Day 142: January 4, 2008 Quito to Puerto Ayoro

  Puerto Ayoro, Ecuador
Friday, January 4, 2008

Day 142: January 4, 2008 Quito to Puerto Ayoro, Isla Santa Cruz, Islas Galápagos

Puerto Ayora

It's a good thing I set my alarm because our wake-up call never came but all of the other rooms got one. We congregated in the lobby and left promptly when our bus came at 6:50. The odd practice of taking one's bags through security and then walking with them across the airport to check-in continues at the domestic terminal. Our flight was a little late taking off but our stop in Guayaquil was mercifully short. We arrived at the airport on Isla Baltra a little before 11:00 local time, which is an hour behind mainland Ecuador. It took awhile for our bags to come off but they all made it. We packed ourselves into an overcrowded bus and made the 10-minute drive to the ferry at the Itabaca Channel. The 5-minute crossing to Isla Santa Cruz was easy and we loaded on to another bus that took us over the central highlands of the large shield volcano and down into Puerto Ayora where we were dropped off at the dock. We met our guide, Antonio Moreano, and were ferried out to our yacht, the Estrella del Mar I where we got our cabin assignments, the afternoon's game plan, and an excellent lunch. Todd and I are sharing a below deck cabin across from Ken Chamlee and Danny Franke.

After a 1-hour rest after lunch, we went back into town and boarded a bus that took us up to the private ranch where giant tortoises run, I mean, shuffle, wild. The weather was much better than the last time I was there. Everyone was fascinated with the giant creatures. They put on quite a show. We watched a male mount a female and start the 3-hour long mating process. He seemed to know what he was doing because he started bellowing after about ten minutes. We also saw a small pond that had seven of them wallowing in the mud.

Giant Galápagos Tortoise

Mating Tortoises

Giant Tortoises

Needing a hat with a string anyhow, I bought one at the ranch store so I could feel like a real tourist. I was not alone; a lot of the others did too. Next we went a few kilometers to the large lava tube. Its ceiling is almost 10 m high and it extends for several hundred meters to a place where it is necessary to crawl under a low overhang before continuing another hundred meters or so before reaching the opening to the surface. I hadn't done the crawling or the latter part before so I was glad I did this time.

Group Members in the Lava Tube

We returned to Puerto Ayoro at dusk. I stayed in town to help those who had lost their baggage find something to wear. We returned to the boat at 6:45 where we had a beer, a briefing about tomorrow's activities, and a fine dinner. Almost everyone was beat from traveling so we were all in our bunks by 9:30. I read for awhile and then let the gentle rocking of the boat lull me to sleep.