












Isla Seymour Norte, The Galapagos Islands, February 29, 2008.
Lat 0.24N, Long 90.17W.
Dropping anchor in Wreck Bay, San Christobal, at 16450 hrs on February 22, The Maltese Falcon
made her sail-borne arrival in the Galapagos Islands to an inspection party of curious sea lions
all about the boat. After finding the Falcon’s place on the outer edge of Wreck Bay’s cluster of
local fishing boats, tour boats and small yachts, we completed our local government inspection
party, completed our customs entry requirements and became a legal cruising yacht in the
Galapagos. The Maltese Falcon was now cleared to sail for a week through one of the most
unique marine reserves on the planet – home to a multitude of endemic wildlife species and
historic birthplace of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection, The Origin
of Species.
Our local agent had come to meet us in San Christobal, and with her help we loaded some spare
parts for various equipment on the Falcon, among other things. On February 23, a small party
completed a dive off San Christobal and the rest of the crew took their first swim with the
Galapagos’ incredibly charming sea lions, which behave something like underwater labradors
and will insist on playing with swimmers in the water - ducking, diving and twisting just under
the surface, blowing bubbles turn with cooperative snorkelers ‘till the cows come home.
After two nights anchored in Wreck Bay, giving all onboard a chance to walk the streets of
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, The Maltese Falcon lifted anchor and motored through clear, blue
waters and crisp, early morning light for Santa Maria, or Floreana. Floreana was the location of
one of the earliest settlements in the Galapagos due to its status as one of few islands with a
fresh-water spring in its highlands. Now, for yacht-borne tourists such as ourselves, the
attractions of Floreana are its eighteenth-century whalers’ post-office barrel at Post Office bay,
where sailors would leave items of ‘post’ for ships coming and going to Europe and America in
the hope that others would deliver them to a certain locale, the islands’ flocks of flamingos and
the white-sand beaches where sea-turtles lay their eggs. After a full day of diving, some
incredible snorkeling with another playful sea lion in crystal-clear water and a shore-excursion
to view the flamingoes and turtle-beaches near Punta Cormorant, the Falcon shipped out for
Santa Fe at 0600 on February 25.
A few hours of motoring through both tropical squalls and perfect post-sunrise light and S/Y
Maltese Faclon arrived at the north-east corner of Santa Fe at 0900 hrs. Again, sending out
both dive and snorkel parties, the crew and guests of the Falcon had the opportunity to explore
more of the Galapagos’ underwater life. The snorkelers in this rare case managed to trump the
divers with the sea-life encountered, witnessing some very rare - and according to our guide,
“very lucky” - behavior, a marine iguana feeding under the water. Another short trip between
islands after lunch brought us to Puerto Aroyo on Santa Cruz, the largest settlement in the
Galapagos. A shore party here were taken to see land tortoises in the highlands and on a short
tour through the town, the few of us on the tour we even lucky enough to stop briefly at the
pub on the return to the Falcon - very lucky indeed.
Over the next two days, more land excursions brought us very close to a multitude of both
marine and land iguanas on the coast of Santa Cruz. By the afternoon of February 26 the Falcon
made it to its anchorage between Isla Baltra and Seymour Norte, a small island teeming with
birds, iguanas, sea lions and one great looking point break, where again a few of the crew and
guests took a very photogenic land excursion in the evening. However, upon landing on
Seymour Norte the shore party were briefly chased up the rocky landing by a male
‘beachmaster’ sea lion defending his territory, and a few of the crew were quite lucky to be just
that much faster than him!
The morning of February 27 found the Maltese Falcon anchored off San Salvador - the most
stereotypically ‘volcanic’ looking island of those we had seen so far in the archipelago. Black- crusted ‘young’ lava flows split desert-brown ‘mature’ lava flows from the green slopes of the
island’s multiple volcanic cones, creating a patchwork of surfaces on the island which support
an array of endemic species, again including iguanas, sea lions, fur seals, finches, galapagos
eagles, tortoises, turtles, dolphins, sharks and manta rays. Snorkel and dive excursions brought
us into contact with penguins and more of the Galapaos’ playful sea lion population, and a land
excursion brought us close to the fascinating surface of the ‘young’ lava flows on the island. As
the wind picked up in the afternoon, Tom and Chris took the Falcon out for a sail around San
Salvador, bringing us to an anchorage on its southern tip for views of a sunset amid rain squalls
over one of the island’s largest lava flows.
On February 28, our second-last day in the Galapagos, we completed an early circumnavigation
of San Salvador, with plans to re-visit a particularly spectacular dive site from two days prior.
Passing incredible surf-break after incredible surf-break along the island’s western coastline,
the Falcon soon cruised through a pod of some 150 to 200 dolphins leaping sky-high from the
surface of the sea. Timmy and Ed, who shadowed the Falcon on this leg in one of the yacht’s
speedboat-tenders to check depths on certain parts of the route, spent some time among the
pod, racing dolphins on the bow-wake and nearly having one airborne dolphin land in the
tender itself... lucky! After anchoring, guests and crew split into dive and snorkel parties for a
final view of the Galapagos’ underwater sights, both coming across a colony of fur seals in the
water and large manta rays in excess of four meters span around the small outcrop of Cousin
Noel. After our final session in the clear water of the archipelago, S/Y Maltese Falcon, her
guests and crew motored back to the anchorage by Isla Baltra and Seymour Norte, where the
impressive point-break was pumping something like six feet with the perfect offshore wind -
getting a few surfers on board a bit worked up about the lack of boards on the Falcon.
February 29 saw the deck crew up before sunrise to prepare for our refuel at Isla Baltra, a
former U.S. air base and now home to the archipelago’s airport. After some refueling and
provisioning, a few delivery delays here and there and securing the ship for sea, S/Y Maltese
Falcon pulled anchor at 1920 hours and headed under full sail for the open Pacific Ocean for
our two week passage across the big blue and some speedy sailing on reinforced trade winds...
next stop, Tahiti!
Ed Giles
Deck Hand
S/Y Maltese Falcon
Photo captions:
1) A group of sea lions sit by the water in Wreck Bay, San Christobal, The Galapagos Islands,
February 23, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
2) Dive guide Matthias (left) and S/Y Maltese Falcon's Captain Chris Gartner (center) head out on
a snorkel trip on Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands, February 24, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
3) A lava lizard on Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands, February 24, 2008. Photo: Christian
Truter.
4) Flamingoes on Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands, February 24, 2008. Photo: Sean Truscott.
5) The crew of S/Y Maltese Falcon observe flamingoes on Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands,
February 24, 2008. Photo: Sean Truscott.
6) Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands, February 24, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
7) Red 'Sally Lightfoot' crabs and S/Y Maltese Falcon, Isla Floreana, The Galapagos Islands,
February 24, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
8) A land iguana on an outcrop near Isla Santa Cruz, The Galapagos Islands, February 26, 2008.
Photo: Ed Giles.
9) Two male bachelor frigate birds, with red puches inflated, compete over a female frigate bird
on an outcrop near Isla Baltra, The Galapagos Islands, February 26, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
10) A 'young' lava flow approximately 1000 years of age on the island of San Salvador, The
Galapagos Islands, February 27, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
11) Sunset and a rain squall over a lava flow on the island of San Salvador, The Galapagos
Islands, February 27, 2008. Photo: Ed Giles.
12) A perfect wave breaks off Seymour Norte in the Galapagos Islands, February 28, 2008.
Photo: Ed Giles.
13) The crew and guests of S/Y Maltese Falcon before leaving for their Pacific passage to Tahiti,
Baltra, The Galapagos Islands, February 29, 2008. Photo: Sean Truscott.