line-handing was easy. Incresent Moon (a 44-foot Tayana) was simply tied on to another 75-foot muti-million dollar sailboat (an Oyster) and through the locks we went. Not much work for us but it was great just watching in awe at the way the canal works. Truly one of the man-made wonders of the world and much more interesting that I could have imagined. See for yourself at www.pancanal.com

Here is Mark outside the Panama Canal train, just a short 2 hour trip from Panama City to Colon Our gracious hosts Cori & Barbara of SV Incresent Moon



Going through Gatun Locks