Day 11

... well, up the asymetric went, but we were not able to raise it all the way to the mast; down the genua came, but not smooth as it should have.  Bottom line, something got tangled in the lines.  It took us time to untangle this mess, and during that time we drifted away from our course.  About 45 minutes later - sure felt more like an eternity - we raised the Genua back up and started to gain speed again.  One by one we were catching up to the boats that passed us during these 45 minutes.

we were also able to assume the the night shifts in order to get some sleep.  We expect arrival into Pto Baquerizo around 6 or 7 am.

Around 5 am or so we were able to spot the lights of Pto Baquerizo.  This made our heading much easier.  Part of the course required us to pass a jetting rock named ´´Five Fingers´´ - you guessed it, it looks like five fingers reaching out from under the ocean - to our right, and from there head directly into the finishing line.  We have sailed this stretch several times before and know that the best approach is to head up wind almost to land, tack, head towards the jetty, tack, and cross the finish line.  In front of us we see Alcanze, the navy boat; behind us we see Tivoli as well as Kaony.  While we know we were out of first second or third place contention we were going to give these three boats a run for their money!

Alcanze makes it first past Five Fingers, and we are close behind, chasing after him.  The winds are a strong 16 knots and we head upwind as much as possible.  Tivoli is behind, and she also passes Five Fingers, and begins to head upwind.  Except Tivoli can really head upwind; her design is such that upwind under the current conditions she does very well.  Kaony decides to sail a little further towards shore before making the tack ... good move.

I am also copying the blog site for the copa galapagos that has regatta pictures uploaded.  very nice fotos; you will also see the foto around ´´five fingers´´ with Alcanze and Tivoli ... we are blocked by the rocks
http://copagalapagos2011.blogspot.com/

We all sail towards the jetty and manouver into the tack.  We were not able to catch up to Alcanze, tivoli and us crossed the finish line together.  What came as a surprise was Kaony inching into the finish line before we did! Her strategy to head as close to land as possible paid off as this manouver placed her in first for the category!  Well done Kaony.

Well, it is now 7:30 am.  we are all a bit bummed but ´´asi es la vida.´´   After our ceremonial cubas libres - yes, even at 7 am since it must be cocktail hour somewhere in the world ... we wrap things up and get ready to head into town for the ush... hotel, stop at the navy command center, shake hands, and go and grab some chow.

after a well rested nap we all head into town to walk around.  The town Major organized an event for all townspeople with music and activities to celebrate our arrival... very nice.  They hand us nice T-shirts and promotional information.  Pierina Correa gives a nice speach on behalf of her brother (a.k.a. El Presidente), and the festivities and photo opportunities continue.

Pto Baquerizo also has a large number of non-colonos .... students from universities around the world, who come here for a semester as part of their curriculum.  One of them takes the stage and plays his guitar and sings along ... promoting his later gig at the ´´Iguana Rock´´ a pub that features life music.

In the evening is the awards ceremony as well as the closing ceremony.  The Ecuadorean Navy once again manages to put on a spectacular event with music and great food.  Speeches ... yeap ... lots of them.  They seem to like speeches ... they, the speech givers, not the speech receivers.  but we all listen and clapp at the end - a sign that signifies ´´about time´´ more than ´´well inspired.´´  And as is in good local tradition ... the elixir of sailors flows free out of the tap .... cubas libres all around. All have a great time.  Tabasco also receives recognition for its participation and overall placement (9th overall).

The festivities spill over to ´´Iguana Rock´´ into the late hours.  some of us have to go to bed soon to catch a flight back to mainland and into reality.  Gus and Nacho had to leave earlier today because that was the only flight they could get.  Junior has to hop on a motor boat at 6 am tomorrow to make a 2-plus hour run to Baltra, where the other airport is.  My flight is at 12 tomorrow but I need to be at the airport at 9 so that i do not loose my seat .... after all, there is a 300 people waiting list!  Olafo, Lars, and Jinsop will be in Pto Baquerizo one more day, stocking up on things for the boat as they will sail Tabasco back to Salinas ... a five day ordeal. 

Olaf will also try and see if there is anything that can be done to locate my iPhone and some cash as I was the victim of a robbery ... even in Galapagos one must not let the guard down, as I did.  Odds of recovery: ZERO...  

This entry is therefore fotoless :-(

Thank you all for following this blog.... make sure you check it in a few days as I will be uploading many of the fotos into the entries where my WiFi access was so slow.

Bernardo
bernipez@verizon.net

Day 10

We meet with Matias early in the morning.  First breakfast and then we head off to get the snorkeling equipment.  Pierina, her younger daughter Pierina “the Original” as she points out :-) and their visiting exchange student Kendall join us for the tour.  More people want to join us as well but Matia refuses on grounds that the group would then become too big to manage, and managing the human impact of the Galapagos is one of the key challenges in these islands. 

This gives us the first “taste” of Matias’ dedication to preserving this important ecosystem.

Our first stop is the Tabasco to change into swimming gear.  From here we head towards the Tintoreras.  We see a penguin.

 “…the penguin in the Galapagos is the second smallest penguin species in the world.  Penguins mate for life, and during a recent storm a large number of penguins were wiped out.  Because penguins mate for life this meant many widowed penguins that did not mate again, causing some issues here that the Charles Darwin station is addressing.”

Matias also explained the source of the lava formations in the islands, and explained that the “foam” of the hot lava is what makes Pomes rock.  Pomes rock is hard and light.  The regular lava from the volcano explosions ends forming what we all know as lava .. that hard, porous, black rock made familiar during Arnold's "Escape from Mars" movie ..??? was that the movie? ... anyway... lava everywhere ...

We arrive to the Tintoreras … “this is the spot where the sharks come to rest.  Sharks require constant motion in order to breathe, but here, the flows of water though these natural channels allow the sharks to sit motionless and still are able to breathe.”  Truly incredible.

During the rest of the walking tour Matias explains that what looks as bird excrement (a.k.a. bird poop or shit) on the rocks is actually lichens, which predominantly forms on one side of the rocks.  The reason for this is that the rain and mist predominantly comes from one direction, and depending on where the lichens forms one can tell where the rain comes from.  Interesting … and here I thought these brids are soiling all the rock faces on Galapagos ... hmmmm

Our snorkeling tour was fantastic.  Some would say ..."f$#&ing A" while others would have a "liesin the mouth" problem (if they didn't drown first for letting all that water into their mouths).

Schools of colorful fish all over the place … big fish; small fish... I dont know where to start ... oh yea, I was going to study medicine but then as a young lad I did come to the Galapagos (before they became endangerd and protected - the Galapagos, that is, not me) - and was fascinated by what I saw and so decided I would want to study Marine Biology.  Good thing I did, otherwise I would have been one of them wealthy tourists looking at all these odd-looking sailors desembarking from the sailboats and wondering if this was part ot he "galapagos" experience!

 The most fascinating experience was to encounter sea turtles 4 – 5 feet in diameter.  Matias indicated that if we "drifted with the water curent that we would be able to see it feed under-water.  And indeed we did.  Fascinating!!  I hope to get the pictures from our underwater expedition and share with you soon.

This was a great end of the day, because from here we are off to the boat and getting ready for the last stage … Pto Villamil – Pto Baquerizo.  We say our good byes to Matias.  One can only say that the Lord does work in minsterious ways, and so has made seeing Matias again after 25 years possible under the most unusual circumstances, and I hope He will be able to do so again in due course.

The start is scheduled at 6 pm for a sail that will take about 12 hours.  The plan is to arrive in the early morning in Pto Baquerizo.  Pto Baquerizo is the capital city of the Galapagos, and the largest settlement in the Galapagos.

The start of the race turns out to be the most chaotic one of all … not easy to start in the dark of the night. 

We did an early start, and were penalized by having to turn around the committee boat and start again.  Good thing there was no boat to our right because we did a perfect 360 penalty turn two feed from the committee boat – something that must have raised the hairs of all on board the committee boat as well as all the racers heading to the starting line - woke them up for sure!

 “Right-of-way” shouts were heard from three – four boats, fearful that we would cut them off and force them out of the wind.  But before they could finish their shouts our sails were full and we were heading across the start line at full speed in from of the complaining boats … that was e-x-c-i-t-i-n-g!

Before the strike of midnight the wind is blowing hard, and we are cruising upwind at 8 – 9 knots.  Not bad … the decision is made to raise the Asymetric …

Day 9

… a rainy morning, and as feared, almost no wind.  The race committee decided to push the start out to 8 am rather than 6 am.  Of course this was not mentioned the night before --- a few extra shut-eye hours would have been nice, thank you!

Still, we head out to the starting line and wait … and wait … and wait … and yes, continue to wait

Around 8 we take off to Pto Villamil in 6 knot wind :’-( … great wind for relaxing … but we do not want to be relaxing now … Should have started at 6 am when the wind was blowing at a howling 6.5 knots!

Into the regatta the wind continues to drop and causing us problems.  We also make a tactical error.  We dicide to raise the Asymetric in order to try and gain on speed.  But the angle of the wind is not verry favorable and the fact that we need to head up wind in order to clear one of the leg's way-points means we are forcing the Tabasco to a stall.  So, down comes the Asymetric and up comes the Genoa ... the other way around actually, and we head upwind hoping for more favorable winds ... Nada papi chulo ... no viento. #@$*! ... and we fall several places back on the standings of the general regatta.  Means that on the last leg, Pto Villamil – Pto Baquerizo, we have to work hard to ensure a good finish – let’s hope for better winds!  For now, we are drifting at a super-fast 4 knots towards Pto Villamil ….

Arriving into Pto Villamil … with no wind … makes a mess for all, including us.  We placed by the end of the third stage 22^nd in the general L

Here is the bright side … we get to spend the afternoon and all of tomorrow in Pto Villamil, a “last frontier town” in Galapagos that retains the “colonist” atmosphere.  We also make contact with an old friend of Olaf and I from school, Matias Espinosa, who has become Galapagos’ Premier Tour Guide.  Matias also helps us with getting our hotel reservation... Hotel El Volcano, a five star hotel for Pto Villamil standards.  Don't get me wrong, this was a nice hotel.  Clean, a working shower - not that we needed one :-).  A comfortable bed. 

Before heading into town we are again boat hopping and sharing drinks with our many friends on anchor.  We board the Bravissimo, where we also meet with the team from the Tivoli.  In what looks like an assembly line of Cubas Libres our hands are stocked and the glasses are raised to toast everyone's preformance at the regatta.  Music also plays in the background while a few crew from other ships jump into the aquamarine waters of Pto Villamil.

During our transfer ride to the dock we are escorted by a few curious sea lions; tourists look at us as if they had never seen a group of 300 sailors disembark before … guess they have not! ... makes me wonder who has it better ... us in our yachts hopping from island to island under the power of wind or them hopping from island to island under the power of diesel with a whole bunch of people they met only two days ago at the "Tourists here" spot in the airport in Blatra and no Cubas Libres .... hands down we win ... that is why we do this!

We meet Matias at the hotel … incredible how after not seeing someone for over 25 years it takes but a second to recognize him.  What a joy it is to see him.  We also meet with Rafael Correa’s older sister Pierina Correa.  Rafael Correa, of course, is Ecuador’s Constitutional President; Pierina is actively involved in the promotion of sports, crews for one of the boats, Fanny, and knows Matias from earlier activities while in Galapagos a few months back - Matias was Pierina's guide. -- oh, if I did not mention this before... only certified guieds can take people (i.e. tourists bot national and foreign) through the Galapagos since it is a National Park.

We all agree to meet for dinner before heading to the awards ceremony.  Matias also offers to organize a tour of the area around Pto Villamil for us, particularly an area where a type of shark, the Tintorera, comes to rest.  Afterwards, the plan is to go spot where we can snorkel and observe some of the underwater sea life.

Yes... regardless of what the weather looks like this is shaping up to be a great day tomorrow!

…No awards for us tonight … booh - hooh - hoo :'''-(

but good work for all those who did!  I hang out with Matias a bit longer.  We stroll down main street - looks like it at least.  We head to a nice little pub called “Beto’s” for a few drinks.  Beto's is at the watefron in the "outskirts" of town.  I did hang out here three years ago as well ... great pub, great music, and not to rowdy.

We have an opportunity to catch up on 25 years in less then 60 minuts skipping a lot but highlighting the important ... health, family, "life after Colegio Aleman," and friends.  It is an opportunity to let him know that our good friend Robi Baue, aslo from the colegio, is faced with skin melanoma, has had surgery to remove some malignant spots, and we all hope that hes follow-up treatement will be sucessful…

Matias decided to move to Pto Villamil with his wife and two young children to give them the opportunity to experience life in the Galapagos; In a few years they will likely move to Pto Ayora and then settle in Cuenca, one of the larger cities in Ecuador.  Matias has also started working more and more in music that explains the importance of the Galapagos Islands, and Beto, Beto’s owner, puts his CD for background music.  Vey nice music.

[I will try and upload some of his music to this blog once I have the opportunity to connect to a stronger signal]

Day 8

Here is a little trivia for you ... why am I amble to update this blog?  -- yes!  We are in Pto Baquerizo today and the internet works at double hamster speed here!  but more on Pto Baquerizo in Day 10.

So, Day 8...

Today we had the luxury of sleeping in.  This is our R&R day now that all the boats have arrived.  Our outing for today is to an area called “Las Grietas” or the cliffs.  It is a lava cliff formation and at the bottom is a pool of sea water that is fed through underground tunnels. 

The attraction is that it is deep and taking dives from the edge is a thrill.  We all take turns first swimming to the wall, climbing 10 – 12 meters up, and then plunging back into the water.

On our way back we stopped at a friend’s house, Furio Valvonese, a long time resident in Puerto Ayora and honorary Italian Consul for the Galapagos.  We enjoyed a few beers, played with Tornado, his pet pit-bull, and had a few laughs.  We all then jumped on the water taxis back to town for lunch. 

After lunch we strolled up and down the malecon greeting people and joining them for a beer or some ice-cream.

It was an early night for all… rooster call is at 4 am because the start is scheduled for 6 am … Puerto Ayora – Puerto Villamil.  This will be our Achilles leg because the forecast calls for low wind – Tabasco does not do well on wind less than 8 knots coming in at an angle of less than 90 degrees…

Day 7

Today is a day of rest ... on the 7th day ... how biblical! except in our case it is realy a day to recover after a night out in town bar hopping, inviting and being invited to drinks ... how can you say no! Look out for a spike in the stock price for Bayer :-) good thing there is plenty of ceviche and beer left ... dog's hair, is it?

After we recover the Tabasco team will do a bit of sightseeing ... we plan to go to "tortuga bay" maybe the charles darwin station, i will also stop by the open fish market ... matter of fact, i better head there before all the fish is gone.


again, bummer the link to the satelite is not the best .... means the pix will not be uploaded until L8r ...


today is also the award ceremony ... still waitng for the last ship to sail in ... so official results will not yet be posted.  though I am sure ya'll know how the standings are ...

I arrived a little late to the fish market this morning L but there were still plenty of lobsters. 

The pelicans and resident sea lion waited around in the event some additional fish scraps became available (in addition to selling you the fish the fishermen also process the fish)

Main Street (known as the malecon here) is a busy street with shops, restaurants, and private residences.  It is also the street where all the tourists that come to the tours go and walk around on buying souvenirs. 

Along the water edge running sideways one sees colorful crabs.

We met for lunch at a great restaurant overlooking the harbor.  We lucked out by getting the top platform so our view was spectacular. 

After ceviche and a mug of cold beer we had our main course which was fish (Wahoo – a sort of mini-version of the swordfish) with steamed vegetables and rice. 

Desert was cappuccino or espresso and a glass of sambuca.  Nacho, Gus and Junior had desert – seems they are not as concerned about their waistline as some of us are J

The afternoon we hung around a bit buy the square.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Tortuga Bay, a beautiful beach with super fine white sand and clear turquoise water.  Along the 30 minute walk on is greeted by birds or lizards of different colors and shapes.  Finches – them iddy biddy birds Charles Darwin studied and based his Theory of Evolution on – I think – also abound … beaks of all shapes.  I think he was on to something and wonder only what he would have come up with if he had a chance to come here today!

One of the best features of the beach is that the iguanas will swim over to this beach and walk up to the dunes to nest.  It is therefore not unusual to be strolling down the beach when along comes and iguana, stopped only by one’s curiosity in admiring it and photographing it….

Around the bend Turtuga bay continues to what is a pool of wave-less water

We caught a ride back to town in the back of a pick-up truck …

The evening was the award ceremonies.  Even though we arrived first in our group, after the adjustments for handicap our official place is 3^rd for the race and 2^nd overall. 

Celebration followed … from the reception to the bars in town … Bayer stock continues to rise … at least for the next few days.

missing the family :-( but surrounded by great friends.


ok... off i go.... greetings from galapagos

Day 6

My last night shift starts at 1 am on the 4^th day.  Winds continue fair and we are making good progress. The first seagull shows up for a visit at 3 am … with a companion.  Makes me think of John Sebastian Livingston, and how these two are probably out scouting to determine if we are a fishing vessel or not.  They leave after 30 minutes … no food for them here J

Sunrise greets us …

and we spot a few boats north and south from us.  At about 7:30 am we believe we identify one of the ships as Fanfarron, a 1993 Volker 45…

she does not worry us as she is in another category and her handicap means if we see her she cannot finish before us … slowly we are checking off names that do not present a threat anymore.

Though we spotted land early one by 9 am we clearly see San Cirstobal. 

I hope you have been able to check the websites and tell how we are doing against all other boats and how our standings are.  We will not know for sure until we reach the finish line. 

For our final approach we hoist the spinnaker.

Spirits are high, but anxiety also sets in … enough on the boat; we want some land, and we want to see how many boats arrived before us and who is still to come.  And then the waiting starts.

After 74 hours we arrive!

Although we arrive first in our division this is not a guarantee that we are first in the race because of the handicaps …. I will not know until later how it ends. 
For now we will spend time in town meeting up with all the teams and celebrate four great days and three spectacular nights past…

Tivoli arrives 1 1/2 hours later and they join us for Cubas Libres .... and we all compare notes.

Off to tonight's events ... stay tuned!

Day 5

The morning greets us again … the weather is warmer, and the winds remain favorable.  “Vina del Mar”  is far behind by a few miles … so we hope; she is too far to tell if it is her or some other boat.

It is a great day, great wind, great sailing, and great progress. 

We have no idea where all the boats are, but know they are spread miles and miles apart …. Tomorrow will be the day we all converge back into one narrow track as we try and finish this part of the race.

here a peak of our cruising speed ...

For now… time for some snack,

And some more gourmet cuisine ... this time a delish beef stew over rice.

The day says bye with a beautiful sunset…

And the moon high above will provide some light.

In addition the clouds have given way, and opened up to show us what hides behind them … a galaxy of stars so large in numbers that counting them becomes fruitless.  The Milky Way, as seen from the Equator, and while listening to the wind grace our sails and the water splash against the hull is truly an incredible show I hope will never end; sounds and sights no man will ever be able to record or reproduce and best imagined and remembered.