Our cruise to the Galápagos Islands — March 22, 2023 through March 28, 2023 (subtitle: The things that don’t keep you up at night but apparently should!)

After an insanely busy 10 days getting ready for our Panama Canal transit, our visit to the Galápagos Islands and our ~3,000 nautical mile passage to the Marquesas, we were very excited to begin our next passage. The sail to the Galápagos Islands from the Las Perlas Islands is about 850 nautical miles and we figured it would take us 5 – 6 days to get there depending on how long our wind held up. This passage is notorious for light winds and the weather forecast we received the day before our departure had the wind dwindling down to next to nothing after a few days. Regardless, we were looking forward to some much needed R & R with a nice downwind sail or motor sail to paradise giving us an opportunity for star gazing, reading and, if we were lucky, a marine animal sighting or two.

The first few days were exactly what we ordered. Really nice steady winds in the 15 – 25 knot range allowing us to sail with great celerity through the Pacific Ocean. And we were treated to several magnificent marine life displays. We saw rays bounding out of the water all around us on day 1 and, at the start of day 2, we were joined by a large pod of very small dolphins, black with white underbellies. (A Google search helped us identify them as Peale’s Dolphins.). They, too, were leaping out of the water all around us while they cross crossed in front of Che Figata. The nights were equally spectacular. With only a sliver of the moon rising and setting in early evening, the sky had that deep black velvet look allowing the stars and planets to pop. There is nothing more magical than listening to the swoosh sound of the water while you lay down in the cockpit staring up at the sky. It is one of the things that makes passages — particularly when you are under sail — so special.

Alas the wind died even earlier than predicted and by about 19:00 hours on day 2 we were forced to turn on our engine. Though we lost some of the serenity we so relish on our passages, we continued to enjoy the motor sail and on day 3 we had an early morning visit from a group of pilot whales who swam close to our boat for a brief moment — almost as if to say hello — before taking off like a shot to our port. And, of course, because we are sailing Che Figata, we continued to eat well, with avocado toast and egg scramble (tofu for Jill) with toast for our breakfasts and dinners that included pumpkin chickpea curry, pasta with white miso garlic cashew sauce and caramelized mushrooms, Ethiopian lentil stew (a Hummel family favorite), Mongolian tofu, and pasta with house made pesto sauce. Life was good!

Then it happened. After enjoying our evening meal on day 3 a large seabird, a Brown Boobie, decided to perch itself on the top of our mast. Apparently the force of the bird landing on our mast caused the wire leading to our wind speed indicator, which sits on top of our mast, to disconnect. (At least that is what we were hoping happened and that there was not true damage that would require a replacement.) With the electronic link between the wind speed apparatus and our navigation system severed, we no longer able to receive information about wind speed or direction. As you might imagine, data on wind speed and direction is pretty critical when sailing. It tells us what sails to use as well as how to position and trim them. While you can certainly assess wind speed and direction from the wave pattern in the ocean and give your sails a proper trim by looking at the windex at the top of the mast, the telltales on your sails, and the shape of your sails (we are keenly aware that earlier mariners certainly didn’t have the benefit of electronics), without the wind speed/direction information it becomes much more trial and error. Unfortunately, going up the mast to give the situation an accurate diagnosis would have to wait until we were securely anchored in the Galápagos. Without the ability to take any corrective action while underway, our priority became preventing more damage by shooing away the offending Brown Boobie. Zack was able to accomplish that task by shaking one of our halyards the runs up the mast. So, as day 3 turned into day 4, we thought that our close encounter with the Brown Boobie was a one-off experience.

Wrong! Apparently our Brown Boobie visitor didn’t appreciate the eviction and gathered reinforcements to seek revenge. On day 4 we were surrounded by a flock of Brown Boobies. Six of them landed on the stainless steel that wraps around the bow of our boat and three took up residence on the top of our mast, perched ever so happily on our wind speed indicator. If the single Boobie that had originally landed there hadn’t done anything more that loosen a wire, 3 of them up there would do a more effective job. The weight of three of these birds (an adult Brown Boobie probably weighs about 3 pounds so we had nearly 10 pounds sitting on top of our wind speed indicator) is probably on the edge of what our wind speed indicator (a somewhat delicate apparatus with a thin plastic pole and wind vanes on either end) could tolerate without snapping. (We should also add that the little presents the birds were depositing on our bow, down our mast and on our mainsail were most unwelcome!).

So, how to rid the boat of these noxious invaders? Well, we can tell you what doesn’t work. Hoisting a flag to flap near the top of the mast didn’t make them flinch. Likewise, greasing the stainless pulpit around the bow to create a slippery surface, yelling at the top of our lungs and playing Mark’s recordings of birds of prey through our hailer that broadcasts loudly from the top of the mast were all totally ineffective. Nor did sounding our air horn and waving our arms wildly concern them. Even the halyard that had initially worked when there was a single Boobie on the top of the mast was no longer having any impact. (Guess they believe in safety in numbers.). Getting desperate, we decided we needed to devise a serious multi-prong plan. First, we would bring in our sails so that we could spin our boat, causing Che Figata to rock. That, hopefully, would cause the Boobies to loose their balance and fly off. But how to prevent them from just re-landing right back on the mast? That is where part 2, operation No Land Zone, comes in. To create the most unpleasant, inhospitable and intolerable, environment possible (without actually harming the birds — well Zack did lament a few times that he didn’t have his childhood BB gun aboard) we retrieved the very solid lids of 2 stainless steel sauce pans and decided to use them as cymbals. We planned to couple that with music blasted from our hailer. Our selection: Elvis Costello’s Pump it Up.

The plan worked. The Boobies lost their footing as the boat spun around. We could see then swaying back and forth, trying to hold on until they were finally forced to fly off. As they re-approached the mast Jill laid down on the deck of the bow and clanked together the stainless steel lids with all of her might and Zack made sure that Elvis Costello was blaring from the top of our mast just daring those Boobies to join us for round 3. The good news was, as noted, the plan was effective. We were quite proud of ourselves for outsmarting the birds — though given how difficult it was (and how silly we looked in the process) some may say they outsmarted us. The bad news was that the Boobies continued to fly around our boat looking for places to land. It was like a scene from the Hitchcock film The Birds, as more and more of them seemed to appear. That meant that we needed to put our evening meal on hold and continue with the music and our make shift cymbals for quite some time. After what was probably 90 minutes, but felt much much longer, the birds finally gave up and we were able to enjoy dinner. Who knew that the notorious Brown Boobie needed to be added to the list of things that should keep us up at night!

Still, sailing across oceans is full of surprises and Zack got one final surprise as he was relaxing after a wonderful (albeit somewhat cold) meal. Seemingly, out of nowhere, a squid shot up out of the water and landed on his chest, ultimately falling onto his arm. He quickly grabbed the little slimy and stinky guy and threw him back into the water. (Zack earned many kudos for his reaction time). While we have found many flying fish and squid on our deck during our passages (including this one), we have never had one propel itself into our cockpit. Those of you who have been on Che Figata or are familiar with the boat will understand what a feat that was. That squid had to jump at least 6 feet out of the water and travel about another 6 feet horizontally through the air to reach Zack. That very lucky Olympian squid will live to tell the tale and Zack has a new story to tell his granddaughters. Given Zack’s proclivity for telling tales, we are not sure they will believe him. That’s why we had to record it.

Much to our enormous delight, no bird friends decided to hitch a ride with us on day 5. Hopefully word spread among the flock that Che Figata was not a welcoming vessel. The day was uneventful and we started to get ready for our arrival to the Galápagos Islands which we anticipated would be sometime early the next afternoon. For example, we needed to make a final inventory of any prohibited items on board and develop plans to use or dispose of them (this included some eggs and a few oranges) before entering Galápagos waters. In addition, we were required to post signs, provided by rally officials, in our galley and our heads reminding us not to discharge waste overboard and to place our trash in color coded bags (green, blue and black) to separate food waste from recyclables and “other rubbish.” We also needed to strategically place fenders in the back of our transom to create a barrier that would prevent the local sea lion denizens from climbing aboard our boat. Finally, though not really required, we needed to take a picture to memorialize the experience of crossing the equator by boat. We were to submit these to rally officials once we arrived as part of a fun competition. What we decided to do was stage a ribbon cutting ceremony to symbolize entering a new hemisphere. The closest thing we had to a wide ribbon was elastic exercise bands. When pulled across the threshold of the companionway leading down to our salon, it actually looked very ribbon like. We then donned our Che Figata caps and crew shirts and stood on our steps behind the “ribbon” with large scissors in hand while Mark played photographer. Though we don’t expect to win a prize — we are confident that among this s fun loving and competitive group there will be some brilliantly creative entries (probably in costume doing some reenactment of a visit from Neptune) — we were quite pleased with the final result.

We arrived in Puerto Baquerizo off San Cristobal island, Galápagos on March 27 at about 1:00 pm local time. No sooner did we anchor when we were visited by a group of local sea lions who, true to form, searched for ways to join us on Che Figata. They were thwarted in their efforts by our fenders and quickly lost interest in Che Figata. (Though we could continue to watch them, up close, in the surrounding water and land as Puerto Baquerizo is home to a population of 500 sea lions who dive, swim and sunbathe with residents and visitors.).

We were the third vessel in our fleet to arrive. This was very fortuitous because it meant that we were third in line for clearance and would clear into the Galápagos before 5 PM. Sure enough, at 2:30 PM were were visited by the divers who would inspect our hull for plant or animal life. With great relief we received 2 thumbs up for our pristine bottom! (Interestingly though, they did not give us the clean bill of health until after they asked us if we could give them some rope — for what purpose we have no idea — and Zack provided a really nice line that they seemed to be quite pleased with!). Then, at around 3 PM, we were visited by 8 people which included 7 people from various agencies (health, customs and immigration, environmental control, national parks, etc.) as well as an agent working for the World Cruising Club, the organizers of our rally. While reviewing our documentation, they gave us a thorough inspection, taking pictures of our posted signs, our biodegradable soaps and cleaning supplies and the oil absorbent pads we had placed under our engine. They were very impressed with our compliance (and tidy boat — knowing inspectors were coming aboard upon our arrival Jill did a thorough clean while underway) and smiled when we showed them our freezer devoid of any meats. (If we had meats they would have sealed our freezer and we would have been prohibited from opening it — which would have meant no ice for us! — until after we left the Galápagos. Being a vegan boat does have some advantages!). By 3:30 PM we were successfully cleared into Galápagos and free to go to shore!

After taking care of a few odds and ends, we hailed a water taxi and got to shore just in time for happy hour. After wading our way through the sea lions that freely roamed the dock and took a siesta on the benches that ran along the dock’s perimeter — our feature image for this blog post is Zack negotiating our passage — we arrived at Hotel Miconia, a lovely little boutique hotel on the street that ran parallel to the beach. We quickly drank down our two for one Caipirinhas (a wonderful Brazilian cocktail made with cachaca, sugar and lime) and decided to stay on shore for dinner. It was fish ceviche for Zack and hearts of palm ceviche for Jill accompanied by the best patacones we’ve had to date as well as beer to wash it all down. After a really satisfying meal we strolled through the quaint town and headed back to Che Figata. Having been on a dry passage, and with fairly empty stomachs, our drinks and dinner knocked us out and at least one of us was in bed by 9:00 PM. (It might have been the lightweight among us!)

Following a great night’s sleep, the next morning it was time to go up the mast to assess the situation with our wind speed indicator. (Though we really just wanted to watch the sea lions playfully swimming around our boat while enjoying a breakfast of fish). Somehow Mark drew the short straw and got seated in the bosun’s chair as Zack hoisted him up the mast with a halyard (all 78 feet!) while Jill kept the safety line tight. When up the mast, Mark confirmed a loose connection and, after a few “wiggles,” the wind speed indicator seemed to be back in operation. Though we are somewhat concerned that the connection is still quite loose and seems susceptible to disconnecting again while underway we planned to keep our fingers crossed and monitor the situation as we move from San Cristobal to our next island in the Galápagos, Santa Cruz, on March 31.

We will remain in the Galápagos Islands until April 12 when we depart for the Marquesas. To avoid another palaverous blog post we are going to end this one here and described our stay in the Galápagos Islands in our next blog entry that we will publish right before we begin the passage to the Marquesas. We have a lot planned for our stay in the Galápagos — tours and diving excursions— and can’t wait to experience these legendary islands!