Left Puerto Baquerizo Morena, San Cristobal at 7 am, February 26 for Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, an island within the Archipelago de Colon, some 45 miles to the north west. Heavy rain squalls on the way with winds from the south. Sailed most of the way till the turn northwards to Santa Cruz Island, the wind was then from dead astern. Motor sailed the last 8 miles to the rolling harbor at Puerto Ayora, arriving at 1300 hours local time. The anchorage is crowded with small craft, some visiting yachts and of course, the smattering of WARC yachts. We were required to have a harbor pilot lead us to an assigned spot where bow and stern anchors must be used to keep boats swinging at a consistent angle. We were at anchor by 1330 hours with assistance from the pilot to set the stern anchor and had lunch on board. The harbor is a jumble of anchored boats, small, poorly maintained local boats on moorings, with a lot of loose floating lines, some without floats attached. We went ashore for a preliminary reconnaissance of the town – a somewhat run down main street (named after Charles Darwin, of course).
The first night at Puerto Ayora turned out to be rather eventful. in the early evening, I went over to Voyageur (the MacKays yacht) and started up her genset for a couple of hours to charge batteries, returning later to check on anchor lines and to switch off the genset. Everything normal. Then, the big motor vessel “Treasure of Galapagos” anchored to our starboard with a rather slack stern anchor line began to swing on her moorings. All night we watched her stern swing back and forth, perilously close to us as wind and currents changed. A shout to one of the crew elicited a lazy look around and back he went to a deck chair with a magazine in hand. Finally, around 2 am, after another call by Francois, he made some adjustments to the stern anchor line which improved the situation, but only marginally. Not that it would have mattered…around 5 am, we got word from Christian on another WARC boat, the catamaran “1+1” that a major earth quake had occurred in Chile and that a tsunami warning was in force for the Galapagos. The tsunami was predicted to arrive at Puerto Ayora at around 0700 hours local time. We discussed our options which were to put to sea or stay at anchor in the harbor to ride it out. The predicted wave height was 1.2 meters which didn’t seem too bad. A short time later however, the stay put option was no longer available -- port authorities ordered all boats out of the harbor as a precaution. We had to leave. Leaving was no simple matter as there were bow and stern anchors to handle in the dark (this time with no assistance from the harbor pilot) and the swells were greater than usual. Many other boats had such difficulty freeing their stern anchors that they simply tied a float to the anchor line and dropped it in the water with the intention to retrieve it on return. We had our hands full even with three on board. I worried about Voyageur whose owners the MacKays had left on a 5 day trip on a cruise ship. After consulting with WARC, we felt Voyageur would be all right in the harbor, securely anchored as she was. No help was going to be available as it was the wee hours and all other boat crews were having enough troubles of their own breaking free from anchorage. There was no way to transfer crew to Voyageur under those conditions and we didn’t have the dinghy deployed due to use restrictions by the port. We left the harbor as dawn began to break and made for deeper water beyond the 100 meter contour on the chart. The sea state seemed quite normal out there. We waited for word of the harbor’s re-opening which finally came around 1100 hours. As boats made their way in, we decided we stay out and have lunch while the others sorted out their anchoring positions – no point joining in the jostle -- perhaps the good “parking spaces” would be gone by the time we returned but no matter. When we finally got in, we found a spot that didn’t seem too bad. This time, there was no assistance with the stern anchor and other boats were busy trying to find the anchors they’d abandoned when leaving. Dinghies were literally buzzing all around us. Many anchors and their lines went missing, others were tangled in a mess with other lines in the harbor. We decided that it made sense to drop the bow anchor first, let out sufficient length of chain to bring the boat’s stern to the spot where we wanted the stern anchor located, drop it and then draw in the bow anchor while releasing the stern anchor line simultaneously to position the boat. It worked well enough as we had space within which to move the boat. The harbor seemed normal other than for a few other boats reporting rapid rising and falling of depth levels. We didn’t observe much change in water levels, although the current seemed rather swift. We stayed on board until we were comfortable with the anchoring position. I went over to Voyageur to check her moorings and run the genset. All was normal, evidence of David MacKay’s seamanlike anchoring techniques.
To celebrate the Tsunami, we had a crew dinner at a nice restaurant with an ice cream outlet on the side on Darwin street. It was the first decent ice cream selection in the Galapagos with ice cream served in scoops rather than on a stick. While waiting to return to Skylark at the water taxi dock, we observed water at extremely low levels with a swift outflowing current. The current suddenly switched direction and began pouring into the dock area as if someone had flipped a switch. It was a torrent and the water taxi driver had to wait a while before things settled and he could come alongside to pick us up. Perhaps a mini Tsunami -- right before our unbelieving eyes.
That night, we spent time watching our anchor lines as the movement of water in the harbor seemed a little unsettled. There were no problems but again, low water seemed much lower than normal and the incoming tide brought strong currents.
It is Sunday, February 28 -- the harbor is still experiencing unusual conditions. A spring tide this afternoon had water lapping at the edge of the main waterfront street (the moon was full). Should be more settled by tomorrow, so the locals tell us. But all's well with Skylark and her crew.
It is Sunday, February 28 -- the harbor is still experiencing unusual conditions. A spring tide this afternoon had water lapping at the edge of the main waterfront street (the moon was full). Should be more settled by tomorrow, so the locals tell us. But all's well with Skylark and her crew.
Photos of Puerto Ayora in the next blog.
I am glad all is well with Skylark and her men! What an adventure!
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