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Published: October 3rd 2006
Wow what a week....I didn´t really know what to expect from the Galapagos but it was amazing and although very expensive, was worth the money for sure.
Even before going it had been a great week. Spanish school went well and with the end in sight seemed a lot more interesting in week 4 even if I did have a new teacher who I didn't much like. On Thursday morning we went on a trip to the top of one of the big volcanos around Quito, Guagua Pinchinchca, with the vulcanologist who we had seen speak a week or so earlier. It was a 3.30 start which meant getting up at 3 which was extremely painful but was well worth it.
We headed up a very steep and bumpy road in a jeep and typically I got the boot seat. It was pitch black and freezing up there when we arrived and I was very glad indeed of the woolly hat nosi bought for me. There were thousands of stars. We started to climb from the refuge to the peak but the air was so thin it was exhausting. I really had to suck air into my lungs. The
top was awesome though and as we got higher and the sun rose more and more volcano peaks appeared in the distrance. The colours and light were amazing up there and it even started to warm up a little. We were lucky it was a clear day so could see Tunguara puffing up smoke in the distance in one direction and Columbia in the other. You could also see Cayambe, Antisana, Cotapaxi and Chimborazo. It was stunning. True to form I managed to forget my camara to capture this magical moment so all photos and early divorce avoidance are thanks to Marielle! Getting back down to Quito at 11ish we did try and go to our final Spanish lesson but I was so tired that i kept nearly falling asleep.
The next morning another early start saw us head off to the Galapagos. We booked onto a boat called the Beluga which was quite an expensive boat but went to Isabella island which most boats don´t visit. There were 14 people on the boat and the ages ranged from 21 to 82 which made for an eclectic but interesting mix. We flew into Baltra airport which has to be
one of the most remote and barren airports on earth. It looked like a strip of concrete on a desert coastline. There was no need for a wire fence around the airport because there was literally nothing anywhere near apart from a landing bay for boats.
We were met by our guide Mauricio who was probably the most dissapointing thing about the trip but also quite entertaining in a totally unintentional way. The boat was pretty luxuary with a huge sun deck a large bar area and a hot shower in our cabin that was more powerful than our shower at home. Just getting on the boat we saw lots of sealions and sea birds although from the look of Baltra I did sort of think that the only reason the Galapagos has proved a haven for wildlife i because nobody in their right mind would want to live there.
We got a briefing from Mauricio, in which he gave the 1st indication that perhaps hed been doing his job for too long and was bored of all the tourists. He did tell us that half of everything to see in the Galapagos was underwater which was a
complete suprise to me. In fact in general everything was a suprise. I had expected it to be a trip round a few islands where you'd see a range of unusual animals that were quite tame. In fact, although that was partly true the snorkelling was amazing and just the difference in geography betweeen all the islands was also fascinating. Luckily the boat had wet suits we could hire because the water was freezing but we got to swim with sealions, turtles, penguins, sharks as well as a huge number of other fish. The sealions would come up and swim right next to you - which was pretty fightening at first and prompted Nosi into a massive underwater screaming fit at one point which must have affected the friendliness that one sealion forever more.
Our first stop was on the island of North Seymour which was a dry (everything was dry and barren as the wet season hadn't yet started) rocky island and the oldest in the Galapagos. Getting off the dingy which ferried us between the boat and shore, we almost had to clamber over some sealions. They were lying about everywhere - not just on sandy areas
but on rocks, under bushes and next to cactuses. It was the strangest sight and lots of the sealions had the cutest little babies which squeaked their way around. We did the normal thing and within 10 minutes had about 200 photos of sealions. You could stand, sit or lie right next to them without them really batting an eyelid. Touching them is a total no-no as it means their mother can't recognise their smell and so they're abandoned to die. The island also had iguanas and a massive array of weird birds. It was really strange to see so many iguanas lazing about often with a sealion lounged in the middle of them. There were frigate birds that puffed their red chests out to about 20 times thier normal size while trying to attract females (just like Cardiff really) and huge nests dotted all around the paths. All the islands had paths marked out which you had to stick to which keeps the impact of tourism to a minimum. Mauricio told us that only 3% of the land is used by humans (for tourism, farming and housing) and the rest is protected for the animals only.
After lunch
we went for our first snorkel and saw a shark and sealions and masses of colourful fish before having a massive dinner and crashing out. Our normal daily routine involved getting up at 6.30 for a massive breakfast before going for a walk. After a massive lunch we would go snorkelling before moving on to another location and doing another walk, although sometimes we would have a second snorkel. After the second walk we would have a massive dinner ( a lot of food for one day) and then have a couple of drinks before crashing out with exhaustion. The food was pretty variable, sometimes it was amazing with stuff like soya meat with red wine sauce while other times we had a leftover bread omlette but there were always plenty of salad and vegetables so that you never felt anything other than bloated at the end of each meal. George the barman, waiter, cleaner and most other things on the boat could mix a mean cocktail which always sent me off to bed happy.
The boat tended to travel over night so we would wake up early each morning to a new island and completely different environment. The
second morning we woke up to the island of Espanola in the south of the Galapagos. We were next to a huge beach that was just covered in sealions. The sea around us was also covered in other boats so by the time we finished breakfast there were as many tourists as sealions on the beach. My fears that this would be the pattern for the holiday were completely unfounded and the number of other boats in the same place as us went down and down and for the last 2-3 days we were the only boat where we stopped. Even with the other tourists about the beach was great, you could just sit down next to the sealions and the beach was littered with the cutest babies. From time to time everybody would scatter as a huge bull male sealion would make a small charge to mark out his territory. It was here that Mauricio first displayed his most comical feature, his animal noises. He would make these crazy noises as if trying to speak to the animals and persuade them to come closer. All he managed to achieve in reality was make practically the same noise every time
and scare all the animals away. Afterwards we went snorkeling right off the beach with sealions shooting under and around us. We did another snorkel off Tutrle rock where we saw a white tipped shark but no turtles. In the afternoon we headed to Punta Surez where we did a rocky walk past Nasca Boobies and Wandering Albatrosses.
The next day was Floreana island which was my favourite. It was boiling hot and the green beach was deserted except for the odd sealion. The island was totally different to Espoanola in that it was flatter with more solid rocks and more sandy. We walked to a huge lagoon which had flamingos in it. We then crossed onto a beach which was a breeding ground for sharks and rays. We had to drag our toes in the sand so not to accidentally step on a sting ray. In light of what happened to Steve Irwin I took the cowards option and stayed firmly on the beach. We did a snorkel off a collapsed crater out in the sea called the devils crown which was in rough seas and was pretty hairraising. In the afternoon we headed over to Post Office
Bay which historically is where boats dropped off their mail and picked up any mail adressed to where they were going. It still works in the same way but only for tourists now. We picked up a postcard for someone in Newport! Afterwards we snorkelled off the pristine (and deserted) white beach where there were lots of beautiful turtles and I saw 2 sharks and some crazy penguins darting about. The blue footed boobies and pelicans were also diving into the water catching fish right by us. We moved straight on after the beach to the island of Santa Cruz which has the main town in the Galapagos. We popped into town in the night to check the footy scores and after seeing them wished I hadn't bothered.
Day 4 we headed 1stly over to the Charles Darwin research station where they breed the giant tortiose to repopulate the islands. The population had dropped from 600,000 down to about 3,000 the repopulation is slow but steady and involves not only breeding the tortoises but also ridding the islands of the imported animals such as goats and cats steal and eat the tortiose eggs. Mauricio gave a very interesting talk
Captain joe
captain joe goes fishing you know and if he catches one he lets it go. on the island formation, currents, geology and climate before we went to see the tortioses. We saw George who was a tortise who won't breed. He has even had a Swedish animal sex therapist brought in to encourage him, to no avail ! To be honest after seeing animals in the wild it was a bit of a dissapointment to see the tortoises in what was effectively a research zoo. In the afternoon we went up to the highlands to see wild tortoises. We found a load of them in a field but despite being big I couldn't help thinking that they were a bit rubbish and nowhere near as graceful as the turtles we'd seen. Other people really liked them though. On the way back to the boat we stopped and went down into a massive lava tunnel which really brought home how big the eruptions must have been that created the islands.
Day 5 we were on Isabella island and walked across a lava feild that just seemed to go on forevever and joined all the seperate volcanoes up to form a single island. There were strange little oasis's dotted in the fields which were the centre
Barman George and Phil
Being 82 years old didn't stop this D-Day veteran snorkelling, hiking or dressing for dinner! of all life and even had remote flamingoes in them. In the afternoon we snorkelled in this rocky lagoon and were lucky enough to find that massive isolated lagoon which was just filled with about 20 turtles. It was really magical and Mauricio only let us in a few at a time but it was probably the snorkelling highlight of the trip. Afterwards we moved to a Mangrove area called Elizabeth Bay, where I was able to go kayaking on my own through the mangroves. It was great because being away from the group (even if not very far) you really felt like you were an adventurer and could apreciate the silence apart from the constant cracking and creaking of the mangroves. By this point the group had bonded pretty well and dinner times were filled with impressions of mauricio and his animal noises.
Day 6 was still on Isabella at a place called Urvina Bay which was a 3 kilometer stretch of cost line that had just appeared in a day after a volcanic eruption, causing much confusion to the local fishermen by all accounts. There were massive yellow iguanas on the island but the walk which wasn't
very long took for ever as everyone kept stopping at every iguana to take a million photographs. We moved onto the Fernendina island which is the newest, highest and most volcanically active island. It was absolutely littered with animals and we saw loads of sea iguanas swimming about, birds fighting and of course cute little sealions. The funniest moment was walking down a path and suddenly a bull sealine strated chasing us. Everyone started to run which set Mauricio into a fury and a few people got a right old telling off. In the night we had our biggest trip where we crossed the Equator 4 times but was also very rough. Nos puked over the edge of the boat and I got told off for messing about with the ships controls when the real perpertrator stood by looking all innocent :>. It was great standing on the top deck as the wind howled and we crashed through big waves sending up huge spays of water.
By day 7 we had arrived at James island where Mauricio told us a few unfathomable stories about crazy Germans on the Galapagos before we set off scambling across rocks to see a
Crazy Mauricio
'aoh aoh' he speaks to the animals different types of sealion (the CHilean double furred sealion) and Galapagos scorpions. The snorkelling was awesome and there were lots of turtles and sealions playing about. In the afternoon we climbed up Bartholome island which gave a tremendous view over the islands and you could see where lava flows have swallowed up islands which originally had been dotted about in the sea. It was a great final day and kinda emphasised how many different activities we had fitted into a week and the variety of things we had seen.
I could write so much more than this about the trip as it was soooo good but this internet connection is expensive. I will add more photos to this in time but not sure how much time I have right now.
adios joe
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heather
non-member comment
jealous! - oh and Happy Birthday Joe!
Oh my lordy I am so envious, Galapagos sounds incredible! Did you see giant turtles mating?! I heard a thing on the radio the other day about this guy who went there and recorded all the sounds of the wildlife including the sound of the turtles mating. They make a quite loud groaning kind of noise accompanied by their shells knocking together! I trust you'll have a great 31st! Hxx