Santa Cruz, 29/07/2017

Having spent a few days on San Cristobal, mainly waiting for the agent to do things as promised, we finally moved over to Santa Cruz, Puerto Ayora, where we anchored 9 years ago.
The whole  harbour and town have been transformed in my absence. There are quays and water taxi landing platforms, the roads are block paved, the traffic has increased and there are real shops selling food, diving, tours, clothes, souvenirs, etc. Amazing.
The agent here is much more proactive and met us out on the boat, with a rigger! Could not believe it, and, unfortunately, my disbelief proved true. There is no rigger on these islands, and no rigging wire either. After waiting for a few days Chris, Graham and I decided to beef up the shroud with stainless wire, thimble, D clips and turnbuckle. This done I think it's a stronger arrangement than the original.
Chris went up the mast and down the forestry sorting out the foil joints and rearranging the grub screws. I cleaned up the head of the sail around the bolt rope and then we hoisted the genoa with no problems. The repair to the sail looks like a really well done job. John who did it is moving to Auckland from the States with his wife and joking Evolution Sails there, I wish them all the luck. They are sailing south to Pitcairn and then west due to the bond required in French Polynesia.
Chris then took it on himself to service the aft toilet as it was back filling. New joker valve and a good clean up of the valves has done the trick.
The generator, which has been misbehaving, is now running properly. I don't know why but hope it lasts.
The desalinator has been in use and all 3 tanks are full, ready for this, the longest leg of the trip. All the diesel tanks are full, as are the Gerry cans, so we're all set on those fronts. We did a shop this afternoon and topped up the supplies. Chris is confident that we'll be eating fresh fish en route, we'll see!
The plan is to leave in the morning and hopefully arrive around the 23rd of August in Hiva Oa, the Marquesas.
All is well on board and we're looking forward to the next stop where Gabrielle is joining us to Tahiti.