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Published: July 31st 2015
Our Welcoming Party to the Galapagos
They didn't really seem to care to much as went past on the ferryTravel Blog 5 - The Galápagos Islands
This was the part of the tour we both had the greatest anticipation and excitement for. To be at the Galápagos archipelago, to see wildlife at its most natural and fearless, was a dream for both of us. From the moment we stepped off the plane, and travelled by ferry to the main island to begin our adventure, we weren't disappointed.
The Galápagos (in case you cannot remember from Junior science classes at high school and, despite all our excitement haven't looked them up), is a group islands off the coast of South America, and is the territory of Ecuador. It has very limited recorded human habitation, for obvious reasons when you see the islands, but it has been steadily increasing its population over the years. However, it is best known for its unique environments, and the theories derived from the discoveries of Charles Darwin. It consists of 13 islands and about 100 islets, all unique in their landscape, flora, fauna and weather patterns, yet linked through the similarities these all share with each other as well. Between the early 1930's and 1959, as the human population increased
Daphne.
Our home for the trip dramatically, there was very little control of what was brought onto the islands, however when the islands were declared National Parks in 1959, the regeneration, and removal of introduced species (such as rats), began. To this day, despite the amazing scenery and animals on show, the battle to eradicate pests continues.
There are 2 airports in the archipelago, one on the tiny Island of Baltra, which we came in on, and one on Santa Cruz. The airports were initially built by the U.S. Army for WWII, and were left unmaintained until 1971 when they were restored to receive regular visitors and tourists. From Baltra, you are transported by ferry to the main island in the Archipelago, Santa Cruz island. This was our entry point, and immediately we were awestruck by the ocean, which looked an amazing turquoise green and on the first buoy we passed was two sea lions, sunbathing on top of it, not bothered by the passing ferry. We were both in excitement mode…..and if we weren't already in love with the Galapagos, what it was and what it represented, we were certainly awestruck at that point.
Across the 8 days that
we spent in the archipelago, we snorkelled daily; with sea lions, many different types of tropical fish, sea turtles, rays, and a penguin; watched and photographed pelicans, finches, Red and Blue and the endemic Nazca Boobies (of the bird kind if you don’t know what the heck we are talking about at this point when we refer to ‘boobies’), Swallow tailed gulls, the Short eared owl, the waved Albatross that only nests on the Galapagos Islands and Frigate birds and Sally lightfoot crabs; visited an island totally inhabited by marine iguanas and another island covered in land iguanas; watched sharks circle our boat and had lunch in the presence of giant land tortoises. Dolphins swam with our boat and we even got to visit the Charles Darwin Statue on San Cristobal Island! Our photos captured only half of the amazingness of the surroundings we were able to encounter and interact with. The following are some of our highlights, and the pictures give more substance to our stories.
The one major memory we will take away with us is that the animals were not scared of us. Regardless of the island we were on, they showed no fear,
and the archipelago is well managed, with entry into the islands only with approved guides, and movement on the islands limited to designated paths - human interaction with the wildlife is on their terms and only at certain times. Birds nested directly next to the path (even on the path in some instances where we had to side step them), Iguanas warmed themselves on rocks that at times were on the path and very few, if any, moved away as we walked past. Nature that had no reason to fear humans, it was quite surreal at times to be a part of it, and at times, we felt that we were the exhibits for the animals to look at!
One of the real highlights, and example of this, was swimming with the sea lions. It was as much fun as you believe it would be. Throughout our trip, they would join us in the water, swimming with and around us. Some more adventurous snorkellers duck dived with them, while we floated on top of the water and allowed them to examine us, as if we were the animals on display. At times it did feel like they
were putting on a show for us, or just looking for extra attention (Renee's dog Ruby sprung to mind on more than one occasion for Pete) but only when the alpha male started barking at us did we feel we had to move away. The afternoon we got to spend on the beach with them at the Island of Espanola in the south of the archipelago, laying next to them, imitating them as they produced another pose for us, and having the little pups come right up to us and have a sniff of us and our belongings is a memory we will hold for a long time.
Every island we visited presented us with a different ecosystem and experience, giving us different types of flora and fauna. We walked through rainforests full of different species of birds and tropical plants, lava fields that were only just starting to show signs of growth, grass fields full of giant tortoises, cliffs that were home and the hunting grounds to thousands of birds, with so many different species, grasslands abundant with land iguanas, other savannah type land that allowed the Albatross on one island and then the Boobies on
another island to rest, lava tubes and craters, and rocky shores that had marine iguanas and Sally lightfoot crabs under almost every step. We are not avid bird watchers, but the thrill of seeing so many different types of birds on the various islands was truly an exciting experience. We were even lucky enough to see the young chicks of the albatross and the boobies in their nests all at various ages, some as young as only days old.
The people we met on this tour were also as fun and playful as the animals we encountered. And given we had to spend 8 nights with them on a boat, this was a good thing. We met a couple, Toby and Dani from Britain, who were celebrating Toby's surprise 50th with a tour of Galapagos and Peru. Dani organised the whole trip, and Toby found out about it just as he was boarding the flight to Ecuador. He seemed a rather excitable man at the simplest of times, so on this trip he was definitely the life of the boat while he was on the boat. Despite many people being surprised we were spending our honeymoon in
At lunch on Day 1
This is exactly what is looks like, a young goat resting with a tortoise. The goat is tied up, the tortoise just chose to be there. South America prior to our departure, two other couples on our boat were also celebrating their honeymoon with us as well, Esteban and Maria from the US, and Andy and Emily from Britain. Others on the boat were from different parts of Australia, New Zealand, Slovakia and Scotland. All heaps of fun and gave us great experiences from their own travels. Their stories about where they had already travelled through South America has only made us more excited for the next few months. We also had our first discotheque experiences in South America (the old married couple we are now!) on two of the Galapagos Islands. This was also a unique experience, especially the tokenistic English songs that were played whilst we were at these places, and then the sudden switch to local tunes once we departed!
By the end of our visit, we had spent time on and snorkelled around the islands of Santa Cruz, Floreana, Espanola, San Cristobal, Santa Fe, Plaza Sur, Genovesa, Santiago and Rabida and we also snorkelled amongst various rock formations known as the Devils Crown near Floreana and Kicker Rock near San Cristobal. Pete was even invited to play a game
of beach soccer with the crews from the ships anchored at the time. Taking the skin off his big toe wasn't part of the plan, but he understands why everyone else on the field was wearing shoes. these beaches have rather large rocks hidden in them! But everything we had hoped we would see and experience, we did.
As our plane took off we felt a tinge of sadness, as we were leaving a place we held high expectations of, and the islands exceeded all of them. We also realised that, as the islands become more accessible and popular, what people visit in the future may not be as pristine and natural as we saw. We were very fortunate to have experienced what we did and sad that we will most probably never return to this unique paradise. There was one thing that we were slightly excited about, it was being able to have a shower without being thrown around like crazy and being able to sleep on a bed that doesn’t constantly feel like you are on a show ride! After a day of sea legs following the end of our tour, we felt a little
Underwater Selfie Shot
This was our first snorkelling adventure more like we could walk without swaying!
And so, as with all 3 month long holidays, as one experience finishes, another starts, and so it is on to our next adventure, where we do a final few days in Ecuador before heading to Peru and the Amazon! Till then - Pete and Renee
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Aunty C
non-member comment
Thank you for your experiences
Loving the blogs and experiences of your once in a life time holiday/adventure/love fest