It’s been all of 30 minutes that our anchor has touched the bottom of Puerto  Baquerizo Moreno and already a launch full of officials has arrived.  One is diving under Kincsem to look for small non-indigenous creatures clinging to Kincsem’s bottom that could upset the ecosystem here in Galapagos.  Were he to find any, we would need to leave the National Park (the border of which is some 60 miles offshore), clean the bottom outside and return for another check-in.  On top of that, we may have to pay a hefty fine.   So fingers crossed!!

The other nine (!!) officials are seated around the cockpit table or down below at the salon table.  There are two military, two National Park, two health service, two local government and the remaining, I have no idea what.  They are accompanied by two employees of the private customs agency WARC hired for the fleet, who are mostly the ones who are smiling and making nice conversation.  The others are busy filling in reams of paper or doing sundry tasks like checking whether we have any expired medications, the possession of which is illegal in Galapagos.   They only found one empty nasal spray – because Almut and Rainer had spent hours going through the entire medical set and put all expired items into a separate bag, which we did not show the officials.  It’s also illegal to have expired flares and other pyrotechnics of which we have a lot – but I wasn’t sure they would dispose of them for me so I decided to hide them.   

Some of the “inspection” was outright funny.  The two military guys needed to inspect the engine room and the national park guy needed to inspect our oil absorbing mats – also stored in the engine room.  Alas, getting into the engine room would have required all nine official getting up from their seats around the cockpit table so those “requirements” were quickly dispensed with.  A quick snapshot of the engine room while everyone else had left for the launch was sufficient!  

The most annoying was the local government guy who went through our freezer taking everything out and throwing it back in, increasing the temperature and disrupting the carefully thought out order.  He was looking for any meat and when he found some, he declared that we had to eat it all before the next port in Galapagos.  We nodded politely …..

I think the Ecuadoran government is doing it’s best to match the bureaucrats of the EU in coming up with senseless rules.   The entire boat is full or special stickers like “don’t throw garbage over board” and “don’t pump waste water into the sea” which we had to source and then stick everywhere in the boat.  We also had to have special “eco” soaps which were very ineffective and on top of it, smelled badly of rotten seaweed.  

Unfortunately, those requirements are not matched by means to comply with them.  For example, everyone knows that the waste water tanks of our boats aren’t big enough to hold black water (the toilet effluent) for more than maybe three of the 14 days we are staying in Galapagos.   Yet no pump out facilities of any kind are provided – unlike, for example in San Francisco Bay, where a pump out boat can be called at any time for free.  So obviously, every boat is pumping the waste overboard!  As a result, the water in the harbors here in Galapagos isn’t really very clear ….. Similarly, ashore there are no waste bins much less recycling facilities so one has to give the trash and recycling to a garbage boat that comes around at irregular intervals.  One cannot help but suspect that all bags handed to the garbage boat – be they waste or the two kinds of recycling used here – end up in one big happy garbage heap …. 

Well, even in Galapagos officials are required to be efficient since there are other boats to inspect who arrived just after Kincsem.  So after 45 minutes, the show was over and the entire flock trampled back aboard the launch.  We were informed the bottom of Kincsem was fine as well and our Zarpe was issued. Time to take down the yellow flag and have an arrival beer!!!

The voyage to get here – some 900 miles – unfortunately was mostly under engine. 

All flags are taken down when we leave Panama

Normally one has 2 days of Northerly winds, then hits the Intertropical Convergence Zone with no wind and then has a couple of days of south easterly winds.  Not for us.  At the start, there was no wind so everyone started under engine. 

The motor boat race begins!  Kincsem hits the line within 10 seconds after the gun went off!

And the forecast Northerlies did not materialize for us at all.  Most of the time, we had 3-5 knots of “wind” blowing directly from the Galapagos so we ended up using the engine for the entire way other than maybe 20 hours.   We’ve never had the diesel tank down to only ¼ full – but it is good to confirm that Kincsem has an awesome range under engine!

Waterski anyone?  This is hundreds of miles from land.

0.8 knots of wind speed from straight ahead …. But the current is helping

But even under engine, we had a wonderful time.  A few days out of Panama, we were visited by the first birds of Galapagos, red footed Boobies.  These are huge birds and totally unafraid of humans. 

Boobies on our bow pulpit and on the flag pole on top of the mizzen mast

We were concerned that they would poop over the entire deck and initially tried to chase them away with a boat hook with mixed results.  But they were mostly courteous and stayed on the bow pulpit where the poop conveniently drops into the sea!   There was one, however, which didn’t get the memo and rested on the flag pole on top of the mizzen mast, dropping his stuff on the solar panels over the davits.  Rainer and Almut volunteered to clean up that mess!

We also perfected the way to motor sail upwind.  With just 14 degrees of angle between the course and the wind, the mainsail and the small staysail will increase Kincsem’s speed over no sails by ¾ of a knot.  Bingo!

The World ARC has various WhatsApp groups – one for notifications from the organizers to the fleet, one for questions from the fleet to the organizers and a “crew chat”.  With most boats in the fleet having Starlink, these groups are very active and many people seem to be glued to their phones for updates on the fishing results of Living the Dream (yes, that is a boat name) and the latest Boobie count from the deck of Mulan.  By comparison, the single side band (high frequency radio) group consists of only 6 boats and has been dying a slow death.  And there is the fleet tracker, which updates positions every four hours.  With Starlink one is always informed of who is going where and at what speed over the ground!

 

The Galapagos Islands lie at about 1 degree South so we needed to cross the equator before arriving in Galapagos.   It is a tradition that crew who have not crossed the equator before are introduced into Neptune’s kingdom by appropriate “rites of passage” at the occasion.  Achim crossed the equator on a cruise ship when he was 9 years old and I crossed it in 2017 on my way from Cape Town to Grenada on my friends Fred and Chris’ catamaran.  This left Almut and Rainer who needed to be introduced!  Unfortunately, the equator crossing took place at 3 am in the pitch dark so pictures are a bit thin.  However, here is the complete script for the ceremony,  includingKincsem’s captain’s speech, drafted by ChatGPT:

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Officers and Crew,

Today, we gather to honor a time-honored maritime tradition as we prepare to cross the Equator. This ceremony, known as the “Crossing the Line,” has been celebrated by sailors for centuries, marking the moment when we transition from “Pollywogs” those who have not crossed the Equator “Shellbacks”,  esteemed members of King Neptune’s court.

Enter King Neptune and Court (played by Achim)

Captain: Hear ye, hear ye! All hands on deck to witness the arrival of His Majesty, King Neptune, Ruler of the Seven Seas!

King Neptune: I, King Neptune, have come to welcome you to my realm. Who among you dares to enter these sacred waters without my blessing?

Captain: Mighty King Neptune, I present to you these Pollywogs who seek your acceptance and wish to be initiated into your august domain.

King Neptune: Very well. Let the initiation commence!

Initiation Rituals (Pollywogs to consume an awful concoction of cheap rum, Worchester Sauce and other choice ingredients)

The crew undergoes traditional rites, which may include playful challenges and the offering of a libation to the sea, symbolizing respect and the seeking of safe passage. (One Pollywog graciously shares his drink with the sea)

Conclusion

King Neptune: Having faced the trials and shown respect to the sea, I now declare you Shellbacks, trusted sailors of the deep. May you have fair winds and following seas on your voyages ahead.

Captain: Thank you, King Neptune. Crew, let us celebrate this milestone and continue our journey with renewed camaraderie and respect for the vast oceans we traverse.  The bar is now open!

End of Ceremony

 

The final day to San Cristobal turned a bit into a motor boat race.  It seemed that most boats around us were going faster and faster to edge out the next boat for the earlier arrival time.  Everyone knew that Galapagos inspections take a while and inspectors only work 0900 to 1200 and 1400 to 1700.  No one is permitted to go ashore before the boat has been inspected and the Zarpe issued.  Who wants to loose valuable shore time or not be able to go out for dinner because the other boat was inspected first?  As luck would have it, we beat out Pure Joy by a minute and a half to the finish line by raising our rpms to 1,700 for ten minutes!

 

Kicker Rock just a few miles before the finish line