Tuesday 12th June

Puerto Ayora
Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands.

0 44.914 S
90 18.417 W

We slept in late: we were catching up on the sleep we had missed out on during the transit. When we surfaced it was overcast outside, we are beginning to wonder where all the sun has gone! Our morning was spent onboard. Gerry wanted to do an oil change on the generator and drain the racor filter. He also transferred the rest of the diesel from the jerry cans in to the fuel tank, surprisingly we still have about 40 gallons of fuel left, much more than we expected. Whilst he was doing these jobs I began one of my own – cleaning the woodwork inside the boat. During our 10 days at sea the boat has been closed up and there has been very little sunlight and fresh air getting below deck and because of this there is a fine patina of mould beginning to grow on all the wood surfaces. I started at the bow and began cleaning and polishing the wood, it was quite satisfying to see it restored to its normal state. I only managed to get the front cabin finished and will have to continue through the boat over the next few days to get it all done. We’ve had to open all the lockers up to get air through them and dry them out; the dampness seems to have invaded everywhere. As soon as Gerry had finished his jobs we gathered our stuff together and called a water taxi to go ashore. Once we were reached the dock we decided to drop off our laundry and then go and have lunch before anything else; we walked to the farthest end of the main street along the water front where we found a small café and ate there. Having eaten our fill we took a slow wander back the same way we had come, we found Barry and Mags just about to eat lunch at another café along the way and we stopped and chatted with them for a while, discussing plans for having the re fueling for our boats done at the same time and planning a tour guide to take the four of us plus Ross and Sue around the main tourist points of interest. Once we had sorted out these few details we took our leave and continued on to one of the internet cafes where I paid the fee for an hour ($2) and proceeded to read and answer my emails. Gerry took off for the store where he had been told he would be able to buy a new battery and to the phone store to see if he could get a card for our phone. A little over an hour later he reappeared, having found out the details for the battery he decided that he would buy 2 but it means a trip back to the store in a taxi as it is much too far to carry one battery let alone two. He had been successful with the phone and managed to get a card for our old cell phone so we can now dial out (at some enormous fee!). We bought ice creams – a special treat as we can’t keep ice cream on the boat, and made our way back to the taxi dock where we picked up a taxi and returned to our boat. A short afternoon nap followed and then we radioed our traveling companions to see if they were interested in going ashore for dinner, everyone was game for the trip so we arranged to collect everyone in a taxi at 19.00hrs. At this point we found that we needed to turn our clocks back another hour; we were an hour ahead of everyone else for the second time! Just prior to the appointed hour we heard a loud anchor chain being lifted and went out on deck to see what was moving. Out side it was dark and we could make out a large trawler behind us that was beginning to make its way out of the anchorage. For whatever reason its captain chose to motor through the anchored yachts, coming between us and our nearby neighbour, we were quite alarmed as the gap was quite tight; sure enough we were justified in being alarmed as he side swiped us with his stern despite us yelling at him that he was far too close and we had our lights on so he could see us. As soon as he hit us the crew came running to our side of the boat yelling and waving that it was alright. Alright for whom we wanted to know as they kept going and the 20 something foot motor launch that they were trailing behind them came closer to us. I yelled out to Gerry that it was going to hit us too and tried to fend it off, it still managed to bounce off our toe rail as it went by. The vessel didn’t stop, didn’t radio to see if it had caused damage or even to apologise; it just kept going and it was too dark for us to tell the extent of any damage it may have caused. As it was time to go and collect the others for dinner we gathered together our cash and a torch and jumped in the water taxi with the others and related our tale. As Mags and Barry had been hit by the a swinging fishing boat the first day they were here we joked that only Y Not is left to get hit in this anchorage – not really funny but you have to make light of the situation. We went to the Angermeyer Point restaurant which was a very nice restaurant set out on the point of the anchorage and overlooks it. The food was very good but I thought it was a little light on the vegetables but then I guess Gerry and I eat a lot of vegetables so maybe I’m being unfair. When we had finished our meal the wait staff called a water taxi for us and we returned to our respective boats for the night. And very shortly afterwards it was time for bed.