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Published: September 18th 2014
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We took the bus from Cuenca to Guayaquil and spent one night before heading to the airport for our flight to the Galapagos islands. We arrived at the airport nice and early and worked our way through the various queues; bag check, immigration and check in. Eventually we were on our flight to Baltra island with our free upgrade to first class! The Galapagos islands are 1,000km from mainland Ecuador and consist of 13 major islands, 6 small islands and more than 107 islets and rocks. From the airport we took a bus, then a boat and then another bus to Puerto Ayora, the main town of approximately 20,000 people.
Our first priority after checking into our hostel in Puerto Ayora was to book a boat tour. We left it until we arrived in the islands as we had been told this was how to get the best deals. The first travel agency we visited didn't have any boats for an 8 day trip, she called many of her contacts while we waited but with no luck. At this point I started to worry a little but I shouldn't have as the next agency had an 8 day cruise on
the New Flamingo leaving in a fews days. We quickly got it booked and started planning our time until the ship left.
We stayed two nights in Puerto Ayora and enjoyed watching the local fishermen bring in their catches, the local pelicans and a sea lion also paid close attention, especially to any scraps that were going.
In Puerto Ayora there is a street a little back from the water and main tourist area which had many restaurants. During lunchtime they served typical Ecuadorian set lunches of soup, main course and juice for about $3.50 but in the evening the street comes alive. The street is closed to traffic and all the tables and chairs are moved into the road with the restaurants serving freshly caught fish and lobster. You choose the one you like and tell them how you want it cooked. I enjoyed lobster for $15 and another night a whole fish for $10. They also did other meats on the BBQ which kept Gary very happy.
There are a surprising number of free or very cheap activities in the Galapagos, before our cruise started we decided to take advantage of some of these. We
first headed to Las Grietas, we took a water taxi from the port and then it was short walk through a changing landscape that featured giant cacti, a cute little beach and some secluded accommodation spots. Las Grietas is a small narrow canyon, the two giant walls were formed by fissures of lava, the brackish water is filtered at the top where it mixes with seawater and makes a great place to swim and jump from the walls. We swam the length of the pool and climbed out and into the next pool and carried on until we got to the third pool. The water in the first pool was an amazing blue colour however the water in the third pool was even more spectacular and there was also a greater variety of fish.
Another of the free activities we were able to do from Puerto Ayora was a visit to Tortuga Bay. It's a beautiful white sand beach in a lagoon, apparently it's where all the local children learn to swim as it's perfectly calm. To get to Tortuga bay we walked down a lovely paved path to the surf beach and then walked along the beach to
the next bay, it was a beautiful setting and a pretty easy walk. It was a great place for spotting marine life, we were lucky enough to see marine iguanas, white tip sharks and black tip sharks near the surf beach. We also spotted a baby hammerhead shark in the shallows of Tortuga Bay.
There are three islands in the Galapagos that are inhabited with around 25,000 people, Santa Cruz, Isabella and San Cristobal. Our cruise started and finished in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz with a couple of stops at San Cristobal so we decided to take a speed boat and spend a couple of nights on Isabella before our cruise began.
Isabella is the largest island of the archipelago, it has more than 50% of the entire land area of the Galapagos, and consists of a chain of six young volcanoes which are intermittently active. When we arrived in Puerto Villamil we were greeted on the pier by a lazy sealion that was more than happy to have a few photos.
In the afternoon we took a walk to the Centre de Crianza, a breeding sanctuary for giant tortoises. They had many tortoises all of
differing ages. Unfortunately due to the number of introduced predators the giant tortoises find it very difficult to breed in the wild. Once the tortoises are large enough the breeding centre releases them back into their natural habitat. The majority of the path to the centre was along a board walk that the iguanas enjoyed using as a place to sun themselves and took us past a lagoon with flamingos.
We had drinks by the beach and enjoyed the last of the sun before heading to a restaurant for dinner.
We took the Los Túneles day trip the next morning which was fantastic. It included one of the best snorkeling sites that we visited in the Galapagos. We took a speedboat from the port to our first and favourite snorkeling spot about two hours from Puerto Villamil. We were told to stay together in a group and stick with the guide which we did and it was fantastic as the guide knew where to look for the different animals. We saw sharks, turtles, a sea horse and sting rays, including a group of nine golden rays swimming majestically together in formation.
Our next stop was on land,
to get there we motored through the lava created rocks. I was lucky enough to get to sit on the roof where I had an unbelievable view especially looking down into the crystal clear water. On land we walked over the lava. It was a great spot for Blue Footed Boobies and where we were able to see them up close and in large numbers. Some of them were doing the boobies dance while others were sitting on their eggs. As the water was so clear we were able to see numerous sea turtles swimming on by. Our second snorkeling spot was close to a Galapagos penguin colony. They are one of the smallest penguin breeds in the world. When we visited they decided to just watch us from their perch on the rocks rather than join us for a swim. In the water we saw large schools of fish and a few more sting rays. On our way back to Puerto Villamil a massive manta ray was spotted floating on the surface, I couldn't believe how large it was.
In the afternoon we hired bikes and cycled to the Wall of Tears, which is in memory of the
cruelty of the penal colony that existed for nearly 10 years on the island. We also had the excitement of seeing our first tortoise in the wild, it bearly moved, paid no attention to us and carried on eating. On our way back we stopped at the bottom of a lookout, parked our bikes (without having to worry about locking them up) and climbed to the top for a lovely cool breeze and an amazing view of the island. After sitting for a while and just taking in the view we climbed back on our bikes for the ride back. We made a couple of brief stops, first at one of the lagoons just off the road, I wanted to check it out for any wildlife and I was in luck as there were a few flamingos. Our second stop was at Playa del Amor (beach of love), a small sandy beach with a more iguanas.
We spent our last morning on Isabella island visiting La Tintoreras Islet a short distance from Puerto Villamil. During the trip we were able to watch blue footed boobies diving for fish and got to see more of the small Galapagos penguins. We
had a walk around La Tintoreras islet and saw lots of Marine Iguanas and a few sea lions but the highlight was the lava tunnel of warm water where White Tipped Reef Sharks were sleeping. In the small tunnel there would have been at least a dozen small sharks. Before the end of the trip we had some time for snorkeling where we saw lots of bright coloured fish and a couple of white tipped reef sharks which we were able to follow and observe for a short while.
We headed back to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz island for one night before the start of our cruise.
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
So many adventures
Great to hear that there are so many things to see and do even without an expensive cruise, which is probably what I'll do. But I guess I'll have to save my judgement until I read your next blog on the cruise. Was it better?