Galapagos- volcanic eruptions, and bizarre animals

  Galapagos, Ecuador
Monday, May 16, 2005

Tues 10th May Puerto Ayara -Samba
Have a fairly bad night's sleep as Murray now getting Dianne's flu. No worry about sleeping in, as workmen building the extension are stamping around on the roof at 6am. We go down for breakfast. The schoolkids are leaving this morning, so teacher is hurrying them along by repeatedly yelling to them (some two floors up) with his portable loud hailer. This was at 6.30am, and I don't think it entered his mind that other people in the hotel may not appreciate this.
We're on the 7.30am bus to the airport. Can't help but think that putting the bus station a couple of kms out of town is nothing but a ploy to give the local "taxis" some work. The taxis are enormous crew-cab 4WD pick-ups, and there are LOTS of them, continually circuiting the town. Talk about over-kill!. Unable to get on an earlier bus, but it was probably a first class, looked like it might be A/C, so are first on the 7.30 bus, which ends up completely full. The highlands look pretty green going up toward them. Check out the dirt road leading to the expensive Royal Palms hotel, and the buildings well back off the road. It seems strangely placed, and would have to be pretty flash to justify the cost. We seem to be stuck with the school children, who take up a fair bit of the first ferry. We get our bags on top, and have to bluff our way aboard, as the driver seems to think we shouldn't be on it. We are a bit worried as it seems to be heading the wrong direction, but eventually straightens up, and takes us to meet the free airport bus. We use our third world non-urging bus skills to get on the first bus, and get to the airport by 9. We wait in the arrivals then DP finds a man with a Samba shirt on, and we feel confident of getting a start on the boat.
When the plane comes in the Samba guide used us as the meeting point, and eventually the full complement turned up. After getting a US$16 underwater camera at the souvenir stall we set off for the port in another bus. It is a couple of km to the port, where there are several cruise boats including Samba, which looks pretty modest but OK.
The guide seems pretty safety conscious, and we all have to put on life jackets for the 50 metre run out to the boat. Our bags are brought aboard, and we are allocated cabins. We do pretty well, with the aftmost cabin on the port side, below the deck level, with a double bottom bunk, a single top, and a fair size bathroom. There doesn't seem to be a lot of cupboard space, but we manage to fit the clothes in the drawers and the big bags into a full height clothes locker. The guests are all English speakers, except a Columbian girl, who has good English.
We sort ourselves out, meet the crew, then had a pretty good introductory lunch while we circled clockwise around Baltra, the airport island, to anchor in a channel between the Plaza islands.


This was to be a "dry" landing onto a stone jetty, but it was occupied by sea lions, so we landed on the rocks, sitting on the bow of the rubber ducky, and swinging our legs around. There were no incidents, and we did a circular walk around the island, across to high cliffs on the southern side where we saw yellow land iguanas,


sea lions, red billed tropic birds,


various finches, a couple of blue footed boobies, a pair of the nocturnal swallow tailed gulls, galapagos sheerwaters, noddy terns, one Nazca booby, a lot of pellicans, and a female yellow warbler.
Back on the boat we had snacks and drinks. The boiling hot water in the cabin that we were warned about didn't eventuate, but we cleaned up and watched the sea and island scenery while we motored down the east side of Santa Cruz. The sea was fairly bumpy, and a couple of the team members lost their lunch. We were about the only ones that didn't take a seasick tablet. Earlier, we had been told about toilet paper and small piping, and were told to put NOTHING in the toilet bowl, so one guest apologised for losing his lunch into it.
The boat looks pretty seaworthy, but is pretty tender. with a deep, round bilge, so it rolls heavily. One particularly vicious roll put some glasses on the floor and broke them. The seas quietened once we got behind the low islets off the port, but were still a fair way from dead flat. Once we arrived at Puerto Ayora, which we'd left at 7am this morning, we weaved our way between the parked boats before finding a spot quite close to the cliff along the southern side of the port.
With the boat anchored, we had the welcome pina colada cocktail session before a good meal of pescado fritto, several vegetable dishes, dessert, coffee, all pretty good. We are unlikely to starve on this voyage.
We do not go ashore, but hit the sack pretty early, as it has been a long day.
Wed 11 May Puerto Ayora -C Darwin- Highlands
After a fair night's sleep, and a good breakfast, we load up the rubber ducky and head for a dock across the bay near the Charles Darwin Research station. The dock is in a small sheltered bay in the mangroves. On the walk to the road the guide shows us three varieties of mangrove, with progressively deeper roots, and diminishing numbers of salt rejection pores in the leaves. He gives us a rund-down on the functions of the station, we see a short promo film, then go to look at the turtle breeding areas. The one-year-olds are about 6 inches across, and their pens have to be covered each night to prevent rat attack. The two-year-olds are 9 inches across, and are big and tough enough to handle rats. They are fed vegetation 3 times a week. We see lonesome George, the last of his tribe, then get to spend some time in a pen with half a dozen large tortoises ,ranging in size from 150-300 kgs.These are 100-110 years old. Apparently there is one in London Zoo that is 360 years old.


There are also iguanas in pens. We also see the pesky Galapagos mocking bird and the large beak ground finch.
On the way back to town, we stop at the bank to get money. Our first try is for money on the Visa card, but we need a photocopy of the passport, so decide to try the cards in the machine while MP walks 50 metres to get a 10 cent photocopy with a dollar. End up with the copy, plus 7cents worth of shrapnel. DP gets a run in the office, but has to line up for the cash, which takes forever, so MP goes to the Internet to start the ball rolling, but encounters new Hotmail procedures, which take some time.
Back on the boat from the main dock for lunch, then out again at 2.30 with our wet weather gear for the highlands tour. Our transport is a new Pregio 12 seater, which takes us through the back streets of Puerto Ayora, then again, through the back streets of Bellavista, and on up the hill to the two sink holes, as our schedule does not allow a visit to the tortoises straight away.
The first sink hole, on the east side, is a circular collapse of the surface into a gas void below, not a lava tunnel, and is a couple of hundred metres across, and maybe 50 deep. There are birds flying around in it, and on the rim, including Galapagos doves. Next to the sinkhole is a lava tube which reaches all the way to the sea, but it is collapsed in several places. Crossing the road, we come to the second sinkhole, which is much larger, a figure eigtht configuration of two joined sinkholes. We do a bush walk and spot some vermillion flycatchers, and more doves, plus hear the call of a cuckoo-type bird which is wiping out the flycatcher population.
Back at the bus, we head back through Bellavista ,and take a side road through farmland onto private property, where there is a sort-of visitor centre, bar and banyo, looks a bit off-season. Mauricio the guide talks to the property owner and get the late mail on where the tortoises might be, and we head off into the bush. The tortoises at present are coming down from the highlands to the lowlands to lay their eggs. They can go quite fast if they want, but they often take 3 months to go 50 km, so it's hard to know where they are at present. We see a couple face down in mud wallows, then DP spots one under a tree. Most of the tortoises we do see are face first into tree bases, as though they had run into them, and had stopped to think.
Later we see one by the side of the trail, and wait until it regains its confidence and gets up and lumbers through the space between the tourists, for some excellent photos. It's an amazing sight to see it taking the weight of its whole body on its feet, which look quite like elephant's feet.


Back at the visitor centre we had some excellenbt local watermellon, and a good look inside some tortoise shells on display, in which you can see the tortoises backbone attached to the shell.
Back in town we go back to the boat for dinner,then out for a couple of hours internetting and transferring photos to disc, as we suspect we will need heaps of photo memory for the islands, if the last two days are an indication. We return to the ship ans take a seasick pill for the long passage to Espanola Island -known as Hood Island by the English. .
Thursday 12 May Espanola (Hood) Island
Wake up at anchor in a sheltered cove, Gardener Bay, 6.30 call, breakfast at 7, and out for a wet landing, where the rubber ducky is backed onto the sand, and you step out past the outboard and into the shallow water. The beaches shelve steeply, so we are advised not to try to go off the side. Our first stop is in the middle of a long beach, beautiful white sand, scrubby bush behind. We snorkel out around an outlying rock, then into the beach, don't see a lot, just the usual tropical fish you find in non-coral areas. Later we walk the beach past groups of sea lions taking it easy on the sand.


Various sized pups are suckling, and a few are looking for their mothers.
About 10.30am we get in the rubber ducky and go to Turtle Rock for a snorkel. See white-tipped shark, and swim with a little sea lion, who keeps coming back. Quite a bit of current, and two couples ended up on the wrong side of the island, and had to be picked up after everyone else.
After lunch, we transfer to another site on the island, Point Suarez, where we make a dry landing on a rock pier. Here there are lots of red-and -black marine iguanas on the rocks and in heaps in the shade of the trees, and a group of sea lions on a tiny beach. We walk across the island to the windward side, which has 10 metre cliffs into the water and a fair surf running. There are less sea lion on this side, but more seabirds, and plenty of marine iguanas. We first encounter the blue footed booby nesting area


and get some good photos of nesting birds with eggs and young, feeding shots, and a courting display.


Also see a yellow-crowned night heron, and some Nazca boobies. About now, MP is forced to find out what is the ecologically correct action to take when caught short in a wildlife sanctuary.
Further along, we enter the Waved Albatross nesting area and get photos of nesting birds and eggs, but no young.


We also get a take-off from the edge of the cliff, and some in-flight shots.
At the furthest point of the walk, still a long way from the end of the island is an outlier rock with heaps of marine iguanas.
The way back is through dry scrub about 1 to 2 metres high, with lots of mockingbirds, which are very inquisitive and insistent, but not much other wildlife.
Back at the rubber duckie, get more seal, crab and iguana shots before heading back for a cleanup and rest before dinner. The water is now hot, so we can shower comfortably. Dinner is good again, and we start "navigating"shortly after. MP tries to continue the diary, but it is an invitation to mal de mer, even with a tablet, so hit the sack. Sleeping is easier when we finally anchor at about 2 AM.
Friday 13 May Floreana (Charles) Island
Morning finds us cosily anchored off Floreana between a steep peak on the left, and exposed rocks on the right, with Free Enterprise, the two masted sailing vessel we have been following further inshore.There are interesting rocks offshore and high islands to the east, but the beach looks very brown, with the usual dry scrub behind. About 8am, after breakfast, we prepare for a wet landing at Point Cormorant in the corner of the beach, which is made of eroded volcanic tuff. The sand contains the harder crystaline material-obsidian, quartz and clear, olive green olivine. Inland there is a large lake, half a metre deep, with water birds, including about 30 flamingos spread around,


galapagos ducks (pintail), small plovers, and black neck stilts. One group of about a dozen flamingos are displaying. The flamingos are quite bright, a little oranger than some, and very black under the wings. The guide scrapes the bark of a dead looking tree and it is wet and green below. The sap is sticky and smells like ti-tree oil, and is used as an insect repellent.
We walk around the flank of the volcano to a nice beach with a small surf, doing the stingray shuffle in the shallow water, looking for stingrays, which we find in numbers at the far end. They range from saucer to dinner plate size, and are quite plain grey.
On the way back, Dianne encounters the Australian couple who sat behind us on the plane from Santiago, who were on the Parranda, a big, white motor yacht, and enjoying the trip. It is 36 C according to the guide's watch thermometer at 10 in the morning. Around this time we see what looks like a great white billowing storm cloud, but find out later it was a volcanic eruption on Cumbres, the volcano on Fernandina Island.
Back at the boat, about 11am we saddled up for a snorkel trip to the Devil's Crown rocks, a jagged circular outcrop a kilometre out to sea. The trip is interrupted when the Free Enterprise, inshore of us,swings on its anchor rope and grounds on the rocks. Our rubber ducky has to go and help push it off the rocks, then Samba has to start engines and move to avoid being rammed by Free Enterprise. We've talked to a few of the passengers on this boat, and they're not at all happy with their trip.
MP distinguished himself by forgetting his fins, so we had to do a loop to pick them up. The first snorkel was down the inshore side of the rock.The sea was quite choppy, and the current pretty strong for beginners but everyone managed to survive. Halfway along, the guide dived down to wake up some white tip sharks sleeping in a cave, and we got photos of them.
We saw a good lot of fish and starfish and in the sheltered area in the centre of the group of rocks, both of us had encounters with full sized sea lions. They looked pretty big under water, and it will be interesting to see the photos. We were picked up and deposited back at the windward end to go around the seaward side. There were big schools of large fish out over the sand, and denser schools in close among the rocks. Toward the end of the dive we encountered another bull sea lion. While taking photos, MP had to swim backward to avoid confronting him, and to get far enough back to focus..
After another good lunch, we went ashore about 2pm for another wet landing to visit the Post Office Bay barrel, in which people leave post cards to themselves for hand delivery by other visitors.


Some of the Americans collected postcards to familiar locations. Steve had to be talked out of taking a BA post card.
After, DP went in snorkelling, followed a turtle for a long time, and led others to it. Has a close encounter with a pelican, which was on rocks at the water's edge. In the scrub, there is a soccer field, and locals from the cruise boats are playing in spite of the heat.
Back on the boat, we clean up, have a snack and set out for Isabela Island, assuming the eruption which we saw as a large storm cloud, has not upset our plans. On the way we keep a lookout for whales and whale sharks, eventually Ian spots a blow, which MP confirms, but it is a long way off, behind us. Later, just on dark, MP and the guide both spot fins of a whale shark in the water just off the port bow. We circled around, but the boat is not particularly agile, and has a turning radius of a hundred or so metres, so we lost sight of it for a while, but later saw the fins again several times. There could have been two of them, but it was getting pretty dark, with a 1 to 2-metre swell. The fins are surprisingly thin, and stick out of the water about a metre. No chance of getting in to swim with them. Take photo of frigate bird following boat. Can see his red neck, but not inflated because not the mating season.


We could see the lights of a town to the north, then later the glow from the lava on Fernandina, which had been erupting all day, according to National Parks. Later, we could see a definite glow, but it was cold enough for coats, so set the alarm for 11.45pm, when we expected to be at our closest, and went to bed.
When we got up, the streams of lava were clearly visible on the flank of the volcano, with some sort of pale horizontal line below, which may have been a lava pool, or burning vegetation.
The guide asked the skipper for a closer look, so we motored west for an hour before resuming course. 10 miles closer, the lava streams were visible to the naked eye, and we took photos, including some through the binoculars. Showed up as a red patch on the preview screen, will be interesting to see how they come up on the computer. We went back to bed when there looked like no changes were likely, and woken at 6 AM for an early start for our walk on the lava fields of Isabella.
Saturday 14 May Isabella Island - Fernandina/Isabella
Now that it is light, we cannot see any action from the volcano, although there is a dense white cloud over it. We are going to make up time during the day so that we can spend a couple of hours in the late afternoon motoring closer to the volcano.
By 7am we are having another dry landing at Point Moreno, after weaving through channels amongst the mangroves. The lava plain extends 10 to 15 km to the base of the two southern volcanoes, and while the slope is fairly uniform, it is far from smooth, formed of cracked plates of smooth lava, sections of ropey lava, and some very rough areas where the plates had turned over while the bottom was still sticky, forming very sharp lava thorns. The guide told of a joint US/Equador marines trek across which ended up with 4 dead because of the unexpectedly difficult terrain, magnetic interference with compasses, and the damage to footwear because of the razor sharp lava. There were a number of pioneer species living on the bare lava, and more normal species around the pretty brackish water oases.


We took some good photos of wildlife, particularly flightless cormorant, flamingos and moor hens, and saw large mullet which arrived in the pools as eggs on the tide, and a number of white tip reef sharks which shelter in a tide pool during the day.
Back on the boat we kitted up for a snorkel along the lava rock shore to look for turtles and penguins. The underwater terrain was large rounded boulders with sharp shoreline rocks, a lot of yellowish seaweed half a metre long, and green algae on the boulders. MP managed to get an eyeball-to-eyeball meeting with a penguin, but not sure how the underwater photos will come out, as the camera is very difficult to operate while snorkelling. Also got some full frame photos of turtles, but may have offended by chasing the turtle to get the shot. There were a number of big fish, and some new species, but the water was a mix of fresh and salt which affects the clarity, and it was bitterly cold, so we were not unhappy to call it a day and head back to the boat.
Before lunch, we motored along the coast to the north, seeing turtle, various seabirds, and some jumping sea lions, but no whales, whale sharks or penguins
After lunch, we motored and paddled into the mangroves at Elizabeth Bay
Once inside the mangroves,we motored through quite a long channel, then paddled around in the narrows, and at the ends of branches of the channel. There are a lot of Galapagos green turtles in shallow water, and we get a pretty good close up look at them.


There is a definite blue colour about their heads and flippers, and some of the shells are yellow patterned, and free of algae.
We see some sea lions, one of them sprawled on a sloping log.


They live further back in the mangrove thickets, but it is difficult to imagine how they negotiate the tangle of roots and branches. We get a good look at a booby on a tree, and a close up of a penguin on a rock,before heading back to sea,through big patches of "red tide",to an offshore island, where we push the boat up against the rocks for close-up look at groups of penguins,


boobies, plus the odd pelican, flightless cormorant and sea lion. MP was in the back of the boat, so missed out on the real close-ups, but it was still pretty good.
Back on the boat,we motored west toward the tip of Fernandina where the lava was flowing, looking for whales and dolphins. We had an early false alarm with sea lions jumping out of the water, but, coming on dark, we started to see dolphins all around the boat, and spouts from at least 4 whales in the distance. We could see some of the whales' bodies when they surfaced but not enough to photograph. When one surfaced and dived straight away, after passing under the boat, it was too quick to get on film.
There was an excellent sunset,and the streams of lava down the volcano became brighter as the light faded, requiring a lot of photos.


We carried on west until we were directly in front of the lava streams,and could see the spray on the rocky foreshore, but no sign of the lava coming as far as the sea. Thge eruption was still in progress,and through the binoculars you could see lava fountains at the top, approximately one twentieth of the height of the volcano, which works out to 75 metres,which is pretty impressive if you are up close. We turned around and headed for Urbina Bay on Isabella,arriving at about 11 PM.
DP took sick in the night and spent much of it in the toilet.We couldn't work out what may have caused it, but dosed her up with rehydration fluid and hoped for the best. In the middle of the night, you could see the eruption reflecting in the clouds over Fernandina,but it was too pale to photograph.
Sunday 15 May Isabella - Fernandina
DP is still crook in the morning, so we read the chart to choose a treatment and go with Noroxin, as indicated. She misses breakfast, has some loperamide immobilizer, preparatory to going on the morning walk, but promptly throws up, so MP goes without her. While we are assembling on the shore, the rubber ducky makes a second trip, as DP has revived sufficiently to give it a go. Decides in six months she will have forgotten she felt so rotten, but would still remember if she'd missed something!
The beach we land on is a small coarse sand beach between sharp rock outcrops,and has a resident raft of penguins, some boobies,and pelicans. There are a lot of fish about,and all birds are feeding.
Behind the beach, the land is flat, and has a fair bit of fine soil. This land was uplifted in 1954, about 4 km long and 1 wide. A Galapagos fishing crew left their boat anchored here while they were out dory fishing, and couldn't find it when they came back. Had to go all the way around to the town to report its loss. Later,a scientific team found it 500 metres inshore..
The land is relatively green, and has pioneered quickly because of the nutrients left from the stranded sea creatures. There are a lot of large land iguanas on the dry, dusty flat land studded with large trees. We're inland out of the breeze so it's VERY hot.The iguanas are quite colourful, and easily approached to photo range.


There are a lot of goat bones around from culling, and a number of small trees which have been uprooted by goats for dry season feed. We do not see any of the land tortoises which live around here. DP just survives until we get back to the boat, then goes back to bed.
Take photo of book showing map of Galapagos Islands


We motor across to the point of Fernandina, starting lunch on the way. Lunch is roast pork, potato patties, salad and some sort of cheese and corn local dish, with sour but good lemon drink, and a very rich chocolate ice-cream, made on the boat,and caramel, all of which DP doesn't feel like, so stays in bed until we are ready to go snorkelling.
The snorkelling is along a rocky shore to a point, and it is in shallow water over boulders and rock plates,with yellow bushy seaweed, and green short weed on the rocks. The first marine iguana we come upon is hidden in the seaweed, and hard to see, but we come upon a big one on the bottom, gnawing on a green weed covered rock, and get his photo. A playful small sea lion insists on getting into the photo shoot, but we avoid wasting too many shots on him, or the many sea turtles in a small bay. For a while there are lots of marine iguanas, but they thin out, possibly going ashore to avoid us. MP is jostled in the water by another swimmer -thinks it is another snorkeler,but it is a big iguana swimming the same direction. He runs out of film, but continue observing the marine iguanas until it is time to go.
DP has perked up considerably in the water, so goes ashore almost immediately for a walk around the same area that we snorkelled. The terrain is relatively recent folded and cracked lava, with some pools and bays connected to the sea. There are quite a few sea lions lazing in the warmer, shallow water, or stretched out ashore. The iguanas have congregated into tangled heaps of bodies, hundreds strong, in several locations notable for the guano stains and the strong smell.


There are other, unused, guano-marked areas which will be used as the tide comes in and the iguanas move further back. The iguanas are quite comical, assembled in heaps, or groups head-to-head around the conference table. They are totally uncaring about stepping on heads or grabbing on with their claws when they want to get to the top of the heap, or relocate.



The rocks also are well supplied with the red backed, blue-green bellied Sally Lightfoot crabs, as well as the camouflaged green smaller, immature crabs.



In one particular place there was a group of nests occupied by flightless cormorants. The nests were small craters built 20 cm high, and 40 cm rim diameter on the flat rock. Some nests had eggs, others eggs and young cormorants. The birds get a bit agitated if you get too near, but hold their ground. Some of the birds were drying their ragged-looking, ineffective wings. They look like they have a long way to go to become penguins.
One couple who wanted to go ahead had a disagreement with the guide, who was waiting for stragglers, and was prepared to wait as long as they were taking photos.
We saw a long, skinny snake on the beach, the photo will probably look like a scratch on the lens. Walked back past more sea lions, more crabs, iguanas, cormorants to the boat and back to the boat.
DP went straight to bed, while MP typed diary on the upper deck as we motored toward our next island, Santiago, or James island.
On the way, we stopped and did a circle after MP and the captain spotted a fin sticking up out of the water. Turns out to be a sunfish. The people on the bow saw it as we passed over, but all we saw was the thin, pointed fin sticking a foot out of the water in the troughs between waves. We also pass Volcan Equador, which has been cut in half by sea erosion, and presents spectacular cliffs, and a cave big enough to nose the boat into it to look at brown petrels, and a couple of sea lions, including one sleeping on a narrow shelf on the otherwise vertical wall. Further on, the way the caldera had been eroded to a semicircle was obvious. A group of 3 fur seals came porpoising through the water out to near the boat, and shortly after we slowed down so the entire complement could watch on the bridge as the Satnav numbers rolled over to 00.00.000 at the equator, and we celebrated with a cocktail.


Further on we slowed down to consider the presence of a ship where none was supposed to be (possibly an illegal fisherman, which the tour boats report as a matter of routine), then headed around the top of Isabella. At this stage we took a seasick pill, as we would be punching into the wind and current. Anchored at James Bay for a good sleep at about 2 AM.
Monday 16 May Santiago (James) Island/Bartolome
Up at 6 am after a good sleep. DP is feeling almost human, having had a full meal of spag bols the night before, so gets into a fair sized breakfast, takes a stopper pill, and we go ashore to look at seals and shore birds. There were quite a few birds, including ruddy turnstones, american oyster catchers, the usual pelicans (this time in mating colours), lava, striated and yellow crowned night herons, yellow warblers, and a Galapagos hawk, sitting on the water tank for the abandoned salt mine.
The Galapagos fur seals we had come to see were holed up in a complex lava formation, with deep pools connected to the sea by lava tunnels, with natural bridges over. Excellent snorkelling terrain, but it has been stopped here because it was discouraging the seals. Took lots of seal (actually sea lions, as have ears, but have double fur.


On the way back to the beach, we turned over a number of flat stones to find the small, brown Galapagos scorpions. Reputed to be non-lethal, but still looked nasty.
Back at the beach, we kitted up for a snorkel from the beach. One of our best, as there was excellent underwater terrain, from boulder heaps looking like artificial reefs, to flat rocks, to lava tunnels and gutters. Plenty of fish, large and small, including some new, large blue patterned cod types, and a 20 cm box fish with blue and yellow spots, and a mouth almost on the bottom of its body. Having swum past the limits, we headed back acros the sand, saw a fair size white-tip reef shark. Told Pat, the young bloke from Chicago, who immediately started shouting "shark, shark!", not from fright, but excitement. There were a lot of tourists from Isabella II, the large boat we saw at Fernandina, and some were snorkelling, but none had wetsuits. Made us glad we were on a smaller, snorkelling-oriented boat.
Back on board, DP was able to front up for lunch as we cruised the shoreline east and south toward Bartolome, past some excellent coastal scenery, with cliffs and sharp outlying rocks.