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Published: November 8th 2014
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1000 kms off the Ecuador Coast lie several small islands. Together they are known as the Galapagos Islands and this is where I´ve been the past two weeks. Typically when one thinks the Galapagos Islands they think nature, rich pensionsers and well off honeymooners and as 90% of my flight from Guayquil consisted of the last two groups, this only served to reinforce my expectations! However Galapagos really took me by suprise, the nature and scenery was spectacular but all the other stuff I did not expect !
ARRIVAL
Travelling solo and having done little to no research of the islands meant I had little to go on when I arrived Sunday evening the 26th of October. One thing that stood out though was the prices - between double and triple for supermarket, pharmacy good etc. I decided to walk around Santa Cruz town Sunday eve and use Monday to begin looking into booking a cruise. They say you can do day cruises for cheaper but having weighed it all up, I figured an 8 day cruise would be better. Seems I mistimed it though as most 8 day cruises depart Mondays with some pickups on Thursdays
to accomodate people who only want 4 days. Having visited about 15 agencies the best option I could get was 8 days for $1150 with snorkel gear thrown in. And since the trip didnt depart till Thursday I decided to get a boat to Isabella Island Monday afternoon to see some of it in two days. With the agency demanding as much money as possible I was left carrying mininal cash heading to Isabella.. Sure Isabella is the biggest island in the Galapagos with a few thousand people, I´ll use the ATM there!
ATM PROBLEMS ISABELLA
After a 2.5 hour journey from Santa Cruz Island to Isabella. I paid for the first night to my Spanish only speaking owner promising to pay tomorrow ´mas tarde´then headed out for some exploring! By the following morning I had discovered that there were no ATMS or banks on the island on the island with my return boat not going till 3 the following day and $3.85 to cover accommodation, sightseeing and food for 36 hours! Long story short I did about 20kms of walking making use of any free sights, got by on a one off meal of soup,
Avi and Dan
Friday night Party rice and beef dish and negotiated in Espagnol that I could stay in the hostel one more night on the promise I would pay her brother once I arrived back to Santa Cruz - it was like a remake of the film Into the Wild albeit I didnt die in the end! 😉
BOARDING KING OF THE SEAS
I was told to be waiting at the far side of Santa Cruz Island for 7.30 Thursday morning. Cue panic for the next 2 hours as I realized the tour agency had told me the wrong time and place.. I was sure the cruise had left without me but eventually found the KoTS tourguide waiting in Baltra airport after a wild goose chase around the Island ! I got on board and knew within an hour that my group of fellow travel enthuasists were be best bunch Ive meet on my travels to date.
We had as follows of 12 people, 8 different nationalities and all with an interesting story to tell:
Avi - just finished three years of military service in Israeli army Marc - Festival coordinator from Adelaide, Aus Hannah - Aus Dance teacher
Daniel - Swiss Lawyer Christina - Danish Student Max - Aus photographer Admad - Iranian oil rig worker Taka - Japanese Engineer Leo - Aus just finished college Issy - Graphic designer from Melbourne Lyndsay - Singapore about start in an investment bank Dave - Irish aspiring model DAY TWO DRAMA
Snorkeling in the Galapagos, you never know what you will or will not see - all you do is hope for the best. However swimming off Santiago our group got lucky. After a few sealions had followed the group, I was fortunate to witness two small Galapagos penguins fly by within a metre of my head. Further on was a large sting ray before finally there was a commotion ahead. "SEA TURTLE" someone called. Doing my best Michael Phelps impression I quickly closed the gap. Underneath the water swam a majestic giant sea turtle, lazily stroking its way through the water. Two or three people dived under to get a better look but when all had come back up our tour guide Leo went mental at Max! "
Dont touch the animals, I saw you touch the turtle!" (He hadnt) The two of them had a screaming match with Leo going one step too far.. "Punta!" (basically the worst swearword in Ecuador, the equivalant of saying someone is from Meath back in Ireland) It was a pretty tense dingy ride back to the boat and the captain was called in to try get it sorted.. it calmed a little but Leo wasnt too popular after!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
For Halloween we decided to throw a party on board. Everyone donned a hat of some sort and we got a giant game of kings going with four bottles of rum. Half way through a rule was created where everyone had to switch hats and Admad got landed with a jumper wrapped around his head. Twenty minutes later we werent allowed use names and someone controversially but hilariously decided he should be called Saddam Hussein! :D Afterwards we got a bit of salsa going on deck - I hadnt done it before but picked up a few pointers from first Marc and then Leo.. ha!
TAKA TAKES A TUMBLE
In the middle of the dining area was a drop hatch
down to the engine. Someone left it open one day (you can see where this is going) and our favourite Japanese Taka feel through the hole. Very close to breaking his leg but instead left with a massive gash on his leg. Feel for the guy as he was doing only 4 days and couldnt snorkel for two as he got the impression the blood would attract sharks!
CHANGEOVER
Day five we had a complete switchover and I was the only one left onboard 😞 Demiographic was a little different as we had two couples and a Dutch brother and sister but there were three or four of us who got on great and less drama meant more time to appreciate the location. My lack of a waterproof camera mean my pics only represent 50% of the Galapagos true beauty.. hundreds of beautiful fish of every colour you can think of, octopus, lobsters and crabs, iguanas, sealions, reef sharks and turtles - I saw them all as I quietly dived deeper and deeper in the transparent blue water.
One particular spot on day seven known as Leon Dormido (sleeping lion) was my favourite of the
whole tour. A huge shoal of fish were swimming at one side of the 180m high rock , so thick I could barely see through them as I made my way through the middle - This attracted the bigger Galapagos shark, sea turtle and sealions who were all looking for an easy dinner! At one stage I looked down and counted seven sharks circling underneath in the near vicinity. A few of the girls were a bit nervous but I tried my bit to help ease the tension.. I grabbed one of them by the ankle as she quietly stared down at the sharks swimming further down.. I could almost hear her scream of terror through the snorkel! :D We also called to some different islands with each being the home to a different unique bird. Red footed boobies, Galapagos Hawks and blue footed boobies.. I could wax lyrical about them but I think the pictures tell a better story.
SO much happened that I couldnt even include it all but once Im back in Ireland I"ll have further tales on a restaurant trying to charge me $20 for a $9 dollar fish and how I refused
to leave till they gave me the correct change, the amazing stuff I heard about Iran and Israel, the kantish tour agency who nearly had me kicked off the ship, our tour guide Leos love of Ireland, the crews love of chicas and how my camera almost committed sucide!
Next stop is Banos and Quito in Ecuador for the next week, I fly tomorrow morning !
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Breathless
Sounds like so much fun, you must be breathless. Your financial challenges with no ATMs...must be the luck of the Irish!