When Andrew and Jill were aboard Galapagos Jill had her first overnight passage on our boat. She wrote an excellent post called Baby’s First Passage (which maybe she can link to in a comment below?). Now that name has stuck for any and all life changing experiences. We chose to wait to write about this until we were well away from the Revillagedados islands so as not to cause people worry. Here’s my narrative from my journal.

“Now let’s go over the rules. We have to stick together. None of this wandering off hither and yon where I don’t know where you are. Stay together until we know what’s down there. ”

I was talking to Michael as we sat in the Pudgy gearing up for our first snorkel at Isla San Benedicto.

He sputtered into his mask. I’d like to think it was with laughter but possibly it was with derision. We will never know.

“OH RIGHT! I’M THE ONE WHO WON’T SWIM AWAY where you can’t find me. It’s ME who won’t get so engrossed with what I am seeing that I forget where I am. Sure. I’M known for that….blah blah blah blah” (well he is! )

“OK OK. I’M going in so please hold the boat steady. Also I want to be sure I can get back in the dinghy quickly in case I am fleeing danger. ”

He says, “Oh don’t worry. If I am feeling danger I can get in the dinghy mighty quick.”

“Well you aren’t the one I’m worried about. Ok here I go .”
And over I went, gently so as not to create a disturbance, thinking ” oh please don’t let a shark be the first thing I see” . My plea was grossly misunderstood.

Exactly the first thing I see is a silky shark about 30 feet away just hanging in the water looking directly at us with disturbing sentience and curiosity.

I sputtered into my snorkel gesturing wildly at Michael as he glided in next to me. Hanging onto the ladder, snorkel askew, all I could do was point and start taking photos.

We hung onto the boat, wary of his next move. He swam slowly in our direction as the fear based tapes in my brain argued vociferously with my prefrontal cortex. This shark was only curious. He was not exhibiting aggressive behavior. Yet. Wait. Wait. He approached to about 20 feet and then stopped. We watched each other warily. I tried not to act like prey.

Then his friend showed up. How did he even know there was something to see? Silently Michael and I, as one being, both held up two fingers and looked at each other. We agreed that if a third friend came we would remove ourselves. And that thought, while comforting in our agreement, really pissed me off. I had waited a very long time to snorkel here. We had special permission. The idea that two puny 4 foot sharks would ruin it was untoward. We were surrounded by a stunning array of friendly and colorful fish and I would be damned if I was giving that up easily.

We waited. They slowly swam toward us. Then, using the words and attitude that strike fear into the hearts of wildlife and dogs everywhere I shouted the vanishing incantation loudly in their general direction, complete with hand gestures, which may not have been wise but seemed effective at the time. ” Shoo! SHOO! Get along with you! Go on now!” Even sharks understand when they aren’t wanted. They glided by just out of reach and carried on patrolling their area without bothering us again.

The next three hours were the best snorkeling we have ever had. We saw our sharky friends several times but they were minding their own businesses. We also saw a nice white tipped reef shark gliding around. He didn’t give us the time of day.

It was magnificent. We wish there had been more snorkeling but after that day huge swells, measured 12 feet in the Anchorage on our depth meter, made the water very rough and uninviting, even dangerous. But that day is imprinted on us forever and we are grateful. Oh, and we stayed right together in the water for the full three hours.

Me,
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We dropped anchor at the stroke of midnight under the watchful presence of Volcano Barceno. Sailing under a full moon the sky was bright enough for us to feel comfortable anchoring at night, considering the cove is wide open with no hazards. Still we crept carefully forward, the island pale as a ghost, all colors of grey and white in the moonlight. It was like approaching a lunar mountain and I turned to Mike and said, “This place is giving me the spook! It’s like a ghost island. ” Gliding to a stop in 30 feet of water we dropped anchor and felt it set, finally here at this place we had been dreaming of visiting since last year.

This morning we awoke to water crisp and clear as blue crystal against the grey monolith of the volcano and a beach with sand the rich brown color of mink. From the boat the sand looks silky soft but that may just be wishful thinking. It’s stunning here. Stark and wild, the land raw with its newness. This is a young island. A great crowd of elegant and serious Masked Boobies has taken residence just above the lava flow. Frigate birds and Tropic birds share space with both Brown and the occasional Blue Footed Booby. But the Masked Boobies steal the show here, fine black and white plumage surrounding a yellow beak and piercing eyes. Among Boobies, the Masked Boobie is the most refined.

Mike snorkeled around the boat today and barely missed swimming with a giant manta ray making way through the anchorage. I saw it from my shark lookout on deck and pointed it out but it disappeared before long. (I generally keep an eye out for sharks in a new place. None here yet. ) Tomorrow is another day and we plan to snorkel the point where the rocks look terribly inviting and interesting. We are sure to see some wonderful animals.

There is another boat here and we chatted with them this evening. They are also on their way to Hawaii but are on a fast catamaran so we may leave together but they will quickly outpace us. Still it’s nice to have people in this wild anchorage. Both of us will be here until the winds fill in for Hawaii. No hurry on my end. I could spend some time here.

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In a 24 hour period our distance made good is about 105 miles. We are now sailing close winded which certainly isn't Galapagos' best point of sail but we are further south than we would like to be and are trying to claw our way north a bit.

Back in February BC (Before Covid) we applied for a permit to visit the Revillagigedos, a small archipelago about three hundred miles south and west of Cabo San Lucas. These islands are renowned for their diving and snorkeling and we were looking forward to swimming with the giant manta rays that hang out here. But like many best laid plans of late, the islands were closed to boats on the very day we picked up our park permit. Alejandro, the park coordinator was apologetic but there was nothing he could do, except...

Alejandro granted us permission to visit isla San Benedicto, one of the smaller islands in the group, for a few days as we make our way to hawaii. We can't go ashore of course but at least we can rest a bit and snorkle off the boat. If the winds will allow it, we are about two days way from the anchorage.

Despite heeling a little more than is comfortable, things are going well. The first nights of the passage is always a little shaky as we adjust to different sleep schedules but even that was pretty easy. We had a waxing moon till 4AM and then the milky way provided a beautiful light after moonset.

A few seconds after spotting a pod of dolphins something took the rapala lure I had trolling behind the boat. Whatever hit took almost the whole spool of line before I could slow it down. Luckily that tired him out and most of the fight was gone by the time we brought a nice yellow fin tuna to the boat.

We have the process of landing and cleaning fish down to a nice little ballet, complicated only slightly by the fact that were heeled over and bouncing. After thanking the tuna for his service, I dispatched and fileted him whi le melissa brought up cool water and made space in the freezer. The decks were bloody but I am happy to report that none of the blood was mine. We now have enough tuna for three or four days. The only downside to catching larger fish is that now I won't be able to fish for a few more days. Besides being delicious, fish are interesting, beautiful and a lot of fun to fight but I prefer to eat what we catch and so will wait till we have more room in the freezer.

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