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Published: November 16th 2010
We flew into Baltra airport, a pretty basic airport that the US used in the second world war as a strategic staging post to protect the Panama canal from attack. Arrivals and Departures are in one big shed and the checked-in baggage arrives inside on a tractor and is not released to the passengers until a labrador has had a good old sniff, to check for any organic material. After numerous near extinctions of endemic plants and animals due to introduced species, the Galapagos authorities are keen to avoid any 'foreign life' from arriving either intentionally or unintentionally.
In Quito, we had been given "Odyssey“ badges to wear to identify us - so we did. But it didn't help us find our guide and after finding three other fellow passengers, we were still at a loss as to what we should do. The other boats seemed to have people with little boards with the boat's name. After 10 more minutes, we did meet our guide, Tatiana, who explained that most of our fellow passengers for the week were arriving on the next flight over an hour later, but that she would arrange that we five could be taken to the
boat.
The Odyssey is a big, spacious boat for 16 passengers, 8 crew and 1 guide. We had Cabin 3 on the main deck, just behind the dining area. All main and upper deck cabins are around 20 square metres, so we were not short of space to stretch out. This is the case around the boat. With 3 decks there is always a plenty of space to relax, including a hot jacuzzi on the top deck, which we didn't use.
We waited on the ship in the bay near Baltra airport, whilst we waited for the other 10 to arrive. We'd been up for 9 hours by the time they arrived and with very little to eat on the plane we were pretty hungry. We were very much an international bunch of 15 - Dimitry and his wife of 5 days were from Russia, Egle was from Italy then we were joined by Padraigh and Sarah from Ireland, Trevor and Beverly from Devon, England, 2 couples from Quito and our supermarket friends Don and Cathy from Vancouver, Canada. We all got on pretty well and Don and Cathy enjoyed trying out their Spanish on the Ecuadorean four,
plus the guide and crew.
When we were here last it was the end of November and the cold Humboldt current had gone and was replaced by a warmer current that made it pleasant to swim, especially down by the beach. However, this time sea temperatures were only up to about 20 centigrade and so we definitely needed wetsuits to be able to stay in the water for more than a few minutes. These cost USD25 each for the week, but were worth it, especially because the crew looked after them and made sure they were dry and ready for use each time. The snorkelling equipment was free.
After lunch we had a welcome briefing and the boat left the harbour to move around the Island of Santa Cruz. We took the "Pangas“ (rubber boats) to the shore and a dry landing, where Tatiana, our guide took us on a tour of that part of the Island known as Bachas beach. Owing to a mistranslation, the name relates to some barges that the American Navy came looking for many years after they had sunk. The Navy asked the locals where "the barges“ were and the locals had no
clue what the americans were saying, but translated it to Bachas. The Bachas beach contain bits of the sunken barges that were washed up there and now stick up out of the sand (see photo).
On the Island we saw blue footed Boobies and Frigate birds flying as well as pelicans and Iguanas. There was also a rather bad smell, which turned out to be a dead sealion that had been washed up on the shore. We then went snorkeling off the beach, but the water was both cloudy (from the sand and waves) and cold. So we didn't spend too long in the water this time. We knew there was much better to come.
After returning to the boat there were some snacks and drinks awaiting us, which became a habit throughout the cruise. Despite the exercise that you can have if you partake in all the organised activities, it is most likely that net calorie intake will be in the plus zone, especially with 3 excellent courses for lunch and dinner, not to mention the regularly filled bowl of sweets and chocolates. The staff do a wonderful job of fattening you up in the nicest possible
way.
Mind you, we didn't help matters by bring on board our own wine and rum from Quito. So at 6pm it was "beer o'clock“ an Australian term for drinks time. To assuage my guilt at not buying drinks from the bar, I bought the coca cola for my rum and coke from the bar tender, and Felicity bought a beer. Such good intentions only lasted a couple of days before we stopped at a place with a shop and bought 2 litres of coke and six beers.
After downing that, on the first night there was a welcome cocktail followed by the briefing we would have every night at 6:45pm. At this, Tatiana would tell us what the plans for the next day were and give us any other appropriate news. She did this in both English and Spanish, the latter for the Ecuadoreans and Egle, the Italian girl who spoke good Spanish and English.
At 7pm it was dinner. Soup, main dish and salad from the buffet and a dessert. On the first night, Luis, the chef, had baked a large birthday cake for Jose, one of the Ecuadoreans so we sang Happy Birthday in
English and Spanish and all shared in a piece of the cake as our dessert.
After a long days travelling we were all quite tired and we didn't stay around too long after dinner before heading to bed. This became the norm throughout the cruise and most of the time people, including us, were in bed if not asleep by 9pm. We generally had very active days and mixed with the sea air, food and 'illicit' booze it became a very sleep provoking cocktail. Indeed, after lunch there was always a couple of hours to relax and most people used this as 'Siesta' time. I spent it writing this blog.
At 4am at the start of the first full day on the ship, we left for our second main stop at Bartolome Island, a journey of around 2 hours. Being approximately in the middle of the ship, we heard the starting of the engines, weighing of the anchor and setting off. But it didn't keep us awake for too long as we soon got used to the droan of the engines and the rocking of the boat.
After breakfast we had a dry landing from the Pangas
on Bartolome Island and a morning walk to the top of the Island for some spectacular views of the bays below and the arid landscape. Later on we did some snorkelling, this time in clearer water and saw penguins, played with some sea lions and of course saw all kinds of tropical fish.
After Lunch we moved to Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island and did more snorkelling, this time seeing a turtle, Sea lion and more tropical fish. The water was still cold and we returned to the boat to have a hot shower before returning to Santiago Island to walk across lava fields, that for the non-moon visitor can be equated with our imagination of what the moon looks like. Miles of relatively young lava flows fill this landscape, where very little grows. So big and marked are these flows, they can even be seen from space. It really is an incredible sight, despite the lack of life in the area, which could change in the years to come.
After "cocktails“ and Dinner, the boat started out on an all night sail to Isabela Island, the largest and one of the youngest of the Galapagos archipelago. There
was quite a swell on the sea and we were getting a little tossed around, but for a light sleeper like me this proved remarkably soothing, like being rocked to sleep and I slept like a baby. Others weren't so fortunate and a few reached for the anti-seasick pills.
After the usual 7am breakfast, we headed on the Pangas for a dry landing On Isabela and a combined bus ride and hike upto the Sierra Negra Volcano crater, the second widest volcano crater in the world, measuring 10x8 kilometers. The weather was pretty overcast and the higher we climbed, the more we entered a drizzly, almost tropical jungle, environment. Predictably, when we reached the lip of the crater 45 minutes later, it was shrouded in mist and we had no chance to see the immensity of the crater first hand. This was a great shame, but at least the walk helped to burn off a few of the accumulated calories.
So after an unimpressive view, we walked down & went into a village with the option of lying on the beach, swimming or seeing the town. It was overcast & cool, so the first 2 options were out
and we ended up buying our coca cola and beer 'contraband' to complete our self-sufficiency on the pre-dinner drinks side.
Afterwards we returned to the boat, had a sleep (or a blog write) and then got wet suited up for a snorket of the 'Tintoreas', narrow lava canals where you can see white tipped reef sharks. They were clearly there little more than 50cm away, some sleeping, some swimming right under us. You wouldn't want to do the same with great white sharks.
After we passed through the lava canals we were picked up by the pangas and returned to the boat to get dry, have a really quick hot shower and then return to the island to walk through Isabela's lava fields to see Marine iguanas, Sealions and Turtles coming in at the end of the day. The Marine iguanas were lying on top of each other in an attempt to gain body heat after a swim in the cold waters - something we could certainly relate to but didn't do, in public at least. As we walked round the Island, the sun was starting to go down and reaching the inlet to a bay we saw
turtles popping their heads up in the waves as they head towards land, together with a sea lion or two body surfing the waves. What a sight.
Before it got too dark, we headed back to the boat and had a few snacks the crew had provided before we got ready to make the rum and coke cocktails or beer pre-dinner drinks. We just needed to get glasses to drink from and the crew, no doubt having seen it all before, were very obliging.
Dinner was at least as good as previous nights and after dinner the ship headed for Santa Cruz Island, the Galapagos' main Island - for human population at least. Our day time activities, possibly helped by some of the drinks, meant we were ready to find our beds by 9pm and again the rocking seas proved soothing, for some of us at least.
As dawn broke on another fabulous, if somewhat overcast, day in the Galapagos Islands we found ourselves in the bay of Puerto Ayora and after breakfast we set off in the pangas for a dry landing. The goal of this was to see some of the famous Giant tortoises of
the Galapagos, living out in the wild. A bus picked us up at the landing stage and we drove for maybe 30 minutes, up into the higher elevations of the Island, where it was foggy and lightly drizzling with rain. Nevertheless, it wasn't difficult to spot the tortoises, due to their huge size. Each Island has a slightly different variety and the number left on the Islands has been severely impacted by human habitation in the previous two centuries, when tortoise meat was a great source of protein for the pirates, explorers and others who believed the Galapagos Islands were Treasure Islands.
The most famous of the Galapagos Islands tortoises, which can live upto 200 years, is 'Lonesome George', so called because he is the last of the Pinta Island tortoises. When he goes, the Pinta Island tortoise species becomes extinct and despite attempts at preventing this, it seems there is no way for George to keep his dynasty going.
We 'met' George at a distance at the Charles Darwin Scientific Research Centre, which was our afternoon visit on Santa Cruz. There they work to study, preserve and develop especially endemic species of Galapagos plant and animals and
having been doing this for just over 50 years. Darwin arrived in the Galapagos in 1835 on his ship HMS Beagle and observed how animals adapted to conditions to survive. Their parental line might be the same, but new derivations of the species had developed to feed and survive in the food rich but often barren land environment that the Galapagos offered. From this and much more came his famous Origin of the Species paper, which caused controversy when first published something which continues to this day as his scientific observations contradict some theological beliefs. When you have seen the various species on the Galapagos and learnt a little about their evolution, it is somewhat difficult to deny the science of Darwin and his successors.
The Darwin Centre is essentially working to counteract over two centuries of destruction of the animal and plant life on the Galapagos Islands by human beings. It is an uphill task and has involved programs to eradicate introduced species such as goats and rabbits, that have threatened the existence of the endemic species from the various islands. The increased tourist invasion and the growing Island human population isn't making this any easier, but the
governing bodies of the Galapagos seem to be doing a good job of balancing the human needs with managing this unique fragile ecosystem. We can only hope that this will continue and further human destruction is avoided.
After our Darwin Centre visit, we had a couple of hours to discover Puerto Ayora and do 'modern activities' such as internet surfing, if this was required. Felicity and I resisted this temptation and instead we enjoyed the local shops and the fish market.
For obvious reasons, fishing in the Galapagos is strictly controlled and only permitted in designated areas of the sea away from the Islands, where the various animal species in residence or just passing through might require food. However, it is allowed and the end result is superb tuna, red snapper, lobster, prawns and so forth - served on the island and the cruise ships, to support the local economy.
When we passed the fish market the fishing boats had just landed a sizeable catch of tuna and the firshermen were gutting them and preparing them for sale, watched by a number of pelicans and a resident sea lion, hoping to gain from the scraps. Their antics
and various attempts were great entertainment and it was if they knew the rule (if not law) that no animals can be touched - so their cheekiness was risk-free.
We headed back to the boat close to 6pm for dinner and the inevitable pre-dinner drinks. Some of the passengers were leaving tomorrow and so the boat was going to move onto the nearby Island of San Cristobal, where there is another smaller airport, from where they were due to depart.
The cruises are sold as 8 days or five days, when in reality they are only 7 or 4. However, in order to preserve this idea, early morning events are scheduled for departure days. The next morning we were up and on deck at 6:30am for a trip around Kickers Rock, an odd rock formation that is just off San Cristobal and which many believe resembles a sleeping lion. With some imagination you can make out why. The idea for this sunrise tour was to possibly see Sharks, Dolphins, Whales as well as various bird life. As it was, we only saw sea lions, frigate birds and a few Blue footed Boobies.
So we returned to the
main deck for breakfast. Then half way through breakfast, eagle-eyed Tatiana
spotted some Dolphins and the ship was turned towards them for a closer look. We went back up on deck as the dolphins approached the boat. There was quite a large school of Dolphins and it was quite amazing to watch them around the ship. When it was time to move on, many of the Dolphins swam in the wake of the boat, which I captured on video and hope to include with this blog - if internet connection speed allows.
When we arrived in San Cristobal we took the pangas to shore and a walk to the Information centre, where we could learn a little bit more about the volcanic origins of the islands and their discovery by humans and the subsequent disasters that wiped out some species and threatened many more.
There we learnt of a real-time potential disaster in the happening, as Tatiana was told of the attempted coup on the Ecuadorean mainland by the Police. At the time it wasn't clear whether the military was involved too. They were revolting against measures that President Correa had introduced that negatively affected Police pay, bonuses
and promotion. This was causing unrest in Quito and Guayaquil as well as other major mainland centres. But in the Galapagos all was quiet. Apparently here the Police are paid more and have less to do, so they had no real reason to get involved.
What this meant, however, was that Quito and Guayaquil airports were both closed and any hopes of the departing passengers making it to the mainland that day were over. In the end they had to stay the night in a hotel on San Cristobal, but could join us for Dinner on the boat.
Whilst this drama was playing out, those of us not leaving were exploring what is known as Frigate Hill on San Cristobal, so called because it was host to a large number of Frigate birds. Not whilst we were there though, they were notable by their absence. But it was a nice walk with great views and with a statue of a youthful Charles Darwin to mark the point where he first landed on the Galapagos Islands.
We went back to the boat for lunch and the usual afternoon nap or blog write and as I made my notes
for the day, with the laptop and me looking out of the large cabin windows, I saw a couple of sea lions swimming past, back and forth around the ship. With the Island in the background, its difficult to get a more beautiful view on a boat.
In the afternoon, we had a wet landing at a beach further down San Cristobal and snorkeled close to huge turtles who were feeding on the sea greenery and played with more sea lions - an experience that never gets boring.
Back on the boat for dinner, the Russian couple who were due to leave that day and instead joined us for Dinner, brought a litre bottle of Absolut vodka with them and shared it around all the passengers on the boat, plus Tatiana. The crew abstained - in our presence at least. That was a really nice gesture, especially given the uncertainly they were facing regarding getting back to Ecuador and then home to Russia, via Holland. After dinner, they and the English couple headed back to San Cristobal Island, to hope that things would calm down and they could continue on their way.
That evening, we watched the
army assault on the Police Hospital, where President Correa was being held hostage after being taken there suffering from the affects of tear gas, that the police had let off in his presence. This was all carried live on TV and we witnessed at least one person (military or police it was unclear) get hit by the gun battle that was being played out.
The President was freed seemingly relatively easily and an hour or so later was making a speech from the balcony of the Presidential palace, blaming the troubles on the political opposition stirring things up. A rather astute political move - even if his rhetoric, to us non-natives who couldn't translate his speech, seemed to be a bit overly crazed and excited. It seemed like he was out to score as many political points as possible, and not to calm the population down in this time of crisis.
The next day things on the mainland did seem to calm down politically and for us life in paradise continued with the boat moving at 3am from San Cristobal to Espanola Island. This is a major home to lots of endemic birds, especially the blue and red
footed boobies and their Masked booby counterparts, now known as Nazca Boobies as well as Galapagos Albatrosses. This time of the year, there are lots of new born, so when we took the pangas to Espanola we encountered lots of chicks in nests that were close or actually on the pathways we had to keep to. Sometimes we saw two Boobie babies in a nest, but this is quite unusual since normally it really is survival of the fittest, as the family can only manage to support one to maturity. We saw evidence of this too, with a few dead booby babies visible near the path.
The Albatrosses on the Galapagos Islands are huge and their babies equally so. With their browny-grey baby fur and their hooked beaks they look very much like dodos. But unlike the dodo, these are very much alive.
This time of year is also when sea lion babies arrive on the scene and remarkably we saw a few who had been born within the last 24 hours, with the mother still surrounded by the afterbirth. Nothing goes to waste on the Galapagos and the afterbirth will be consumed by some of the birds
or the variety of Iguanas that Espanola is also home to. These include the colourfully named 'Christmas Iguana' whose skin is equally colourful, compared to its black skinned compatriate.
Iguanas are everywhere, so much so you have to be careful not to stand on them as you walk along the paths. As on the other islands, when they are in groups they lie on top of each other to maintain body heat and they are often found on rocks near the sea either preparing for a forage in the sea or just recovering from one.
Espanola is really a wonderful Island to see great bird life, but also natural rock phenomena, which creates blow holes in the coast where the waves from the sea get forced up narrow channels with such force that the water exits like a geyser, reaching anything upto 25 metres in height.
All good things come to an end and we had to catch the pangas back to the boat for lunch. We were only seven passengers by this time, but we were waiting for 4 more to join us by speed boat in the afternoon. In the meantime, we had the option
of going kayaking and deep water snorkeling. We'd had a bet about the nationality and age group of the new passengers, with the prize being who gets to go kayaking first. It turned out to be us, as Felicity correctly chose them as 4 middle aged English women. The water was really cold and there didn't seem to be much acquatic life where we were, so we just did 30 minutes of kayaking and skipped the snorkelling in the same area.
The plan was to go snorkelling nearer one of the beaches, so we waited and kept warm and then around 4pm got back into our wet suits and onto the pangas for a ride towards the beaches. But of course we jumped off the pangas before reaching the beaches and hit the freezing water to see more stingrays, a reef shark and to search for turtles and playful sealions. Unfortunately, whilst the turtles were happy to join the fun, the sea lions were happier to lie in the sun.
By the time we returned to the boat our English ladies had arrived and joined us in our pre-dinner snacks. The ship's TV was not tuned into the
news - so we knew that things had further settled down on the mainland, without asking the crew. Dinner was another excellent meal and after we had enjoyed that and another carton of our 'illicit' cheap wine, we headed for our beds and the boat headed across to Floreana Island.
The next day was another early morning start and another opportunity to go snorkelling off the pangas. The water hadn't got any warmer but what really did warm us up, or at least took our minds off the cold, were five baby sealions who came to play. That worked out as one for each snorkeler and they all swam within touching distance for over 30 minutes - except none of us did touch them as that would have broken the Galapagos park rules. It is possible that the sea lion mother will reject the baby if she detects other smells, such as those from human touch, on the baby. If the baby is dependent on the mother for food, this means the baby will likely starve. So this is a rule we were all keen to obey. It is difficult to describe the fun and exhilaration you experience when
swimming with the sea lions, but it is certainly a pleasure to treasure.
Despite the fun, the Humboldt current from the Antarctic at this time of year ensures that you need to get back to dry land and a hot shower after less than an hour in the water. This we did and whilst we were getting warm, the boat was moving along the coast to Post Office Bay. As the name suggests, there is a Post Office there - but not the sort you might find anywhere else in the world. Instead this is an old barrel and a few other bits of wooden construction that have messages from past visitors etched onto them. The barrel is the post box and contains postcards and letters addressed to people all over the world, that previous visitors have left unstamped. The idea is that other visitors look through the mail and take those addressed to people near to where they are heading and either hand deliver them or post them in the target country. We took one for someone living in North Bondi, near Sydney, as that was our next big destination. This idea has been in place since the
18th Century when whalers first started the practise and it is now a regular stop for most cruise boats.
After the post office, we carried on to some underground caves that were partially filled with water and for which we needed headlight torches to see our way through the unlit cavern. We could only make it so far through the cave before we had to turn around and head back as the cold water was too high - plus it was getting time for lunch. We were hardly desperate to eat, but the boat's food was just so good and quite healthy, that it was difficult to resist.
During lunch the boat moved on a little further, to a point where we could be reloaded on to the pangas for another stroll amongst the fascinating Galapagos wildlife. Floreana, like Espanola, hosts Sea lions, Blue footed Boobies and Iguanas to name just three. Sea lions often try and encroach on the Booby nests, but as we witnessed mother & father booby are not afraid to vigorously defend their nest and offsprings from any approaching sea lions - and usually win. Strangely they are more fearful and less trusting of
other animals, than they are of humans. This means we were able to get up close and personal with these remarkable and unique birds.
After our short trek on land, the plan was to do another snorkel off the pangas, but the sea was really too rough and in the end we settled for a beach landing and our last snorkel of this cruise, were we had the pleasure of swimming with more Turtles, lots of large wrase fish and one or two sea lions. Lots of fun, but it couldn't beat the fun and games with the five sea lions we'd enjoyed in the morning, which most of us agreed was the best snorkel of the whole trip.
We had a nine hour sail ahead of us to get to North Seymour for the next morning's final visit of the cruise. So we returned to the boat by about 4pm and set sail around 30 minutes later. The early move was supposed to be so that we could go whale watching, but unfortunately no whales or dolphins appeared before sunset and so our focus turned to having a great last dinner and finishing off some of the
wine, beer and rum we had brought onto the boat.
5:45am seemed to arrive remarkably quickly and by 6am we were getting on the pangas to sail across to a dry landing at North Seymour. The main attraction here was to see the male Frigate birds who were courting the females by inflating their red pouches underneath their beaks to look like large red balloons and occasionally flapping their winds and making a sound similar to the beating of a drum. They did this usually from a nest in the trees and when it worked, a female would land next to the male and the male would put his wing around the female. It wasn't just frigates though, we of course saw more boobies, mainly flying and plenty of iguanas. It was a beautiful sunny and warm day and a great end to a wonderful eight days of cruising.
At 7:15 we returned to the boat for breakfast and final bits of packing up, whilst the boat moved around to the harbour at Baltra - the same place that we had left the previous Sunday. At 8:30 we all piled on the pangas, whilst our luggage went on
another boat. There were 3 of us staying on the island and everyone else was heading for the airport, but all of us had to go to the airport to say our final farewells and be reunited with our luggage.
From the airport Felicity and I plus Egle, who took the underwater photos that I have included in this blog, caught the free bus to the "canal“, the channel between Baltra and the island of Santa Cruz. From there you jump on a 80cent ferry boat for the 5 minute ride. At the other side we met a slightly wild Ecuadorian guy who clearly didn't want to wait for a bus and persuaded us to join him in a taxi for USD3 each. We thought why not and joined him. As we expected, he tried to sell us a few hotels during our 45 minute ride across the island. We had already booked ahead, but the place we had chosen was a little expensive, so we thought we'd take a look at the alternatives. For about USD20 less they were a lot less impressive and tiny, so we stuck with what we had chosen.
The taxi driver took
us to the wrong hotel, but fortunately the correct one was only 50metres down the road and was owned by the mother of the guy who welcomed us to the wrong hotel. He carried our bags down the road and we finally arrived at what turned out to be a really nice hotel - the Maidith Galapagos Apartments & Suites. There we met Cecile, one of the ladies who worked there. Once we mentioned we lived in Zurich, she proudly told us about her son who had done his masters at the ETH in Zurich and was now working for Phillip Morris in Neuchatel.
After the early start, we were quite tired by the time we'd settled into the hotel and with the weather being rather drizzly we didn't have much of an incentive to go and re-explore the town straight away. So we had a bit of a relax, waited for the rain to stop and a few hours later headed for the town of Puerto Ayora. A main goal was to search out a Dive shop so Felicity could book a dive for the next day. Unfortunately, with it being a Sunday not a lot was open.
We came across a shop in one of the side streets called Sope Diving that was open. They were offering a dive at Gordon's Rocks for the next day for USD120. Gordon's Rocks is one of the best dive sites for hammerhead sharks and other such interesting wild life. Felicity decided to sign up, but I baulked at the price of USD85 for a snorkelling trip on the same boat. There was a snorkel trip around the bay that Sope Diving were charging USD35 for. This seemed a better offer with 5 places to visit and snorkel at. I pretty much convinced myself that it would be worth it as we had dinner and then returned to the hotel to watch the movie "Up in the Air“ on the laptop that I have been writing this on.
Having done a week of early rising, we were reluctantly used to it, but it was still difficult for Felicity to get up again at 6:30 in order to get to the Dive shop at 7:15. Since my snorkeling wasn't due to kick off until 8:45 I had the relative luxury of getting up at 7:45. I had a leisurely breakfast, talking
Galapagos:Dolphins
Running with the boatto Cecile about Switzerland and then headed to the Dive shop, where chaos reigned. What I didn't know at the time, was that despite the early rise, Felicity had only left the shop 30 minutes before I arrived - so she had had over an hour of similar chaos. The amiable shopkeeper was trying to sort out some dive beginners and essentially threw a snorkel, flippers and a wet suit at me. A few minutes later I was shuffled out of the shop with the shop secretary and directed towards the landing stage and introduced to the company who was actually running the snorkeling tour.
I was told to wait at the landing stage. After a few minutes I decided to put on my wet suit in preparation for our imminent departure. It was then that I discovered that in the chaos, I had been thrown a XXL wet suit. I thought I might be able to change it and I started walking to Sope Diving, passing a sign for this tour that was being offered for USD25 - ten dollars less than I had paid. Admittedly, they didn't offer a wet suit but given that the two sizes
Galapagos:Charles Darwin Statue
To mark the bay where Charles Darwin first arrived in the Galapagos too big wet suit I received was virtually useless, I was a little bit upset. Unfortunately the other passengers appeared as I passed the sign and I was refused the chance to get a better suit and turned around in the direction of the boat.
The other passengers were two Italian girls, one who suffered from sea sickness and both of whom were more interested in seeing land-based wildlife, given that they'd just arrived in the Galapagos. The sea sickness wasn't helped by the first trip in to the bay and out to the island of Loberia. The seas were pretty rough so much so that our island destination disappeared from view under the waves numerous times. Loberia was a destination for snorkeling with baby sea lions. But not in these waves and I elected to stay on the boat rather than risk getting smashed against Loberia's lava rocks. It seemed like the sea lions had come to the same conclusion as I couldn't see any in the bay where we had stopped.
The Italian girls weren't going anywhere near the sea and anyway we had another four chances to go snorkeling, so no big deal to miss
one of them - right ? Later I found out the correct answer was 'wrong'. We went to another more sheltered place, back across the bay to go snorkeling and since I was promised reef sharks and rays, I got ready to go snorkeling. It was then that I realised the dive shop had given me a snorkel with no valve. Thank goodness the boat skipper had some more snorkels on board or else this would have been a complete disaster.
We stopped at an entry to a narrow canal and one of the Italian girls decided to go snorkeling and the skipper of the boat joined her. She was shocked by the cold and realised why I had a wet suit, but didn't realise that I was feeling the cold almost as much as her, as the water entered between my skin and my flabby wet suit. I quickly lost them as they headed off down the canal and I decided to take a quick look at the wildlife around the headland first - hoping against hope that I might be joined by a sea lion or two. It was not to be and not wishing to be
alone in the sea for too long, I headed for the canal. There wasn't much to see as I continued down the canal, although as the depth of the water reduced and the sun came out, the sea did feel warmer.
Eventually I passed the skipper and fellow passenger going in the opposite direction, but again telling me there were reef sharks and rays to be seen. I pushed on, mindful however that they were heading for the boat. I saw one reef shark and no rays before I thought I'd reached the end of the canal and decided it was time to head back to the boat.
When I got back, I learned that that was the last chance to snorkel. The next 3 stops were land visits, one above the ultimate destination of the second snorkel opportunity, where it was possible to see a number of rays and what looked like reef sharks, from above on the cliffs. I hadn't gone far enough into the canal to see all that was to be seen.
Our other two stops were a chance to go swimming in a little pool, which hosted virtually no marine life, and
a stop at a natural salt flat. The walks to these three places did allow the Italian girls to get some photos of iguanas, crabs and sea lions as well as some frigate birds and a few boobies flying by. So they were happy.
Arriving back on land I returned to Sope diving to complain about the rubbish equipment, the fact that there were only 2 snorkelling sites, not 5 as I thought they had said and the fact that I was paying USD10 over the odds. I had to say all this in Spanish of course and the same shopkeeper who had sold me the trip and thrown me the dodgy equipment just smiled and said sorry. Clearly this wasn't the first time this had happened and hey he had his money and I wasn't coming back, so why should he care ? All I can say is, if you have a choice avoid the Sope diving company in Puerto Ayora.
I wandered around town buying up another couple of Galapagos T-Shirts and a really nice blue footed booby baseball cap - not as tacky as it sounds - honest ! The sope diving guy told me
Felicity should be back about 3:45pm, around two hours after I had finished my trip. So after my shopping, I returned to the hotel for a quick lie down. At 4pm I decided to go and meet Felicity in town. I had a good look around in all the shops, up and down the main street and some side streets - but no sign of her. In the end I returned to the Hotel and at 5:45pm she arrived back. The diving had been equally chaotic, with many divers, who had to be advanced PADI divers to do Gordon Rocks, being unable to cope with the heavy seas that they experienced at the dive sites. Some also experienced sea sickness on the journey to and from the dive sites. To top it all, the rough seas meant there were no hammerhead sharks or much else to see.
We had another earlyish night since we had another early start in the morning and a long travelling day. At 7:30am we took a combination of taxi, boat and bus to get us to Baltra airport in order to catch a flight back to Quito. We had the same sort of dog
sniffing security that greeted us on our arrival, this time ensuring that we weren't taking anything out of the Galapagos that we shouldn't.
Whilst we waited for our aircraft we looked at the local wooden shack shops outside the airport for last minute useful souvenirs - but with our baggage space limited & after having already purchased 4 Galapagos T-Shirts, we resisted the urge. The aircraft we were due to fly out on arrived pretty much on time. It was a newer and bigger type than we had arrived on. It was a Boeing 757 and it had been named Solitario George (Lonesome George) after the famous inhabitant of Santa Cruz that we had seen from a distance almost one week ago.
Just like our outbound flight, our return was via Guayaquil. But unlike our outbound flight we arrived into Quito in a heavy storm with lightning all around as we made our final approach - which added to the excitement of landing in the middle of one of the highest Cities in the World. We were rocked around a little bit, but it was a perfect landing. They are currently building a new airport to replace the
Mariscal Sucre International airport. This will be quite a way from the centre of the City, so the landing fun (that some may view as risk) and the views (see my Quito blog) won't be available in a year or so.
Once we collected our bags we got in a taxi to head to Quito's Southerly bus station to catch a bus for a four hour ride in an electric storm to Banos (spanish for bathroom/toilet) which contrary to its name is a beautiful country place to visit. See my up and coming blog on Banos for more.
Places we have visited and can recommend Cruise Boat
Odyssey boat: A luxury level boat with great staff and great food. See
GalapagosOdyssey for more.
Hotels
Maidith Galapagos Apartments & Suites: Not particularly cheap, but compared to what else is available on Puerto Ayora good value for a large room and very good breakfast.
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