Supermen

Isabella - Galapagos - Ecuador

So the newest of our sagas is how stubborn and determined 2 men (Bill and Gram) come to do the nearly undoable...jokes on me tho' as they did finally get done what they needed after 2 days of extreme perserverence. Story goes...we were cleaning the bottom of the boat-something you do before a long sail as all the scuzzy buildup from these warm waters slows you down quite considerably. To do this we used our scuba gear so we could be down for long enough and me needing scuba and buoyancy practice decided to help. Not a bad job but in working on the propeller Gram noticed that it had a wobble on one of the blades which was not a good thing. So for 2 whole days Bill and Gram worked on getting the prop off...an incredibly difficult thing to do underwater and with tools that went thru 3 iterations of being worked and reworked at a machine shop here on this tiny island. We have determined what is wrong and are now fighting with the prop manufacturer in England to make good on a manufacturing defect. In the meantime we are kind of stuck here although both our time in the Galapagos and our Visas to be in Ecuador have run out. Luckily they seem to be at this point understanding and are willing to give us a little more time to decide what we do now.

So, my days have been looking like lots of cooking,cleaning and reading with a little bit of swimming. We love this little island and have gotten to be friends with some of the store owners who are very friendly and helpful. We go to town most days...either to buy food or use the internet. We can do emails from the satellite phone but need to use a land connection to do any internet "surfing". We try to buy only a day or two's worth of fresh stuff at a time as we either walk or ride bikes the 1+ mile from dock to town. I have been running 3-4 times a week but it is so hot that I can only go for 30-40 min. There's another boat here with us that we do dinners and cocktail hours with. Tonight we are going to have a desert and movie night.We have done all the sights there are to do here...a dive, a great snorkel amongst some volcanic tunnels and a horseback ride/hike into one of the volcanos. There are some pics posted on our blog(vofj.blogspot.com) Link is on the right hand side on the top if you want to check them out. Everyday we see sealions and penguins (they are sooo cute). There are alot of rays and colorful fish to snorkel with and on occasion a sea turtle...usually 2, one on top of the other actually. A few afternoons we have been entertained by hundreds of blue footed boobies flying in formation and all together diving into the water (fishing) to create quite a wave and commotion. Love the wildlife and REALLY love the weather...Do not miss winter at all!!

We are hoping to speak tomorrow AM with the CEO of the prop manufacturer and come up with a game plan. Our friend on the other boat thinks they need to fly the part here from England and help us install it since shipping it on its own would take weeks and could be held up in customs. We'll see if they will buy that...not sure what the compromise would be. Our stocking clerk(Bill) luckily has a spare prop on board but it is just a regular one, not the feathering one this is and so inferior for some applications. But, we may leave with that and try to get the replacement shipped to us somewhere down the line. Will definitely post an email once we know when we can move on. Until then... are we having fun yet????