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Published: February 28th 2008
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Wow, I'm sure the pictures in this blog speak for themselves....I have lots more photos to put up here but I have to find a computer which reads DVDs first.
I have just spent my first week in the Galapagos and although I was going to write about my short stay in Cali, a power cut at the border crossing and getting robbed and rained on in Quito, it all pales in to insignificance compared to this place so we'll just skip all that and get straight to the point....which is ...... wow!
I arrived on the plane and stepped out into the sweltering ecuatorial sun, I was so excited to be here that I almost got on the bus without collecting my luggage. I made my way to Puerto Ayora and, after a quick celebratory beer, found a hotel and bargined my room down from $25 to $12. I was going to be there for a week before getting on my boat tour round the islands so every penny counted and things here are pretty pricy. I also found the cheap street for dinner where all the locals eat for $3 and told myself I would treat myself to a
posh dinner and wine in one of the tourist restaurants later.
My morning here I got up really early (for me) and wandered around town a bit to check out some dive shops before I realised that everything was closed until about 10am, thats laid back island life for you. I couldn't believe how hot it was and it was only 8:30!
I caught a water taxi across the harbour and walked along a rough lava trail to a little crystal clear water hole called Las Grietas where I did a bit of snorkeling before returning to town to see if the dive shops were open yet.
My first taste of the amazing animal life here were the marine iguanas hanging out on the harbour wall and watching the blue footed boobies dive bomb the fish from great hights. One got a little more than he bargined for when the fish he picked on turned out to be what looked like a baby hammerhead shark which chased him out of the water thrashing his little tail to and fro!
In the afternoon I went to check out the Darwin research centre where they breed the different families of giant tortoises
and reintroduce them to their home island when they are big enough to fend for themselves. Lots of the native species here have suffered badly at the hands of introduced species such as cats and goats and some have dissapeared altogether. At the Darwin centre Lonesome George, the only surviving Pinta island tortoise is still hanging out for a mate but things are not looking good as he reaches 90yrs old and is still a bachelor!
The following 2 days were taken up by some of the best dives of my life. We left the harbour at 7:30 and headed out to Gordon rocks, a site famous for shark spotting and I certainly wanst disapointed. We saw 2 schools of about 6-8 hammerheads and a couple of groups of white tipped sharks which passed about 10m above us. Then we also saw turtles being cleaned by king angel fish, sting rays and eagle rays. Just after lunch our boat captain spotted a big pod of dolphins just outside the erroded crater of Gordon rocks and motored over to them. We played with them for a long time watching them in the bow wave, really putting on a show when we
gunned the engine to full speed and jumping out of the water all around us, there must have been 50-60 of them. Then one guy jumped in with them and we all came out of our trance and rushed to put our fins on and join him. It was the most amazing moment and the water was filled with clicks and whistles as we all pathetically tried to keep up, flapping around like seals on land in comparison.
The next days dive was to Isla Floreana, and was a beautifuly gentle dive giving me time to look at all the little things, lots of tiny blue striped nudibranch, and octopus and tiny little fish sticking just their little heads out of holes in the rock.
One one day off from diving I went to turtle bay, a beach of pure white sand with hundreds of marine iguanas hanging out on the rocks, and sat quietly for an hour or so watching them and hiding from the sun under an umbrella. The sun is rediculously strong here as you might imagine on the ecuator and despite being very sensible with the sun cream and all I still keep getting strange bits
burnt like the back of my legs just from walking around town for half an hour at 9am!
Its strange being in Ecuador though as it is a very indiginous andean population again and it is back to the wailing women singing on television and the striking andean facial features even here in the Galapagos, it feels a bit like regressing in some way.
Anyway I am off for 7 days on a boat around the islands tomorrow so next update when I get back.
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