Welcome to the Galapagos

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Our plan for Galapagos was to divide our time between the island of Santa Cruz (5 days) and a boat trip (8 days) around the western and northern circuit of islands (Santa Isabela, Fernandina, Bartolome and Genovesa). In theory this would give us the best of both worlds - a chance to organise our own trips and diving whilst based on Santa Cruz and to maximise the diversity of wildlife we would see whilst we were on the boat. But first we had to get there...

After an enjoyable morning basking in the bright sun of Alausi (and in my case the afterglow of the Championship play off final victory) and marvelling at Alausi's transformation from sleepy backwater to bustling market town we boarded a bus to Guayaquil. On the map it looked like it would be a short hop, but the map failed to take into account the Andes and we were soon navigating a series of twisting, turning ascents and descents. The cloud came down and the view disappeared. If all went according to plan this would be the last significant bus journey we would take for a while. There was nothing for it but to knuckle down and endure it. Eventually we left the mountains behind and descended onto the flat plain that leads to Guayaquil. The transformation was almost immediate.

Guayaquil sits at the top of a sprawling delta, and as this would suggest is pretty much at sea level. The temperature and humidity soared. It is a large commercial city, the biggest in Ecuador, and the contrasts with Quito were marked. Whereas the latter is all hills, historic town centre and tourist friendly restaurants, Guayaquil has a reputation for commerce and suffering, or at best tolerating, tourists rather than embracing. Certainly, after Banos and Alausi it felt like a bit of a culture shock to find ourselves in a large city again. The temperature made the atmosphere feel oppressive and we made for the Malecon, the paved promenade that lines the river front. The whole of Guayaquil seemed to have had the same idea, this was obviously the place where the locals came to hang out on a Sunday afternoon. And nice enough it was too, if unexceptional.

We set about the business of finding somewhere we could sit down for a beer and some dinner. What felt like several hours later we were still looking. We had reckoned without Sunday licensing laws (which in deference to the tourist had been laxly applied in Quito) and absent the standard, international fast food joints you´d expect to find in any big city, a total lack of local restaurants. Eventually we found a fairly seedy restaurant off the main square prepared to sell us beer and, refreshed, made it on to a local restaurant specialising in Chifa - my first, and to date only experience of Chinese - South American fusion. All I can say is that my Singapore fried noodles tasted, well, like Singapore fried noodles.

We'd allowed ourselves a full day to explore Guayaquil. It would be a little unkind to say this was too much time, but in the oppressive heat it was hard work negotiating the city's churches (pleasant, if unexceptional), walking up and down the Malecon in search of a breeze and climbing the 434 steps (they are numbered) up Cerro Ana to the city´s viewpoint/lighthouse. To be fair the city was colourful enough, bright painted houses dotted the hills, and I suspect that Guayaquil doesn´t fully deserve its reputation of offering so little to the tourist. There was a park in front of the cathedral featuring dozens of large, tree-living iguanas, which offered a tantalizing taste of what we might expect in Galapagos. And herein I suspect lies Guayaquil´s problem. For the tourist it is doomed to be little more than a jumping off point for the main prize. Having, belatedly discovered the restaurant area, we treated ourselves to a fantastic dinner - easily our best in Ecuador - sea bass all around - at the best restaurant in town (Lo Neustro) and prepared for the adventure to come.

I´d been warned that the extra taxes, bag checks etcs that are involved in flights to Galapagos could make the journey a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare so we gave ourselves plenty of time to catch the plane and in the end sailed through the various checks and were soon on our way. We'd decided to base ourselves in Puerto Ayora, the main town on Santa Cruz, which is based on the south of the island, an hour long bus ride from the airport based in the north. We were soon esconced in our hotel of choice, Hotel Espana, John driving a hard bargain to bring our triple room in on budget, which was comfortable enough and excellently located (sea view, it you were prepared to stand on a chair and overlook the two or three blocks of similarly anonymous buildings between us and the water). For those interested in more details I shall include a link to John´s Tripadvisor review in due course!

A quick walk around Puerto Ayora soon alerted to us to the fact that despite the expected collection of bars, restaurants, dive and tour shops, Puerto Ayora wouldn´t be like other small, coastal towns. The sea lion asleep on the bench at the end of the pier, and the flocks of pelicans and graceful frigates were the inital clues, which were soon reinforced by the local fish market. This is something of a tourist attraction in its own right. Right on the dock, where the local fishermen moor up, it featured an array of super fresh, mostly massive fish (5 to 6 foot yellow fin tuna apparently being the catch of the day when we arrived). The catch not only attracts interest from the tourists, but the local wildlife as well, in particular pelicans and sea lions after scraps, who are completely indifferent to the presence of tourists or at worst view them as a minor inconvenience crowding out their view of the prize.

We spent a day exploring the local sights. These principally comprised the Charles Darwin Conservation Centre and Tortuga Bay. The Charles Darwin Centre, a little to the east of town, is the centre for ecological research on the islands and plays an important role protecting, preserving and where possible restoring local habitats and their indigenous species. In this context, this mostly means to the tourist giant tortoises and land iguanas. These are often reared in captivity for their own safety before being released into the natural environments when possible. There are also several fully grown adult specimens within large enclosures. It's a strange experience coming face to face with a giant tortoise, the largest of which can have shells as much as a 1 metre 50 in diameter. They seem to peer myopically at you, their surprisingly long necks, extending telescopically from their ancient shells, looking like an anachronism from a lost geological age. It is as close as we will ever come to coming face to face with a dinosaur and somewhat puzzling to find them not so much fire-breathing dragons but slothful pensioners. The land iguanas, another herbivore, are also impressive, fiery, orange and red in colour and about a metre from head to tale they seemed engrossed in their own private conversation, staking out their respective territories, and arguing rancorously with one another through the mesh of their pens.

Tortuga (Turtle) Bay is a 45 minute walk to the west of town. (The turtles lay their eggs in the sand dunes above the beach). An enervating slog in the heat of the day, we were promised pristine, white sand, a clear blue ocean and pounding surf as the reward for our efforts. Fortunately the Bay didn´t disappoint. The beach stretches for at least a mile and looks picture postcard perfect. Absolutely idyllic, although the current though makes it too dangerous for swimming and we had to walk the beach's length to a second bay, where a combination of mangrove, sand spit and rock has created a more sheltered lagoon. En route we passed a colony of marine iguanas, who were making their way slowly in on the tide to climb up the beach to sleep and digest their lunch (seaweed). The iguanas appear slow and ungainly when they are in the sea, their heads periscoping above the water and their legs flailing in an approximation of the doggy paddle. On land they appear if anything even slower and more cumbersome. They have no natural predators and apparently no more ambition than to sleep off their dinner. We rewarded our walk with a dip in the lagoon and settled down for a siesta in the shade. Comparisons to the marine iguana whilst not kind would not have been inaccurate.

On the next day Penny and I made a boat trip to Floreana, two hours south of Santa Cruz. It was a chance to see a different habitat and if we were lucky to snorkel with turtles. John and decided against the lengthy journey and for the next two hours, as we bounced across the ocean on a small, overcrowded "ferry", that was built for speed rather than comfort, and time compressed and extended into the space between one spine-jarring thump and the next, one couldn´t help but think that he had made the right decision. I gave thanks for my sea sickness pill and outside seat, which whilst it meant the occasional dowsing at least afforded me fresh air and a clear view of the horizons. Several other passengers were not so fortunate. However, on our arrival at Floreana, things began to look up. We were greeted by a gathering of sea lions, dozing on the dock, happy to oblige the photographer by nonchalantly opening the occasional eye, and of course the ubiquitous marine iguana, which stood there stoically, practicing its thousand yard stare (what´s not to like about such an animal).

Once the sea sick had recovered, we made our way inland to Floreana's highlands to visit a tortoise sanctuary. As different from seeing tortoises at the Darwin Centre as seeing animals in the zoo or on safari, and although nobody could claim that giant tortoises are the most active or exciting of animals, even in their natural habitat, there is something fascinating about watching these huge animals (200+ kg) lumber about. After lunch it was time for our snorkel. At first the signs weren´t promising. It was an overcast day and slightly choppy, and the visibility was only fair to middling (8 to 10 metres), and despite an early sighting when a turtle swam between me and Penny it seemed we would have to content ourselves with some brightly coloured fish. However, eventually our luck changed and I had a magical 10 minutes shadowing a beautiful green turtle as swam around the rocks in search of food, gliding gracefully on the current and taking me passed several other turtles. Despite the crossing the trip had been worth it for those 10 minutes alone.

Fortunately the crossing back was not as rough, however, the trip had been vindication of our decision to book our 8 day boat tour to see the other islands. The boat for this tour would be considerably bigger and more stable than the little island ferries and most of the significant sailing would be done at night. The alternative - basing ourselves primarily on Santa Cruz and island hopping, would have meant a series of lengthy daytime ferries which at best would have been boring and uncomfortable.

If things went as planned the highlight of our stay on Santa Cruz would be diving Gordon Rocks. We'd chosen the site because local knowledge suggested it offered the best chance to see hammerheads (despite their fearsome appearance, very shy animals). We set off very early the following morning. Again it was a significant journey in a small boat out to the dive site. We started with a diving refresher/safety check in shallow water and followed this with a snorkel near the shore. This was a first chance to snorkel with sea lions, who were sitting in the rocks and on our arrival obligingly popped into the water to see what all the fuss was about, however, they stayed close to the rocks, and when a large reef shark (1 metre 50) glided between me and Penny, it became apparent why. Although harmless to humans, this enterprising animal was on the prowl for lunch and was doubtless hoping we would act as bait to lure the sea lions out into deeper water.

Our first dive was not for the faint hearted. Around the Rocks themselves there was a choppy swell and under the water a very strong current, which made it hard work just to stay with the dive group and meant that we often had to resort to holding onto the rocks to maintain our position. We saw a turtle and a very large eel and some of the group saw a number of reef shark but the hammerheads stubbornly refused to appear. Unused to the current and having had some issues with my mask and with equalising (the pressure in my ears) on the way down I galloped through my air and ended the dive using the divemaster's spare regulator. It had been an interesting, if ultimately unsuccessful experience, and the clamber back onto the boat in the swell was the final straw that deterred me and Penny from making a second attempt. To his credit though John did go down again and was rewarded with sightings of the elusive hammerheads. I was just happy to be on the boat, knees and elbows unbruised and ears intact. The journey back to Puerto Ayora was another odyssey. The increasing swell exacerbated by engine trouble, which although subject to successful running repairs meant we were subject to diesel fumes as well as regular soakings from the surf. On reaching dry land I think we all agreed that we´d had enough of small boat journeys for the time being.

A feature of our time on Puerto Ayora has been the nightly food market which consists of an avenue of food stalls, serving up much of the fresh caught fish from the fish market. All I can say is that in the best traditions of many island and beach resorts the fish was always fresh and tasty as was the ceviche. So good in fact its made even the local Pilsener lager palatable. But now that time is drawing to close. Tomorrow we head off to join the Yolita II for our boat trip - we already seemed to have seen and accomplished a lot, it´s exciting to think that if reputation is to be believed, the best is yet to come.

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Photos

Welcome to the Galapagos
What passes for polite interest from the local inhabitants

Tree lizard in Guayaquil
A good chance to practice my wildlife photography

A yawn and a stretch
Sea lions at the dock on Floreana

Marine Iguana
Deep thinker or pretty vacant?

Me!!
Mastering diving etiquette whist clinging on for dear life!

Group shot of our dive group (plus one)
Gives a good idea of our how cosy the boat was

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Galapagos
Amazing animals.

[D MJ Binkley]

Galapagos on our short list
Looks fantastic. What an experience.