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Published: December 5th 2006
Eagle Ray
My favourite creature here so far :)Ecuador is a country of four regions, the highlands, the jungle, the coast and the Galapagos Islands. Although this region is only home to 30,000 inhabitants, it is as important to the country of 12 million as the other three regions. The natural history of the islands inspired Charles Darwin to produce his theories on natural selection and survival of the fittest, providing the clues that lead to him being convinced of the idea. The area is a national park, the same wildlife that Darwin studied 170 years ago still provides today the main attraction for the many visitors.
After studying Spanish for 6 weeks in Quito, I hoped to get away cities and hopefully dive the waters around the islands. I found a last minute tour, and extended my ticket out by ten days so that I could dive, and explore independently. This entry is about the tour, I'm writing this in my down day, the day between the tour and my dives.
Tours usually fill me with a little dread, I'm so independent that I resent being herded and pushed quickly around somewhere I'd like to experience at my own pace. But, the islands of the Galapagos
need to be sailed around, and I don't have a yacht in my backpack. So - I picked at random a tour... no research just based on what was available when I walked in to the travel agency. A smaller economy class yacht called "Rumba" was what I ended up with.
Met at the airport, hustled through baggage reclaim, on to a bus, a ferry, a bus and finally to the yacht. So far this didn't feel like the relaxing 4 days of zero internet access I'd hoped for!
For the afternoon we headed up in to the highlands of Santa Cruz, two of the other passengers were bird fanatics, we spotted a Vermilion Flycatcher! - so exciting - 30 minutes before I didn't even know a Vermilion Flycatcher even existed now caught up with the enthusiasm of the birders I was desperately hoping that the flash of red that had briefly passed by would return and I would get to see it in full glory - and snap up a perfect shot... not realistic. Birders who are also photographers carry impressive telephoto lenses. I carry a good but kit lens - 18mm - 70mm Nikon AF lens
for my 3 year old Nikon D70.
On the way back to the port, we stopped in at a field of rampaging giant tortoises. Weighing in at an impressive 200kg, living a phenomenal 200 years, coming complete with their own body armour these ancient herbivores pose a few interesting questions:
Every living creature on the islands has either flown, swam, been blown or carried to the islands. So birds, seeds, coconuts - I can explain all of these... but a 200kg tortoise? Maybe they float? Ahh... evolution comes to the rescue - these tortoises used to be little. Small enough to float? Apparently they built rafts and came 600 miles to the islands with the Iguanas... I'm still not convinced and am proposing an alternative explanation of riding the backs of eagles.
Next - for a creature that looks so impressive - why is it that their only natural defense seems to be "heavy breathing". Approaching a tortoise, one that isn't a natural poser results in the creature pulling up it legs, falling to the ground completely, pulling in it's head and breathing heavily. Something worth recording and send to one of those joke telephone call companies...
I gazed across the field of giant tortoises and thought they'd look even nicer with a little spit and polish on those shells. Visions of my mum running around polishing 200kg tortoises, maybe there is a volunteer program for this somewhere?
Back to the yacht. My initial impressions of the yacht were; "it's nice, it's small - hell this toilet is complicated". The boat consisted of 4 crew, 1 guide and 10 passengers. I shared a cabin with Aaron, from Las Vegas a dealer who realised that there is more to life just before his 30th birthday. I got to know the other passengers, and headed into town to explore and have a drink. At midnight we left the the harbour of Puerto Ayora, sailing North for Rabida Island.
Sleeping on a boat turned out to be much like sleeping on a train, except a little more difficult to stay in the bunk, and a little noisier... but it was possible and I wasn't sea sick. This is crucial to any plans I have of retiring on a yacht and sailing around the world.
Rabida island and I saw my first of many many sea lions,
the first of many sea birds. But it was the snorkelling where I really enjoyed myself, playing with the sea lions, like puppies in the water, chasing fins and swimming straight at you and then diving down at the very last second. Into the deeper water and a huge eagle ray was grazing just over the rocks... I swam down and swam beside it for a few moments. It is one of the most graceful underwater creatures I have ever seen, beautiful and mysterious.
James Bay on Santiago Island was our stop for the afternoon, lava formations, lava tunnels filled by the sea, seals, marine iguanas, basking in the sun, and swimming out to graze on the seaweed. Eddy our guide was a character, after 31 years in the job enjoying himself with jokes he must have said ten thousand times - but he knew all the latin names of the animals, even if he pretended to forget the names of every island.
Bartholomew Island had the most impressive lava field I have ever seen, an eruption in 1885 filled in an area around 3 kms square, with formations, cracks, swirls, all frozen into a black glassy rock,
an alien landscape. Behind the area from the eruption 120 years ago was an area of orange rock, crumbling and dusty - like how I imagine the landscape of Mars to look. The high iron content of the lava had rusted and over 1 million years had become the Martian landscape behind.
We climbed up to 114m in the afternoon one of the best views of the area, borrowed a wide angle lens from Bertolli and decided that lenses are a very worthwhile investment. More snorkelling, more playing with sea lions and I found an octopus, octopuses are dinner for sea lions and I got a little to close - a face full of black ink and the tentacled beasty was gone. I missed the penguins underwater.
The final day up bright and early for a walk around Seymour's Island, populated by Frigate Birds, land iguanas, boobies (blue footed) and yet more sea lions. We were lucky enough to see male frigate birds with fully inflated red pouches, waiting for a female, and juveniles of the two species that populate the islands, magnificent and great frigate birds. The Great Frigate bird has juveniles with yellow heads, but the
adults are very similar.
My thanks to everyone on the Rumba 30th November - 4th December 2006 - you all helped make a very special trip even more special - and Carlos the chef is amazing - how he made food that good in a kitchen that small whilst rocking around is beyond me!
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Porcupine Pufferfish
Porcupine Pufferfish.. it's so cute >_< love your photo... ^_^