Blogs from Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 12

We woke up at 6am to grab breakfast at 6:45...fruit plate with some bread, cheese, juice, and coffee. After breakfast we headed to SCUBA Iguana for our dives today. We had to be there by 7:20 to make sure all the gear was ready. We met everyone else in our group of 8, hopped in the cabs, and headed to the other side of the island (near Baltra) to hop on the dive boat and head to Isla Beagle. After a 30 minute car ride, a 1.5 hour boat ride (which included naps by all) we finally made it to our first dive spot. To begin, we started with a checkout dive to 20 feet to make sure we had the correct amount of weights and to make sure we knew how to get our regulators ... read more

All islands in the Galapagos are a short boat ride apart, so day and weekend trips are easily arranged. My first trip was to Santa Cruz, which is one of the 4 inhabited islands and is the most highly established of those. It was about 4 times the size of San Cristobal, giving tourists much more access to hotels, restaurants, and daily activities. A group of my friends and I rented a boat to take us sport fishing. Around 11am I managed to reel in a 35 pound tuna fish, and by 2pm we were eating homemade sushi and tuna heart. We continued to troll around the island of Santa Fe, taking frequent swimming and suntanning breaks. We caught 7 fish throughout the whole day, and mine ended up being the biggest! That night we took ... read more

Update from the land of giant tortoises - We went on a search this weekend for a cheap tour for the week after our last work week at the reserve, which is our last week in Galápagos. We didn´t have much luck in the port of San Cristobal, so we decided to take a ferry over to the bigger town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. We got here this morning and within one hour of being here we found a tour for an extremely good price, about 1/2 off the normal price! The trick is that it leaves today! So we´re off to spend the week cruising and snorkeling around the Galápagos on the Rumba. We´ll finish up our volunteering the week after and then head back to Quito on November 16th. We have next ... read more

Learning about and participating with other cultures is always an eye opening experience that can change one’s personal outlook on life and the world, give light to other perspectives and enhances one’s appreciation of cultural similarities and differences. These experiences can sometimes leave you rolling with laughter, feeling frustrated, lost, appreciative, speechless and amazed all at the same time. Here are some noteworthy aspects/experiences of Galapagean life I have noticed and hope that I always remember.... • ya mismo can signify right now or sometime next week (usually the latter) • at five o’clock most men can be found either playing basketball or volleyball in teams of three, using a soccer ball and basically just throwing it over the net - you can guess where all the women are...ugh • on Saturday everyone wakes up ... read more

Hmmm....wo soll ich anfangen. Galapagos war unglaublich. Wir haben uns so sehr darauf gefroit und uns immer wieder gesagt, dass jetzt krank werden ueberhaupt nicht drin liegt, dass es schlussentlich natuerlich so gekommen ist. Wir konnten aber alles machen, was wir wollten, halt einfach einen gang tiefer. Die Temperatur auf Galapagos hat Wuensche offen gelassen. Vorallem die des Wassers. Der erste Tauchtag durften wir in 18,5 Grad kaltem Wasser plantschen. Nicht gerade angenehm, wenn man sich die Caribic gewohnt ist. Aber A ist es besser geworden nachher und B sind die Tiere etwas aktiver bei kaelteren Temperaturen. Und die haben sich nicht zweimal bitten lassen. Wir haben fast alles was das Herz begehrt gesehen. Haie, Hammerhaie, Stingrays, Eaglerays, Mantas, riesen Thunfischschwaerme und noch vieles mehr. Auch sonst haben wir eine super Woche dort verbracht, die leider ... read more