End of the Islands, and the Odd Phenomenon of Non-Motion Sickness

---

Our last full day in the Galapagos, on the island where the most landscape pictures are taken. Matt here again, as Sara is otherwise engaged. Going to bring the blog up to the present, which travelling can aid in as plane flights usually lead to uneventful days.

We woke up with Pinnacle Rock, a famous Galapagos site, and the island of Bartolome outside our window. This day was to be occupied with sights in the early morning, snorkelling, hopefully, with penguins in the middle of the day, followed by a boat ride back to the main island of Santa Cruz to visit yet another beach. We ate at the usual time and headed out to the panga to climb up 285 steps and 120 meters to the highest point on Bartolome Island. The climb was fairly easy for Sara and I, though many of the older members grumbled a bit, with one extremely unsteady member of our party only making it halfway. The view from the top was spectacular, with Pinnacle Rock and Chinese Hat prominent landmarks, as well as the island itself. Our guide tried to tell us that the US Military bombed the island during WWII when they had a base there as target practice and created Pinnacle Rock, but I can´t find any record of this. Bartolome is one of the younger islands and as such still appears very volcanic, with little vegetation. Many people there though it resembled the moon and though I did not correct them, I have never seen a picture of the moon with an ocean nearby. After travelling across southern Bolivia, I don´t think anything else will resemble the moon quite as much, though Tongariro National Park in New Zealand might compete for the title. Anyway, we quickly made our way back down, as I was hoping that our snorkeling trip would yield even great fruits.

After the climb, we headed back to the boat, changed into our bathing suits, and jumped in the pangas to look for penguins. This is one of the few places where the 4000 galapagos penguins nest, so we circled the island to look for a few of these. Though we saw many crabs, we only saw the potential of two penguins and only eye shine, so we are not sure that they were really penguins. Though some were disappointed, I had not expected to see them there and was hoping that the snorkeling would allow us to swim with them. Once we were a good distance from the beach, we saw white tipped sharks, including one that must have been over 10 feet long and which one of the crew swam down to and scarred off. The usual cast was present with hogfish, angelfish, and parrotfish all plentiful, among others. Sara was the first to spot the true prize. And the second, and I believe the third as well. The penguins were so fast that there was no time to swim to see them, they had to come by you. I was beginning to lose hope when three came by, swam up to within 10 feet of me, surfaced for a breath of air, and were off like a flash. A short sighting, but a sighting never the less. Sara managed to see them once more, as she seemed to always be in the right place, as well as seeing the penguins catch a fish. I was pleased, however, and on the way back got to see black tipped reef sharks within two feet, so that was exciting.

Back to the boat, lunch, then back for a nap during which we travelled to Bachas Beach. The main sight here was the green sea turtle ¨nests¨, though they only look like indentations in the sand, remnents of the hole dug for their eggs. On this beach there were several turtle egg shells, but this year´s batch had yet to hatch. Only about 1 in 10 run the gauntlet of frigatebirds, crabs, pelicans, sharks, and other hazards to reach maturity. A short walk on the beach led us to a lagoon with two flamingos, one of which flew in just as we arrived. Though not as impressive as seeing hundreds of these magnficant creatures, this was the closest we had gotten to them, with one wandering within 10 feet of us. Sara spotted a bird she though might be a white cheeked pintail (a duck), but further review on the camera reveiled a wimbrill, on which we had seen several. So, back on the boat, a farewell cocktail for those of us leaving the next day, and dinner, followed by some light reading (in pages, not the weight of the book), and a restful sleep.

The following day was an early one, after a short 2 hour overnight boat ride to Plazas Island. This was our last chance to see the Red Billed Tropicbird, which in addition to its brilliant bill has long white tail feathers that stream behind it. We had hoped to see these on Genovesa, but knew that we would go home with one disappointment without a sighting today. Our guide indicated that we might see a mixed land and marine iguana, of which two had been spotted. This is due to the lack of food on Plazas, which leads to limited opportunities. Well, we only saw land iguanas and the usual gulls and petrels on the islands. As we were about to leave the cliff face, our guide starting yelling Sara´s name, as she had been quite clear in what she wanted to see. In the distance, a tropicbird was racing toward the cliff, trying to reach its nest. The petrels seemed to be chasing it, giving it alot of difficulty landing. A second bird soon appeared, while I fruitlessly attempted to get a good picture of a streaking bird in cloudy conditions just after sunrise. Nothing but a blur. But, we saw it and Sara was content. Back on the boat for a late breakfast followed by a three hour ride back to the harbor where we began the trip.

We arrived in the Puerto Ayora harbor at 9 am, and were immediately taken to shore and pushing in a taxi. Sara ran off to main post cards to our parents and Henry, a Californian who lives in Japan and collects mail people send to him from around the world. He said he had mail stamped from over 200 countries and territories. Well, Galapagos probably will not add to the collection as it is part of Ecuador, but hopefully he will find some value in it. We raced to the bus station and caught the 9:30 bus to the ferry, which took 40 minutes, another 15 for the ferry, and one more bus of 10 minutes to give us 2 hours until our flight. After checking in and getting our passport stamped with the ¨Galapagos¨stamp, we waited uneventfully for our plane. A smooth flight followed to Guayaquil, with the best airline food I have ever had, and a safe landing. The lady next to us to a longer trip that visited Isabela and Fernadina and saw albatross on Espanola, so Sara was feeling a bit jealous, but she loved every bit of the trip and is ready to come back. We arrived safely in Quito and caught a cab back to our hostel from before, The Secret Garden. We pretty much vegged out for rest of the night, eating dinner at the hostel and checking our email at a nearby internet cafe, hoping to do some sight-seeing the next day. Mostly, I was feeling(and still do feel) a bit sea sick, as everything seemed to be moving. If I´m moving, it is not a problem, but when I sit still, such as now, it kicks in.

The following day was dedicated to running erronds and seeing the town, including the all purpose museum at the Casa de Cultura. First order of business was getting a DVD burned of our pictures to date, to enable us to take more pictures. At the moment, taking pictures is the last thing I want to do, as I pretty much saw the Galapagos through the lens of my camera, but I´m sure the urge will return. The next order of business will sound quite familiar, as we hit the best bookstore in town, to find a Galapagos Guide for identification. Struck out again, of course. Once at the bookstore, we were surrounded by tour operators, so we looked for information for either climbing Cotopaxi or visiting our next destination, Mindo. We had planned to try and schedule something certain to Mindo, but it seemed that no one really did tours that went there, so we decided to wing it and hope for the best. One operator offered up the address for the bus station, so that was a start. It also appeared that Cotopaxi would have to wait for another day, as our schedule doesn´t contain enough days for both acclimatizing to the elevation and heading to Mindo. Another time, perhaps. As we headed to the bus station, we made several attempts at ATMs to withdraw cash, but Ecuadorian ATMs do not like American ATM cards. It appears that only Banco de Guayaquil will work, and we did not happen to pass one. Fortunately, the 2 1/2 hour bus ride only costs $2.50 per person, so we were covered.

The final stop of the day involved our first and probably last musuem in Ecuador. The last has nothing to do with the quality of the musuem, just the amount of time available. The Casa de Cultura musuem serves many purpose, though the focus is on archeology. The artifacts were easily the best, in my opinion, that we have seen in South America. There was also an excellent section of gold artifacts, including some with platinum which is quite difficult to refine. As a material scientist, I probably should have known this, but you learn something new everyday, even in your own field. The remainder of the musuem was devoted to Ecuadorian art. Most of it was not very interesting, though there were excellent landscape paintings. After several more attempts to find the elusive Guayaquil bank, we headed back to our hostel. Our hosts suggested an ATM nearby, which was the correct bank and we finally had money for Mindo. As we would soon find out, we had withdrawn exactly the right amount, but that´s a story for the next entry, so it shall remain there.

---

Photos

Pinnacle Rock (Bartolome)
One of the most famous sights in the Galapagos and a great place to see penguins when snorkeling!

The view from the top! (Bartolome)
This view has been photographed many times so here is ours!

Us at the Top (Bartolome)
A rare picture of the two of us on this trip.

Our Room plus Swans
Here is where we lived for eight days, it was nice!

Sally Lightfoot Crab (Santa Cruz)
This guy was crawling around Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz, we have many pictures of these colorful crabs.

Caribbean Flamingo (Santa Cruz)
This beautiful flamingo was seen near Bachas beach at one of the saline lagoons that they frequent.

Sunrise on Plaza Sur
Last chance for me to see a red billed tropic bird!

Iguana and his prey (Plaza Sur)
There are too many iguanas on Plaza Sur so they are skinny and compete for their main food (cactus) although this guy seems to be ok!

The infamous red billed tropic bird!
Finally, a blurry picture of one of the birds I really wanted to see!

Sunset on the Galapagos
Well, this seems like a good picture to end the Galapagos adventure on, though it seemed ever sunset was equally brilliant.

Old Town Quito
This is the view down our street from 'The Secret Garden'. The entire area is UNESCO protected.

Comments

[Bernadette Thomasy]

wow, what a trip
Hi Matt and Sara, I loved reading all the details of your various sightings. It does sound like an amazing place. Matt, your sense of humor is coming through with the moon joke and light reading, making your blogs fun as well as interesting. I hope your sense of equlibrium has returned by now as you head for the next adventure. Love, Bernadette and Ken