The Vilisar Times

Vilisar arrives safely in The Galapagos
Wreck Bay, San Cristobal Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador

We arrived yesterday here at Wreck Bay in the Galapagos after a 17-day voyage (our longest offshore passage to date) from Acapulco, Mexico. After two and one-half weeks of standing watch we are glad to be on land, get a cold beer and some meat, fresh fruits and veggies. The trip had one or two "interesting" events but was never really dangerous. The biggest problem was too little wind or, alternatively, winds directly on the nose ("noserlies"). Son Andrew (now 19) crewed with us; after visiting in the archipeligo he will fly home on 09 May 06 to go back to college in Hattiesburg, MS, where he is studing Psych & Phil. We have so enjoyed having him aboard for the first sime in over two years.

We are the only Canadian vessel of the twenty or so in the harbour at anchor: lots of Europeans and one US sailboat from Seattle. Much more cosmopolitan down here compared to Baja California or Mexican "Riviera", a US/Canadian playround. We had lunch on shore today, for example, with a German couple who are on the way to French Polynesia and beyond. That was fun. A lot of Scandinavians, seafaring nations like Norway, Denmark and Finland.

The agent who was supposed to have our cruising permiso ready when we arrived of course had never heard of us. So he told us just to enjoy ourselves meanwhile in the islands, and he would apply to Quito for the permit saying we shall be arriving on 05 May. We shall go around to report our arrival to the authorities here in the islands whne the permiso arrives. Now that's my kind of bureaucracy! Andrew leaves on 09 May so it will have to work out or, the way I see it, Andrew might be leaving before he even gets here. My visa had expired before I finally left the USA, and it expired again before we left Mexico. Now it has expired in Ecuador before I have even arrived. Once a wetback, always a wetback! I bet we could have come here, never checked in and left without notifying anybody.

We have some work to do on the boat after the voyage (like repair a shot-out mainsail, check electricals and deal with some chafing problems). But we are here and safe and sound. I shall blog more about the trip later.

posted by rjb,
6:49 pm

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		News From Ron and Kathy Bird__
For more pictures of Ron and Kathy Bird and the Vilisar, see these beautiful photos by Albert Pang Click here to e-mail Ron Click here to e-mail Kathy Archives January 2004 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 February 2007 March 2007 Vilisar Translation Expert German-English translation available; business and finance our specialty. SachverstÃ¤ndige Deutsch-Englische Ãbersetzung; GeschÃ¤ft und Finanz unser Spezialgebiet.	Thursday, April 20, 2006 Vilisar arrives safely in The Galapagos Wreck Bay, San Cristobal Island, The Galapagos, Ecuador We arrived yesterday here at Wreck Bay in the Galapagos after a 17-day voyage (our longest offshore passage to date) from Acapulco, Mexico. After two and one-half weeks of standing watch we are glad to be on land, get a cold beer and some meat, fresh fruits and veggies. The trip had one or two "interesting" events but was never really dangerous. The biggest problem was too little wind or, alternatively, winds directly on the nose ("noserlies"). Son Andrew (now 19) crewed with us; after visiting in the archipeligo he will fly home on 09 May 06 to go back to college in Hattiesburg, MS, where he is studing Psych & Phil. We have so enjoyed having him aboard for the first sime in over two years. We are the only Canadian vessel of the twenty or so in the harbour at anchor: lots of Europeans and one US sailboat from Seattle. Much more cosmopolitan down here compared to Baja California or Mexican "Riviera", a US/Canadian playround. We had lunch on shore today, for example, with a German couple who are on the way to French Polynesia and beyond. That was fun. A lot of Scandinavians, seafaring nations like Norway, Denmark and Finland. The agent who was supposed to have our cruising permiso ready when we arrived of course had never heard of us. So he told us just to enjoy ourselves meanwhile in the islands, and he would apply to Quito for the permit saying we shall be arriving on 05 May. We shall go around to report our arrival to the authorities here in the islands whne the permiso arrives. Now that's my kind of bureaucracy! Andrew leaves on 09 May so it will have to work out or, the way I see it, Andrew might be leaving before he even gets here. My visa had expired before I finally left the USA, and it expired again before we left Mexico. Now it has expired in Ecuador before I have even arrived. Once a wetback, always a wetback! I bet we could have come here, never checked in and left without notifying anybody. We have some work to do on the boat after the voyage (like repair a shot-out mainsail, check electricals and deal with some chafing problems). But we are here and safe and sound. I shall blog more about the trip later. posted by *rjb,* *6:49 pm* Comments: Post a Comment
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Thursday, April 20, 2006