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Published: December 18th 2005
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Double decker lizard
Lava lizard hitching a ride on the head of a marine iguana So, after two weeks in Quito, 20 hours of Spanish lessons and a nasty case of that condition that you expect to get at least once when you travel, we were off to the Galapagos Islands.
At 5:45am our alarm clock went off rousing us into an unwilling state of consciousness - it's a very uncivilised time of the morning after all. We had arranged to share a taxi with another girl from the hostel who was going to the airport at the same time. Sounded like a good idea at the time. Problem was, when it came to getting in the taxi, Crystal (we speculated that her surname might be "Ball" or "Maze") was nowhere to be seen. I ran around the hostel looking for her, but failing to find her instead got in the cab and got the driver to call another one for her when she appeared. We weren't missing our plane for anything! It turned out that she'd got an earlier cab so the initial panic was unfounded....
After some more confusion at the airport we were on our way. The plane was scheduled to make a stop at Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, and home
to a great deal of the businesses that exist in the country. As such the passengers of the plane were an unusual mix of suit-clad business types and Hawaiian shirt clad Galapagos-bound tourists. At Guayaquil the business folk got off and a bunch of excitable tourists were left to stew on the tarmac for half an hour while they refuelled the plane.
Whilst on the ensuing flight to Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands, we were pleased to bump into Bob & Gwen. We first met Bob & Gwen whilst cursing Iberia's complete lack of organisation when we were stuck in Madrid for the night, and they turned out to be a lot of fun. As such we were very pleased to see them, and even more pleased when it became apparent that they were due to cruise on the same boat as us, the
Cachalote
. The world's a small place for sure! On arrival we were greeted by Mauricio, our guide for the 8 day cruise, who turned out to be a veritable mine of information - including the Latin name of pretty much every species we encountered!
The Cachalote has 8 double cabins and is
A baby sea lion
All together now.... "aawwwww....." classified as a first-class yacht. Whilst the rooms aren't as big as you might expect from the promotional photos (a bit of crafty wide angle lens use I think!) it really is a lovely boat. We were told to consider the boat as our own, and we felt at home straight away. We had decided to travel on a small vessel because we didn't think that the experience would be as genuine on a larger one, and I think we made exactly the right choice. The only issue was seasickness: was I going to be sick all over the deck??! Fortunately, save a few near misses, all was well. Some of the other passengers had problems with seasickness but I escaped unscathed.
During the 8 days we gelled as a group and I'm pleased to say that everyone got along very well indeed. In a group of 16 people there is sometimes one objectionable individual but this happily wasn't the case with ours at all. After the initial couple of days everyone was on first name terms and were laughing and joking with each other at most opportunities. But what of the cruise itself?
Well.... Over the eight
Strange beast
Galapagos giant tortoise trying to eat camera days the cruise took in a whole load of animals and islands, and I doubt that you'd appreciate it if I gave you a blow by blow account of the whole thing. Instead here are my edited highlights:
*
Tracking wild giant tortoises (known as Galapagos, from the Spanish name for a saddle, which the shape of their shells are said to resemble) on a ranch on Santa Cruz. They're such unusual creatures, quite shy in some situations, and we both had a great time hiding in the woods and waiting for them to trundle past.
*
Blue footed boobies. When do you ever see a bird with bright blue feet? Or anything with blue feet for that matter?? These birds are very cool indeed. At sea they fish in the same way as cormorants, by flying about 20m above the sea and plunging into a steep dive, hitting the surface of the water with great force, and swiming after the fish. Amazing. On land they were very tame and we were able to photograph them with ease.
*
Watching a pair of waved albatross perform their courtship ritual. Although it wasn't mating season for the albatross when we
visted Española island, we were lucky enough to see a pair perform their beak tapping and nodding courtship dance. Apparently the eager pair were practising for the real thing in a few months' time! And no, they didn't practice the entire act!
*
Walking across the lava fields of Isabela island. I haven't walked on the surface of the moon, and this I think is as near as I'll ever come. The topography of the island was absolutely fascinating as it's covered with Pa Hoi Hoi lava (apparently a Hawaiian term!) which has a tendancy to look like dreadlocks. Yes I know how mad that sounds, but have a look at the photo!
*
Swimming with the penguins. If you've ever done it, you know why it's so cool. I wasn't really that bothered about swimming with penguins when I was on the boat, but after snorkelling with a pair I can see what all the fuss was about. They're hillarious little creatures, all the more so when Emma and I had a pair to ourselves for 5 minutes on a snorkelling trip, and one tried to nibble my fins. Very cool indeed.
*
Marine and land iguanas. I love
reptiles, they make me imagine what dinosaurs might have been like. On the Galapagos Islands I was able to get very close to some marine iguanas on pretty much every island, hence the extreme closeups. They are vegetarians and eat nothing but seaweed - they are infact the only lizards that swim in the sea - and then sit on land sneezing out all the salt they've eaten. I was lucky, in all the closeups, they only got me once...!
*
Snorkelling with sealions. Yes they smell on land, yes they're sometimes a bit grumpy. Encounter one when you're snorkelling though and it's an unforgettable experience. It's hard to believe that the same creatures that you just saw flopping around on the beach could possibly be as graceful as this in the water! They'll play in the bubbles from your fins, pirhouetting this way and spinning that, generally having a good time for as long as you're willing to stay and play. Truely magical.
*
Following a school of dolphins onboard Cachalote. Whilst we didn't see any whales, which we had all hoped we would (apart from an aledged sighting by Bob & Gwen - and you can't always trust
what they tell you!!) we did have a chance to follow some dolphins whilst navigating between the islands. They're such magical creatures, it's hard to describe the pleasure derived from watching them play in the bow wave. An absolutely wonderful moment.
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The general lack of humans on the islands. It sounds daft, but I was really pleased to see how wild the islands are, apart from the bits that are inhabited (apparently only 3%!o(MISSING)f the total land area). I've been to a number of national parks and I've never seen one better administered or the rules adhered to so vehemently. It makes a nice change to see a place where animals other than Homo Sapiens are the predominant species.
As you can imagine after eight days aboard the Cachalote nobody was happy to leave. I certainly would have liked to do it all again! Unfortunately though all things must come to an end, and so with a slightly heavy heart we all headed to the airport. Luckily for Emma and I, we had booked some extra time staying on at Santa Cruz island, so it wasn't over just yet...
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