Blogs from Santa Fe Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America

Advertisement

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island May 28th 2013

Today we had to be up and ready to be picked up at 7am for our adventure day to Santa Fe! We were both super excited cos we read that we would be seeing sea lions!! They picked us up at the hotel and took us to the dock where we had to split into 2 groups of 8 and hop in a lil inflatable boat about 15m to our yacht! We climbed up to the top to get the best view and hopefully get the least seasick! We had a 2 hour trip to get to Santa Fe and it wasn't as bumpy as we all expected thankfully! I had had a motion sickness tablet just incase cos we had been told it could be quite bumpy! We pulled into Santa Fe and I was ... read more
P1030910
P1030914
P1030918

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island March 13th 2011

Day 6. March 13, 2011: South Plaza and Santa Fe The awakening Anne asked Steve to set the alarm for 6:45 AM, so she could take a shower and be at breakfast at 7 am. Anne got up, opened the door to see the sunrise, then jumped in the shower. Well, in the shower Anne noticed that her watch said 5:52! Sad that the iphone doesn’t know what time zone you are in and update the clock accordingly. Breakfast We sat at the table with Sverdrup from Norway (he got to the boat after we went to bed). He didn’t speak much English (Anne: maybe he wanted peace and quiet. Steve: maybe he just wasn't a comfortable conversationalist in English). Breakfast and the food the entire week was very good. South Plaza Island 1st stop……South Plaza. ... read more
Land Iguana and colorful plants
Barrington Cactus Tree (Tortoise Evadus)
Blue Footed Booby

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island December 11th 2010

After our first breakfast on board we piled in the dinghies and jumped out on a beach full of sealions. We saw massive cacti and the land iguanas that feed off them. In the afternoon we jumped off the roof of the boat (well 3 of us did) to go snorkelling with a massive sealion just hanging around, heaps of fish, just beautiful. Carpetted in red with intermittent cacti the island is aesthetically impressive even without all the amazing bird and animal life.... read more
PC120940
PC120950
PC120953

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island July 22nd 2010

Morgens besuchen wir das von rotem Carpet Weed ueberzogene South Plazas; das Inselchen ist die Heimat des Landiguanas, dessen einziger Lebensinhalt darin besteht, unter Kakteen zu liegen und zu warten, bis ein Trieb abbricht; dieser wird dann verschlungen. Mit starker Duenung nach Santa Fé, wo wir wieder im kalten Wasser schnorcheln. Besonders beeindruckend sind die neugierigen Seeloewen: Ein Welpe traegt einen Stein im Maul und laesst ihn fallen, faengt ihn aber wieder auf, kurz bevor er den Grund beruehrt - das Spiel wird fuenf mal wiederholt. Respekteinfloessend ist die Begegnung mit dem Alphamaennchen der Kolonie, einem riesigen, alten Seeloewen, der die Kueste patroulliert und uns kritisch beaeugt. Am Nachmittag lange und kuehle Fahrt nach San Cristobal (der Aequator bleibt seinen Ruf schuldig...).... read more
South Plazas
Landiguana
Carpet Weed und Kakteen

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island June 14th 2010

We had our breakfast at 7am which was amazing the chef made scrambled eggs with spring onion, toast, fresh fruit and yoghurt. We started the day with a dry landing on Isla Plaza where we saw lots of land iguanas, lots of sea lions and different birds like the Swallow tailed gulls, which have a bright red ring around their eyes to help them catch fish at night. After this we went back to the boat where I decided to liven up abit of downtime by doing front and backflips from the top deck, not good when 1 went wrong and I landed on my sun burnt back. After the shananagans we went swimming with sea lions which was one of the highlights of the trip so far, they are soo playful swimming in between my ... read more
DSC03272
DSC03318
DSC03315

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island March 14th 2010

The boat started its engines at 3 am to make it's way from Puerto Ayora to Santa Fe for our first island landing. It seemed to take a while for them to get cranked up to a smooth rhythm, but they got it eventually. We awoke to our first real Galapogos island scene - a remote beach on an uninhabited island. Uninhabited by people, that is, as the beach was quite crowded with sea lions. It's breeding season, so there are many pups around. We were warned about the males patrolling their beaches - they don't eat for up to 5 or 6 weeks as they are constantly on the lookout for rivals trying to take over their territory, and humans are no exception. If they are approaching and barking, we were told, back away, both ... read more
Cute sealion pups
Prickly Pear cactus Tree
Naomi and Land iguana

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island December 22nd 2009

The island of Plazas was one of the most colourful islands we´ve been to yet. The green opuntia cacti and red trees had me singing “Feliz Navidad”. We spent the morning hiking around the island looking at the herds of land iguanas and sea lions. During lunch we cruised to our next island, Santa Fe. While snorkeling I was greeted by 2 eagle rays that swooped in for a visit. After the usual snacks, refreshments, and nap time we went for a hike to watch the sunset. The dinner tables on board fit 6 people, so the family in our group always ended up sitting together. Tonight Mom and Dad wanted a break, so they kicked Grandma out of the booth and invited me and Joanne to join them. Poor Grandma! ... read more

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island October 23rd 2009

Today we visited Santa Fe Island. Left the hotel at 7:45 for the walk to the pier. Small boat (called panga) from the pier to the Sea Finch Yacht. Very nice yacht, 2 levels. The main level has cushioned seats and tables. The top is open to the air in the back and covered in the front and also has cushioned seats. On the bow of the yacht is a nice long cushioned bench and some chaise lounge like seats. Criuse to the island took about 1 and 3/4 hour. Sea was a bit choppy going out, but not terrible. Slightly annoyingly, we had to take our shoes off on the yacht, and I hadn't thought to bring flip flops. We had was is known as a "wet landing" meaning that we got off the yacht ... read more

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Fe Island November 29th 2008

Day 4 - We sailed to Santa Fe Island and arrived early in the morning. Thankfully, the sailing was much smoother than the night before. Santa Fe Island is located in the southeastern part of the Galapagos Islands. On our way to our morning excursion, we were treated to a swim by of White Tipped Reef Sharks. Totally incredible! It was hard to photograph them from the side of a dinghy. Our morning excursion, we saw several Land Iguanas. Most of the Land Iguanas I saw were beige to golden in color. One of my favorites was the Prickly Pear Cactus. I grew up in Arizona so I was use to Prickly Pear Cactus, but I've never seen Prickly Pear Cactus resemble a forest (trunks and all). Hiking on this island was a bit tricky, the ... read more
White Tipped Reef Shark
Ghost Crab
Sea Lion Pup




Tot: 0.121s; Tpl: 0.006s; cc: 13; qc: 74; dbt: 0.0714s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb