GALAPAGOS – SAN CRISTOBEL
With the help from a couple of fellow cruising boats, Bristol Rose and Inspiration lady, we anchored safely in Wreck Bay. It’s quite difficult going into an unknown anchorage at night where you have all the lights from the shore shining at you and it is difficult to see the channel markers and work out where all the anchored boats are.
Before crashing (not the boat!) for the night we had one job to do and that was to make the boat Sea Lion proof, especially difficult for a boat like ours with our stepped transoms and diving platform. The sea lions love to come on board and sun bathe – sounds cute, but they tend to leave a rather fishy smell and unsavoury deposits on our deck; the local boats use barbed wire to deter them.
When we woke in the morning we were greeted by a baby Seal Lion in our cockpit. Although we seem to have deterred the larger animals the baby’s were using it as a bit of an obstacle course. Climbing over and under the ropes, rolling on the fenders and jumping through the life ring which we put in their way only provided them with a playground- a few pokes with the boat hook we soon had the boat to our selves again. Penny wasn’t impressed and thought I was very cruel!!
Isla San Cristobal is one of the three islands you can check in to. The authorities here make it very difficult to just anchor where you like. We have a one month cruising permit that enables us to go to the main ports on Cristobal, Santa Cruz and Isabela; all other anchorages are totally off limits unless you are prepared to pay $200 per person per day plus the cost of a park ranger onboard.
The islands are very fragile and it is a way of deterring too many tourists.We intend to spend a week here in Cristobal, before moving on to the other two islands.
