Log 23 - July 17th to September 6th 2004

Ecuador 
 Distance traveled to date from Portland: 8857 nm
920 nm this leg.

Ecuador!  We could write a book about this place, though the "Lonely Planet" people beat us to it. Ecuador is not a great cruising ground, however it does have many great advantages for cruisers.  It's a great place to escape the rain and lightning of Panamá and Costa Rica; it's a very safe place to leave the boat for inland travel or a trip home; it is a great way to break up the Panamá Canal-to-Galápagos passage, and the inland travel in Ecuador is unsurpassed. It can be a bit of a struggle to get here, though. By far the easiest sailing route is direct from Costa Rica before the rainy season in March or April. Then the winds are likely to be with you. Wait until later as we did and you'll have constant head winds and swells from the S to SW, which together with the tail of the Peru current can make for some tough sailing. The only fly in the ointment is that you have to pass the Pacific coast of Colombia to get to either mainland Ecuador or the Galápagos. Earlier in 2004 a Japanese sailboat was forced to stop by a large fishing vessel off the Colombian coast. "Pirates" boarded the yacht, tied the cruisers up and stripped the boat of electronic gear, charts, even food, then left the couple tied up. Luckily they managed to get free and sailed their boat - now without navigation equipment - to the Galápagos where they reported the incident. Later two other sailboats where chased by what appeared to be the same pirates, though both boats managed to evade the bad guys. So it was with some trepidation that we left Panamá sailing alone for the trip to Ecuador, as pretty much all the other cruisers had made the passage previously.

The first 3 days of our passage were a motorboat ride in very light airs and calm seas. As we approached 4° north the wind picked up from the SW so we sailed.  This is the latitude of Isla Malpelo where the fishermen pirates are reputed to lie in wait. As planned, we passed east of the island in the dead of night (the other incidents occurred to the west of the island), where we thought we'd be safe.  And we were, but at daybreak while we were both momentarily distracted, we heard someone outside.  We looked out and there was a panga running alongside us.  They flew what we thought was the Ecuadoran flag (though it turns out it was Colombian - their maritime flags are the same.)  There were two fishermen in an open panga, 150 miles from shore with a 12' shark in the bottom of their boat!  They asked for cigarettes, beer and food. We handed them some supplies. Later, they came back toward BREILA but only to advise us of where their lines were set.  After a while, Mike's blood pressure returned to normal but that day we encountered three other fishing boats, and narrowly avoided getting entangled in their lines. For the next 4 days we tacked back and forth. As we headed south and west to clear the land, we would get knocked north by the tail of the Peru/Humboldt current. As we tacked back to the south, the wind would shift to the south from the SW. There was no rhyme or reason to the wind shifts, just rotten luck for the BREILA crew. Another nasty thing happened as we tried to pass Punta Galera in Ecuador, in that the bottom rises from 8-10,000' to less than 600. Imagine the upwelling that goes on, and the resultant confused seas, like being inside a washing machine!

We finally got into Ecuadoran waters and breathed a sigh of relief. The frustration with wind and currents continued. Eventfully we tired of 120° tacking angles and motored around the last point into 15-20 knots. From then on the sailing was easy.  One day before our arrival at our destination, we crossed a nautical milestone - the equator!  Yes, with much ceremony, including toasts to King Neptune with some of our very best libations, the BREILA crew changed from tadpoles to shellbacks as we sailed across 0°. We are happy to report that the equator is actually a blue line - at least it appeared so from the boat - and it was interesting to watch the water go the opposite way down the sink drain! The next morning we met Cesar, the pilot from Puerto Amistad, who steered our boat through the shallows into Bahía de Caráquez. We had sailed and motored 784 miles for a rhumb line distance of 540 miles. Not too bad, but it was sure nice to set the hook and relax for a few days while getting the boat sorted out.

One of the reasons for us hurrying to Ecuador was that we had flights booked out of Quito to Toronto for Cath's parents' 50th wedding anniversary. We arrived in Ecuador with 5 days to spare before the trip north. Check in procedures were pretty simple, as we were anchored in front of the capitanía which handled our entry visa. The passport control was a little more difficult as we had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Manta to the National Police Headquarters. Here they stamped our passports and provided a document allowing our boat into the country.  We combined the Manta trip with the journey to Quito for our trip to Toronto.  After a 10-hour bus ride to Quito, and then two 4-hour flights, we were back in Toronto, where we spent a lovely week celebrating with family and friends, and our ex-ship's-dog Rosie.  It was the first time in 8 years that Cath's family was all together, and we were delighted that our son, Grant, was able to fly up from Oregon to be with us.

Upon our return, we got ourselves settled in properly to Bahía de Caráquez.  This is a great place to bring the boat during the nasty rainy season in Central America.  There were 24 boats in the bay while we were there, although most were vacant at one point or another, as cruisers traveled back home or on trips inland.  Two ex-cruisers, Gary and Tripp, run a service for cruisers - Puerto Amistad - which provides excellent moorings at a great price (or you can anchor for free), a dinghy dock, and they are in the process of building a bar/restaurant and shower facilities, with plans for a tide grid.  The local community really welcomes cruisers - more so than anywhere else we have seen.  We renewed many cruising friendships, and initiated great new ones.  The ambience here reminded us very much of that in Bahía del Sol, El Salvador, and we reveled in the atmosphere. Another interesting feature in Bahia is "Miguelito" (little Mikey). About 90 years ago someone brought a Galápagos turtle to town as a pet. Some time later he was given to the local school, where Miguelito has lived for many of his 95 yrs. When some one thought it would be better for Miguelito to be in the care of a zoo, he was moved away. He pined so badly that they eventually moved him back home to his students, who lavish attention on him, and climb on him whenever they feel like it. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, in fact he appears to thrive on the attention. 

But the real story of Ecuador is the inland travel. This country, though small, has a fascinating variety of cultures, geography, climates, history and special places.  Travel is inexpensive, efficient, very pleasant.  While we were once again on the fast track, we could easily spend months here.  Here's a synopsis of our travels.
Quito, the capital city.  This is a lovely colonial city, brimming with interesting churches, buildings, and museums.  We especially loved the museums at la Mitad del Mundo (Centre of the World). This is where, in the 1770's, the French expedition to determine the exact location of equator was situated.  They traveled to Ecuador as it is the only place in the world (look it up on your globe or atlas) where the equator passes through mountains - not either across water or through a jungle.  This high ground allows for ease of measurement against continuous landmarks - the other mountain peaks.  Recently, Ecuadorans have discovered that their ancestors on this spot, as far back as 13,000 years ago, were able to determine the line of the equator, as well as the location of the sun at summer and winter solstices, and even the earth's tilt on her axis. And these ancient civilizations got the location of the equator right. The French mark is off by 300 meters to the south, which  was only discovered with the advent of GPS technology. Quito is the northern-most settlement of the Incas, and though they lived in the area only 40 years before the Spanish arrived, they left their mark by re-building over the sites of the previous cultures.  Only now are the histories and contributions of the previous cultures being discovered.  It is a fascinating time to be in the area.
Guayaquil, the largest city.  Spectacular waterfront malecón, and a great art and archeology museum.  Also, wonderfully preserved colonial houses high on a cliff, and narrow shop-lined walkways up 500 steps to the lighthouse.  We loved the central park with lots of huge iguanas and turtles crawling around un-caged.  
Cuenca, fabulous colonial city in the mountains.  We met Jay and Sara from INDRA here, on their way back from Peru to return to their boat as they were finished their cruising for now.  We toured the makers and re-furbishers of Panama hats - quite an education - and outfitted ourselves.  More lovely churches and buildings, and great handicraft shopping. We also sampled the local delicacy, cuy, guinea pig, which is served with face, tail and clawed feet intact.
Baños, gorgeous resort town nestled under an active volcano.  Here we rented bikes and rode (mostly downhill) the 60 km route towards the Amazon basin.  We passed spectacular waterfalls, which we traversed on swinging cable bridges or tiny baskets suspended over the raging river.  We also soaked in the ancient public baths, and had fun in the big church translating the murals depicting local "miracles" attributed to the local saint so she could pass the test. 
Bus Touring.  Our trips took us past many of the spectacular volcanoes, including Cotopaxi, which is a climbers paradise.  There are also great little market towns throughout the mountains, often specializing in crafts or food items specific to the area.  Don't miss travelling in this wonderful country! The buses are quite comfortable and inexpensive. In general they cost about $1 per hour traveled. The vistas from the routes are incredible, from Guayaquil to Quito you pass through several national parks, the road reaching elevations of 14,000' at times.

Upon our return to Bahía we began preparing for our trip south. It's amazing how long it takes to put the boat back in sailing order, after being at anchor for over a month. Our last stop in Ecuador was to be Puerto Lucia in Salinas/LaLibertad. On the way we stopped overnight at Manta (home to the biggest tuna fleet on the west coast of the Americas.) This relatively small port was jammed with huge tuna boats, as sleek as the finest motor yachts in the world. The next morning we left early and after being boarded by the Ecuadoran GuardaCosta for safety and document checks headed for Isla de la Plata (Silver Island), once home to the infamous Sir Francis Drake. Drake was actually more like a pirate as he had letters of "marque" from the Queen which allowed him to attack any ship not friendly to England. He took huge amounts of silver and other treasures, mostly from Spanish ships. Rumour has it that he buried lots of his treasure on the Island and is supposed to have dumped large chests of the same overboard when he was approached in a hostile manner by another group of mariners. Unfortunately, he forgot how deep it was and the treasure was never recovered. For years the government gave permits for people to dig for treasure here. The deal was the findings were to be split 50/50 with the government. No treasure was ever found and finally the island was incorporated into the Parque Nacíonal de Machalillo. We arranged a private tour by the Park Ranger and were rewarded with sightings of red and blue footed and masked boobies, as well as nesting albatross and frigate birds. The vistas on the tour were stunning.

After two days at Isla de la Plata we took off at midnight so that we would arrive in Salinas in daylight. It was an uneventful trip, some sail and some motoring, and we arrived at 10 am at the "gilded cage" marina of Puerto Lucia Yacht Club. Within four hours of arrival, they had us hauled out and bottom cleaned off. All very efficient and the boat supported by a system far superior to any you would find stateside. The next week was spent on boat projects: installing through hulls for our new instruments, maintenance on the propeller and zinc, and raising the waterline about 6". We raised it not because we had added more weight to the boat, but we were tired of scraping slime from the waterline after being at anchor for weeks at a time. So we covered up and over the boot-top stripes with six coats of bottom paint. We cleaned and polished the hull, the first time it had been touched in 5 years since painting it. BREILA was now looking fit to go anywhere. We stocked up with supplies at the very good American-style supermarket just minutes from the marina and spent a morning ferrying fuel by dinghy from the town of La Libertad. Why not just fill up in the marina? They wanted double the street price for fuel! They also wouldn't let us to take jerry jugs out and back by taxi, so we did it by water. There were some strange rules, but despite these and the fact that the marina sits over a part of the ocean floor that constantly leaks natural gas and oil from the strata below, we would still recommend it to others needing to work on their boat.  Good rates, and great services, even hull and deck painting.  You can also store your boat here on the hard reasonably and safely. And no hurricanes, rain or lightning!

After checkout with the Port Captain we left the marina and sailed to the town of Salinas, anchored off the yacht club there for the night to stow and rest. At 7 am, we left for Peru and points south. Now we were really getting "off the beaten path", as we were only the third international boat in the past 18 months to sail into Peruvian waters.  We'll save that adventure for the next log.

Mikey's Beer Index, a new feature for the website, is an  up-to-date status report of one of the basic food groups. Most popular local beer and prices in both a bar and in the tienda:
Ecuador: The only real disappointment in Ecuador is the beer. There are 3 or 4 to choose from, the most popular being the ubiquitous Pilsen. It's ok as long as it's ice cold, or they give you ice to put in it!  (1/2 liter $.90 to $1 in bars, $0.55 in stores) Then there is Club, in several different styles, the original tastes skunky like Corona, the dark (label only, not the beer) is ok and the only beer available in latas (cans) (small cans, 315 ml, $0.43 ea).  As you move about Ecuador there are a few different regional brews such as Biela - any one who watches soccer will probably have seen their logo on soccer fields and shirts. It's an ok beer also, no real redeeming features. All beers in Ecuador could do with better quality malt and hops. It's cool enough to have real beer here.  There are imported beers available, Heineken and the beer of Argentina (can't remember its name) are both in normal size cans but cost $0:85 each; needless to say I wasn't allowed to buy these in quantity. Oh well. I'll keep hoarding my Guinness supply.