San Cristobal

We arrived in San Cristobal, the first island in the Galapagos, late in the afternoon two days ago and anchored in a small anchorage by a humble little town. The Galapagos has such a fragile and unique ecosystem that measures need to be taken to protect it. When we came into the harbor a crew of men came onto our boat to check if we were carrying anything dangerous to the islands.  One guy actually dived to see if the bottom was clean!  

After that episode, during wich we had to clean the boat again, because of all the dirty footprints, we explored the town. Exploring a town, in my parents world, apparently meant, finding a place with wifi.  So we went around asking if anybody new where there was an internet cafe or ciber place.  Eventually we found a couple and settled down for school and work.

When we got here we didn't have very high expectations for San Cristobal, but turns out there are tons of things to do!  Of course we haven't done any of them ourselves but we have friends who have been here a long time already and they tell us about the different tours and excursions they have done, it all sounds pretty cool and I hope to do at least some of the activities before we move onto the next island.

San Cristobal is sea-lion paradise.  As soon as we pulled in we saw an abandond boat simply covered in sea-lions, there were sea-lions sunbathing on the deck, sea-lions sitting proudly on the transom and sea-lions lying in clumps in the cockpit.  We pile our fenders and jerry cans in our sugar-scoops so that the sea-lions don’t climb up and get our boat all smelly.  We don’t use our dingy because we don’t want the sea lions climbing in and piping it.  We have to step over them when we get onto land because they’re just laying all over the stairs.

Casa Loma

For my moms birthday we went to Minca an stayed at an Eco Lodge called La Loma/Casa Loma.  Casa Loma had lots of pets, they had 5 pets and each one was very cute:

Baludal

 Tica

 Lola

Lucy

Narese Blanca

Every morning a Yoga instructor did classes on a porch in the forest.  One day after a Yoga class the instructor set up a stretchy piece of fabric and demonstrate  how to climb up it towards the tree branch and did cool tricks.  after he taught us how to do it he let us try:

Juliana, the Feistiest Horse on the Ranch

At the horse-ranch in Bonaire we take horse-back-riding lessons.  Im one of the oldest, so the instructor usually puts me  on the feistiest horse, Juliana.  Even though I'm one of the most skilled in the horse-back-riding class, I found her hard to handle.  

Sometimes she would buck and bark and try to throw me off.  One time she got close enough to kick another horse, making them both panic before I could rein her in.  Next time Im not going on her!

Kleine Bonaire

Kleine Bonaire is an abandoned island right off of Bonaire.  Bonaire is a Dutch island and kleine is Dutch for little.  The whole of Bonaire is a marine park so there's fantastic snorkeling all around Kleine Bonaire and other parts of Bonaire also.  So far I've been to Kleine Bonaire 2 times, one time we went with my grandparents for a snorkeling trip, then a couple days later we repeated the exact same trip with our Marlin friends. 

Both times I snorkeled there I saw tons and tons of fish, but the dominating breed was the Parrotfish.  After both snorkels we researched in our reef fish book and looked up the fish we saw.  A lot of times over 50% of the fish we saw were Parrotfish!

Later after a few days had passed after both snorkel trips, we found out that another fish we had been seeing a lot of, was also a Parrotfish! (even if it was the baby version of it) 

Bonaire

We're in Bonaire now and I'm so glad to see my friends, I haven't seen them in 6 years and now i'm seeing them everyday!

After Trinidad Bonaire is a welcome change.  The water in Trinidad was grossly poluted while in contrast Bonaires water is a brilliant blue.  Our friends here are involved in about a million different activities and we're getting pulled in also.

A few days ago we went to a horse-back-riding lesson.  Jades horse was the slowest and the instructor kept having to walk along side her horse and lead it.

Trinidad

Three days ago we sailed an overnight from Hog Island, Grenada to Chaguramas, Trinidad.  We're at a dock because we're getting a watermaker installed, I don't like marinas in general, but this one was just disgusting!

STOP THE POLUTION!

One morning we woke up and a huge dead catfish was floating, belly up, next to our boat!  Later we saw it lying on the beach, there were no marks on it, so it was probably killed by polution.  Another day we walked down the dock and noticed that the whole harbour's water was coated in oil!  As far as I could see the water was shining with rainbow!

Chilling in the Tobago Cays

The Tobago Cays lay about halfway down (or up) the Grenadine island chain, and conveniently mark (more or less) the southern boundary of the hurricane belt, as far as U.S. insurance underwriters are concerned. If Dafne gets damaged in a "named" storm anywhere north of 12 degrees 40 minutes north we will not be covered. This line runs more or less right through this little group of islands. So, since June 1, the official start of the hurricane season, I keep waking up at night thinking, "Jesus, we have to get to the Tobago Cays."

The other big draw that pulls up to 200 boats into this labyrinth of uninhabited islets ringed by a horseshoe reef, is that this is one of the more beautiful, nature-filled anchorages in this part of the Caribbean and has been set aside as a marine nature reserve. Lucky for us July is the low season; so when we arrived the other day there were only 20 other boats, mostly huddled around the central island—Baradel—which has been marked out as a sea turtle sanctuary.

Since Dafne only draws 3'9" (1.15m) we are able to pull into shallow areas, such as this 6-foot-deep section of sand behind the reef.

After a ho-hum experience in Bequia, which I'd extolled endlessly as the perfect anchorage to the rest of the crew, I've learned my lesson about talking a place up. Beyond a few words about seeing turtles I didn't make a lot of promises to the girls. As a result, they were overjoyed when we anchored in six feet of water over pure sand, just behind the reef, and nearly bumped nose-to-nose with a turtle when we jumped over to check the anchor. And two large rays.

Pulling Laurel, our dinghy, up on Baradel Cay. A moment later a baby reef shark came swimming along just a foot from the beach. The girls were thrilled.

There's no internet signal in the Cays, so Lani and I purposefully unplugged for a short vacation to focus on more important things like snorkeling.

After a little experimentation in Bequia I've learned that we can generate about 10% more electricity if we push the boom to one side or another. As well after several promises, I finally made good on my commitment to rig up a swing. As a result, just hanging on Dafne proved plenty of fun for most of a day. 

Cleo, tentative at first, got into the swing of things quickly.

Stella, ecstatic, now asks me to rig this daily.

Ok, I loved it too.

We connected again with Natalie and Michael, a German couple aboard Marlin, and their kids Lena and Maya, who were both born on the boat. They were in a more serious school routine than us, but also took off three days to simply relax and enjoy the surroundings.

We picnicked one afternoon on picture-perfect Jamesby Island. Best nap ever under this palm.

Our kids get along marvelously with Lena and Maya. They spent three hours creating a whole world (incomprehensible to me) on the beach, with complex rules and roles—half drama, half game. Completely inspiring.

Petit Bateau nearby hosts a large population of iguanas (and no French children's clothes).

Starfruit—called Five Fingers in these islands—proves a tasty lunch for my friend.

We spent one afternoon snorkeling around Baradel, the turtle sanctuary, which was within swimming distance of Dafne. Within minutes we encountered three large hawksbill turtles in about ten feet of water. They were totally preoccupied with munching the sea bed and let us swim with them for over 40 minutes. Our underwater video camera has kicked the bucket after just a month of use; so, we didn't get any footage. But take my word, it was completely magical, especially when a turtle turns around to check you out and meet eye-to-eye. Encounters with wild animals like this leave me completely stunned.

A few days later Jade worked on a series of turtle sketches, which I hope she'll post here soon.

Queen of the Tobago Cays. Stand back.

Stella fell into a great rhythm.

We lucked into a full moon during our visit. Well, "luck" should perhaps be qualified. The moon raised the high tides more substantially over the reef, which made the evenings—in particular one night when it blew 22-knots constantly—rolly and rocky in the anchorage. But it made for beautiful cocktail hours when we could hang out on the trampoline and watch the moon rise.

A short dance performance on the bow. The reef is just perceptible in the background (breaking waves to the left), while moon is up on the right.