ISLA DE LA PLATA,  ECUADOR

Isla de la Plata (Silver Island) is known as “the poor man’s Galapagos” and is an hour off-shore between Manta and Puerto Lopez, and north of Guayaquil.  Once privately owned it is now  Parque Nacional Machalilla.  It is usual and customary to go to Puerto Lopez and take a tour boat to get there or pay and get a permit to visit.  We play ignorant and pull in and pick up the solo mooring ball.  This island, much like the Galapagos, is known for blue/red-footed, and masqued boobies, frigates, albatross, and  sea lions.  We are no longer in equatorial climates as temperature is influenced by the Humboldt current and we bring out the down comforter..  We anchor and sleep well.   Next day the park ranger approaches informing us we need a permit.  After much disjointed conversation we learn it is the rangers birthday and invite him and 3 volunteers aboard.  Needless to say, after many rum punches and appetizers we no longer need the permit and they invite us to visit the island the next day after the day-tours boats have left.  As we are lingering on the bow with our drinks and shining a light into the water seeing hundreds of trumpet fish we see little turtles swimming toward the boat.  We were present on one of the two nights a year when the sea turtle eggs hatch and all of a sudden we are surrounded by baby sea turtles learning how to swim.
 Now picture this.  The baby sea turtle, in pitch black darkness, cracks open its shell, figures out which way is up, digs its way to the surface of the sand, figures out which way is the sea and than waddles down to it, and without a second thought, plunks itself into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, after leaving the warmth and security of its egg.  It than must instantly learn how to swim and stick its head above water to breath.

Now I have to ask you what other species do you know that can do this without parental guidance, Ivy League education and/or Outward Bound Training?  The specie I’m familiar with often has its young around home for almost a quarter of its life and the young are still learning how to swim.

Pati kayaks over to the beach and takes a long, and much needed walk and returns to feed the numerous tortugas that call this cove their home. We have learned they love fruit peels of banana and papaya.  Late in the afternoon  we head in to hike for 3 hours with the 2 women who are volunteer/tourism students and see all the birds except the Albatross.  We intend to do another hike the next day but find ourselves drifting.  The mooring ball has broken loose, which means it’s a good time to head out.  Peru here we come!!!!!

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VISITING ECUADOR- JUNE/JULY 2010

QUITO

Marc and I flew back to Quito from the US on June 6 and spent5 days in Quito visiting the old colonial city and its beautiful churches one of which is painted with over 7 tons of gold. We enjoyed traversing the city with its wonderful transit system (buses). Within Quito lies the center of the Universe, as we are at the equator (lat. 00.000 S) Our wonderful concierge from our hotel, Andres, taxied with us to a museum honoring this phenomena (and yes the toilets reverse their flush.and eggs can stand upright on a nail head).

 OTOVALO

Next day we took a day trip by bus north to Otavalo, known as one of the most important marketplaces in the Andes-a weekly fiesta that celebrates the gods of commerce and where 80-90% of the weaving artistry is still handmade and come from the local villages surrounding the town. We noted in our LONELY PLANET guide book that there was a pie shop here. We stumbled upon it and had the best blueberry and blackberry pies we have had in a long time. After returning to Quito we stowed our extra luggage (many bags from our stateside visit) and set out for Tena.

TENA

We bussed to Tena ( southwest of Quito)a day ahead of our scheduled rafting trip so we took a riverboat ride to local indigenous villages where we toured medicinal plants and local animals and did a tube ride off the boat. Stopping at another village we participated in a “chicha” making demonstration (a drink made from ground corn paste and fermented like a beer) used for celebrations, observed local dance and bought local handmade jewelry. Yeah we think the monkeys are real cute, but while sitting on a park bench one feisty guy swooped out of a tree and stole my sunglasses. Luckily a local guy chased him and he dropped them.….
The rivers Tena and Pano meet here and whitewater rafters from around the world come here to play. We booked a trip down the class IV Quijos River with “River People”, an English/Irish family operation. Our guide, from Argentina, had also done the American River in California where Pati had her first whitewater experience with “Outdoors Unlimited” at UCSF. After a 40 minute hike down to the river via muddy, treacherous paths (thanks to the powers above that we had porters to carry the rafts) we found the water and thus began to celebrate Marc’s birthday. It was a wonderfully, exhilarating ride.

BANOSBANOS

From Tena we bussed to Banos, a beautiful town right next to the volcano that erupted 2 weeks before we arrived. Marc and I ate in a wonderful Italian restaurant was talking to the restaurant owner about the volcano and data collection and were asked to meet the mayor and key staff. They put us up for free for the next few days to study and make recommendations to the town. After a week and much work we submitted a plan, attempted to incorporate a company and since learned that they will not go forward with it. Much political play between town, university, geological institute, etc. During the last Volcano eruption two years ago we heard the local hotels actually locked clients in the hotel to avoid their leaving before they could check out and pay… Yeah, I would say this town needs some help. The town is deserted of tourists (go figure;) so its very quiet,but we like it that way.

We dined at a local natural foods restaurant and viewed the film "Dinner with Andre" as we ate.  They have movies once a week- nice touch.We rented bikes and took the Waterfall tour- all downhill, took a gondola across a gorge, Marc hiked up to a falls, we met some local Texans who have built a hotel nearby and
than bused back to Banos. We had 2 wonderful massages with a facial and pedicure for 35 dollars total and dinners for 6 bucks. The thermal hot springs boasting 6 pools are $2. We took a chiva bus to view the volcano up close and personal, with rum of course. So life is good and very reasonable as long as there is no big boom. We bussed back to Quito, collected luggage and than hopped the bus (12 hours) back to Bahia de Caracas and Puerto Amistad (our anchorage)

BAHIA De CARACAS, CANOA- coastal Ecuador

Marc so enjoyed his beach time during his Vipassana retreat in Canoa that we decided to spend 10 days there. The hotel/family compound is owned and operated by Greg and Ann. Greg is a paragliding professional who started his trek from Kentucky 7 years ago and Canoa (the beach town) is known globally for the best winds for paragliding. So here he stopped, instructed and bought property. We enjoyed the many families that are renting his apartments- Henry the ex-fireman from California who has brought his family here to live for 5 years, Noe the professor and writer from Amherst, Mass. who likewise has her family here for a year and is building a house. For $10/day we had a room with a view of the ocean and wonderful gourmet food. We enjoyed communal dinners and Pati had some wonderful beach time to relax after her stateside journey. If you want to come to Ecuador we highly recommend a visit here. Can’t have play time without boat projects. Marc and helpers tied off Alphawave next to an unused ferryboat, waited for the tide to go out and than replaced the transducer and cleaned the zincs. We met other boaters here that are heading to Peru so we exchanged contact info and began to head south toward Peru.

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DARIEN RIVER, PANAMA - March/April 2010

The waters that have been a lucid green now begin take on a murky olive to tan as we get closer to the mouth of the river. A local fishing boat hails us and we buy a very large Corvina (sea bass) for $8 and a box of orange juice- ceviche tonight.
Not many sailors take this trek up the rivers that empty into the Gulf of San Miguel. We did a sleigh ride on an incoming tide @ 9 knots and anchored for 2 nights off the village of Las Palmas before exploring 3 large rivers in the area – the Rios Cucunati, Sabana, and Truira. Motoring up the Rio Truira at an incoming tide on Good Friday we crossed paths with three identical motor boats carrying casks and manned by soldiers in camouflage suits with no identifying labels. They look extremely surprised to see us. Pati and I immediately went into “dumb gringo” mode and waved as we go pass them. You could see they were trying to figure out what to do but since they were going down river on a fast moving current they stayed their course and we breathed a sigh of relief. No doubt they were members of the FARC, drug running guerillas from Columbia using the river to smuggle their drugs on a day when no one (except us) was using the river.

We followed a supply boat and managed to anchor and take the dinghy up to the end of the river to the town of Yaviza, which is at the end of the Pan American Highway. Here we obtained gas, some veggies and walked , a real “turn of the century” western type town. The river was very shoaled and on our return trip we got caught in the mud and had to push the dinghy. Upon returning to the boat our chain was covered with branches and small trees. Next day up the Rio Sabana we visited Boca de Lara, a community of Wounaan and Embera indigenous Indians (famously known for exquisite basket weaving, sculpting of Tagua and body tattoos) took a tour of the local school and met a French family of father and two children who were visiting.
Anchored in the Rio Cucunati we were visited by a local ‘wildlife’ boat and a local family who brought their family pets aboard (two parrots in a basket) and traded us shrimp for boat goodies (cookies, cokes) and toured our boat. We went ashore and visited their home a small and simple house with minimal possessions. But their smiles and happy dispositions made up for any lack of material goods.
After exploring for 5 days and avoiding the silted in banks and high tides we started our journey toward Ecuador.  SEE OUR JOURNEY BELOW

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Hello to all of our friends and family. Last update was January 2010, for which I am truly sorry. It is now October 2010 and we are anchored in Callao, Peru the seacoast of Lima.
In March, we crossed the Panama Canal from the east to the Pacific side-the first time AlphaWave has had her hull in Pacific waters. We had no tidal changes on the east side and now have to deal with 10' tides.

Visiting Las Perlas, Islands on the Pacific side of Panama- March/April

We finally left all semblance of marina life and headed to Tobago, Island of Flowers, 7 miles off-shore from the Panama Canal. It was the first port in Panama, rampaged and burned by Henry Morgan (as were many places in Caribbean and So. America). It is said that JFK was here, as PT Boats were stationed around the canal. I have since learned that my father was here as well during his Navy years on a PT boat. We hiked to the top of the town with beautiful vistas of the harbor below. Had a delightful dinner off the square of Corvina (sea bass) and garlic shrimp.

Isla Gibraleon and Isla Casaya, the isles where pearls are harvested. Went ashore to try to purchase pearls, but most pearls are sent to Panama City; what remains is very small or non-existent. Found beautiful shells. Pearls take on the color inside the shell. Deep inside the shell is multi-colored. The pearls draw their color from placement within the shell.white. The largest pearl ever found was harvested here, the 31 carat “Peregrina” pearl worn by English Queen Mary Tudor, now owned by Elizabeth Taylor. The Spaniards killed off all the Indigenous Indians here and had to import slaves from Africa to harvest the shells- hence the African look of present inhabitants.

Isla Pedro Gonzales  A private Greek- owned island that has a village of 450 settlers. The island is currently under development for wealthy homeowners (i.e.: Shakira, etal). (NAMED PEARL ISLAND RESORT, GO FIGURE) With the major digging they have unearthed many artifacts, grave sites, and found some gold. We met a lovely Argentinean archaeologist who represents the Smithsonian and is digging the site. She hiked us to petrogliths and gave us some history of the 6000 year old site which she said was the oldest in the Pacific Basin! I picked up geodes that have since been given to Ben, Peter and Jayda and large pearl shells that have been shared with daughters. Swimming here was not good because it is jellyfish season.(blah
Isla de San Jose
Another privately-owned island with beautiful beaches at low tides. After cruising on the eastern side of Panama for over a year we got used to 1’ tides, now we have to deal with 20’ ranges- makes for new challenges. Shortly after anchoring here we are traipsing around the boat in our birthday suits and lo and behold a mega-cruiser motors up and drops his hook right next to us. Marc is livid. Only once has this happened before-in the Florida Keys- we are the only boat around for miles and a boat anchors right next to us-go figure. We overnight there with his bright lights abeam us, hike and dinghy around exploring caves than decide to move on. Just as we are pulling anchor the “mega-cruiser” is putting his dinghy in the hold and is pulling out too. What gives with this guy? So we are heading out and an alarm goes off-our engine fan belt just gave it up. So, underway to our next anchorage, Marc is in the hole fixing it. We sail (good wind) for 3 hours and pull into our next stop-Isla Del Rey (king island).

Isla Del Rey
We make our way to the Bahia San Telmo (bay) at the most southern tip of the largest of Las Perlas islands and anchor in Punta De Cocos. This is our jumping off point to head to the Darien River. We spend a night here expecting to chill and swim before crossing but the jelly fish are too numerous-so a good night sleep and at sunrise we pull anchor.

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