Galapagos Islands

Posted on November 2nd, 2007 in Travel by Sinead

okay so we headed off on a Monday to the Galapagos (well almost 4hrs later then expected due to plane delay!!) and we got there around midday. we were met off the flight by our guide for the week Cesar who was a 68 year old Ecuadorian who’d moved to the Galapagos islands 30 years previously and had been a guide for most of that time - so we had landed on our feet as he was a fantastic guide with fantastic English (some people aren’t as lucky). So once all the guests were assembled - 7 of us in all ( Ben a kiwi, Dave an Aussie, Pete a Californian, ourselves and a Dutch couple Bas & Maartje) we hoped on a bus which took us 15min down the road to the harbour. Here we were greeted by some lazy seals relaxing on some benches which we had to walk around to get to the ramp where we hopped on a dingy that took us to our boat.

On reaching the harbour we had a good joke amongst the seven of us that the smallest boat in the harbour would be ours a sailing boat which was tiny in comparison to any of the other boats and as it happened yes you’ve guessed it that’s the exact boat that turned out to be ours. Even being a small boat it turned out as good and better than we expected as the crew were fantastic and the food excellent (we heard some boats didn’t provide enough or very nice food but we often couldn’t finish ours we got so much :L) On arriving on the boat we met the final and last passenger Anica a Canadian - another advantage to our small boat only 8 passengers which meant we had no hassle getting on and off the boat.

Our crew consisted of three people the captain (who we called el capitan cause we could never remember his name - i know we’re geniuses!!!), lenin the sailor dingy driver and Jimmy our cook (who I’ve mentioned was excellent but have to do so again because we’d been eating a lot of chicken and chips so his food was a welcome change). So once introduced and assigned rooms we headed off to our first destination, a slightly rocky trip, to a bay off Santa Cruz island. We hopped in the dingy again to get to land and along the way we spotted our first sea turtles - who were busy getting it on!!! A great start to our trip and a bit of a theme as later in the week we saw two seals busy at it too…

As the Galapagos are so unique your only allowed access to limited areas and only with a qualified guide but even so you get to see loads from really funny blue footed boobies doing their mating dance (Garrett thought they were doing sumo wrestler imitations) and their kamikaze fishing technique, to cuddly baby seals (you get up real close too cause the animals aren´t afraid of people), giant tortoises and baby ones too, to thousands of marine iguanas. There are loads of other birds like the Galapagos mockingbird which drank water from my hand, frigate birds with weird red necks, red footed boobies and mas boobies and large albatrosses (there babies look like huge bundles of candy floss!!).
You see thousands of seals and when you go snorkeling they love nothin better than to swim right up in front of you and blow bubbles in your face kinda scary first time round cause they move so fast underwater but its a great feeling when you realise they´re playing with you. Also got to swim with sea turtles and white tipped reef sharks. We got to see loads of stingrays and all the fish here are bigger (Garrett reckons they were on steroids). Garrett was really lucky and got to swim with a penguin (i´d chickened out as the water was so cold).

For those interested in the itinerary here’s a quick run down: our second day we visited a small island north of Santa Cruz which was covered in sea lions and baby sea lions (some were only a day old - i know really really cute) and then of course there were the bull sea lions which weren´t too bothered with us except when one thought Garrett was chatting up one of its ladies - then it came charging up the beach but they´re quiet slow so had loads of time to move out of its territory. Then it was back on the boat for a four hour trip or so to Santa Fe island were we jumped into the water for the first time it was freezing and i had to do with out a wet suit - cold…. but got to see sea turtles. Then it was onto land were we say a huge land iguana only found on that island. On the way back to the boat we passed over a massive group of white tipped sharks playing with the stingrays and sealions.

Third day we were at Espanola when we woke up (traveled there during the night), were we were tripping over marine iguanas, they were everywhere. Again sea lions (started to become complacent about the fact we could walk right up to them!!!) and red crabs, this is were we got to see the blue boobies mating dance, albatrosses nesting and also were the mocking bird drank water from my hand. Did some more snorkeling (water wasn´t getting any warmer unfortunately) but was great as the sea lions were out with us again playing it was really funny when one woke up the shark sleeping under a rock (it wasn´t interested in playing and was annoyed it was woken up so he swam away!!!).

Fourth day we visited Florena and its unusual post office (were you pick up mail from people in your own country and post it when you get back). We also visited a beach on Santa Maria were young manta rays like to play in the surf so you could see them from shore. Afterwards we sailed back to Santa Cruz and its main town Port Ayora. On the fifth day we went to the Charles Darwin station and checked out their giant land tortoise breeding system (so got to see baby tortoise - unbelievable how much they grow they can live to over a hundred) got to see adults too which were huge. Poor lonesome George was there too - he´s called lonesome George as hes the last of his species, he´s over a hundred so talk about being on the brink of extinction!!!!!!

At this stage it was time to say good bye to all of our group except Pete as they were only there for a five day trip, so while they went to the airport we checked out Port Ayora until the next group arrived - a kiwi couple and two finish girls. So we headed into the highlands of Santa Cruz were we saw the giant tortoises in the wild and got to check out lava tunnels. It was then back to the boat and off to Rabida island were we woke up the next morning. Got to get some really nice snorkeling done as the sun had come out at last givin us great visibility. Then it was off the boat for a walk were we got to see flamingos.

That evening we sailed to Bartolomeu island to see the penguins heading to bed after feeding - they´re really really small and look like ducks when they´re chilling out on the surface of the water. The next morning we walked on a newly formed island next to Bartolomeu so got to walk on cooled lava - nothing grows there except lava cactus, cause it doesn’t contain any minerals or water. Then it was across to bartolomeu were Garrett swam with the penguin, we also climbed the hill there to get an over view of all the islands. Our last night we sailed to the islands to the north of Santa Cruz again so we could set out early that morning but this time went to Seymour north were we got to see the frigate birds with their big red bills and got lucky and also saw a red footed booby (which is only occasionally seen on this island) and another type of land iguana. That was the end of the trip and it was off to the airport for us and hail to almighty Cesar our guide  we got on an early flight which left about twenty minutes after we arrived (instead of us having to hang around the airport for two hours hehehe!)

So that was our trip the weather wasn´t clear skies and sun but it didn´t affect our walks just made snorkeling a bit cold but with so much to see (and as i had also managed to get my hands on a wetsuit) it didn´t stop us much.
S&G

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