Galapagos: The Enchanted Islands


Advertisement
Published: April 19th 2014
Edit Blog Post

After 10 weeks of god knows how many super noodle dinners and scrimping and saving where possible, the time had finally come for Galapagos. Hoping for a super last minute deal, we booked a one way flight and hoped for some luck. Only three days prior to our flight departing, the deal was done. We had managed to bag ourselves a half price 8 day cruise around the north and west islands of Galapagos aboard a 'First class' boat. Money transferred and having just spent 1/4 of our 16 week budget on a one week trip, our expectations were high and were really hoping for something special.

We arrived in Guayaquil late in the evening, with just enough time to grab some dinner, sort our bags and get to bed. Another early morning, however this time we really didn't mind. With torrential downpours in the local vicinity, our thoughts switched to the flight...and Gems thoughts to the turbulence. Once we had battled the slightly chaotic scenes at the airport, a two hour delay and a bottle of wine swigged from the bottle, we were finally up in the air and en route. An hour and a half flight later and we had arrived at Aeropuerto Seymore on Baltra Island. Before we knew it, we had grabbed our bags, been greeted by our naturalist guide, met our fellow cruisers and were soon whisked away to board our home for the next 7 nights...Tip Top III.

Buzzing with excitement, this is where it all began for real.

Unlike our usual blogs, this one is going to be a little different; instead of intimately describing each and every day, we are going to detail our daily itineraries and leave the rest up to the pictures to explain the incredible experience.



Day 1: Baltra & Santa Cruz Islands

11:30am - Flight from Guayaquil to Baltra.

1pm - Arrival on Blatra Island Galapagos.

2pm - Board Tip Top III.

3pm - Briefing on coming week.

4pm - Wet landing on Playa Las Bachas. Brief walk; spotted iguanas, flamingoes, crabs and numerous other birds. Some decided to go for a swim; we sat, chilled and watched.

6:30pm - Dinner.

9pm - Bed.



Day 2: Santiago & Bartolome Islands

7am - Breakfast.

8am - Dry landing on Sullivan Bay (Santiago Island). Incredible lava formations.

10am - Wet landing and snorkel. Swam with tonnes of tropical fish, penguins, sea lions and saw a huge lobster.

11:30am - Back to boat, showered and ready for lunch.

12:30pm - Lunch.

1:30pm - Boat pulled anchor and moved short distance to Bartolome Island. We had a couple of hours to chill out, explore the boat further and spotted a shark swimming around the boat.

3pm - Wet landing and snorkel around the famous pinnacle rock. Visibility wasn't great, however swam with another couple of sea lions and scenery was impressive.

4:30pm - Dry landing and walk to the summit of Bartolome Island to a viewing point. Watched the sun set over the stunning bay.

7pm - Dinner.

8pm - Stargazing on the top deck. Stars were incredible and our guide pointed out a few constilations with his laser pen...Rich didn't get any of the shapes, but liked the stars!

9pm - Bed.



Day 3: Genovesa Island/Darwin Bay

6:30am - Breakfast.

7:30am - Dry landing on the famous 'Prince Philip' steps. Walked and saw Nazca, red and blue footed boobies, an owl, frigates and tonnes of other birds.

10am - Deep water wall snorkel. Saw numerous hammerheads, some up to 5m long, Galapagos sharks, school of Golden Rays and lots of other fish. Was an incredible moment and certainly made Rich's trip to see the Hammerheads.

12:00pm - Lunch.

1-3pm - Sunbathed on the sun deck.

3:30pm - Wet landing on a beach in Darwin Bay for a walk. Saw black tip shark in water nearby the shore en route. Saw more red chested frigates and sea lions on our walk.

4:30pm - Snorkel from the beach. Unfortunately didn't spot the black tip shark underwater, but saw plenty of fish and swam with a spotted eagle ray for a while.

6:30pm - Dinner.

8:30pm - Bed (party animals I know).



Day 4: Santiago Island

7am - Breakfast.

8:30am - Wet landing on James Bay. Saw lots more iguanas and sea lions in lava tubes and pools near the sea.

10am - Back to the boat for snacks and to get ready to snorkel.

10.30am - Snorkel from beach. Saw white tip and black tip shark. Also large sting ray and numerous other fish.

12:30pm - Lunch.

12:30pm-3:30pm - Chill out time.

3:30 - Panga ride around Buccaneer Cove. Saw lots of rays in the water so we jumped in and swam to shore. We then had a quick walk on the beach and saw a galapagos hawk.

5pm - Back to boat and we sailed past a rock in the formation of a bowing monk.

6:30pm - Dinner.

8:30pm - Bed.



Day 5: Isobella Island

6am - Early cup of tea on the deck where we spotted an orca and a pod of dolphins in the far distance.

6:30am - Breakfast.

7:30am - We crossed the equator.

8am - Panga ride around Punta Vicente Roca where we were up close with dolphins around the bay. We also spotted more sea lions and sea turtles. Hundreds of iguanas and blue footed boobies scattered across the rocks. Also huge swells crashing against the rocks creating blow holes.

9:30am - Back to boat to get changed for snorkel.

10am - Wall snorkel and we swam with sea turtles. We also saw portuguese man of war and both got stung by little jelly fish (ouch!).

12:00pm - Lunch.

2pm - Snorkelling again to see marine iguanas feeding of the algae.

3pm - Back to boat to quickly get changed then headed to Punta Espinoza where we saw clumps of lava cactus and once again saw hundreds of iguanas and sea lions. One sea lion almost took a Russian's leg off when she got too close (priceless!).

6pm - Dinner.

8:30 - Bed.



Day 6: Isobella Island

6:30am - Early morning panga ride around Tagus Cove then deep water snorkel. Swam with rays, sea lions, penguins and turtles. The atmosphere in the water that early in the morning was amazing.

7:30 - Breakfast and the ship cruised over to Urbina Bay.

9am - Dry landing on Urbina Bay to visit land iguanas and giant land turtles.

11am - Snorkel off the beach on Urbina Bay and swam with hundreds of sea turtles. We were able to get right up close to them, often it was hard to avoid touching them they were so close.

12:30 - Lunch.

1-3pm - Sunbathed and chilled out on top deck.

3pm - Panga ride amongst mangroves where we seen lots more sea lions, penguins and turtles in the water. Gorgeous scenery as we moved through the mangroves.

5pm - Back to boat where the captain gave us the thumbs up to jump off the top deck of the boat. Both of us were straight up and jumping off like kids!

6:30pm - Dinner.

8:30pm - Bed.



Day 7: Isobella Island

6am - Breakfast.

7am - Dry landing on Islet Las Tintoreras where there is a small bay of calm water where we seen more marine iguanas, sea turtles, sea lions and a white tip shark.

8am - Drive then walk up to Sierra Negra Volcano. The volcano has 10km diameter and is the second largest in the world. The scenery is quite spectacular with the iron and cooled lava making up a colourful scenery.

12pm - Back for lunch.

1-2pm - Chill out time.

2pm - Wet landing and off to visit the breeding centre 'Arnaldo Tupiza' where we seen giant tortoise of different ages and learned about the reproduction of the tortoise.

3:30pm - Wander around the town of Puerto Villamil then had a swim and a few cocktails on the beach.

6pm - Farewell cocktails then dinner.

8.30 - Bed.



Day 8: Santa Cruz Island

6am - Breakfast.

7am - Landing on the Pier to visit the Charles Darwin Centre them bus to the airport!



After eight days of cruising around the western islands of Galapagos, it has now become clear what all the fuss has been about. After swimming with turtles, seals, sea lions, iguanas, penguins, white tip sharks, black tip sharks, Galapagos sharks, Hammerhead sharks, spotted eagle rays, sting rays and golden rays to name just a few of the many marine animals, the under water experience was incredible. On land we saw hundreds of spectacular birds, land iguanas and huge tortoises. Unlike anywhere else in the world, both the land and marine animals were unbelievably unfazed by our presence and we were able to get within touching distance of them all (sharks included), which added even further to the experience.

Tip Top III certainly lived up to its Tip Top name. With 15 passengers and 8 staff on board, the ship still remained incredibly spacious (we often felt alone on the boat), the cabins were large with huge bathrooms and so many different deck areas to relax and sunbath. We were served three excellent meals a day and snacks in between. Two mornings we were served bacon, so Rich made the bacon sandwich he had been craving so bad for so many weeks.

As well as the unparalleled wildlife, we had an amazing boat, faultless staff, great guide, lovely fellow passengers (except the Russians...we'll explain at a later date) and almost perfect weather. With our limited vocabulary and even more limited arsenal of superlatives, it is hard to describe Galapagos fully. However, we do know that we have been very fortunate to experience a once in a lifetime amazing week which we will certainly never forget.

Enough of us waffling on, it's now time for the pictures to do the talking...

From a week of luxury, we would soon be back to earth with a bump. Next stop...Quito.


Additional photos below
Photos: 219, Displayed: 28


Advertisement



20th April 2014

Galapagos
What amazing photographs. The under water camera worked a treat. You have been really lucky with the weather there. Both of you, natalie and Matt will be able to compare stories. Looking forward to seeing you both soon. :) xxx

Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0451s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb