The Galagapos
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2008
1
45
46
Trip End
Jul 31, 2008
The Galapagos,
Ecuador
Monday, July 28, 2008
Day 1. San Cristobal. Went to see El Junco, the largest fresh water lagoon in the Galapagos and saw sea lions lounging around the habour.
Day 2. Espanola. Went to Gardner Bay which is the perfect white beach with beautiful blue sea. It also had the added bonus of being frequented by many many sea lions who enjoyed sunbathing and rolling around in the breaking waves. We then had the opportunity to go snorkeling where we had the amazing highlight of playing with the sea lions who loved swimming within a couple of inches of our faces, nibbling on our flippers and doing underwater acrobatics with us.We also got to swim inside a cave, and saw a large school of hundreds of sardines, I then saw a sea lion swimming through the middle of the sardines after a puffer fish who puffed himself out in defense, amazing. In the afternoon, we went to Punta Suarez where we had to step over sleeping sea lions, navigate ourselves around hundreds of marine iguanas bathing in the sun, watch colourful crabs jumping around the rocks, saw Albatross's´ doing their funny courtship dance and take flight off the cliff, and we also go to see the Blue Footed Boobies and the sea shooting many meters into the air from a blow-hole. Not bad for an afternoons walk!
Day 3. Floreana. We went to Post Office Bay to see the oldest post office in the world. It is where the pirates and whalers used to leave post in the hope that other seafarers would hand deliver any post if they were going past the area. We also left a postcard there to see how long it would take to be hand-delivered by someone back to Sevenoaks. Louise then went snorkeling and swam with a couple of turtles, some eagle rays and even saw a shark, whilst Dave and the boys played football. We then returned to the boat, and happened to come across a group of humpback whales, and got some wonderful views really close up to these amazing animals. We then went snorkeling further out at Devils Crown which is a collection of volcanic pinnacles and saw some more tortoises and some white tip sharks down below us. We then finished the day by visiting Puna Cormorant which involved another bay where stingrays bath and a salt lagoon with bright pink flamingos.
Day 4. Isabela. We then visited a Turtle Centre, where we got so see some of the amazing giant tortoises. We also saw a little one (only about 7 years old, which is really young bearing in mind they can live up to 150 years) in the wild. We then went for another snorkel and got to swim with 3 amazing sea lions who just loved playing with each other and with us, they also rested by floating upside down past our faces. We also saw the tiny penguins who inhabit the area and who shot past us in the water like bullets.
Day 5. Santa Cruz. We started the day by visiting the Charles Darwin centre where we had another opportunity to get up close to the giant tortoises. We also got the privilege of seeing the famous Lonesome George, who is the last of his particular tortoise species from the Island of Pinta (all the others were killed by humans for meat and/or oil, as well as being killed by introduced animal species). For nearly 40 years they have unsuccessfully tried to get him to breed with some females and only 3 weeks ago one of the females produced some fertilized eggs. So Lonesome George may still have it in him! That afternoon most of our tourist group left (they were only on the 4 day tour), and we got a new batch, including two missionaries and a Maori internet ´reality star´ who was being filmed travelling around the world for 6 months. That afternoon we all visited the Highlands, which is the wetter fertile ground higher up on Santa Cruz, and saw some more of the the massive tortoises roaming around in the wild.
Day 6. North Seymour and Bartolome. On North Seymour island the main highlight for us was the Frigate birds which are large seabirds, and the male bird has a great big red chest pouch which he puffs out to attract a female. As well as puffing out his pouch he will also flap his wings to demonstrate their size and will make a drumming sound by bouncing his beak on his pouch. We also got to see more Blue-Footed Boobies (most of which were sitting on eggs or with chicks) and a few more marine iguanas. After that we then went to Bartolome. This is one of the younger GalapaGalapagosds and consequently does not have any real vegetation or animal life on, but it does provide amazing views of a volcanic landscape. We then sent snorkeling around a pinnacle in the bay and saw lots of sea life including more penguins, an octopus (spotted by Dave), a massive Sting Ray (which looked at least 6 ft in width), and a spotted Snake Eel.
Day 7. South Plaza and Santa Fe. There are two small islands called North Plaza and South Plaza which have been created by the pushing together of two ´plates´ in the Earths crust. South Plaza looked very different from any of the other islands we visited, and was covered in low level vegetation called Sesuvium which is yellow, green and orange in colour, there were also big cactus plants dotted around. This island holds a population of yellow Land Iguanas which were transferred there from another island when an airport was built. These iguanas just love the cactus fruits. We also saw another colony of sesea lionsand some Red Billed Tropic Birds which have very long white tails, and the Swallow Tailed Gull which have a distinctive red ring around its eye. We then visited Santa Fe, which hadidyllicc white beaches and crystal blue water. Once again this was enjoyed by another colony of sea lions, and we saw some more iguanas, although these ones were unique to this island alone and can grow up to 1metere in length. These particular iguanas loved to eat the yellow flowers which grew in the area. We then wentsnorkelingg again in the wonderful bay area, this time seeing a turtle and some more Eagle Rays. We once again got to play with a large group of enthusiasticsea lionn youngsters, although we also had to keep our eyes open for the massive malesea lionn who was keeping patrol. We then finished the morning by both jumping off the top of the boat.
Day 8. San Crisobal. This is the last day and we returned to San Cristobal which was where we started. This time we went to the Ínterpretation Centre´ which gave us some information about the Galagapos. We then went to town, brought ice creams and watched the sealions vying for position on a little sailboat moored up nearby. Then, very sadly, we went to the airport to leave. What a wonderful trip.
