An Ecuadorial Saga

It took us five nights to get to Ecuador, with good wind for much of the time.  Captain Geoff, ever the sailor, kept his first mate busy with sail changes to make the most of the breeze.  We managed to miss most of the doldrums where many boats not only have no wind but have current against them as well, and after a busy night avoiding fishing boats which were blobs on the radar but had no lights at all, arrived in Puerto Lucia near Salinas with a nice tuna and a mahi mahi in the frig that we had caught on the way..

W are  two degrees south of the Equator, so pretty hot and humid.  A very small marina  and we were met by a launch who guided us in to an anchoring place. In the office lots of forms were filled in, and we were told that officialdom would visit the next day.  Next day another office girl takes all our information all over again, plus requiring way point and time when we crossed into Ecuadorian waters, and way point of our last anchorage in Panama.  When leaving we will have to give  a similar point and time which can hardly be accurate in a sailing boat.  The trouble is that we have to go through the formalities required of large ships entering and leaving the country.  We were not pleased, having arrived on a Thursday, to be told that we had to pay overtime for checking in as the money had not been paid until Saturday - the office take it to the Port Captain where the receipt requires five signatures.  And we have to pay overtime again for checking out as the girl in the office doesn't work every day so had to do all the paperwork on a Sunday to enable us to leave by Tuesday.  All very expensive, and the marina fees  are well out of line with general costs in the country - we stayed in New York more cheaply!

On thing that is very cheap here is diesel.  At $1 per gallon it is heavily subsidized, and in order to buy it we have to get special permission as foreigners.  One boat, nearly out of fuel, was told today that he couldn't buy any because he had only been here for two days.  The rules are made up as they go along.  As I write, Geoff has gone off to see if we have our permission granted to top up the tanks.  (Yes, we got fuel, and also managed to fill lots of cans of diesel for the boat that wasn't allowed to buy any).

The big question seems to be whether or not we will be allowed to stop in the Galapagos after leaving here.  The group of islands belongs to Ecuador, but for some reason it's not possible to get permission to go there from here.  We have heard many stories, of people only able to stay for 3 days if they prove they have mechanical problems on their boat, and others  who were able to stay for two weeks.  We are definitely wondering why we decided to come to the mainland at all - there is nothing but very scruffy newish development along the coast here.  Some people take trips into the mountains for a week or so, but having seen quite a lot of Andean scenery when in Colombia, this wasn't a priority for us. 

So tomorrow morning we leave for Galapagos with our fingers crossed.