Arriving in the Galapagos Islands - Isabela Island

   By 06:45am we had dropped our mooring line and were under way for the Galapagos islands about 1000 miles to the West.  Panama city slowly receded on the horizon as we sailed in a  light Northly breeze.   We decided to spent one night in the Las Perlas islands about 35 miles from Panama city.  The wind soon died and we ended up motoring for a few hours, but by lunch the wind was back and we had a good sail the rest of the way. 

   We anchored of the Isla Contadora and had a pleasant night.  Early the next morning, on Jan 31,  we were off and motored for awhile until the wind filled in.  We had to be careful not to burn all our fuel as we had a long way to go. This passage is known for it's light winds and some people use all their fuel getting in.  

    The wind slowly increased during the day and we were soon sailing at 5 knots.  We saw a humpback whale in the late afternoon a 1/4 mile of our stern.  As dark came the wind increased in strength and we soon had a reef in our main, so much for light winds.  The wind dropped down to 18 to 20 knots by morning.  For being so close to the equator it is very cold, we had to wear our wind breakers and pile jackets during the night.  The cold water of the Humboldt current is keeping the air cool

   We talked to Mojombo on the HF radio each morning and with Baraka who was still back in Panama.  For 3 days we had good sailing in brisk North winds. We passed Malpelo Island  70 miles to the east. This is a small rock owned by Columbia.  

      This afternoon saw lots of ships, must be crossing a shipping lane.  We had seen few ships up to now.  By midnight the wind had died and we started the engine and motored well into next day and then sailed at 2 to 3 knots. It went like this for another day, light wind sailing or motoring.  Also had a head wind for awhile.  We had a big squall come over us, no wind but rained for 4 or 5 hours.

   Our engine blower died and I took a half hour to replace it with a spare I had. Feb 5 we got some good sailing though we were hard on the wind to make our course  That was it for motoring, we got good wind pretty much the rest of the way. We could barely make our course, but each day it got easier as the wind got around to east a bit more.  Some times the wind got quite strong and we would put a reef in the main.  Last night had a booby bird sit on our bow pulpit all night.  We have a knot to knot and a half of current with us.

    With about 75 miles to go we realized that we were short by only a couple of hours to make it that night to our destination. So we had to slow the boat down  to get there the next day as this is not a good place to try going into at night.  We drifted by Isla Santa Fe for a look see to kill some time. Then wanted to cruise by Academy bay on Santa Cruz island for a look-see, but it was dark by the time we went by in the very light wind.

  Feb 10  we drifted in a 1.5 knot current and almost no wind all night and arrived at port Villamil on Isablea about 8:30 am. We followed the chart and then some marker buoys into the anchorage where there was three other yachts. and lots of tour boats.  11 days to the Galapagos, not too bad.  Anchorage on Isablea is almost 100 miles farther on than the anchorage on the first island of San Cristobal, so another day of sailing.

       We called up JC on the VHF and we met him on shore by the dinghy dock and he made arrangements for us.  A couple hours later 5 people plus him showed up at our boat to do the paper work and take a large amount of money of us. More than any other country in world.  The grand total when done is $680 for a boat our size.  

   The anchorage here is nice and scenic.  It is quiet and laid back here on the island.  Not many cars, and lots of people using bicycles. JC was good source of info to find everything, can call him on radio anytime for info.

   Our second day here we did a trip up to a local farm of several acres. With a truck load of cruisers (6people) it is $5 dollars each for the ride and you can walk through the farm and pick out the fresh from the ground vegetables you want. Very nice!  We got onions, tomatoes, pineapple, broccoli, cabbage though they were not very good right now.  Also several other veggies available.  

INFO

-Isla Contadora  anchored in 50ft at 08 37.22N   79 02.18W

-Note: leaving Panama we had got a zarpe from the port captain and she  gave us some forms to take to immigration.  We talked to immigration guy and he wanted copies of everything all over again including visa's which we did not have. To get Visa's is another 100 dollars each and a long day into town and back. We just wanted to leave the country, so since we had our zarpe, we decided to just leave. That we did, just left the next morning. There is no checking on anything here they just want money.  Another yacht we know wanted a fumigation certificate for the Galapagoes. So the officals gave him one for 100 dollars, they did not fumigate his boat or even come check it for bugs, they just want money. They charge for everything.  Our zarpe cost $40. 

- Our passage strategy  from Panama was to stay east of 80 degrees in the stronger North winds forecast and ride them down past Malpelo island. These winds we saw on the grib files every day before we left.  Then curve around and try to get South as far as possible for a better angle when we got to the south winds.   When we got to the South winds, we were hard on the wind to make our coarse to Galapagos. The only slow bit, where we motored, was after the North winds died and until we got to the Steady south winds. As we got closer to the Galapagos the South winds started to get a bit of east in them making it easier to lay a course.  Of course this could all be different for someone else, we just planned by what we saw on the gribs and they definitely underreport the wind speed.

       Note, we talked to a yacht that got in a week ahead of us but passed Malpelo island further East than we did, so closer to Columbian coast.  One night they said there was several boat around them and it looked like there were transferring drugs from boat to boat, no lights, but could see in the moon light.  And the next day a panga came up to them with masked people and looked suspicious, they checked the yacht out and were given some beer and they left.  

-Getting into final anchorage at port Vilamil is a bit tricky if poor visibility.  Here is our waypoints off our track. 

1. 00 58.63S   90 58.85W 

2. 00 58.057S   90 58.860W now near 1st green buoy

3. 00 58.033S   90 58.280W This should take you between Red and Green buoys

4. 00 57.928S   90 58.011W  Up to here water all over 35 feet deep, now gets shallow, 8 to 12 feet near low tide. Could anchor out near this Waypoint ok by big tour boats. But all the yachts went inside to the shallow area, (3 yachts here plus us) not a lot of room in here.

5. Anchored at 00 57.894S   90 57.724W in 9 feet near low tide.  Inner anchorage good for 6 or 7 boats  then you squeeze in.  12 ARC boats came in a 8 days later and cluttered things up making the place loosing the laid back feel.

 -  Call JC on VHF 67 and he will do all customs clearance and anything else you want. Has perfect english.  He charged us $200 dollars for agent fee (included in the $680 total fees)  We asked another yacht what he charged them before he came out and he charged them $200 dollars as well. And same grand total. A 42 foot yacht checked in here as well and paid less than $700.  Yacht on San Cristobal seem to be paying $1000.   The fee lists are all different too, like they just make it up.  Don't bother getting a fumigation certificate in Panama, waste of money.

-The anchorage here is a bit rolly at times from swell that sneaks in. But not too bad. The dinghy dock is just behind the larger dock with local boats tied to it.

-There is a number of small grocery stores with a bit of produce and limited canned goods and usual junk food.  Fresh veggies available at farm, (see writeup above)  later we notice that if you visit stores every day, things come and go, We got 2 nice cabbages one day and lots of carrots and onions in store.  Usually lots of apples.