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Published: January 2nd 2008
M/V Santa Cruz
Our expedition vesselSunday, 12/02/07
Our 7:30 AM scheduled departure from Newark was delayed almost 4 hours due to cargo loading problems, snow and de-icing. It was a good thing our original flight was changed to this earlier one, so we would have enough time to catch our connecting flight in Houston. It was here I met all of my fellow travel agent partners. There were 13 of us in all from New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Arizona, Colorado, California and Texas.
The Continental flights worked well for going to Quito. A 3 ½ hour flight to Houston plus a 4 hour 20 min flight to Quito. The view of the city lights below against the mountain backdrop, was a lovely sight as the plane made its final approach for landing.
Everyone in our group received their bags except Irena from the Los Angeles area. She had a tight connection time, so her bags were left behind in Houston.
We cruised through customs and immigration. Alex from Metropolitan Touring Company was waiting for us in the arrivals area. He and his driver took our luggage and they escorted us to a very comfortable touring coach. It was a short 20 minute
Me and Socrates
Bartholomew Island ride to the hotel through the Sunday night deserted streets of the city. Alex explained the next day’s routine on the way.
We arrived at the Hilton Colon in the downtown area and were greeted with our room package and check-in prepared for us. My assigned room mate was Dolly from Houston. A lovely gal, who has been in the travel business for over 35 years.
The room was quite comfortable and spacious with 2 Queen Beds, writing desk, table with 2 soft chairs and a large bathroom with marble floor. We had a large window with a view over part of the city. There were Christmas light decorations up on the hilltop and the spires of the local cathedral glowed above the rooftops.
We had welcome cocktail coupons in our check-in packets, so I went to the empty bar and got a local beer called CLUB and rum sour to go. The local beer was quite tasty.
The 9000 feet elevation made it difficult to sleep soundly through the night. The air was dry and thin and wreaked havoc with my sinuses. It is too bad we are only here for 1 night. It would
Giant Land Tortoise
Charles Darwin Research Center - Baltra Island have been nice to have time to visit the city and acclimatize to the elevation.
Monday, 12/03/07
We had a delicious buffet breakfast in the hotel café. There were plenty of local fresh fruits and juices, eggs cooked to order and the other regular breakfast fare. The fresh baked bread and sweet rolls were a wonderful complement to the freshly brewed café con leche.
The bellman took our luggage to the lobby and we gathered at the hotel entrance to meet Alex at 8:00 AM. Our luggage was taken to the airport for us which was a pleasure since we didn’t have to schlep it ourselves.
We arrived at Quito airport in about 30 minutes time. Our bags were waiting for us to be run through the X-Ray machine. A strict no fruits, veggies or animal products rule is in place for the Galapagos, to prevent viruses and non-endemic species from being brought in. Alex then issued our boarding passes and pre-typed Galapagos entry cards and we were off to board our plane. He handed us off to Geovanni who was to accompany us on the flight in case we had any questions.
The flight to
Guayaquil on Tame Airlines took about 25 minutes and we were surprised when we were given a small cheese sandwich and drink. We stayed on the plane for the short stopover. All planes enroute to Galapagos, must first stop in Guayaquil in order to fuel. They need this fuel for the roundtrip, since there is no refueling availability on Baltra. It was another 2 ½ hour flight from there to Baltra. We were served a full luncheon meal enroute. Our airlines in the US could learn a thing or two about customer service from Tame Airlines.
The view over Baltra Island was beautiful as we approached the runway for landing. The stark nature of the island was in deep contrast to the blue-green waters surrounding it.
After de-planing, we passed through Galapagos immigration entry and were met on the other side by Carlos from the MV Santa Cruz. We were loaded on the local airport bus and taken to the ferry to cross the channel to San Cristobal Island. We re-gathered as a group and met our naturalist guide for the week, Socrates.
We boarded a motorcoach for a trip up into the highlands. We passed a
Galapagos Penguins
Bartholomew Island stark, dry landscape which eventually turned green as we got up to the higher elevations. Socrates explained about the geology of the islands and pointed out some old volcanic craters along the way that were now overgrown with greenery after lying dormant for thousands of years.
We stopped at a lovely little restaurant surrounded by forest and enjoyed a local lunch of barbecued chicken and beans with salad, all washed down with an ice cold local beer. We appreciated the cooler temperature of the high country, but the increasing humidity levels brought a few sprinkles of rain as we boarded the bus.
We continued our drive back to the lowlands and through the town of San Cristobal to the Charles Darwin Research Center. Our guide Socrates explained about how the research center conducts studies and breeding programs of Galapagos endemic species, and then re-introduces them back into the wild on their native island. They specifically deal with the different types of giant land tortoises. We got to see Lonesome George, the only known surviving species of his type. Efforts to mate him with similar tortoises have been unsuccessful. The cloning specialist who created Dolly the sheep, has also
Sea Lion Colony
Santiago Island been to the research center to see if cloning George was a possibility. It is unlikely at this time, since little in depth information is known about reptiles in general. We also saw the iron prickly pear cactus, which was a cactus with a large, tall wooden trunk.
We were able to pose for photos with some of the other giant tortoises, and had a chance to visit the research center gift shop. We had about an hour to stroll through town on the way to the docks, where we would catch the panga (aka zodiac boat) to the MV Santa Cruz expedition ship. There were plenty of gift shops with inexpensive t-shirts and expedition wear. The funniest shirts were those that said “I love boobies”, referring to the famous blue-footed boobies bird species.
We rode the panga out to the ship and were escorted to our cabins by a crew member. Dolly and I were assigned B10 on Boat deck. A very comfortable sized room with 2 platform beds, closet, desk and private bathroom with a swedish style shower. We also had a large porthole window with one-way glass, that turned into a mirror at night when
Sea Lion "69"
Santiago Island the inside cabin lights were turned on. One note about the cabins: If someone is taller than 5 feet 8 inches, they need to clarify that point when making a reservation. Some of the cabin arrangements have the foot of the beds, up against a closet or wall.
At 7:00 PM, we met in the bar area for a naturalist guide presentation about our expedition cruise for the next 5 days. We also met the Captain and his officer staff and they hosted a complimentary cocktail party with a choice of pisco sour, rum runner or scotch on the rocks.
The first night dinner is open seating to choose your table. That would remain your table and waiters for the duration of the cruise. Our waiters were Luis and Carlos, who were both adorable. Dinner was a 4-course event including salad, appetizer, main course and dessert. It was delicious and portions were reasonable so you felt satisfied, but not stuffed.
We all turned in early after dinner, in anticipation of our next day’s outing that would begin with a shipboard wake-up-call over the PA system at 06:30 AM.
Tuesday, 12/04/07
We woke up as we were
sailing off the coast of Bartholomew Island, just off the east coast of Santiago. We went up to the Sun Deck where we were issued a mesh bag and snorkeling gear to be used for the duration of our cruise.
From there, I made a quick stop at the free internet station inside the library and I was pleasantly surprised at the fast speed, as compared to the larger cruise lines. A bountiful buffet breakfast followed.
Each naturalist on board is assigned a group of 10 - 15 passengers, and each group is given an identifier named after one of the animals endemic to the Galapagos. Our group rejoiced when we learned that we would be called the “Boobies”.
At 8:00 AM we began loading into the pangas to sail out to Bartholomew Island. It was a dry landing, where we were able to step off from the panga, onto a makeshift dock. We were greeted on arrival by a number of bright red crabs called Sally Lightfoot Crabs, one lone blue-footed booby, a pelican and a couple of playful sea lions.
From here we hiked up over a lunar like landscape left by volcanic lava
flows thousands of years ago. The island’s nickname is “an open book of geology” due to the many different types of rock and lava flow vents and drains that you see along the walk. The walk extends over a .6 mile area on a wooden boardwalk. It is a progressive uphill climb up ramps and 380 wooden steps. The views along the way were impressive with the grand finale being the most photographed view in the Galapagos. The view looked over part of Bartholomew and James Island. We could also see our net snorkel bags lined up on the golden crescent sand beach off in the distance. The ship’s crew had collected our bags in reception earlier in the morning and efficiently delivered them to await our arrival.
After our descent from the top, we boarded the pangas again to make our wet landing on the beach. We struggled to get into our wet suits, with help from Carlos, one of the naturalists.
The snorkeling was some of the best I’ve ever experienced. It was mostly shallow water, with interesting crevaces between rock walls. It appeared to be channels made by lava flows of years ago. There was
a wonderful assortment of beautiful fish, corals and sea anemones.
There were a number of sea lions on the beach and we got to watch the bull male fight off another male who was trying to move in on his harem. It was a neat experience to be able to get so close to the sea lions. The invisible limit was three feet from adults and six feet from the pup sea lions.
We motored back to the ship with just enough free time to shower off before our open-seating buffet lunch. There was a great selection of salads, hot and cold items, hearty soup and desserts. We then had about an hour of free time before our afternoon expedition.
At 3:00 PM we re-boarded our panga for the trip to Santiago Island. It was a wet landing on a black sand beach, filled with sea lions. This island was one of the greatest sources of water and food, for early sailors, including pirates and buccaneers (whalers). The ship’s crews used to leave goats and pigs on the island to procreate, so they would have a supply of food available on their return sail trips to the
Marine Iguana
"A face only a mother could love"
Santiago Island mainland. They also would take the iguanas and tortoises that were able to live on the ship with little food and water and served as a source of protein for the sailors.
We hiked over mixed terrain for about 2 miles and got to see the thousands of marine iguanas, sea turtles and a couple of fur seals. These animals lived among the black lava rock beaches. We had to be careful as we walked around, so we didn’t step on any iguanas.
We were delighted by a sudden show of a dolphin pod that porpoised through the water for us, only a few yards from shore. Our naturalist, Socrates, said he had never seen them come in that close before.
We headed back to our ship and had just enough time to shower and enjoy a lovely dinner, before crashing for the night.
Wednesday, 12/05/07
We woke up to a beautiful view of a red tinged island as the sun was beginning to rise. We anticipated another exciting excursion as we chowed down on breakfast. We boarded our panga and had a smooth sail over to Rabida (Jervis) Island. We made a wet landing
on a red sand beach. The color is due to the unusually high content of iron within the volcanic material. We were immediately greeted by a baby sea lion who waddled over to us, crying like a baby. Every time he got close to us, he rolled on his back like a puppy waiting to have his belly rubbed. The urge to comply with his wishes was unbearable, but we had to decline, due to the respect for the “Do Not Touch” laws governing the island’s wildlife. We also came across a mother sea lion with her newborn pup. The pup still had the umbilical cord attached and appeared glued to his mother’s side in a constant attempt to suckle. His mother however, had other ideas !!
We strolled further along the beach to see some yellow warblers and a colony of nesting pelicans. It was hilarious to see the bald baby pelicans sticking their heads out of the nests. The pelicans build their nests in low green saltbushes along the shoreline, near a
brackish pond. The pelicans were quick to let you know if you stood too close.
We continued up along a ridge trail where we
Oyster Catcher
Santiago Island were lucky enough to spot two different Galapagos hawks. The top of the trail also provided a beautiful view overlooking the beach.
We returned to the beach, and about 12 of us from the ship squeezed into our wetsuits. We climbed into the panga and headed off to another island for deep water snorkeling along the rock cliffs. The water felt quite chilly when we first jumped in, but the exciting things we saw over the next hour, got our blood pumping and helped to warm us up.
We were greeted by two sea lions swimming right next to us as we entered the water, followed by a couple of beautiful spotted manta rays. The fish were too many to mention and the different color corals were spectacular. We all got a little hesitant as a 4 foot Galapagos shark swam underneath us and marveled at how quickly all the fish scattered before its arrival. While I was taking that all in, I was startled by a couple of sea lions who decided to engage us in a game of chicken. They were magnificent as they swam directly at us at high speed. I found myself jumping up
Bad Boys, Bad Boys
Marine Iguana Group - Santiago Island out of the water (like that would do any good) and losing the game. I finally calmed my nerves enough to keep my face in the water as they torpedoed toward me, and was amazed at how deft they were in getting nose to nose with me before turning on a dime at the last second and slipping by without making contact. It was rather exhilarating and made us all giggle, like little kids.
Up above the water line were hundreds of blue-footed boobies, nesting on the rock walls. They were diving into the water at high speeds close to us, one right after the other in line formation, as they went fishing. Our naturalist guide decided that the fishing boobies were becoming a potential hazard to us, so we loaded back into the panga. He didn’t want to explain how one of us ended up with a boobie stuck in our back.
We had a nice surprise waiting for us back on the panga….a thermos full of hot chocolate to help warm us up. We all laughed about the wonderful experience we had just shared, and agreed it was an incredible day.
The warm shower felt
Star Fish
Rabida Island great, and lunch hit the spot before an afternoon lecture about Charles Darwin, that was presented by Carlos. He talked about Darwin’s voyage through the Galapagos and how his origin of species changed the world’s view about the earth’s creation of living things.
Shortly after the lecture, the ship anchored off of a flat, volcanic rock island. The seas were quite rough, which made getting in and out of the pangas quite interesting. We almost lost Bruce as he climbed aboard, when the panga pulled away from the ship’s boarding platform suddenly as a wave came over the front of the panga. It was a very wet surprise for the girls in the front.
We landed on the stark island of North Seymour and were immediately greeted by a troop of Sally Lightfoot crabs, a large number of frigate birds, with their red pouches inflated, flying overhead and sea lions barking all over the place. We often had to walk outside the hiking path, due to sun basking sea lions blocking the path.
We ventured inland from the coast and climbed over and through a number of boulders and found a number of blue footed boobie colonies.
Newborn Sea Lion Pup
He was so young, the umbilical cord was still attached. He rolled over to get his belly rubbed. The males were going through their entertaining mating dance of showing off their beautiful blue feet by marching in place. They follow that up with a full wing display with an arched back while whistling a high pitched tune. We really got a chuckle, when a disinterested female turned her back on a dancing male and pooped in front of him. I guess nature imitates human life at times !!
We also saw a nesting area for the Great and Magnificent Frigate Birds. We learned that they are basically scavenger birds. They are unable to dive for fish like the boobies, because their feathers are not water proof.
Socrates explained how North Seymour Island is a dramatic example of an amazing, uplifting event that reshaped the make-up of the original seabed. The flat shape of the island, the presence of marine fossils, and the pillow lava shoreline support this geological explanation.
A very wet and bumpy panga ride got us back to the ship, just in time for the sunset cocktail party hosted by the Captain and crew. We were served delicious passion fruit cocktails and hot spiced rum toddies. While the horizon clouds prevented us from
having a chance to see the “green flash”, the orange-red colors were just as beautiful, and a perfect way to end the day.
We moved down to the lounge after sunset and watched a presentation about the Foundation Galapagos Ecuador project. It is a foundation supported by a number of the Galapagos tour companies that teaches the locals to recycle and minimize pollution through better use of energy. They also get the local children involved in educational programs in the hope they will be part of the eco-tourism industry in Ecuador. Metropolitan Touring which owns the M/V Santa Cruz was one of the founding members of the project.
We enjoyed another delicious dinner and shared a drink in the lounge before retiring for the night.
Thursday, 12/06/07
After another delightful breakfast, we took our panga to the Capital of the Galapagos Province, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island. We got a kick out of all the sea lions free loading on board the boats parked in the harbor. They also took over one of the landing docks and stairs to get from the dock to the pier.
We boarded a bus and rode about 45
Pelican Nest
Rabida Island minutes through the local towns up to the breeding and rearing center of the Giant Tortoises, located in the “Cerro Colorado” highlands. We began our tour in the education center, where Socrates explained about the different types of tortoises and how they adapted depending on the types of plants available on each island. The lowlands tend to have low scrub brush, so the tortoises have a short neck and stubby legs. The highlands have tree type vegetation, so those tortoises have a high notch in their shell, long necks and longer legs. This allows them to reach up and eat the leaves on the small trees.
We had about a one mile hike and saw lots of different tortoises, including the baby ones kept in controlled environments to allow them to grow to adult hood. The project hopes to eventually re-populate the islands with these tortoises.
Luckily we brought our rain jackets, because we had a light shower during the hike. This is a common weather occurrence in the highland areas of the Galapagos.
We returned to the main town and had some time for T-shirt shopping. There also was a small post office which allowed us
to mail postcards that would receive a Galapagos Island post mark. We celebrated when Janet actually mailed her postcards. She said this was a first for her, since she usually doesn’t mail her postcards until after she has returned home.
We got to see some of the bricks and tiles made of recycled products funded by the Galapagos Foundation. The locals are re-building their entire waterfront, and the government is re-building the airport here. The cruises through the islands used to finish or start on this island, but due to the on going construction, the cruises must go roundtrip from Baltra for the time being.
We had a relaxing lunch back on board and a couple of hours free time before our next expedition stop. Laurie, Patty and I visited the ship’s bridge, which is always open to visitors any time. The Captain was there and allowed us to look around and take some photos. We ventured out on deck as we sailed past “Kicker Rock”, a tuff cone formation where a large colony of nesting seabirds. It was cloudy and breezy, making it feel a bit on the cool side. We ended up in the lounge where
Laurie and I shared a beer and talked to the bartender, Gonzalo. He told us he worked for Carnival for 10 years before joining the Santa Cruz. This is a much better gig for him, since he gets to go home to his family in Guayaquil every 4 - 6 weeks for 2 weeks.
We finally arrived off the coast of Cerro Brujo. We boarded the pangas for a coastal ride along the tall cliff walls and sailed into some of the sea caves and underneath the sea arch at the far end. We made a wet landing on the beach and walked along the beautiful white sand beach. The water here was three shades of turquoise, which made it look like the Caribbean. There were a large number of sea lion colonies scattered around the beach.
Patty and I were the only ones brave enough to go snorkeling. The water actually felt warmer with the wetsuit on than the outside air temperature. We saw a manta ray and a number of fish. We were hoping the sea lions would join us, but they waited until we were leaving before they decided to go in for a swim.
We headed back to the ship for the last time and got ready for a fantastic farewell dinner. The crew also presented an anniversary cake and sang to Jim and Martha. They are a lovely couple from Parker, CO who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
After dinner, the crew hosted another cocktail party and showed us a powerpoint slideshow of photos they took during our expeditions. They managed to snap pictures of all the passengers at different times throughout our journey.
I finished the evening by sitting up on deck with Carol and Stacy, enjoying one last beer. We marveled at all of the beautiful stars.
Friday, 12/07/07
We enjoyed one last breakfast on board ship before disembarking back in Baltra. We were loaded in buses and taken to the airport. Socrates and Carlos handed out everyone’s boarding passes and then we had some free time to do some last minute souvenir shopping at the craft stands.
A short 90 minute flight took us to Guayaquil. We were met by a representative of Metropolitan Touring and taken by bus to the Grand Hotel in the downtown center. Most of the group was disappointed, because
Blue Footed Boobies
North Seymour Island our itinerary said we would be staying at the Hilton Colon, where they could spend the afternoon at the pool. While there wasn’t anything fancy about the hotel, and it showed signs of wear and tear, it was in a great location for exploring the city.
After getting checked in, I ventured off with Laurie, Joan, Jan and Bruce to the Malecon Simon Bolivar along the river front. It was teeming with people out for a stroll. We grabbed an ice cold local beer for 70 cents and sat at one of the riverfront tables to enjoy it. One of the best bargains in Ecuador !!
We continued down to the small crafts market which we found was the only place to buy any type of souvenir in Guayaquil. They had a small, but assorted collection of items at reasonable prices.
We passed a couple of large masted sailing ships on our walk back. One is used as part of a sailing college and the other sails dinner cruises. There are a number of fancy yacht clubs and restaurants along this stretch. We also came across a Christmas parade inside the riverfront shopping mall, and a concert
Blue Footed Booby
Male doing the mating dance on North Seymour Island of local school carolers in the outdoor amphitheater.
We ended up eating dinner at the hotel’s fancy restaurant. While the restaurant smelled moldy, it was a quaint, colonial styled place with good food and good service at an inexpensive price.
Saturday, 12/08/07
We had a delicious buffet breakfast at the hotel’s café and then ventured out on a city tour. We visited the square with the Palacio Municipal and the Governor’s House, went to the south end of the malecon near the craft market stalls and saw the “Antiques Market” building, which was a pre-fabricated design building by Eiffel.
We stopped at the Parque Bolivar in front of the Cathedral. It is also named Parque of the Iguanas, due to the hundreds of iguanas in the trees, grass and grounds. They populate this park like pigeons do in Central Park. The locals come to feed them and children try to touch them as they scurry quickly away.
We continued on to Malecon 2000, which is filled with parks and statues, commemorating the past leaders of Guayaquil. There is also a Moorish clock tower.
We headed to the north end of Malecon 2000 and began our
Magnificent Sunset
Off the coast of North Seymour Island climb up through the old district of Las Penas to Cerro Santa Ana. It is a picturesque colonial village filled with brightly painted wooden houses and narrow cobblestone streets. We hiked up the 444 stairs to the top for spectacular views over the city and the mighty Guayas River. Joan and I ventured even higher to the top of the lighthouse.
From here, we headed to the Guayaquil Historical Park. The park recreates Guayaquil and its rural surroundings at the end of the 19th century. We strolled through the natural flora and fauna exhibits and then had a delicious lunch of native Ecuadorian specialties at the on site restaurant.
We were dropped off at the hotel about 3:00 PM for a free afternoon and evening, before heading to the airport for our 2:00 AM flight.
I went in search of postcards with Laurie and Patty. We couldn’t find any, except at one of the hotels for $3.00 per card. It was true price gauging since they seemed to be the only place in town that had any. I declined the purchase.
The streets were full of people doing their Christmas Shopping. We tried to go into
Giant Land Tortoise
"Cerro Colorado" Tortoise Breeding and Rearing Center - San Cristobal Island a couple of stores but changed our minds when they had a mandatory bag check policy.
They do have plenty of low cost telephone places throughout the city. I called home for 5 cents a minute with a great connection.
We ate a late, light lunch in the hotel’s café before packing up for the airport. The bus picked us up at 11:00 PM and delivered us to the airport in 20 minutes. Check-in for the flight went smoothly.
The airport terminal was quite nice and modern, with a nice size duty free and local craft and jewelry shops. They also had free wireless internet access which helped pass the time.
The flight was quite comfortable with full dinner service. Our luggage arrived swiftly and we cleared US immigration and customs without any hassle in Houston. I said my good byes to my new travel agent companions, and Carol and I headed off to catch our flight to Newark.
Luckily, the weather wasn’t too bad when we arrived. The snow that was falling the day we left had melted, the temp was in the 40s.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I
hope to take a group back one of these days on a 7 day cruise through the islands.
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Beata and Tomek
us At Home Abroad
so cute;-)