17th - 26th August
After a bus, plane, bus, boat and another bus, we arrived in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island of the Galapagos at about 3pm.
Our first view of the islands as we flew in...
Puerto Ayora is very small but nice to have a little wander round. Immediately we realized how tame all the animals were going to be. As we walked along the dock, there were land iguanas scattered everywhere soaking up the sun and they didn’t move an inch as we walked past!
At the fishing dock, men were busy gutting fish and there were enormous pelicans all swooping around eating up the guts.
We had two days to kill on our own before we joined our eight day cruise so we arranged a trip to Isla Isobela for a couple of nights as that island would not be part of the cruise.
The journey was a puke-inducing bumpy two hours on a speed boat and the accommodation we had booked was rough and ready to say the least but they made us a decent meal when we arrived and we had a pleasant afternoon at a tortoise sanctuary meeting our first giant tortoises and on a walk passing flamingos and lots of land iguanas.
James wondering who was the most bald...
The beach just behind our accommodation was windswept but beautiful. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite beach weather! Lots of wind, pretty cold and bursts of rain.
Island Isobela is the largest island in the Galapagos and has in total five volcanoes so the next day we were up early to walk up one of them, Sierra Negra. There was the option of horses but we had heard horror stories of lots of people falling off so we decided to walk. Sierra Negra has the second largest crater in the world being 9km by 10km and it was magnificent. We walked up and around the crater and to another smaller crater for about 3 hours. The weather was beautiful once we got above the cloud at the start of the walk so the whole trip was lovely. We were glad we had walked as a child of about eight fell off his horse that morning and was in a right state!
Sierra Negra
Looking towards northern Isabel
Volcan Chico
After lunch we took a boat around the harbour and walked through some volcanic rock to the resting place for the white tipped sharks which was amazing! There were about ten of them all mooching round in the shallows, occasionally joined by an eagle ray or sting ray or two. All the animals on the island strangely have no fear of humans at all so you could get some great photos. We were practically tripping over the land iguanas on the way to the sharks!
Sealions in Puerto Viamill Bay
Cold blooded Marine Iguanas huddling together for warmth
White Tipped Sharks resting in the shallows
Eagle Ray
Monday morning we took the 6am same choppy speed boat back to Santa Cruz and headed to the airport to meet our cruise. The guide, Leonidus was there to meet us with Katarina, another tourist who had already been on the boat for 3 days. An hour later the rest of the party arrived on the last flight. There were eight of us on the boat - us, four germans, a swiss and a dutch woman – there was going to be a lot of german speaking for the next 8 days…
We took the bus to the port where our boat, The Merak, was docked. We knew it was going to be small but it was tiny!! Tiny but perfectly formed, however:
We managed to get the only double which was at the back right next to the engine which was very noisy when we were traveling overnight but we gathered we had made the right choice as the rest of the rooms were at the front and were very bumpy on the choppy seas! Along with the guide, there was the captain, cook and one other crew member who were all very friendly.
That afternoon we went to Bachas Beach on the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island. A beautiful beach with soft silver sands, but as we were to find out cold cold seas - the swimming here was going to take some courage!! Here we had our first taste of the extremely tame birds. There were Pelicans swooping just 2 feet above our heads, Blue Footed Boobies dive bombing into the sea trying to catch fish and crazy coloured crabs with an equally crazy name, Sally Light foots!!
That night we travelled to the close by Canal, the little strip of water between Baltra and Santa Cruz. An early night of 7:30 (to become the norm!) and a sea sickness pill before bed.
Tuesday the boat left at 5am to get to Mosquera Island before breakfast. Here just as the sun was rising we walked on the beach with a large sealion colony. This was our first taste of sealions close up. They were so tame!! The mothers were quite happy to have us walk along right next to their 4 day old pups, with the huge males looking on. They have no reason to fear humans. They have never been hunted by us and so have no reason to fear us. The rules of the park do not allow you to go within 2m of the animals, but often you had to step over them to get off the boat!!
Then it was back to the boat for breakfast. It soon became clear that the food was going to be served in epic proportions every mealtime - all very tasty though.
Benny, Katerina, Beatrice, Sandra, Ute, Marood (the cook), Leonides (the guide) and Maarit
After breakfast we travelled down the eastern side of Santa Cruz Island, past the Plaza Rocks which include the famous Gordon Rocks where the hammer head sharks hang-out, to Santa Fe. Here was a little sheltered bay and the chance to snorkel with turtles. Again the sea was freezing but we had hired wetsuits now to take the chill off. We rode out in the little dingy and spotted a couple of turtles within seconds so we jumped in and swam alongside them. They were so tame, quite happy to have us snorkelling along just a couple of metres away staring at them while they glided along - very cool! We then went up onto the beach and climbed the small hill to get a view of the bay:
Here we saw our first land iguanas. Completely different from the sea iguanas as they do not swim and eat sealife, they have evolved independantly to eat the flowers and fruit from the ctaus on the island. It is thought that they floated over on fallen trees from the mainland 1000km away, then seat about evolving to suit their new environment.
When we returned to the beach, and climbed over the numerous sealions, we saw the Galpagos Hawk. Again endemic to the Galapagos and the islands only real preditor. It just sat there and let us get within a few metres of it...
After that it was a long 9 hour boat ride across to Espanola where we would stay for the night. The sea in the southern ares is very much rougher. The currents come up along the Chilean, Peruvian and Ecaudorean coastline then across to the Galapagos bringing cold rich in nutrients waters but also BIG waves. We all suddenly went a bit quiet and starting concentrating on the horizon hoping our sea sickness pills would work. After finally arriving there we had dinner and tried to get some sleep ready to explore Espanola in the morning.
Of all the islands that the boats visit, Espanola is easily the best for sea birds. Here you can see the Blue Footed Boobies, Masked Boobies, Frigates, and Waved Albatrosses.
Boobie with chick
Just how close can you get?!
Waved Albatros
Katie getting checked out by the super curious Mocking Bird.
After Espanola it was another long trip over to Floreana, stopping for the night before exporing again in the morning. We went ashore at Post Office Bay, famous being one of the first parts of the islands inhabited by humans. The early whalers set up the post office with mail left and picked up by whalers heading back to the mainland. Now toursits leave postcards there for other tourists to search for cards close to their homes and hand deliver them when they return home - not quite the same.
The post office at Post Office Bay
By the next morning we were back at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz and glad we have left the rougher southern seas behind. It was strange to be back on dry land for a longer time. We all found that we were very unsteady on our feet now that we were so used to the motion of the boat. We visited the Charles Darwin Centre to look at the Tortoise breeding program. Here they had mini-tortoises of only a few weeks up to older ones of over a 100 years old. They breed and raise them until they are 5 years old and their shells have suffciently hardened to withstand attack from preditors out in the wild. Here we also learnt a lot more about the problems faced by the Galapagos. By far the largest problem is...yep you guessed it us! Not so much the tourists directly as the numbers and effects have been carefully managed since tourists started to come. The problem is more from human introduced species such as pigs, sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, crops and plants. These introduced species have greatly upset the delicate ecological balance by eating the plants that the indigenous animals need or by smothering and pushing out plant species such as the blackberry bush that is rampaging across the islands. Millions of pounds are now being spent to rectify these problems. Helicopters are being used to shoot wild goats and donkeys from the air to give the tortoises a chance.
The little ones feeding
The famous Lonesome George
He is the last tortoise of his type. He was found on a isolated island all on his own as the introduced goats had eaten all of his plants. He doesn't have a lady tortiose of his type to breed with and so he will be the last of his sub-species. We then went up into the highlands to see the tortioes in their natural habitat. The largest one here was over 180 years old and 250kg!!
Driving down the track was a little difficult at times!
That night we stayed in the dock taking on more supplies and had a night on land. We went for a couple of drinks but were so used to going to bed by 8pm now that we all went back early. One of the best parts of coming into Puerto Ayora was the guide being changed over. The first guide didn't have the right paperwork, probably becasue he was rubbish and so he was replaced but another guide. He was much more normal and friendly, but importanlty he was older and much more knowledgable. After breakfast we headed north to Rabida. Here the soil is red and the vegetaion quite different. We saw pink flamingos and two turtles 'bumping shells' in the sea here.
After a bit of freezing but good snorkelling we got back on the boat and headed over to Sombrero Chino (chinese hat) island to find some penguins before dinner. The Galapagos Penguin is the only penguin to be found on the equator and can survive here due to cold ocean currents. They are endangered at the moement with less that 1,500 left, so we were lucky to see them. The recent El Nino events raised sea level temperatures dramatically, reducing food levels and killing many penguins.
A nice place to stop for dinner!
A Marine Iguana
and his little friend a Lava Lizard
The weather in the northern islands is much better as all the rain is forced to drop as it passes over the highlands of Santa Cruz so a bit of sunbathing to be done up here!
James having a go on the boat. Luckily it was moored up at the time!
We then moved on to Bartolome, perhaps the most visually beautiful parts of the Galapagos. Here we had the chance of swimming with sharks! In the morning we walked on the Lava fields of Santiago before it got too hot. They were quite spectaular with strange intestine shapes set into the lava.
After breakfast we walked onto the beach and went looking for White Tipped Reef Sharks. They were supposed to use this beach for resting in the shallows. After 30mins we still hadn't found any so we were about to walk back to the beach when our guide spotted some. James waded in to get a closer look and we ended up seeing about 6-8 swimming so close their fins touched James' legs a few times! Best Galapagos animal experience yet.
After lunch we went snorkelling looking for more sharks this time to swim with. Again we weren't disappointed as we swam with sharks circlling below us - very cool! We also saw turtles feeding on seaweed from the seabed and lots of brightly coloured fish.
After an amazing afternoon a 5 hour boat ride over to Seymour to moor for the night. The next morning before breakfast we went onto Seymour to see the bird life over there. There were many now familar birds but in huge concentrations. We got to see the frigate birds nesting and puffing up there huge red chin sacks which fascinating!
From Seymour it was a short hop back to Baltra to be taken to the airport and the end of our Galapagos adventure. All in all it was an amazing 10 days. Neither of us were exactly nature lovers before but we both learnt a lot about the different species, how they evolved indepenadntly of one another, how and why they are threaterned and why the Galapagos is such a remarkable and special place.
The view from the plane on the way back - we were sad to leave!
Books we read: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Books we were trying to finish: Don Quitote all 1050 pages!
It's easier to balance an egg at the equator
A human shrunken head in the wierd equator museam
Geeks!
