...do ya wanna see my booby's????...
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2008
1
19
54
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Galapagos Islands,
Galapagos Islands,
Ecuador
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Another early start, off to the airport at 7am from Guayaquil. THE Galapagos safari begins...it has a bit of a slow start as we are met at the airport and then driven for about 45 ins to the township to be then given lunch in a restaurant and told we meet our boat at 6pm....hmmm 6pm is a bit late in the day...but all is not lost lunch is good and then we wander the town for a wee while. There is a trip the Charles Darwin Research Station, which I didn't realize was also included in our trip so off we went.
I LOVED the huge land tortoises...they are HUGE and gentle and sleepy...oh and very very old....we saw lots of babies which are reared here until they are 4-5 years old and then released back to their island from which they came...actually back to the beach on which their eggs were collected where in 10 more years they too will return to lay eggs
Galapagos
. There are many different species and of course man had a lot to do with the fact that the number dwindled out and they all nearly became extinct. Pirates used to come and take tortoises as they used them for food...a tortoise can live with out water and food for about 8 months...so they just kept them on the decks of their big boats until they needed them to eat.
Also the locals ate plenty of tortoise and there are old pictures of thousands of shells being discarded everywhere....I guess when you live to be 200 years old and then someone that gets a taste for you starts eating your kind your not so fast to be replaced!!! Anyway the Charles Darwin Research Centre is doing their bit to replenish these gentle giants. Our guide Tony was fantastic at telling us all there was to know about these majestic creatures!
At 6 we went to the dock to meet our crew and boat...there are 12 passengers on Enchantarter and of course we are the last to arrive...some of the other passengers had been on the boat already for 4 days so we were joining mid trip.
We were surprised and disappointed to hear that Pete and Emily from Cotopaxi had just left the boat...they had chartered for the first 4 days....we managed to catch them up after dinner in town for a going away drink...they were at the end of their journey and heading back to Quebec
Charlies Research Centre
. The rest of the passengers were an assortment of 2 Americans and 4 Swiss, 1 Japanese with another Aussie girl, Alex and a mother daughter Israeli team. The boat was fine... many had said the quarters were small but I have to say I am not sure what people expect on yachts....they aren't cruise ships or apartments!! :o) Frey and I had a double and single bunk and our own bathroom there was room enough for everything except swinging a big cat!! *grin*
The day's events were always fairly busy...up at 6.30 brekky at 7 on the zodiac at 8 to whatever was planned...some days snorkeling or a trip to the beach for guided tour of the landscape or just to chill at our leisure.
The animals on land were the most impressive to me...mainly because they had NO fear of humans...you could be within a few inches of some of them and well the sea lions a metre ...they do bite if they want to...but birds just liter the paths with their nests having no qualms about the humans that pass them by just a few feet from their nest and eggs.
Lizards and iguanas mostly just ignore you and cruise on by....if laying on the beach the mocking birds would hop right up to you
Lonesome George the last of his species
.My two fav things were the sea lions and the tortoises...and the penguins too....so that's three I guess. The variety was amazing. The least impressive thing was the snorkeling...after living in Cayman the visibility was nowhere near as good as we had there but that's not to say there wasn't plenty of sea life here just not as easy or as enjoyable to seek it out. Anyway there is a ton of pics and a billion more not posted so you will get a glimpse of what we saw without the price tag.
Four nights five days was enough to get a good look at what was there...personally I am not usually an organized tour person so the structure would have worn thin on me for much longer....I am more inclined to the type of sailing I did with Jon and Tina up the coast of Central America...more relaxed and chilled. ...and more rum!!! *grin* I didn't even crack a beer on this trip!! J & T - Rangwana Caye still rates as the best day ever for seeing sea life...oh and eating it!!! Yumm!!
We seemed to arrived at the right time of the year as the rains were over and the birds were all out doing their courtship dances which are very sweet...they show off for each other...well mainly the men do the dancing and showing off and bringing of gifts......there's a surprise..
ahhhh...it's tiring being 150 yrs old
. and the women pretend to not be watching or interested....there were some pretty good dancers out there!!!...anyway the "keep em keen treat em mean" theory was being played out all over the islands....with the girls all turning their noses (beaks) up ...but secretly I think a few were smitten with their suitors than they were letting on!!! Some of the pics are actually little movies so you can see some of their antics....After the "hectic" time at sea :o)...we are once again heading to the mainland and south to Vilacaybumba...another one of those laid back places where hiking, horseback riding and massages are the tall order of the day....oh and spanish lessons...I keep forgetting about those!!! We have 8 days left in Ecuador.
Of course to get there it is another bus ride for about 10 hours...this time a quiet one!!!!!...I think we were on the quietest bus in all of Ecuador after both Freya and I asked the guy to turn the music DOWN and he obliged...I think the other passengers had to be a little happy with this...I mean 10hours of blaring distorted tunes.URGH!!!!!...so whilst the ride was twisty and we saw the remantents of many a landslide we eventually made it in in the darkness of night...with our hearing!!!
Comments
Seals so cute! Crabs not so much!
Love the pics. You look fantastic and v happy :) Miss you tons! xo