FogHorn Nov. 2, 2017  -  Joe Brennan - Sailing to the Galapagos 

Planning for a four-month trip, they prepared by compiling five months' worth of supplies. Joe showed a slide of their departure from Sausalito on March 1, 1972.

Along the way, among the things that changed around was the menu: the wine they had brought did not last  for the entire voyage. Joe said that they had set up schedules of eight-hour shifts to cover every minute of the day, so that there was always someone at the helm. He showed a slide of their boat against a yellow sky, and talked about how they were always in motion, and always felt that on board. Jan had sewed a Mexican flag, and they debated the proper angle at which to place it. The boat had a motor, but they used its fuel sparingly, leaving just enough for emergencies.

In these pre-GPS days they navigated using "sun sides," or measurements derived from the angle of the sun against the horizon. They got the time of day from their transistor radio. "Never," Joe said, did they have land in sight on that voyage, and he mentioned photos they took with their waterproof camera. They collected rainwater to rinse off in.

They had reckoned on 28 days' travel time to the Galapagos, and were heartened to see dolphins and birds, meaning that they were nearing land, after 26 days. He mentioned the name given to that land: "Los Encantados," meaning "enchanted islands."

Joe laughingly said that  he had expected to find an equatorial paradise, but instead discovered upon making landfall on the 33rd day that the land was rather dry. These were volcanic islands, thousands of years old. Joe showed a slide of a volcanic crater, now filled with blue water, and described lava fields with sulfur oozing up from below. He showed and described many different formations created  by lava after it had cooled.

He also described unusual things they found there: "Galapagos marble" that coated rocks, created by layers of seal urine and oils from seals' bodies as they passed over the rocks. He described the range of colors from moist highland soil to dryer desert sand.  

He discussed historical sources of food found in the area they were now in, such as tortoises which fed nineteenth-century whalers. He also discussed the animal life they encountered: whales,  including a sei whale that passed under their boat, and lobsters.

They also encountered many different kinds of birds: "frigate birds," who during their mating season tried to attract mates by displaying the bright red sacs located beneath their throats. Showing off those colors, Joe said, was tantamount to the bird recruiting potential mates to "come and see  my nest." He also showed slides of the red-footed and blue-footed booby birds, red-tailed hawks, and flamingoes, which he said were "filter feeders", meaning that they took in mouthfuls of water and out of the water they filtered bits of food. He also showed slides of a mated pair of cormorants (and described their nesting behavior,) oyster catchers, albatross with six-foot wingspan (they were popular Galapagos nesters) and vermillion flycatchers with brilliant red head plumage. He discussed the indigenous Galapagos penguin, and the green heron.

Then he turned to animals, noting that the mammals they encountered, like sea lions, tended to be not shy of people at all. He described ghost crabs, "Sally Lightfoot" crabs and reptiles, such as the marine iguana that feeds on algae and can hold its breath for hours. He showed delightful slides of bright yellow-footed Darwin's finches.

Then he turned to the highlands again with a photos of him with a long-lived giant tortoise.

He had some spooky stories too, such as the bananas that they had thought to eat -- until they discovered that the fruit was rife with spiders and scorpions. And he described the homeward journey, tossing in anecdotes of shipboard living, such as how the sailors created a "washing machine" by towing laundry in a metal cage, how he helped maintain the engine, how he received a shipboard haircut, the merits of Ecuadorian beer, and a chance meeting with another Sausalito-bound craft at sea.

When he showed the final slide, of the onboard rigging backed by a sunlit sea, he received hearty applause. 

 

   

                                                                                                    

 

                          

 

Article by   Ginger Minoletti