Photo Update - The Giant Tortoises

I can't believe I've posted all these pictures, and somehow the giant tortoises didn't make it!  I think, because I have so many pictures of them, I had just assumed that I had included them in previous posts!

On the island of Santa Cruz, we went on a drive to the highlands, to a place called El Chapo.  There we were able to see giant tortoises in their natural environment.  We actually also saw one on our ride out to the Wall of Tears.  Seeing them roaming around in the wild, rather than in an enclosure (such as those that we saw at a couple of breeding centers and at the Darwin Research Center), was amazing. Unfortunately it is difficult to convey their size in the photos, but here are a few:

Photo Update - The Best of the Galapagos - Part 3

Isla Isabela, Galapagos

Our final stop in Galapagos was the island of Isabela.  While it is the largest of the Galapagos islands, the small village of Puerto Villamil has only recently begun to see tourism (within the last couple of years).  As such, it is still pretty undeveloped, with one central street that has a few restaurants and shops and the roads are all still dirt.  We loved the vibe of this little village and spent a couple of days here exploring the surrounding areas.  Isabela is also the home of the equatorial penguin, which we were lucky enough to see in our anchorage!  This was our last stop before our big Pacific crossing.

You may need to zoom in a little, but here they are...the little equatorial penguins!!

These guys greeted us every day on the path from the dingy dock.

A newly constructed (beautiful, wooden) sign letting you know you've arrived in Isabela!  The stretch of road behind it was the only paved road that we saw on the island.  The village itself and all other surrounding roads were still dirt roads.

On Isabela we took a bike ride to the "Wall of Tears", a large, purposeless wall in the middle of nowhere that was built by the prisoners on the island when the Galapagos was still used as a penal colony back in the 1800's.  It was a long, hot ride out there, but it was pretty spectacular to see!

There is a reason I'm PUSHING the bike and not riding it - it was definitely uphill, but that's not an excuse!  I think I may have gone back to get Ben's bike, since he's walking without one...yes, that's most definitely it!!

A hike to the top of a lookout provided beautiful panoramic views of the island

Another view of Isabela

We finally made it to The Wall of Tears!

Ben and Gaby at the Wall of Tears.  Isla Isabela - Galapagos
June 2016

A view of the wall from the top

And one more...just in case you didn't get it from the first 3!

One thing they certainly got right in Isabela is the numerous beach bars!  They are mainly private homes that had little bars attached to them.  Very cool and lots of fun!

Gaby samples fresh coconut water - directly from the source
Beto's Beach bar - Isabela, Galapagos

Beach Bar at the end of the road

Outside Beto's Beach Bar - Isabela, Galapagos
June 2016

Photo Update - The Best of the Galapagos - Part 2

On the island of Santa Cruz, we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, and also hiked to a grotto, Las Grietas, which was a canyon like cleft in the rocks with a beautiful, crystal clear pond to swim in.

Studying fossils at the Charles Darwin Research Station
June 2016 - Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Look!  A Giant Tortoise!

All fingers point to the Equator that we crossed to get to the Galapagos Islands
Darwin Research Station - June 2016, Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Charles Darwin and the Bounty
Darwin Research Station - June 2016 - Santa Cruz, Galapagos

A Land Iguana. Much larger and more colorful than the marine iguana
Santa Cruz, Galapagos, June 2016

On the way to Las Grietas, we came across salt pans, and enjoyed the hike through some lava rocks.  Looking back at these pictures now, it is amazing to me how dry and barren it all looks.  What we see now is so much more lush:  greens and blues of palms and turquoise water.  But of course, everything a wonderful experience!

A view of the salt pan - on the way to Las Grietas
Santa Cruz, Galapagos, June 2016

Ben and Gaby next to salt pan

Adrian and an iguana - on the way to Las Grietas.
Santa Cruz, Galapagos, June 2016

A beer and ice cream stop!  On the way to Las Grietas
Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Las Grietas
Santa Cruz, Galapagos, June 2016

At the grotto swim platform

Dave taking a leap into the water!
Las Grietas - Santa Cruz, Galapagos. June 2016

And last, but not least, another beer stop at the beach!

I think they actually had to SHARE this Panama Light!

The day we took this hike, was also Garrick's birthday, so we celebrated on the way back. This turned into quite a party with the arrival of our friends on Cheeky Monkey and carried on well into the night!

The crew celebrating Garrick's birthday - June 2016
Santa Cruz, Galapagos

Birthday Boy

Cheeky Monkey arrives!

Our next stop after Santa Cruz was Isabela - part 3 of the Galapagos Photo Update will highlight our time there!

Photo Update - The Best of the Galapagos-Part 1

For the first time since Panama, being in Tahiti has given us access to internet fast enough to upload pictures!  So I thought I would make the most of it, and do some photo update posts, to share some of our experiences through the eye of the camera lens.  I'll start with the Galapagos Islands:

The Cool Runnings crew stop at a tiny restaurant on the way back from Puerto Chino, San Cristobal, Galapagos.  This is also where we bought that beautiful bunch of bananas for $2!

Ben and Gaby enjoying the beach at Puerto Chino, June 2016, Galapagos

Gaby makes friends with a sandy seal - Puerto Chino

Time for haircuts!!  San Cristobal, Galapagos, June 2016

Darwin's finch:  This little fellow was sitting on our boat

The seals were EVERYWHERE!  Here a baby lies with its mom, while another plays in the water behind them
San Cristobal, Galapagos


And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere:

Then of course, we had the marine iguanas.  Charles Darwin found them so hideous, he called them "Imps of Darkness".  I actually thought they were so ugly they were cute!

Speaking of Darwin, Gaby and Ben meet with the man himself:

Well, that doesn't seem like many pictures, but my connection seems to be giving me trouble, and I am unable to upload any more tonight.  So, consider this Part 1, more to come!  Enjoy!

On our way to Tahiti

Well, we're on the move again! This is Gudrun reporting from night shift for a change! We are 111 miles from Tahiti, and should be there around 4:00/4:30pm tomorrow afternoon.

We enjoyed the rest of our time in beautiful Tikehau, spending most of yesterday in the water. Unfortunately it was to clean the hulls, who had gotten a fine green fuzz growing on them. It is this horrible bearded algae and it is very difficult to get off!! Poor Dave and Adrian did the lion's share of the work, I jumped in after school and 2 loads of washing were done. We did the best we could but eventually ran out of daylight.

We had a yummy dinner of baguettes and cheese. Adrian had gone into the village at 4:00pm to pick them up. Our love affair with baguettes started in Panama when we discovered the little store at Shelter Bay Marina sold freshly baked loaves every day...$1 per loaf! We've managed to find fresh baguettes in most places, and of course now we are in FRENCH Polynesia, so the baguettes are delicious!!!

This morning we pulled up our anchor and headed to the pass. I am happy to report that getting out was no problem at all! It was low tide, for starters, so there was less water in the lagoon flowing out, combined with a much calmer sea state, and it made running the pass a breeze! Phew!! We said farewell to Tikehau and the Tuamotus atolls, and were able to put up Guy, our spinnaker, in about 10 - 12 knots of wind. Well, actually, we first put up the main, then Puff, then took Puff down and put Guy up, then dropped the main and flew only Guy!

The wind was light, which we were expecting, but we've had a nice, mellow trip so far. We eventually had to take Guy down and motor, but again, we were expecting that. This afternoon Dave saw a whale shark. The kids were quick enough to come on deck to see it, but unfortunately I didn't see it. Dave said it was right next to the boat, maybe it thought it was another whale shark (we were sailing at the time, so just gliding through the water)? It must have gotten a fright, because it suddenly thrashed its tail (which was huge!) and then dove down...between the hulls!! Maybe it's a good thing I didn't see that...my heart is still recuperating from entering Tikehau's pass!!

Now it's back to passage mode again, even though it's just one night. We did, however, manage to do the one thing we've not yet done on passage, and that is to have G&Ts on the deck to watch the sunset! We've never had a calm enough passage to do that...and it was awesome!!

So now I am sitting here on watch. The only negative is that there is no moon, so it is pitch black. However, it is a clear night and the stars are out in full force again. I've already seen 3 shooting stars! There is effervescent glowing in the water as we slice through it...It is so pretty. I am going to try and enjoy this as I'm sure the hustle and bustle of Tahiti will be a shock to our systems!!

So, until next time, farewell from the Cool Runnings crew!


Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Running the Passes

Hello from Tikehau!  We are anchored in the beautiful, smaller atoll of Tikehau, Rangiroa's neighbor. We are the only boat here and are enjoying the solitude.  Even though Tikehau is right "next door", getting here was an all day affair.  Over dinner on Friday night, Adrian, David and I discussed and studied the tide tables for Rangiroa, and picked the brains of locals to get an idea of tides for Tikehau. We were told the tides were pretty much the same, so we worked on the Rangiroa tides for entrance into Tikehau.  In theory, you should leave and enter the passes on a slack tide.  Because the water in the lagoons have only the one pass to enter and exit, the tides rip through at incredible velocity, causing rip tides and eddies, and standing waves...fun, fun, fun!

So, again, in theory, we should have left on Rangiroa's slack high tide, which was at 10:00am...however, that would not have given us enough time to sail over to Tikehau and make the 3:00pm slack tide here.  So Saturday morning dawned, and the winds seemed calm.  We decided just to take the boat over to the pass to see what it looked like.  It was about 7:30am when we left, probably around 8:30am by the time we were at the pass.  From inside, it didn't look that bad.  Dave started motoring toward the pass entrance, and the next thing we knew, the boat was swept along in the outgoing tide, and doing 11.6 knots!  Dave says "should we just go?" and Adrian and I just say "yes"!!  While it was a little hair-raising, it only lasted maybe 30 - 45 seconds (but seemed like forever!) because the tide was so strong and just swept us out!  We had to crash over a few standing waves, and then we had cleared that pass!  Phew!!  The first part of the trip over to Tikehau was a bit bumpy, but then as we cleared the top of the atoll and were able to change course toward Tikehau, we had a great reach over in about 15 knots of wind.

We arrived at Tikehau at around 2:30pm.  Perfect, we thought!  We could enter on the 3:00pm slack tide and we would be golden.  Well...Dave's not one for waiting, and while we could see the current RIPPING out, we went for it anyway.  I'll admit, this one had my heart pumping a little (ok...a lot!).  We were full ball on the engines, with Dave keeping the boat in the center of the pass...coral on both sides.  No room for error, or for being swept out the center of the pass.  We were doing 1.6 knots through the water...it felt like we were not moving at all.  I just remember the roar of the engines and the roar of the water, and I was just willing the boat to go forward. EVENTUALLY we made it out of the main rip tide and we were in the atoll!  That was enough for one day...running the passes...not my favorite past time.  But the reward is this:

Cool Runnings at anchor n Tikehau

Today we took the dinghy to shore and explored a bit.  This atoll used to be a coconut palm plantation, so the amount of palms is astounding.  However, it also has a lot of other trees such as pines, making it very "green".  The sand is almost pink...absolutely beautiful!

Pink sand and turquoise water

There is a small settlement here, with a couple of pensions/bed and breakfasts.  There was not a whole lot going today, since it is Sunday.  We were very anxious to find out where we could purchase our daily baguette, and eventually found out that we have to place our order at the bakery in the morning, and then the bread is ready at about 4:00pm in the afternoon  (so no baguette breakfast for us tomorrow!).  We found where the bakery is, it just looks like someone's home (and probably is).  The wind is pretty strong right now, and is forecast to be strong again tomorrow. According to the forecast, it dies a bit on Tuesday, so we will probably use that window to sail to Tahiti.  That will be an approximately 24 hour trip.   Let's hope the weather forecasts are accurate!  I'll have to report on exiting this pass in the next blog update!  Just for the record, it's just me (Gudrun) who has this fear of running the passes...Dave is quite comfortable with them (and I trust his ability completely!).

We were also pleasantly surprised to find a (very slow) WiFi hotspot, so while I have access, here are a few more pictures:

Uninhabited motu in Rangiroa

Updated Hibberd Family Photo!

That's all for now - until next time, farewell from Tikehau!