South America, Days 92 to 99 - Stage 19: The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Here's our Galapagos tour mates. Photo taken today, so a bit out of order. LtoR: Arvid, Charlotte, David, Linette, Luchia, Joanie and Jackie. Chris and Dianne didn't come on this one, There's a blue footed Booby next to Joanie completely relaxed amongst us

Day 92 Thursday 

So, obviously, because we had to be up at 04.45 I woke up just after 01.00! Our 05.30 pick up arrived at 05.15 just as we had got to the lobby which was perfect and off we went. Edwin seemed to have got someone as well as the driver, just to speak to us in English, I think. The journey through the Cajas mountains was amazing, such a shame we had so much rain as it meant we hadn't been there before, for a walk, but at least we got to see them. Fortunately we didn't read about the three hold ups on that road,

in the last week until we arrived at the airport, and thankfully we didn't see the completely undercut piece of road until after we'd driven over it and round the bend.

Not my picture, but a view of the mountain road on the way to Guayaquil from Cuenca where the rain had washed away the foundations of the road, leaving it teetering on the edge. When we arrived there they had just halved the width of the road by putting debris on the overhanging part

We arrived at 09.00 for a midday flight when they apologized for being so early! I tried explaining you can never be too early at the airport, but I think it washed over them. Brian also thought it was too early, but after 15 minutes we went looking for our assistant, and there he was. Our names on a board, took us to get our luggage scanned and cases sealed, to prevent you adding anything 'illegal' for the Galapagos, then presented us with our luggage labels and took us to check in, and we were off.

Our first view of the islands as we came into land at Seymour Airport, Baltra

We arrived in Baltra, the luggage was all laid out, and then we were allowed to go and collect. Walked through to find Fernanda out guide and the 8 other guests for our 16 person yacht. We are a multinational group, 2 from the US, 2 from Australia, 2 from Denmark (who coincidentally have just been to Sacha Lodge), us from the UK, 1 from Italy and 1 from the US (just when we were hoping for no repeats!). There are almost as many crew as there are passengers, and it's definitely very posh.

Our first view of our home for 5 nights, the EcoGalaxy catamaran

An amazing buffet lunch to get us settled before our first activity. A wet landing to a walk in Turtle Cove on Santa Cruz, the big island. Turtle cove lived up to its name, turtle nests, turtle tracks, egg shells and turtles, making new turtles, in the sea. We saw flamingo, marine iguanas, amazing coloured Sally Lightfoot crabs, yellow warblers and sea lions before having a little dip to cool off. Back onto the boat for a snack before shower, briefing and dinner . After every activity is a meal, or snack, and the meals are all three course and fabulous, and this is before we go on the three week cruise around the bottom of South America!

And what a delight it is. This is our room

Day 93 Friday 

After an early night (though not as early as the clocks said as there is an hour difference to Cuenca) we were all ready for breakfast at 07.00. Out on a dry landing at Sullivan Bay on Isla Santiago where there was not much fauna, as it was a really interesting walk across the weird landscape of a lava flow. Another first.

The bar, lounge and dining area, where we were served first class food

Back to the boat (snack) and handing out of snorkeling equipment and wetsuits. My small was too big, but the xs is not much better, but that seems to be it. Out in the dinghy (or panga) for our first snorkel. Not as warm, clear or as much to see as the Maldives (guess we've been spoilt) EXCEPT penguins, so cute, so fearless, fabulous. The white tipped reef shark wasn't bad either. I wasn't first out, that was Avid from Denmark, but I wasn't far behind as I really was quite cold. Back for lunch, an hour to blog and now we've got 10 minutes before our second snorkel, must go!

Getting ready on the stern of the ship for our first outing

Our second snorkel was meant to be off the beach, but it was a bit choppy, so the panga dropped us off and we drifted past Pinnacle Rock. The highlight was a spotted ray, which Brian filmed without turning the camera on. He did get cute pictures of the penguins on a rock though.

Arriving at the beach for our first wet landing

I was a bit warmer on this outing, the small wetsuit on top of the XS wetsuit, no chance of diving down to looking at anything, and swimming took some getting used to, but at least I could stay in, until the visibility made it just not worth the bother. Back to the boat second shower of the day, a quick change, and off to the island of Bartolome where we had a hike up 370 odd steps (no doubt Brian will correct me as he counted on the way down) to a great viewpoint. See our Relive video of this hike, with photos: click here. A short detour in the panga back to the boat took us past some blue footed boobies (our first) and a juvenile penguin trying it's hardest to get out of the water to it's parent. Poor thing kept getting swept off. Well worth the effort, though it did mean we had to come back to shower number 3.

I just have so many photos I've got to be selective. This was a tidal lagoon we walked to on Santa Cruz and managed to get iguanas and a flamingo in the same shot 

Sushi night tonight, wow, we really are getting fed extremely well. It was absolutely delicious.

All off to bed for another early night. Suddenly realised our AC wasn't working, turn it off and back on and it would puff out hot air for a moment before turning itself off again, fortunately managed to find one of the guys who had obviously experienced this fault before and vanished upstairs to speak to the cabin above us. As he vanished, so Diane appeared, clutching her pillow, she is sharing a room with Luisa (they are both travelling singly) and was very unhappy as they had a falling out about the temperature the AC should be on, Luisa apparently thought 25° with the vent taped shut. Guess we know who is above us then!

There were huge numbers of these Sally Lightfoot crabs everywhere we went scuttling around the rocks

The cabin opposite us is unoccupied, and although not made up, made a much better option for a good night sleep for Diane! But shh, don't tell anyone!

And lots of yellow warblers

Day 94 Saturday 

Today is to be spent on the island of Santa Cruz. Disembark via the Panga, passing sea lions dozing on the jetty, yes, they really do do that. Onto a bus and up to the Highlands (just over 150m) to visit the giant tortoises. They live on a farm, but are not enclosed or farmed, it's just where they are!

Sea turtles playing in the surf, but not coming in to lay their eggs in the sand until after dark

I think we all fell in love a bit. I know they don't do much, but they really did look quite interested in us and seemed to enjoy being waved at, and they are, after all, completely iconic to the Galapagos. Exited the farm via a lava tube which was interesting to walk through, though sadly Chris, our geologist from Australia, is not steady enough on his feet to do that bit!

There may have been some funny business going on here!

Back to the boat for lunch and a small relax (or blog). Before returning to the island to visit the Charles Darwin research centre.

The research centre was interesting enough and we saw tortoise from a few months old to a few years. It seems that on the inhabited islands all eggs are dug up and incubated. The hatchling then grown for a few years till they are strong enough to fend for themselves. A walk back to the town where we really had too long to kill before the panga came to take us back to the boat. See our Relive video of the walk with photos: click here

These marine iguanas have adapted to swimming, the only ones to do so, using their tails to swim

Day 95 Sunday 

A walk on Floreana at Cormorant Point was our first activity. Fortunately we were the first group onto the island. Another lagoon to see Greater Flamingos, before crossing the island to a beautiful sandy bay to watch the turtles in the water.

Our first walk was on this huge lava field. Its only about 100 years old so very few plants have taken root here, its still very barren and other worldly

Back to the boat to kit up and a deep water snorkel at Devils Crown. A good trip, though the current was very strong. Fortunately only 7 of us went so the panga could pick us up and drop us back in a few times. The water was clear and I did score quite highly. Two groups of 4 sharks, a single shark, a turtle and a ray. Brian saw none of these, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

But little lava lizzards have adapted to it quite well

After lunch Fernanda put a 'movie' on. She didn't say it was over two hours, which is a shame, I think I'd rather watch it in our own time, but I'm half watching, half writing. The Galapagos affair: Satan came to Eden is the story of a group of Germans who came, separately, to inhabit Floreana, and the unsolved murder mystery that followed.

The movie finished and it was back into wet wetsuits, yuck, casually tied around our waists for the coastal exploration. Many turtles and sealions, three flamingos, Na
zca and Blue footed boobies, and whatever else Brian has pictures of.

As the lava cooled it cracked and exposed layers of minerals that settled out during the hardening process

Onto the shore from where we visited Post office Bay, which really is as it says. A barrel where post was left for any passing ship to pick up and deliver. This tradition continues to this day. We had all written postcards to put in the barrel and we went through all the cards already there to see if there were any local ones. The point is to hand deliver. We found one for Cheltenham and decided that was close enough so we'll have a trip out when we get home!

When we got back to our ship a stowaway joined us in the panga. He was very comfortable but duly obliged and jumped out when asked so we could use it again

After this we returned to the beach where we could snorkel if we chose. Having sat uncomfortably in wetsuits we were going in. Joanie, Brian and I set off along the rocks and very quickly came upon a turtle. Joanie got pictures and went back to persuade Dave to come join her, which left Brian and I. He got some great video footage of them as we all moved back and forth with the current. It was well worth going in, particularly when the sun came out.

Evening briefing started 15 minutes earlier than usual as Steven, our wonderful barman, showed us how to make canelazo , the Ecuadorian drink we heard about when we were in Quito. Naranjillo juice steeped with cinnamon, cloves, all spice and star anise, to which was then added sugar cane liquor. It was actually very palatable, so I had a couple more glasses. My excuse? I'd been upstairs chatting so missed out when Brian had ordered a Pina colada?!

Our first afternoon snorkel was fabulous, a penguin swimming around and a white tipped reef shark. Click on the Youtube video to watch

Day 96 Monday 

The best walk of the trip, on Espanola island. Smelled a bit, but oh my goodness, the sealions, the blue footed boobies, the marine iguanas, the albatross (that should have left, but we saw 2), fabulous. I guess this is what the Galapagos is all about, they have been protected for such a long time that they really have no fear, nesting and sitting on the path, boobies and iguanas and going where they want on the beach, regardless of where you are, the sealions. Best walk of the trip, but the pictures will say everything. See our Relive video of the hike with photos: click here

Afternoon hike up to a viewpoint on Bartolome Island

One more snorkel this afternoon, before kayaking and paddle boarding, so fingers crossed for sealions while snorkeling!

We did see sealions while snorkeling, three came past, obviously with things to do, they were busy and couldn't stop. We went round the bay till it got deeper and rougher, back into the Panga and back to the start again. One more sealion, also busy, but did actually look me in the eye as it went past, so I was happy.

And what a view from the top. This view appears on many advertising posters, but my picture isn't so good as, in the later afternoon the sun was straight in front so it looks a bit washed out. In the morning, with the sun behind the pictures look fabulous. The land beyond is Santiago Island and the lava field we walked on is just where the suns reflection is on the sea. Pinnacle rock you can see and that's where we snorkeled

Kayaking for Brian and I, and Charlotte and Avid, while Joanie and Dave did paddle boarding. Joanie has her own, and it showed though it was her first ocean boarding. We were all very impressed.

Last beach stop after this, sealions and a gentle amble while trying to find out what others thought of the tip we were expected to pay. I think we all felt it was a bit high, so I know at least half of us rebelled!

Bartolome island apparently is not a volcano but is full of these vents which occurred along a now dormant fault line causing this bubbling up 

Farewell cocktail and not my favourite dinner, but lunch had been amazing, ceviche prepared to our taste, so no coriander for Charlotte and I. We thought that was it, until the surf and turf arrived. Yum.

After dinner we went upstairs to find Dave and Joanie to say our goodbyes, they were leaving just after 06.00. They weren't on the top deck, but as we came down, a boobie flew into the seating area. He struggled to get out, so after making a big mess, Charlotte and I distracted him while Avid sneaked up behind, picked it up and threw it overboard!

And from the top we can see our lovely ship down there

Day 97 Tuesday 

Up for breakfast at 07.00 as usual, but our bags had to be outside at this point. Leave the boat at 08.00, with our handluggage , and arrive San Cristobal island and the capital of the Galapagos. A trip to the interpretation centre, which was interesting, but hot. Dodgy tummies were becoming more prevalent from Lynette and Diane to Charlotte and maybe Joanie. Fortunately B&I are both ok. It's such a shame as the food onboard was stunning. Half an hour of shopping, so B&I sat with Lynette and Chris and all the handluggage while the others had a last mooch.

On the way back to the ship in the panga we toured the coast and spotted this mum penguin on a rock....

Off to the airport to say our fond farewells, we really were very lucky, it was a lovely group and we had a really good time, all except Luisa the Italian, who was fine, but had little English and just chattered on in Italian regardless. We weren't actually flying out, but it just seemed easier to do as we were told, go to the airport, be reunited with our bags and get a taxi back into Puerto Baquerizo Moreno where we had 3 hours to kill before our ferry back to Santa Cruz (hence why we had volunteered to stay with the bags while the others shopped!)

But baby penguin was underneath trying to get out of the sea and get up to mum. All the time we were there we watched wave after wave sweep it back in, leaving it to get more and more tired trying to get out again

We dropped our big bags at the ferry office and had a gentle potter. An ice-cream and a bowl of chips seemed to be lunch. Collected our bags just as it started to rain and made our way to the pier. The ferry was not what either of us expected, a small fast boat seating perhaps seating 20, or 12 with luggage. A bit cramped and bouncy, no real view, not the best 2 hours, but hey, obviously the only option as Fernanda, the guide, was also on it.

A little further round we came across a blue footed boobie, much to the delight of Joanie whose main aim on this trip was to see one

Arrived in Santa Cruz and taxi to the hotel. It wasn't far, but bouncing the bags along behind us would have taken a while. The Palace hotel. We looked at it the other day as we were in town. It looked ok, but was all locked up, and was 15 minutes walk from the port. We'd looked at other options and decided to stay with it. Glad we did, the couple are lovely, even though we are the only ones here.

Santa Cruz brewery for dinner, hope the beer doesn't give me a headache and an early night. All our nights on the boat had been early, because hauling up the anchor, I think, woke everyone who then went back to sleep with limited success. A couple of the journeys were really very rough, so not much sleep was had by anyone then.

Next day we arrived at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island to find many sea lions lazing about everywhere. We were amused that cones had been placed around this one on the pier

Day 98 Wednesday 

Despite going on yesterday about how lovely it was to have 2 days to do nothing, except blog, we were up for breakfast at 08.00 and out walking to Tortuga Bay just after 9. The beer hadn't given us headaches, hurrah. A couple of km to the path, then a couple of km through the shrub to the beach. It was already very hot. Along the sand of the first beach where you couldn't swim to a more sheltered bay where you could. It was rammed, so we just turned round and walked back.

We were onto a bus and up into the highlands of the island, which also meant going into a bit of cloud and some light rain. The highlands are only about 300m altitude but, as its the first bit of land for thousands of miles, clouds tend to condense over the hills. The giant tortoises like it cooler and wetter and the vegetation is more verdant. This farm encourages them by making conditions ideal for them so, although they are free to go anywhere they like, they like it here and, everywhere you look they were munching away, in fields, peoples gardens and at the roadside all over this higher area of the island

We stopped at the renewable energy interpretation centre where we were given a private tour. The girl had asked Spanish or English? Her shoulders dropped when we said English, but Spanglish between us worked really well. Nice little tour. See our Relive video of this hike with photos: click here

Back to the hotel, via town and a milkshake. 10.5km, 88 heart points, 14500 steps, The AC is on, I'm looking forward to my second shower of the day, and I've done my bit of the blog!

We saw a lot of of them and we were amused by the way they observed us, looking back and forth at their visitors

As you can see, they are big (or perhaps I'm small!)

And then we came across this nest of them. The farmer had dug it out and filled it with water, they'd found it and thought it rather good

Here's a couple in the process of making more baby tortoises

Then we went down an old lava tube

 

Which was huge and very long. Lava tubes form during a slow eruption where lava flows down an incline gradually cooling. The outside cools first while the inside remains molten and flowing forming these tubes

This section is double height with two separate tubes on top of each other. These are completely natural except the farmer has installed gravel on the bottom for ease of walking

Here's two species of Darwin Finches, there are 17 in all, all specially evolved to eat specific plants, all having particular shaped beaks

A bit of sillyness in the cafe afterwards with some old tortoise shells

Afternoon visit  to the Darwin Research Centre where they are doing good things in trying to breed giant tortoises to maintain their populations against losses from humans and invasive species. Programmes to eradicate introduced rodents and protections against human influences have allowed populations to increase. This one's a couple of years old and will be released at 5 years old

This is Lonesome George. When he died his species became extinct. Of 15 species that originally habited the Galapagos, 11 are still alive today. They are doing everything they can to maintain those 11 species

Two male saddleback tortoises fighting

Next day on the Isla Floreana, the 'Mystery Isle', and a sanderling on the rocky beach. Following the movie we watched of some German settlers and the disappearance of the Baroness and other deaths we saw the Baroness lookout point and wondered why anyone would willingly locate themselves to a remote, fairly barren island. Jackie and I were the only people to watch the film right through. It's probably available on Youtube, but we wouldn't recommend it as, at over 2 hours it was at least an hour and a half too long. Better editing to get it to 45 minutes would have made it watchable

Turtle tracks up the beach. Any hollow in the sand we had to avoid as that's where turtle eggs are laid

A crab wanders towards the surf

Onto the next snorkel, but first a coastal exploration to Post Office Bay so only half on wetsuits

Taking photos of blue footed boobies from the panga

Flamingoes and a sea lion in the bay

Of course, blue footed boobies, lots of them

And this, if you ever watch the film, is the Baroness Lookout

A short walk from the beach and we arrive at the Post Office. This has been around in various formats for several hundred years and was a way of seafarers, pirates, whalers etc to get word home. They left their letters in the barrel and any passing ship would collect ones destined for their destination and hand deliver them. No stamp is necessary. Its a tradition that continues to this day and we were given postcards to write and put in the barrel. We wrote one to ourselves and one to my daughter and posted them here. While there, we went through the many already in the box and took ones near to our homes with the intention of hand delivering them. We were told not to take any unless we were prepared to hand deliver them, sticking a stamp on was not in the spirit of it. We took one for an address in Cheltenham, UK, about an hours drive from our home. It won't be delivered until at least May!

Here we are with David and Joanie posting theirs

And here we are posting ours. I wonder if and when they will be delivered. A warm welcome awaits the person who delivers

And here's the one we took for delivery to Cheltenham

Iguanas can swim too

Our afternoon snorkel off the beach we nearly didn't do, but we were so happy when we saw these turtles feeding close to shore. The waves were very strong pushing me and the turtles back and forth, but I got some great video, have a look

Overnight we moved to Espanola Island and our Day 96 morning hike was the best one. Our way was barred by this Marine Iguana, but he allowed us to pass

We passed this boobie who was just readjusting her position  and so revealing her very young chick and an unhatched egg. She had nested right in the middle of the path and was completely unfazed by our arrival, as humans present no threat to them

This is a Galapagos mockingbird

Another chick lovingly attended to by mum

More photos. Make sure you keep at least 2m away, that's the rule

This little chick is exercising its wings and you can just see the feathers starting to grow

This is an abandoned albatross egg with Jackies hand to show the size. 

They should have all migrated by now, but we saw this one and another still here. Come on, time to go!

We stopped for quite a while on the cliff top of this wild coast observing the birds and iguanas. This is a blow hole erupting with great force and noise each time a big wave came in

A Galapagos Hawk

We took many. many photos of blue footed boobies, none of which are afraid of humans, including this one. If you look carefully at the very first photo of us all, this one was sitting quite happily among us. Here she just stood up to reveal her blue feet

Frigate birds by the hundreds flew overhead. This is a female with white breast, but I didn't manage to get one of a male with its red crop puffed out though, another iconic Galapagos image

A mockingbird and iguana share the same rock looking out to sea

Our circular walk took us back to the coast and here's three marine iguana and a lava lizzard. Slight difference in size, but the lava lizzards are much quicker

The little beach and rock pools had many young sea lions playing safely. Jackie spied this very young pup on a rock

It was fine and got us to smile at the camera

Sushi for dinner tonight, an example of the fabulous food we had onboard

I thought I'd better put this photo on. I wore my buff over my head on every snorkel to protect my head from the sun. I told no-one to take a photo, but Avid took this selfie with me in it

In the evening this boobie landed on the back our our ship, presumably attracted by the light, and then couldn't take off again. In the end Avid picked it up and launched it off into the night, last seen flying away

Our last activity together, this Youtube is mainly Joanie's expert paddleboarding and David's less expert paddleboarding!

Last morning together (minus David and Joanie) for our group trip to the Interpretation Centre on San Cristobal island

This is a final Youtube of a roundup of the snorkeling showing the rays, fish, turtles and penguins we saw

Back ashore for a final three nights at Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz island, we enjoy a beer overlooking the harbour. Can you see the sea lion relaxing at the side of the road? She was the centre of attraction for passing people and had her photograph taken hundreds of times

Yesterdays 10.5km walk to Turtle Bay from our hotel. We were hoping for turtles (obviously), sea lions, iguanas and more but, in the end we saw only lots of iguanas (and lots of people in the safe swimming bay

No swimming off this beach we were told, its not safe, strong currents, although we did see a few surfers out there

We did see plenty of marine iguanas though

It was a very pleasant walk along the beach and rocks

We were thinking how quiet it was until we turned the corner into the sheltered cove where swimming was allowed. We beat a hasty retreat!

At the viewpoint at the entrance to the beach walkway with a nice view over Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. The white building is the renewable energy centre and out of sight to the left is a solar farm, generating 17% of the islands electricity. They had a nice free guided display inside that we made use of.

Back to our hotel. It may not look that much, but its very comfortable and the owner couple who run it are fabulous people. That's it from The Galapagos Islands, tomorrow we are up and away early to catch two flights, one back to Guayaquil on the mainland and then another to Santiago in Chile for the start of our next adventure, our Antarctic cruise. The journey continues...