It´s not a dream...we´re in the Galapagos!

Trip Start Jan 28, 2008
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Trip End Sep 18, 2008


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Flag of Ecuador  ,
Thursday, July 31, 2008

  On our adventures north into Ecuador we asked other travellers if they had visited the Galapagos and what their experience had been. Some had booked well in advance while others had just rocked up in Guayaquil or Quito . Most were happy with their experience but commented on the cost. Our plan was to arrive in Guayaquil and find the tour agencies to work out a good deal. It wasn't that easy. There are only three agencies in Guayaquil , two of which were closed by the time we were downtown ready to find a boat. We had to wait until Monday to be able to visit all the agencies and compare what they had to offer us. There were no deals as we were in high season. The price of the two cruises we were offered were the same but the dates were different. We choose the cruise that left as soon as possible, which gave us more time to volunteer later in Ecuador but a few to many days in Guayaquil .
 
We flew into the Isla Baltra, collected our luggage and found the free bus to the ferry to Isla Santa Cruz Our first sea lion
Our first sea lion
 . We were aiming to be in Puerto Ayora by 2 pm for the speed boat to Puerto Villamil on Isla Isabella. The bus left the airport, we caught the ferry to Isla Santa Cruz and jumped on a bus all in good time. We were quietly confident of catching the speed boat until the bus went nowhere fast. I asked when the bus would leave and when a European couple jumped off the bus and organised a taxi we took their offer to ride to Puerto Ayora with them. As we chatted across Isla Santa Cruz we discovered that they were on the same boat as us and had arrived early to do some diving.
 
Just after 2 pm we arrived in Puerto Ayora and the pickup truck taxi driver told us that the boats for Puerto Villamil would have left already. With a "See you later" we rushed to load our gear from the tray back and went to double check on the boats at a nearby tour agency. Not long after we realised that our sixty dollars of snorkel gear was still in the taxi. The woman in the tour office had spoken to the taxi driver and we asked her if she knew him. She didn't. It got a bit confusing from there because it turned out the taxi driver was her father or "papa" but "papa" is used on the island in the way we use "mate". Another helpful man told us that all the taxis have to pass the intersection where we were dropped off because it is the only road. Jillian watched hundreds of taxis go by and stop because they thought she wanted a taxi. They are all white pick-up trucks, hard to tell one from the next, I went off to find us a bed for the night and then carried our backpacks there. We were reunited with our snorkel gear and the driver really was father. We had definitely missed the speed boat.
 
There was enough time left in the Thursday afternoon to walk to Tortuga Beach Tortuga Beach on Santa Cruz Isl.
Tortuga Beach on Santa Cruz Isl.
 . It was a very beautiful beach. There had been a lot of Chinese in downtown Guayaquil , so we were not surprised to find a Chinese restaurant in Puerto Ayora. We had a good meal there. The showers were cold where we stayed but we were already enjoying the beach life. With the morning to fill on Friday before we caught the speed boat, we walked to Tortuga Beach again and then walked to Las Grietas for a snorkel in the brackish pool surrounded by rock walls. The two o'clock boat was postponed to three, which made us wonder about the boats the day before. It was a rough and bumpy ride. It was not enjoyable.
 
REMEMBER NOT TO EAT BEFORE A ROUGH BOAT RIDE!
 
Some of the locals were struggling too! We arrived on Isla Isabela and started talking to David who ran the Coral Blanca Hostal. It turned out to be a good place and we stayed for two nights.
 
When the clouds parted from below and around us we could see into the valley below us. Black rivers of lava covered the valley floor.
 
The narrow peninsular of Isla Isabela and Isla Fernandina were visible from the northern lava flows of Volcano Chico.
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