Cruising the Galapagos

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It was an early start as we set off for the Galapagos, the flight was pretty memorable for seeing the top of Mount Cotapaxi appear through the clouds. We descended into Baltra airport and as we were boarding our panga (a very solid dinghy) we were greeted by sea lions lazing around the waiting area, we boarded the ship around lunchtime.

The next six days were a real luxury, as much food as we could eat and the accommodation was great, the room was tidied each day and we had fresh towels almost as soon as we’d finished using them. At the end of each day they left chocolates in the room, a pleasant surprise after dinner.

The Galapagos was a big highlight of the trip. Each week a tour takes in one of three routes. Although the boat had over 50 passengers we ended up in a small group of 6 with a great guide called Lola. Our group consisted of two English women and a Belgian couple, we found out on the first night that the Belgian new Northamptonshire (not many people do) as he had been a winning touring car driver at Silverstone, not something we would have guessed.

We were welcomed on board and sat down to lunch, a quick overview of the ship and then we were split into our groups and were off on our first visit. We sailed a short distance to North Seymour Island where we had a dry landing – pretty self-explanatory, we didn’t have to wade through the sea to get to the land. It was a great start to the trip we saw our first Galapagos finches, Frigate Birds mating and nesting, the male with a huge puffy red chest to attract the female, Blue Footed Boobies, Land Iguanas, marine iguanas and we were climbing over seals to get back to our panga. We also saw incredibly coloured crabs, a small snake, lizard and migratory birds. We stood for quite some time watching the sea lions play near the beach. As we left the swallow tail gulls were getting active, very attractive with their distinctive red rimmed eye.

The male blue footed boobies do a foot slapping dance to court the female and then they both dance together, an offering of a twig or some small stones is also used to attract the female.

On arriving back on the boat we were greeted with a welcome drink a Pisco Sour – very popular drink in Ecuador (and South America) and we received an introduction to all the staff on the ship. Hoping for some more sea life spots after dinner we went on deck to see what we could, after a short while there was a burst of activity and we saw a couple of sea lions mucking about at the steps to the boat.

Overnight we sailed quite a distance and arrived at the north of Isabella Island, Mark was unable to sleep and woke very early the next day he was rewarded with spotting a large number of sea turtles swimming in the sea surrounding the boat.

After a very large breakfast we took a panga ride along the coast in search of sea birds, sea turtles, Galapagos penguins and blue footed boobies. We were also joined by one of our favourite birds the pelican. This part of the island has half a volcano the other part of the caldera having dropped away a long time ago. After spending some time animal spotting we snorkelled with a number of sea turtles and a few sea lions, and then attempted to explore a cave. The sea was pretty rough and we were being careful not to get whacked against the rocks, by the time we finished we were quite tired by our morning snorkelling.

Our large breakfast was followed by a substantial lunch and a short rest. That afternoon we disembarked onto Fernandina Island through an area of mangrove. We were greeted by hundreds of marine iguanas, although an array of pretty frightening faces they looked incredibly serene. The male becomes quite colourful when mating. We also came across the Flightless Cormorant and were able to get extremely close watching it enter the water and swim/paddle. The island was strewn with sea lions the males are huge with great thick necks. Sea lions seem to spend a lot of time throwing their heads back. Fernandina is the newest island and considered the most pristine – with no introduced species. A large whale skeleton was laid out for us to view, topped off with a dolphins head. As we headed back to our panga we caught site of - possibly a Zebra Moray Eel.

Our third day started with a dry landing and a short walk to a viewing point at Tagus Cove. Although early it was already very hot, sunglasses, sun cream and hat all essential. As we got off the panga we were greeted by a couple of sea lions, the distinction between a sea lion and a seal is that the former has large front flippers almost like arms which it uses to move around with, it can be pretty fast. We took a slow walk with a beautiful view back across the bay and over a brackish pool. Nothing thrives in it although it looks inviting and is a beautiful colour. Along the path there was the Palo Santo tree which has a sap which is said to have curative properties.

After a short while we were back onto the panga in search of penguins and after success we had the option of more snorkelling. As we were heading to the snorkelling area our guide Lola received a call to say Orca Whales had been spotted, on mass we all agreed to see the whales and on this occasion skip the snorkelling. Some saw the whales from a distance but when we reached the area it was quiet with no sight of them. After sitting patiently for a while we were delighted when the whales returned, at times near to the panga, they covered vast distances really quickly. There seemed to be at least five, we watched as they propelled themselves through the water arching their backs one and then another. You’ll have to take our word on this as trying to take photos of a moving object while you are moving up and down with the waves isn’t the easiest – we’ve got a number of great shots of the sky or the back of our companions heads.

After the excitement of the morning we had a calmer afternoon. After a short time on a very small beach - fortunately it was a turtle nesting site so a very good use of the beach - we went to explore the Island further. A large part of this Island was relatively new, having previously been under the sea. Although not scheduled for this day we saw a very large tortoise on the side of the path – A Galapagos Tortoise which is the largest living species of tortoise. We explored the island and looked out for Galapagos Finches and Galapagos Land Iguanas. We are greeted by an Iguana early on. As we wondered around Lola suggested we take a few minutes to sit in silence and really listen to what was around us. Quite often we would see Mockingbirds and although not indigenous they have adapted and they were quite tame.

The following day we went to the main Island Santa Cruz and to the Darwin Centre with a conservation project supporting the Galapagos tortoise, there are a number of variations in the shell shape where the tortoise has adapted over time into Saddleback, Domed and in between the two. After the centre we walked back through the town and watched the sea lion and sea birds congregating around the fish market keen for any scraps from the sellers. The sea lion must have been a friend as we watched him help himself to any scraps going straight from under the butcher’s nose.

Around mid-day we drove across the Island to a ranch (a farm) where a buffet lunch had been laid on and a few very large tortoises wandered across the grass in between horses which appeared to ignore them as they lumbered by. In the afternoon we took a long walk to a quiet sandy beach and were the first out to kayak. We’d been told that we may see some sharks. Just a short time out we saw our first – albeit small - a black tipped reef shark and we watched it appear and disappear, swimming around our kayak and in and out of the mangrove. This was followed a little while later by a small hammerhead, we hadn’t realised how cute they look when they are so small and finally another brightly marked eel – a different species from the first. Once out of the kayak we were straight in the water for a swim, we were joined by a small turtle that was swimming near the shore and then we spotted a very young hammerhead shark swimming near the beach. We were able to stand in the water and watch it swim around.

The next day was spent exploring Floreana Island. We started with Post Office Bay where whalers kept a barrel where they would put their post and other passing ships would stop to pick up relevant post and pass it on – this tradition is continued by the tourists. A postcard to Steve Bocking had arrived in Old just a few weeks later which was left with no stamp....

The Island is inhabited and has a strange history we visited Baroness Cove – named after a self-appointed Baroness. In the 1930s a small group of Germans had decided to emigrate to the Island but after a number of disappearances and deaths only one of the original group remained. The settling of this Island caused much damage and extinction of its endemic tortoise and Mockingbird.

This day we enjoyed two snorkelling trips the first at Punta Cormorant and later at Devils Point. We enjoyed swimming with turtles and a good range of fish. This was followed by a fantastic opportunity to swim with numerous sea lions. We’d been a bit confused when we initially thought we were being dumped in the ocean near a rock face of the island but then we came across a lot of sea lions, they swum beside us and around and were very inquisitive. Tina managed to swim in circles with one of the sea lions – an amazing experience.

We returned to Floreana Island later that day in search of flamingos but unfortunately none were present. We walked onto the other side of the Island and watched for a while as a number of green sea turtles began swimming in towards shore, waiting for nightime to nest. As we walked back to the boat we had to step over a seal pup that had positioned itself in the middle of the path

The final morning we all joined in the main lounge and watched a compilation of shots from the week. We boarded the panga and went back to Baltra with fantastic memories and lasting images of sea lions chasing flying fish.

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Comments

[Bessy]

Saludos!!!
My dear friends, good to see you, sorry for my delay to communicate with you, work at school is very heavy and so far we're on vacation I can see your blog. Lucas, Coffee and I, miss them yet. I hope to continue having fun and enjoying themselves for south america. try to follow them on their blog and know the places you visit. a hug and thank you for remembering me and my beautifull dogs. See you