Quito, Galapagos, Quito

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13 March, Tuesday... So we're in Quito now. Time to try to find a bargain on a trip to the Galapagos Islands. I know it's going to be expensive but I'm hoping $1000 should be ok. After spending the whole morning going into various travel agencies and being offered much the same things it seems $1500 might be the going rate. Then things went a bit weird in the last travel agency. The girls working there didn't want to talk to their boss so gave the phone to me and then I could see why. He was an absolute nutbag who shouted down the phone at me telling me we were both islanders and had something in common (he was from the Galapagos). Then I got rid of him and the two girls who worked there were so annoyed they gave up and went for lunch rather than try to sell us the tour. We all ended up going for lunch together and had a nice chat then went back to book the boat which had now sold out. But never fear the booking were run by a friend of theirs so we got to bump off the two who had just signed up. Good result. Now just a small matter of paying this $1400, cards come with a 10%!s(MISSING)ervice charge so we needed a cash advance from the bank up the road. In their infinite wisdom they didn't carry any notes larger than $20 so I was given a nice big wad of notes to carry two blocks down the road. No prostitutes came to pickpocket me this time so I was fine. Next up a trip to the black market to look for a cheap camera (because it was stolen) with the sister and mother of one of the girls who booked our trip. It was all far too odd a day so we finished it off with a curry and a beer to get back to normality.

14 March, Wednesday... Time to change hostel. It was nice enough but there's nothing to do in the old town other than walk around and see churches. Much better in the new town plus there's a place that does free rum and coke 3 nights a week. And tonight is one of those nights... what a coincidence. We took the bus to the Mitad del Mundo monument out of town where there's a big monument and a line painted on the ground which you can straddle. Oh yes and that line marks the equator but they got it wrong in the days before GPS and there's another museum 200 metres down the road which claims to lie on the real equator. They even proved it with draining water down a sink on and on either side of the equator and getting us to balance an egg on a nail (?). Back in Quito we drank some rum and coke (not technically Cuba because they could afford lime) and went to a bar which was pretty much empty and served a really weird caipirinha.

15 March, Thursday... A curry for lunch (it's been so long) and another trip to the black market to buy the camera and some DVDs for the boat in the morning and then time to watch the Liga (Quito team) vs Boca Juniors game on the telly. We were going to go and watch it live but laziness and budgeting got the better of us so we went to an internet cafe instead (with an actual cafe to it). Probably should have gone now I think about it. Then some typical Ecuadorian food for dinner (the lonely planet does say in Ecuador the ceviche is made from raw fish so that could explain a few things) which was some beany, potatoey, corny soup with avocado. It was nice.

16 March, Friday... Caught a flight to the Galapagos islands. It's still three hours from Quito and they insisted on playing 'One Night Only' by Beyonce repeatedly on the flight. We arrived in the Galapagos and met Leo our guide in the airport then I had to go rescue my bag from some old guy who tried to wander off with it and was allowed to despite the ticket check at the exit. It took ages to actually get to the boat which was on the other side of the island (or is that other island). We met our fellow shipmates and headed off in a truck to a tortoise ranch. It turned out to be a techno truck so we pumped out some banging tunes, including the Vengaboys, at top volume until we got there... what have I signed up to? The tortoises were cool though, quite big, actually very big and there were cows there too! The guide seems pretty in to respecting the wildlife and not touching/riding the giant tortoises which is a good thing I think. Back in the techno truck and we cruised our way to a lava tunnel. Noone could help but laugh as one of the songs came on but poor Leo I think thought we were laughing at him so gave up on his explanation and led us straight into the tunnel. I realised I was right in the middle of some real life geology. It was a bit like a cave but formed by lava flowing then hardening on the outside but still flowing in the middle leaving a tunnel behind. We then left, techno stylee and headed back to the boat, via the supermarket to stock up on cheap wine, ate dinner and then into the town in the evening for a beer. Before sailing through the night with a noisy motor.

17 March, Saturday... The benefit of sailing through the night was that we were already in a new place at a different island (Rabida) and we could head straight out after breakfast (breakfast would be a different style of egg each day) for a walk. Our first trip to land (not counting Puerto Ayora) was a nature walk taking in the different plants and views of the reddish volcanic rocks and beautifully blue waters and iguanas, pelicans, sea lions and crabs. Back on the beach we were ready for our first snorkel so got stuck in. There's a lot to see just snorkelling about not much coral but lots of colourful fish, sea stars and sea lions. I'd recommend taking fins as I had a tiring swim back against the current. Back on land I saw a sea lion chase a sea iguana on the beach which was rather amusing.

After lunch we sailed to Chinese Hat, so called because the island resembles the hat of a Chinaman. Where we got to see penguins and the first white tip reef shark. I rather liked the penguins, they're a lot more graceful underwater than I would have thought. And then on the way back to the boat an eagle ray. It's all here folks. After dinner we decided to drink the wine we'd bought in the supermarket the day before. Eight litres between eight sounds about right, no? Sea lions climbed into the dingy for an evenings sleep which was amusing and one even tried to attack Jeferson, the sailor, much to his surprise while trying to sleep on deck.

18 March, Sunday... Sailing on towards Bartolme in the morning and our trip to land was combined with a fascinating geology lesson from our guide. The island has a massive lava flow which we walked across and is full of interesting shapes and swirls. Then a quick snorkel, lunch and another sail on to Sullivan Bay where we went to shore again to climb up to a mirador with a view out to different islands with some fantastic colours on display.

19 March, Monday... We had to wake up far too early this morning to go to Seymour Island to become twitchers. We'd seen a couple before but this was the first opportunity we had to see frigates and blue footed boobies in great numbers. Frigates are odd birds, they have a large red pouch on their neck/chest which they inflate to look attractive to all the female frigates, and boobies apart from the name are quite interesting for all the whistling they do. Getting back onto the dingy our guide fell into the water (or was he pushed?) which was very amusing. As the trips revolve around 4 day periods we had to say goodbye to some friends and wait for some new ones to arrive. This would mean spending 3 hours in the port but was also an opportunity to buy some suntan lotion at the airport as we had run out rather quickly. So I spent a fun few hours in the airport waiting for the new people to arrive.

After we went to the beach in Baltra, saw sea lions (again) and a flamingo. Sea lions provide hours of fun because of they're awkward movements (on land) and belches and groans really it has to be heard to be believed they are great. We then went snorkelling in Bachas and saw lots more fish and a shark or two.

20 March, Tuesday... On to Plazas and the first turtle of the trip. We were warned not to go too close so couldn't get many decent photos but I think did still manage to scare the little feller by surrounding him with snorkellers. More snorkelling away from the turtle and then on to Santa Fe. Our trip to the beach on Santa Fe was interesting because we saw a whole bunch of eagle rays playing/fighting close to shore. Initially we were excited because it might have been shark fins but rays are still really cool. Lots of sea lions and iguanas on land too. I love sea lions.

21 March, Wednesday... Española island has a nice beach, white sands, blue waters, rays and lots of lovely sea lions. The captain even went to shore with us for his weekly exercise which basically involves walking quickly up and down the beach repeatedly. I tried to go for a little snorkel but couldn't see much as there was a lot of sand in the water but did almost get hit by a sea lion. We went a bit further away from the beach to do some snorkelling which had much better visibility. On to Punta Suarez next and Gardener Bay where we saw a lot of marine iguanas and a whole lot of masked boobies (basically the same as blue footed boobies but whiter and without the blue feet). Cue lots of jokes about boobies. The coastline was pretty stunning too.

22 March, Thursday... Floreana Island and Post Office Bay in the morning. You can post letters from here but it takes about three years to forever for them to arrive. It looked like a bit of a mess really and not very in keeping with the image of the rest of the islands. But it was close to the Devil's Crown which had the best snorkelling we did in the Galapagos... sharks, rays, fish, rocks, everything. The best bit was when the baby sea lions started playing with the ropes hanging from the dingy. They're so cute. Next up: Punta Cormorant which had a lagoon with some flamingos and a nice beach where we were told not to swim in the water or we'd get stung.

23 March, Friday... The last day of the tour 😞 and after spending the night in Puerto Ayora we went to the Darwin Centre to see the measures that the national park goes to to protect and breed the tortoises. Lots of little babies and a few larger tortoises including the famous Lonesome George who is the last tortoise of his type and isn't interested in breeding with other tortoises so will be the last of his line.

We went to investigate options for diving in Puerto Ayora or at the dive centres based there, diving in a port would be rubbish. But we couldn't go to the place we wanted to on Saturday (the best place is meant to be Gordon Rocks) and all that was on offer was a trip to somewhere which had poor visibility we were told. Not wanting to fork out any extra to see little we decided our snorkelling was good enough and the only other thing to check off the list would be hammerheads which weren't guaranteed to be seen. We changed our flight instead to head back tomorrow instead of Sunday. Free of charge.

24 March, Saturday... Got back from the Galapagos to Quito in the early evening. Not much left to do in Quito but drink so that's what we did. Rum and coke aplenty.

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Photos

Blue Footed Booby
he he booby. ha.

Tortuga
Isn't that a song?

Cow
You see so much on the Galapagos

Frigate
Frigates are weird

Sealion
On a bench

My beach
All mine!

Sea Iguana
Apparantly Charles Darwin tied a rock to one of these, chucked it in the water and after one hour it was still alive. True story. Science in action.

A Pair of Masked Boobies
ha ha. boobies.

Dolphin
If you squint you can see it in the darkness of the photo

Jaws
Shark! Aaaaarrrrggggghhhh!

Poor old Steve
Nothing more to say on the matter.