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Published: August 31st 2017
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GALAPAGOS GIANT TORTOISE
Resident of this sanctuary, this tortoise can leave whenever he wants. The tortoises come here to rest and mate. GALAPAGOS – ARRIVAL
One evening in the Dominican Republic, Michael and I were wondering where I would go after Puerto Rico. I was unsure. I knew I was eventually going to Buenos Aires for tango, and Patagonia for some hiking. But what was I going to do in between now and then. I casually threw out Galapagos. I had no idea where it was or how I was going to get there. I knew it was off the coast of Ecuador and Ecuador was on my route to the rest of South America. Michael loved Ecuador; he had spent almost three months there on one of his trips.
We looked up the Galapagos on the internet, and the information was so exciting I would have left right then if it had been possible. I realized I had fallen in love with the Galapagos when I was young, before falling in love with diving. The dive photos were mesmerizing but I had a yen for land tours as well. I wanted to see the tortoises with the scalloped shell, the blue boobies, a web-footed sea bird, and the marine iguanas. I was so excited about the diversity of
ARTISTIC ARCH
Galapagos National Park Entrance. the Galapagos I decided I might even splurge on a live-aboard dive boat. It makes a lot of sense…you can do a lot more diving with a lot less effort, and you don’t have to book a hotel or look for food.
Luckily I was a long way from the Galapagos and I still had several stops before I would arrive there. When I finally did reach Ecuador I searched on-line about diving in Galapagos, I was offered a rare deal for a live-aboard dive trip if I booked immediately. I didn’t actually get the unbelievable price because I don’t make decisions easily and I hadn’t even booked a flight to Galapagos, or found a hotel. I sure didn’t want to buy a ticket for a live-aboard and then not get to the Galapagos in time to catch the boat. By the time I had decided to buy a dive package the price had gone up $1000, so I put it out of my mind.
I bought an airline ticket from Quito to Baltra which is where the airplane lands in Galapagos, but there is no town in here. Not knowing the topography of the area, I rented
GETTING THERE
The weather was beautiful and landing in Baltra in Galapagos was thrilling. a hotel room for two days in Puerto Ayora, the closest town to Baltra. I shopped for other live-aboard dive tours on line but couldn’t get a great deal so I decided that I would just dive on regular daily dive boats that left port each morning. I charged my camera batteries and sorted my clothing to minimize my luggage. I left one bag at the hotel in Quito and caught the plane at 6:30 a.m. making a 4 a.m. taxi ride to the airport inevitable. What was I thinking? Oh, yeah…this particular flight was only three hours. All the others were 24 hours or more (extended layovers and multiple stops).
I met a wonderful young Japanese woman, Chiae, on the plane. We had a lengthy talk and on arrival in Baltra we stood in multiple lines together. We learned that a bus would take us to the town for one dollar. On the bus we were as excited school girls, about actually being in Galapagos. We came to the river and everybody got off the bus and boarded a ferry for fifty cents. On the other side we caught another bus the dropped us right in the middle
THE LOCAL FERRY
I knew I was somewhere really special. of town. Our hotels were a couple of blocks away.
Chiae was a new diver but we thought we would do some tours together. Unfortunately we didn’t connect again, but she gave me some invaluable information about other places to go in South America.
I wandered around town. Puerta Ayora is very small and picturesque. I found the computer club, some restaurants and walked to the pier. I talked to several dive store operators, finally settling on the Albatross Dive Center. I booked a dive for the next day. I would meet the other divers and divemaster at the dive shop at 6:30 a.m. the following morning. Galapagos…I could hardly wait.
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