Before we even got off the ship early this morning, the crew was already very busy with all sorts of things. Garbage was taken off, fresh fish was put on from local fishermen, lines were thrown out and we were tied up with our supply ship, the San Cristobal, named after the island we landed on last Saturday.
Waste here is a whole affair; it is divided in seven different categories, which then are color coded, as required by the local authorities. Recyclable waste, such as plastic and aluminum, is then shipped back to the mainland.
Every three weeks our cargo ship comes in with bulk supplies, mainly dry goods such as rice, sugar, flour, grains, canned goods and beverages. All these goods need to be disembarked from the supply ship onto a barge and from the barge onto our ship, not an easy task in choppy waters, which today happened to be the case!
The same supply ship also brings the fuel for Polaris. 30,000 gallons are taken in every three weeks and this maneuver takes the whole day! No wonder they were so quick to tie up the ships this morning!
The activity on the main dock, on the days the San Cristobal is in, is also fun to watch, the ship also carries supplies for the town so it gets pretty hectic out there.
While the crew was busy with fueling and cargo we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station in the morning and after a wonderful lunch in the highlands we could choose between some options. Lots of us took a long walk down to the tortoise reserve to see the Santa Cruz giant tortoise in their natural environment, others took an easy walk to see some of these creatures and others went back to the ship to have a relaxing afternoon.
