A taste of Galapagos paradise

(Same old story: click on photo above for more. Lots more!)


After my baptism-of-fire in Quito, the cruise through the Galapagos Islands felt like a timely taste of paradise.

It didn´t get off to the greatest of starts, with me mistaking the meeting time on the first night. Tour leader, Lisa was unimpressed, and I must admit, I pulled the "I got robbed" line, in a desperate appeal to her sympathetic side (which failed to reveal itself, despite my efforts).

The first night´s meeting (the bit I attended) was uninformative, and more a chance to suss out my travel companions for the next 7 days. We were a group of 16 peoples from Canada, Australia, NZ, Zimbabwe and England, with most of us in our 30s, but a couple of women over 60. The Aussie-Zim couple and another Aussie guy from Adelaide became my closest allies.

First day was an early rise and trip to Quito airport for the flight to Baltra Island (via Guayaquil). All rather chaotic, but resulting in the desired outcome! We were met at Baltra by a crazy-haired Ecuadorian man named Sergio, who was to be our guide while on the cruise. Sergio was ?fifty-something, with 22 years experience in guiding in the Galapagos, and he was undoubtedly our greatest asset over the course of the cruise - everything a guide should be and more. If anything, my only criticism would be that there weren´t two of him, because it was impossible to hear everything he had to say and take all the photos I wanted to take!

The next five days aboard the boat went something like this:
Day One
A short drive from airport to pier, and the rather startling sight of a sealion lying on the pier, more in the water, and hundreds of bright red-orange Sally Lightfoot crabs all over the rocks: Wow. I´m in the Galapagos! I don´t know what I was expecting of the tour, but I can say that it far exceeded my expectations. I couldn´t have imagined how close we would come to the wildlife, and how unperturbed by human presence they animals would be. I feel overwhelmingly fortunate for the experience.

So we boarded our boat, the 'Darwin' and settled into our cabins. The boat was simple, but immaculately presented, thanks to Lenny and the rest of the crew, who proved that men can clean bathrooms and make beds better than some females!

(In interrupt my own thoughts to say that a garbage truck just drove past playing Mr Whippy tunes...is that not the ultimate anti-climax?)

Back to the boat:
After becoming acquainted with each other, we had the first of our daily 'lectures' from Sergio. These included where we were going to sail next, opportunities for snorkelling, what we would see on land, in the water and the sky, some island history, and information about the various species of wildlife and plants.

Our first stop was Las Bachas beach, on Santa Cruz island. Here I saw my first flamingo, and I didn´t expect to feel so....overwhelmed by the experience (last use of that word, I promise). They are a delight to watch, incredibly graceful, brilliantly coloured (more orange than the pink I had imagined) and kept busy sifting muddy lagoon water in search of the minute shrimp which makes up their diet. I could´ve stood and watched for hours...

Las Bachas also brought first sighting of the famous blue-footed boobies. Quite an oddity, for sure (see pics). And more SL crabs, which were to become something of a personal favourite of mine. There was also the first sighting of a land iguana, but nothing compared to the size and quantity of iguanas to come. Like the sealions, the Galapagos iguanas (land and marine species) seem completely unphased by *close* human presence. Initially I found this a little disconcerting, and worried that exposure to humans had brought about this state, but I was assured that they have been this way since first human contact, according to early reports. Phew. No need to feel guilty as I tip-toed through their colony :)

Post-landing, there was supper, followed by Lenny´s 'cocktail', which was actually a glass of fresh tamarillo juice. Fresh juice (with water and sugar) is a major seller in these parts. On the topic of food, we ate like kings for the entire cruise - fresh fish every day, hot breakfast, lunch and dinner, morning and afternoon tea which was more often than not an Ecuadorian culinary surprise(!), and desert for dinner. Yes, I´m turning into a lump of lard, but it´s for a worthy cause. It´s a crime to come to foreign places and not try the food, if you ask me (running into all sorts of trouble now that I´m back on land tho...just too many options and only three meals in a day!)

After dinner, mooching with the group and relatively early bed. Oh, and a blue heron sighting on the bow of the boat :)

Crappy night´s sleep (but remedied the following nights with drugs. Hooray for Restavit).

Day Two on boat
Visited South Plaza, one of a pair of tiny islets which make up Las Plazas. Awesome place - sealions everywhere, and huge yellow land iguanas! To add to the wonder of the experience, the landscape was like nothing I´ve ever seen - red and yellow portulacca on the ground, and huge prickly pear cacti dotted across the land. I could´ve sworn I´d stepped into the pages of a Dr Suess book.

It struck me as a strange environment for a sealion to inhabit - they were lying amongst sand and portulacca, a long way from the shore... They didn´t look as comfortable (or as healthy) as the other colonies we saw, but I was nonetheless impressed. Apparently, the greatest threats to a sealion's health (other than those of a predatory nature) are cataracts and parasitic illnesses.

Next stop was a snorkelling opportunity! If only I had an underwater camera! Unbeknown to me before I went on the tour, the Galapagos Islands provide some of the best snorkelling opportunities in the world :) The water is crystal clear so visibility is awesome. I must admit, I´m not brillaint with my marine species but I know beauty when I see it, and the underwater world of the Galap has plenty of it! Very fist time in the water and I was swimming with a black turtle!! It was awesome...gliding through the water below me. Was totally spellbounding... As one would expect, there were loads of tropical fish, and an almighty sting ray mooching around on ocean floor....very cool. Turtle remains a highlight tho ;)

In the afternoon, we sailed to the island of Santa Fe, and found dozens of sealions lying around on the beach, including a couple of little pups, doing the rounds of all the mother sealions, looking for one to love them. I must admit, I found their bleating a little distressing, and the rejections painful to watch! :( Sergio lead us on nature walk around the island, where we saw more land iguanas, including one particular species with a penchant for various types of yellow food. A yellow flower dropped in its path was devoured within seconds - bizarre. Also saw lava lizards, and native birds, including Galap. finches (everywhere).

On the trip in the dinghy back to the boat we caught a glimpse of another black turtle beside the boat, and loads of rays. Just too great for words....

Another night on the boat much like the previous. Slept well!! Everyone else was moaning about the rocking in the night, but I was in a land far far away......

Day 3 on boat
Sailed to Gardner Bay where we had another opportunity to wander and swim/snorkle. Water was cold, but it was well worth the pain to swim with sealions less than an arm´s length away! Yay. They were incredibly playful, swimming over and under us, twisting around (could swear they were taking the mickey out of the slow, awkward swimmng style of their human guests!) There is nothing quite like the feeling of swimming with a sealion in it´s natural environment.

And...just when I thought I could die happy there and then, we saw three white-tipped sharks sleeping under a rocky outcrop, just a few metres below the surface! Was able to dive down to almost look them in the eye!

Of course there were fantastic tropical fish as well, as was becoming the status quo... ;)

Back on land, there were dozens more sealions....on the beach, and rolling about in the shallows. This colony of sealions looked particularly happy, hence loads of pics! It´s definitely a sealion´s life, I think.... (On that note, my apologies for the masses of pics - haven´t had a chance to cull yet).

More food, mooching on boat and sailing to the island of Espanola, where we were treated to a virtual treasure trove of wildlife: blue-footed and masked boobies, SL crabs, sealions, piles (literally) of marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, and the main attraction at Espanola - the Galapagos albatross (including chicks). They´re strange, awkward-looking birds when on the land, but when they launched themselves from the cliffs, and soared overhead in their dozens, they were captivating...(wingspan >2m must help).

This was our first face-to-face encounter with the marine iguana (the red one). In keeping with the theme of Sth American animals, the marine iguanas have a very disconcerting habit of spitting!! I am told they are merely expelling swallowed sea water, but it´s hard not to take it personally ;)

Supper, dinner, mooch mooch. Snooze.....


Day 4 on the boat

This morning´s first stop was the island of Floreana. It was the first inhabited island, post-arrival of the bishop of Panama whose boat ran off course on its way to Peru in the 1500s. There has been a post-barrel on the island since the mariners erected one in 1793. Today, the strange custom continues, wherein travellers visit the island with postcards or letters, and collect any postcards of letters addressed to their town or country of origin to deliver on their return home! Apparently it really does work (quicker than the postal service in Zimbabwe according to Pete), but I didn´t trust it. There were no Aussie cards for my collection unfortunately (presumably due to the high flow of Australian tourist traffic to the island).

Being the result of frequent volcanic action, a number of large caves have formed on the islands, including one on Floreana. Donning our head torches, the physically able (and possibly crazy) in the group made the 30m decent below ground, and swam in the icy cold waters of the pools at the bottom (keeping head torch above water!) We also had some underwater torches which shone for metres through the crystal clear waters. It was pretty cold, so we didn´t linger too long. But the opportunity to swim in an underground cave doesn´t come along every day... :)


The surprises just kept coming. From here, we walked to another beach, known for its stingray population, which come into the shallows in their dozens, with the tide. After some basic instruction in avoiding stings, and a demonstration by Sergio of the required shuffle (ie. walking with feet always on the ground so as to avoid standing on one!), we shuffled our way into the shallows and watched. Before long, the rays were being dumped right before our eyes, and rubbing themselves up against our toes in a way which can only be described as squeal-worthy. But I resisted, because I didn´t want them to sense my fear. Tee hee. There literally were dozens of them, some up to 1.5m long. It was incredible. Can´t properly describe. See the pics of the stirred up water, and try and imagine what I´m getting at, if you can ;)

More snorkeling in the afternoon at a rocky outcrop/coral reef called Devil´s Crown. This was easily the most impressive snorkeling experience of the trip - long stretches of coral, with school after school of tropical fish of various kinds, and other impressive solo swimmers (ie. non-school-going fish). The currents were incredibly strong, which gave us our first opportunity for some serious excercise. We had to be picked up by the dinghy intermittently, and taken up-current so we could drift down, enjoying the rainbow scenery along the way. Aaaahh.... Thankyou Galapagos Islands!

That night we sailed to Puerto Ayora, on the island of Santa Cruz, for our first taste of civilisation since leaving Quito. For half of us, this was our last night on the boat (the remaining 8 were staying on for another 3 days). In honour of the departing, the chef baked a cake, and we all went ashore for a look at the town and a taste of a $2 Ecuadorian cocktail!

Nearly over. Boo hoo.

Day 5
A quick visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz, and a check up on Lonesome George. As made the Age online in the weeks before I left home, he has finally hooked up with a female and she´s laid some eggs!! It´s been a 30 year drought, so there were grave fears for the future of the particular island species, but Sergio couldn´t wait to dispel the rumours that he´s gay. It remains to be seen yet if the eggs are fertile, but at the very least it´s nice to think George is still able to pull the ladies, at age 120 (or thereabouts). ;)

We saw some other Galapagos tortoises in captivity, all over a century old. Photos tell all.

From there, we bid the rest of the group farewell and took a bus and ferry to the airport for flight back to Quito.
Dinner that night with the rest of the group, and I had my first taste of guinea pig (cuy in Spanish, as in the noise they make supposedly!) I had a half gp, which had been crumbed and fried. Claw still intact, and oddly contracted, which I took to suggest that he wasn´t especially relaxed at the time of his death... The verdict: so many bones for so little meat! Think I will have to try again, because I feel the secret herbs and spices detracted from the unique rodent taste.... In keeping with the traditional Ecuadorian theme of the meal, I followed it with corn pudding (steamed pudding with raisins, served in banana leaves), and washed it all down with sangria. Mmmm.....

So there endeth one fabulous Galapagos experience. Never to be forgotten. I feel very fortunate. :)

PS. Doing best to get up-to-date with the blog but it´s tricky! And off to the jungle tonight, so no chance to write for few days.