Advertisement
Published: August 25th 2009
Hi All,
Hope everyone is well. This is a slightly longer blog than my previous ones. If you havent got a drink of any description, then I recommend you grab one. If you have one, then as in Jackanory, are yu sat comfortably? Then I will begin.
The Galápagos Islands form the Galápagos Province of Ecuador and are part of the country's national park system. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of around 40,000, which is a 40-fold expansion in 50 years.
The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
Baltra (South Seymour) Island: Also known as South Seymour, Baltra is a small flat island located near the center of the Galapagos. It was created by Geological uplift. The island is very arid and vegetation consists of salt bushes, prickly pear cactus and palo santo trees. Until 1986, Baltra Airport was the only airport serving the Galápagos. Now there are two airports which receive flights from the continent,
the other located on San Cristóbal Island. Private planes flying to Galapagos must fly to Baltra as it is the only airport with facilities for planes overnight. Arriving into Baltra all visitors are immediately transported by bus to one of two docks. The first dock is located in a small bay where the boats cruising Galapagos await passengers. The second is a ferry dock which connects Baltra to the island of Santa Cruz. During the 1940s scientists decided to move 70 of Baltra's Land Iguanas to the neighboring North Seymour Island as part of an experiment. This move had unexpected results for during the military occupation of Baltra in World War II, the native iguanas became extinct on the island. During the 1980s iguanas from North Seymour were brought to the Charles Darwin Research Station as part of a breeding and repopulation project and in the 1990s land iguanas were reintroduced to Baltra. As of 1997 scientists counted 97 iguanas living on Baltra; 13 of which were born on the islands.
Bartolomé (Bartholomew) Island: Bartolomé Island is a volcanic islet just off the east coast of Santiago Island in the Galápagos Islands Group. It is one of the "younger" islands
in the Galápagos archipelago. This island, and Sulivan Bay on Santiago island, are named after naturalist and life-long friend of Charles Darwin, Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, who was a Lieutenant aboard HMS Beagle.
Española (Hood) Island: Its name was given in honor of Spain. It also is known as Hood after Viscount Samuel Hood. Española is the oldest island at around 3.5 million years and the southernmost in the chain. The island's remote location has a large number of endemic fauna. Secluded from the other islands, wildlife on Española adapted to the island's environment and natural resources. Marine iguanas on Española are the only ones that change color during breeding season. The Waved Albatross is found on the island. The island's steep cliffs serve as the perfect runways for these large birds which take off for their ocean feeding grounds near the mainland of Ecuador and Peru. Española has two visitor sites. Gardner Bay is a swimming and snorkeling site as well as offering a great beach. Punta Suarez has migrant, resident, and endemic wildlife including brightly colored Marine Iguana, Española Lava Lizards, Hood Mockingbirds, Swallow-tailed Gulls, Blue-footed Booby,Red-Footed Booby and Nazca Boobies, Galápagos Hawks, a selection of Finches, and
the Waved Albatross.
Fernandina (Narborough) Island: The name was given in honor of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who sponsored the voyage of Columbus. This is the youngest and westernmost island. The famous Flightless Cormorant inhabits this island and also Galápagos Penguins, Pelicans and Sea Lions are abundant. Different types of lava flows can be compared and the Mangrove Forests can be observed.
Floreana (Charles or Santa María) Island: It was named after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago. It is also called Santa Maria after one of the caravels of Columbus. It is one of the islands with the most interesting human history and one of the earliest to be inhabited. Flamingos and green sea turtles nest (December to May) on this island. The "patapegada" or Galápagos Petrel is found here, a sea bird which spends most of its life away from land. At Post Office Bay, since the 18th century whalers kept a wooden barrel that served as post office so that mail could be picked up and delivered to their destination mainly Europe and the United States by ships on their way home.
At the “Devil's Crown”, an underwater volcanic cone, coral formations are found.
Isabela (Albemarle) Island (Ecuador): This island was named in honor of Queen Isabela. Its highest point is Wolf Volcano with an altitude of 1,707 meters (5,600 ft). The island's seahorse shape is the product of the merging of six large volcanoes into a single landmass. On this island Galápagos Penguins, Flightless Cormorants, Marine Iguanas, pelicans and Sally Lightfoot crabs abound. At the skirts and calderas of the volcanos of Isabela, Land Iguanas and Galápagos Tortoises can be observed, as well as Darwin Finches, Galápagos Hawks, Galápagos Doves and very interesting lowland vegetation.
North Seymour Island: Its name was given after an English nobleman called Lord Hugh Seymour. This island is home to a large population of blue-footed boobies and swallow-tailed gulls. It hosts one of the largest populations of frigate birds. It was formed from geological uplift. North Seymour is an extraordinary place for breeding birds and is home to one of the largest populations of nesting blue-footed boobies and magnificent frigate birds. Pairs of blue-footed boobies can be seen conducting their mating ritual as they offer each other gifts, whistle and honk, stretch their necks towards the
sky, spread their wings, and dance--showing off their bright blue feet. Magnificent frigatebirds perch in low bushes, near the boobies, while watching over their large chicks. Boobies are excellent hunters and fish in flocks. The frigates by comparison are pirates, they dive bomb the boobies to force them to drop their prey. Then the acrobatic frigate swoops down and picks up the food before it hits the water.
Visit to the Galapagos
Arriving in Quito, I had one thing on my mind. The Galapagos. I needed to book my trip here, and there were shortage of tour operators in Quito. Well, actually that this a lie. I could have flown out to the Galapagos from Quito and then tried to arrange a tour. From speaking to people it seemed to be a lot easier if I booked in Quito. The coach journey from Otovalo to Quito was only two and a half hours, which cost me $2 on a fully air conditioned coach with a DVD on board. Not bad. After being dropped off at a bus station which wasn’t the bus station that I should have been dropped off at, and then getting a bus from the aforementioned station
which took me in completely the wrong direction, I opted for a taxi to drop me off at my hostel of choice, The Blue Hostel in Mariscal Sucre. I dropped my bags off and set off in search of tour operators that would have some space available on tours leaving within the next 3-4 days. Initially I wanted a tour that would either last 4 or 5 days. At that time I wasn’t sure of the itinerary I wanted to follow, as the different boat companies offer different routes around the Galapagos (different island etc). After visiting a number of tour operators, I found a tour which I liked. It was for 5 days and was leaving in 4 days, so that would give me enough time to look around Quito etc. The tour operator needed to know by the weekend, so I decided to ‘sleep on it’, and also see if any other tour company would do the same deal cheaper. The following day I went to another two tour companies who could not beat the quote I was given the day before, so as I was heading back to my hostel to pick up my bank cards etc
to pay for the tour which I was quoted the previously, I spotted one more tour operator, Happy Gringo, so I thought it could hurt to check one more place. They couldn’t beat the quote which I had been offered on the 5 day tour, but they had a tour boat which was leaving the following day. It was an 8 day tour on a luxury boat, which was 3 days more than I initially wanted and the boat was much better than the piece of wood with sail I was about to pay for. However, it was more than I wanted to pay for a tour. I thought to myself that I will probably only do the Galapagos once in my life time, so it is better to do it in relative luxury instead of saving a few pennies on the trip and not enjoying it on a lesser boat.
The way the tours work for the Galapagos is such that there for four fees which you need to consider when booking a trip. First, is the tour price. This is either a boat trip or an island hopping tour staying on hotels on each island. Secondly, is the
flight to the Galapagos. There are only 2 airlines which fly there, and the prices never change. The return flight is always in the region on $415. Thirdly, when you land at Baltra airport in the Galapagos, you must pay $100, in cash, no card payments, no I.O.U’s are accepted. This is a fee to maintain the national park. If you don’t have the cash money, you cannot enter the park and you leave on the next plane back to Ecuador. Finally, you need an I.D card, which you have to pay $10 for. So as you can see travelling to the Galapagos is not a cheap option. The options, two to four you pay regardless of length of time on the island, so considering this and the offer which Happy Gringo had for the 8 day tour, I decided to take go with that one instead of the 5 day one.
Even though I had always intended on travelling to the Galapagos, it was still hard paying all that money to visit the islands. I have been travelling around South America now for 3 months and the money I spent on one trip could have kept me travelling around
for many months, but, in the time I have been travelling I have only met 2 people who have done the trip to the Galapagos. Both recommended doing it, and both described it as an ‘amazing experience’. So I threw caution (and a lot of money) to the wind. Galapagos here I come.
The flight was leaving the following day (Friday) for 8 days, aboard a boat called the Beluga. The tour would include visits to the following islands within the Galapagos, Baltra, North Seymour, Espanola, Floreana, Santa Cruz, Isabela, Fernandina and Santiago. I still had the whole of the afternoon to kill so I decided to visit the old town in Quito. After spending 2 hours walking around, I heading back. I couldn’t really concentrate on sightseeing because I was going to the Galapagos the following day. As luck would have it, I found out there was another guy from my hostal, David who was going on the same boat/tour as me, so I headed back to the hostal to pack for my trip. After packing items that I thought I would need, a group of us from the hostal headed out for some food. The choice of restaurant
was a traditional Ecuadorian one, of which I chose Spaghetti and beef. I wasn’t feeling adventurus due to flying the next day. When we had all finished we wandered back to the hostal. The rest of the guys stayed up drinking, whilst I called it night at a little after nine o’clock, due to the early start the next day.
The alarm on my phone went off at 4.30 sharp, much to the disgust to everyone else in the room. Luckily no-one said anything, cos if they did the response they would have got was ‘ chin up, I am going to the Galapagos. Go back to sleep’. My flight was at 7.30am, first stopping at Guayaquil to pick up other passengers and then onwards to Baltra airport. There would be no chance to go to an ATM for the first four days of the tour, so I needed to take enough money to last me until then. After trying my third ATM, the machine decided to play nice and allow me some dollars.
When visiting the Galapagos, the Edcuadorian authorities make sure that you don’t take anything either on your person, or in your bag that could affect with
the eco-system there, so in the airport your bags and yourself are checked for any seeds, meats, live animals etc.
Our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, which meant that we had chance to look around the many shops that occupied Quito airport. This consisted of one coffee and sandwich shop.
The time in the Galapagos is one hour behind mainland Ecuador (seven hours behind the UK), so we arrived about half past ten local time. As mentioned earlier, when you arrived at Baltra airport you have you passport checked by customs, then have to pay $100 USD park fee. Then when this has been completed you have to collect your luggage. The luggage from the plane is arranged in a line and then it is a free for all to collect the luggage. No baggage carousel, just grab you bag as quick as you can.
Our guide for the boat Beluga was Monica Plaza. She is a level 3 guide, which means she is one of the best guides, a naturalist if you will, that you can get for a tour of the Galapagos. The bus ride from Balta airport to the port from where you board your boat
was approximately ten minutes. As soon as you get off the boat you are introduced to the wildlife that a trip to the Galapagos offers. On the two park benches which you image people would sit were in fact two sea lions taking a morning nap. Underneath the bench was another sea lion trying to shade himself from the morning sun. It was my first introduction to the wildlife and I had only been off the plane for an hour. Then, just as I am taking pictures of one of the sea lions on the bench, another sea lion comes out of the water, waddles straight through our party, bold as brass, and plonks himself down next to the other seals. The animals here have no fear of humans whatsoever. The inflatable boats took the party to the Beluga which was parked in the bay. Our party was a mixture of nationalities. There were Americans, Dutch, French, Canadian and of course English. As I booked my tour the day previous, by nook or by crook I managed to bag a room to myself. My bedroom was on deck level, at the rear of the boat. The view from my bed is one of the best views I have ever seen. The view was going to change everyday as well as the boat sails to the different islands during the night, and when you wake up, open the window you are treated to another amazing view.
The iterniary for the first day was Baltra Island, followed by North Seymour Island. After a few safety rules, a practice fire drill and a revision of the park rules the group was set to go and explore the Galapagos. First item, snorkelling. This was my first experience with the fishes of the Galapagos, which were spectacular and also swimming with sea lions. They rest on the rocks and then come in the water to feed or to play.
After snorkelling we visited North Seymour island to look at the sea lions, frigate birds, iguanas and of course boobies of the blue footed variety. Within the first ten minutes of trying to video one sea lion, another came charging at me. Now they walk a little bit stupid, but they are a force not to be reckoned with, and I didn’t want to be the first tourist on the island of North Seymour to be floored by a sea lion. After a ninety minute walk around the island it was time to head back to the boat for the evening meal and the Captains drink (official welcome to the Beluga). After food and a drink, Monica our guide summarised the day and explained the itinerary was for the following day (Saturday). After that everyone called it a night as it had been a long day.
Never having slept on a boat before I thought due to the constant swaying that I would struggle to sleep. In fact, I slept all the way through to 6am the next day, only to be awoken by the delicious smell of ham and eggs which were being cooked by the chef for breakfast.
Espanola Island was the destination for Saturday. In the morning there was a visit to Gardner Bay which has an organic white beach. On the white beach there are lots of sea lions, iguanas, sea turtles and birds. For two hours I walked up the coast taking pictures of all the sea lions which were on the beach. A little up from the beach were rocks, from where you could see some crabs and iguanas. Then a little further off the rocks into the sea were sea turtles. They were about one metre off shore feeding on the green algae which forms on the rocks, which makes up for the diet of the turtle and the iguana. Then it was back to the boat to go snorkelling. Again, we were not the only ones in the water, we were joined by sea lions who would swim up to you and seemed interested in you for about a second and then they would swim off again. We found a cove which had lots of them in, and a random pelican that just sat on the rock watching us. A couple of people in the group even got playful bites from the sealions whilst they were swimming. If you swam down to the sea bed the sea lions would come down and take a look at you, and again swim off.
After lunch it was time for a walk around Espanola Island, in particular Suarez Point. This place was home to lots of different wildlife, which included the blue-footed booby, the Nasca booby, the waved albatross, more sea lions and various types of marine iguanas.
Day three and our destination was Florenana Island. Breakfast as usual was at 7am, with a visit to Punta Comorant in the morning, and snorkelling after that. In the afternoon there was a visit to Post Office Bay and then a football match against the crew of the Beluga. After stuffing my face with granola, fruit, yogurt, cornflakes, eggs and sausages I was just about ready for Punta Comorant. Before we left we managed to witness sea-lions feeding around our boat, and the frigate birds trying to steal the fish from the mouths of the sea-lions. The sea-lions would scare the fish to the surface, managing to catch a few in the process, then when they had managed to grab one of the fish in their mouths the frigate birds would swoop and steal the fish. I witnessed this happen a couple of times.
We took the pangas (inflatable speed boats) to Florenana and landed on a volcanic divine crystal beach. After a walk around the beach we visited the Greater Flamingo brackish lagoon, which was full of pink flamingos. These flamingos were not from the Galapagos originally. They are Caribbean flamingos that have come across and found similar habitat to that of the Caribbean and have stayed. Also in the lagoon were white-cheeked pintail ducks and black-necked stilts. After visiting the flamingo pool we followed the inland trail to the organic flour sand beach where the Pacific Green Turtle nests. They come here to lay their eggs at the top of the beach, as there are lots of holes for them to bury their eggs. About half past ten we headed back to the boat to get ready for snorkelling again, and as we were in the area where turtles were there was hope of seeing a couple of turtles feeding on the algae of the rocks nearby. As we got back to the boat on the pangas, there were three sea-lions sleeping on the back of our boat. Obviously they had spent all morning trying to feed and the last thing they wanted was disturbing. From my room I could just look out of the back windows and I could see the sea-lions sleeping. In the hour I was in the water I spotted three giant turtles. The first one was feeding on the algae on the rocks and didn’t seem concerned with the group of us gathering around him trying to take a look. The other two turtles were just swimming past us as we were snorkelling. All three turtles were big.. Also snorkelling we spotted two white-tipped sharks, both separate of each other, but these were slight more difficult to try and photo as they swam through the water with ease and none of us were going to keep up with them.
It was back to the boat for lunch, and then a visit to the old barrel, which dates back to 1790’s. The concept of this is sailors used to write postcards/letters etc and then leave them in the barrel. Other sailors would then come along and check the postcards. If any of them were addressed to people that were on his/her route then they would take them and post them. The tradition still goes on today, not with sailors, but with the people who visit the Galapagos. I wrote one postcard dated 16th August. Lets see how long it takes to get there. With regards to taking postcards, I managed to get ten postacards which are addressed to people in England, two cards for New Zealand, one for Australia and one for Hong Kong. I wont be back in the UK for 9 months yet, so I will give them to friends when them come across to post for me. After this was the crew versus the passengers at football. We had a mixed team of mixed abilities, but we had one thing in common, belief. The countries of Holland, USA, Canada, France and England pulled together on a sand pitch, with holes in certain places. We were two nil down at one point, managed to pull one back to two one, then three one, but after a courageous fight back we managed a draw at three all. After the game I realised why in England sand covered pitches were a thing of the past with my legs bleeding and burnt which is going to hurt now every time I sit down. It was back on the pangas to the boat and we set sail for Santa Cruz Island which would take us nearly four hours to reach.
Sitting on the top deck of the boat, there was a word going around of a whale that had been spotted, so the boat changed direction to see if we could catch glimpse of the whale. Unfortunately, the whale had disappeared. It was back on course of Santa Cruz Island. The boat reached Santa Cruz that evening. In total is was only a three and a half hour sail, so the whole boat had the prospect of sleeping in calm waters instead of travelling and sleeping at the same time.
I awoke to see Puerto Ayora outside my bedroom window. Puerto Ayora is the capital of Santa Cruz. Again, breakfast was served at seven o’clock, and the first of today’s visits was to be the Charles Darwin Foundation. Within the Foundation building we visited the Van Stroelen exhibit hall and watched a video on how the Foundation helps support the Galapagos wildlife. Another feature of the Foundation is the giant tortoise breeding programme. The Foundation takes the baby tortoises from the wild and rear them at the Foundation until they are old enough, and their shell is strong enough to prevent predators, like rats from eating the baby tortoises. The tortoises at the Foundation range from new born tortoises to giant tortoises that were fifty years old. Probably the most famous part of the Foundation is Lonely George, who is the last surviving Giant Pinta Island Tortoise. After visiting the Charles Darwin Centre there was a hour or so free for people to look around Puerto Ayora. Whilst I was walking down Charles Darwin Avenue I walked past possibly the world most unique fish market. The market itself was just a couple of tables, one had lobsters etc on, and the other had fish. The location of the market was just on the sea front, so they can just bring the fish from the boats onto the tables of the market. Amongst customers, there were about 10 pelicans just standing around and 2 sealions, hoping, waiting for any spare scraps of fish. It was an incredible sight, the fact the animals were just stood next to humans without any fear and they were all trying to get some fish was a sight in itself. One of the fish mongers chopped the head of a huge fish and left it on the table. One of the pelicans had spotted this and started prodding the fish head with its beak. Then in a split second it jumped onto the table, and swiped the fish head into its beak. I would never have believed it if I didn’t see it myself. Then as he jumped down (bearing in mind in still has this fish head is still in the beak) the other pelicans have seen what has happened and they all try and get the fish head off him. The pelican tries to swallow the fish head but it is way too big to go down his gullet. The equivalent would be me trying to swallow a football. So as all this fellow pelicans are trying to get this fish head out of his mouth he has no option but to fly off. After seeing that I wandered around Puerto Ayora, looked in a few shops and then met the rest of the group back at the harbour bridge to head back to the boat for lunch.
After lunch it was time to visit the Highlands of Santa Cruz. The group spent the afternoon looking at wild Santa Cruz Tortoises. Then it was a walk through one of the lava tunnels which got quiet tight towards the end. About twenty metres from the end before you could get to the exit, you needed to crawl through a hole on your hands and knees, which was not expected, but nevertheless everyone in the group managed to do it. Then it was onto Los Gemelos, which are two giant craters further up in the Highlands. After walking around these it was back to Puerto Ayora to board the boat to see sail for our next destination
From Puerto Ayora, on the island of Santa Cruz, the next destination was Isabela Island on the west coast of the Galapagos. The journey was going to be thirteen hours in total, which meant that we would sailing during the night. I was fast asleep by half nine after updating my travel diary. I was on the middle deck (sleeping from bow to stern) the sway of the boat didn’t affect me as much as the people on the top deck, or even the people on the bottom deck who were sleeping port to starboard. I slept all the way through to half six the following morning, at which, again, I was awoke to the smell of breakfast
Following breakfast it was a visit to the Pahoe lava fields in Punta Moreno on the island of Isabela. The lava fields we were going to explore were only two hundred years old, so in terms of lava fields they were very young. After taking the pangas from the boat to land , during which we spotted a Galapagos Penguin, I experienced my first footsteps on a lava field. Walking on strong coal is how I would describe walking on a lava field. When stood on these fields it is possible to see for miles. The most prevalent plants are cactuses, as they are tough durable plants that can grow in some of the world toughest conditions. Within the lava fields were quite a few brackish water ponds. These provide a living environment for lots of different fish, pacific green turtles and also different bird life which included pin-tailed ducks and pink flamingos. We visited a few of the brackish water ponds and within each one there was at least one flamingo feeding. There are two volcanoes on Isabela island, Cerro Azul and Sierra Azul. Cerro Azul volcano occupies the southwest corner of Isla Isabela. Cerro Azul is quite active, with 9 known historic eruptions, the most recent of which began in Sept, 1998 and has continued into October. Because of its remoteness, it is likely that many eruptions over the last several hundred years have gone unnoticed. The composition of Cerro Azul's lavas is quite uniform and rather similar to that of Sierra Negra's. The age of Sierra Negra and the other volcanoes on Isabela is hard to determine as they are in a North-South line to the east of the hotspot, which is believed to be under Fernandina volcano, and the Nazca plate is moving east. This puts the volcanoes perpendicular to the hotspot. The surface of Sierra Negra and its neighbouring volcanoes are also covered by young lavas, adding to the difficulty of aging them. An estimate based on volume (588 km3) and eruption rates suggest that Sierra Negra is approximately 535,000 years old. Once this was finished it was back to the boat to gear up for snorkelling.
The water was as cold as I have experienced here in the Galapagos. Thank god I had a wet suit. A couple of the guys in the group decided to go in without a wet suit, which I thought was a sign of very big balls (which they wouldn’t be for long) or the sea air was playing games with their mind. Diving just off some rocks I must have seen at least twenty Pacific Green Turtles. A lot of them were feeding off the alga which forms on the rocks. Some of them were ok with you swimming up them, swimming above them etc. When it came you trying to touch their shells, they were gone in a flash. The big things could move. You don’t actually realise how big they are until you swim just above one, then look down and these things are bigger than an average human. I also spotted a Galapagos penguin whilst in the water. One shot past me as I was chasing a turtle, so I tried to change course, but they was no way I was going to keep up with the little fella. He must have been in possession of a winning lottery ticket or something like that, so it was back to following turtles. Then out of no- where came a sting ray, so I was following that for a short time. This was the first ray that I had seen in the water. Back on day three we visited a organic flour sand beach and if you stood in the start of the water you could see the rays feeding just off the shore line.
The afternoon’s activity consisted of riding around the mangroves in the pangas ‘hunting’ for pacific green turtles and for Galapagos Penguins. During the time in the pangas we managed to spot quite a few Pacific Green Turtles, but not so many Galapagos Penguins. At the start they was a Galapagos Penguin on a rock sunning himself next to a flightless Cormorant. Then a couple of spotting of Galapagos Penguins in the water, but as the penguin is the second smallest in the penguin family, they are hard to spot. There are only eighteen hundred penguins estimated in the Galapagos. Natural disasters, like El Nino’s have dramatic affects on the penguin population, as they are small, when their food source(s) are reduced then they will not reproduce as much.
Day six consisted of a visit to two islands, Fernandina and Isabela. After breakfast, the pangas took us from the boat to Urbina Bay on the Island of Isabela. We docked on a volcanic black sand beach and followed the trail in search for land iguanas. The land iguanas are sacred of anything bigger than themselves due to the goat problem they had in Isabela. The problem has now been eradicated. However, the iguanas we did see were not a timid as we expected, but when we tried to get too close then they would quickly move into the undergrowth. Once back at the beach there was an opportunity to snorkel. Within the bay area there were lots of pacific green turtles, which weren’t as timid as the others that I had come across before. These ones would allow you to go up to them when they were eating, and also you could swim them a lot more than the ones the day before. There were also lots of fishes and also my first sighting of an octopus. After getting back to the beach it was time to head back to the boat and grab lunch. In between the main course and the dessert there was a sighting of Orcas, so everyone rushed out to the top deck to see if they could see them. Sure enough, there were a couple of orcas swimming not far from us. Within ten minutes we were all the pangas again heading for the orcas. You could see from the birds overhead we were getting close. The orcas must have been feeding as the birds were going crazy for any left overs, More than once we saw the frigate birds trying to pick up the intestines of sea lions, which the Orcas had discarded. One of the orcas even popped up about two metres away from one of the pangas. As they were coming up for air, you could see the white on the orcas from not very far away. It was the first time that I had seen these animals in the wild and close up. At one point the pangas I was in could have been no more than eight metres away, which for creatures of that size and killing capability was far enough. After twenty minutes of chasing the orcas, we headed back to the boat. After finishing dessert it was back into the pangas again to Punta Espinoza, Fernadina to look for some Galapagos sea lions, marine iguanas and flightless cormorants. There were a couple of areas on that island where a whole section of area was covered by marine iguanas, some even lying on top of another. Every five seconds you would hear one of them spitting salt liquid through their nostrils. It is their way of filtering the salt water they encounter when they are feeding on the green algae which is on sea rocks or underwater. This was also our first encounter with sea-lions with young seal lions pups. It was then back to the boat. We were going to cross the equator twice on out journey to the island of Santiago. On the way up we passed the equator at 18:21 local time. This was celebrated by a drink with the captain.
For the last full day in the Galapagos, we sailed to Santiago Island and visited Puerto Egas. The place was called this because back in the 1950’s they used to mine salt there and the boss of the firm was Mr. Egas. The beach itself was black, but the water was very clear so there was an opportunity to go snorkelling later. For over an hour we walked alone the shore until we reach the Galapagos fur seals grottos. It wasn’t until I saw the fur seals then I could see the difference between the fur seals and the sea lions. Along the walk there were opportunities to see various types of bird wildlife along the coast and even a dead pelican on the rocks, who must have tried to dive in too shallow water, and that was the end of him.
Eight days in the Galapagos was an amazing experience, and one probably that you cannot get elsewhere in the world. The majority of the animals do not recognise humans as predators, so they come up close and some animals seem to pose for the cameras. It is an expensive trip for someone to do any point in the life, but is an experience that you will remember. I know that the front flip i tried off the top of the boat will stay will stay with me as I couldn’t have landed any better (on my back). I had to man up after one of the guys Dan pulled out a back and front flip. Well done mate.
Looking back at what I did I can say there wasn’t a point where by I thought ‘I wish I was somewhere else at this moment in time’. I think the highlight had to be following the Orca whales. It was just so spontaneous when it happened. One minute we are waiting for dessert, next minute we are all at the front of the boat, and the boat is changing course to follow the Orcas. Then five minutes later everyone is in pangas heading towards the whales to get a closer look and of course pictures. Snorkeling with the animals was also amazing. One minute you will be following a group of parrot fish, then a turtle comes flying past, so you decide to follow, then a white tipped shark swims past. This has definitely been the best part of my trip so far.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.116s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0403s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Nkem
non-member comment
Wooooow!!!!
How long did this take u to write?? Cos its taken me since u posted it till noe to read and i dint wanna move to the next one till i was done!! This must b the most overwhelming part of ur trip so far and from the pics, u neednt say anymore!!! Amazing!x