Siestabrigid's travel blogs:
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Trip to wonderful Galapagos Islands
Entry 17 of 17 | show all | print this entry |
4th to 11th May - Galapagos Islands with GAP group
You have to pay $100, payable on arrival, to the National Park, to visit the Galapagos Islands - to fund the Park Maintenance. This is laid down by the Ecuadorian Government to protect the heritage of the islands.
We - four of us - flew to Baltra in GI (this is too long to spell each time) We boarded our boat - Adventurer II - having met our guide Walter when we arrived at the airport. There were only 4 of us because some of the group had missed the connecting flight from LA - what a bonus for us!! There were 8 crew for the 4 of us. The other people were from London, New York, Canada and me from Brighton. We really hit it off and had a wonderful rapport. The first think you notice is the heat - it is only 12 miles from the Equator and it was in the 80's. We spent the rest of the day walking on the beach of Santa Cruz island. We saw red crabs, turtle nests, and snorkeled on Bachus Beach. That evening we met the crew for cocktails before dinner. It is a really nice boat - the food is fantastic - the owner, his daughter and the wife of our guide has joined us for 4 days as there is plenty of room - they are really nice people and fantastic divers (they would be - show-offs!!). I can just about swim and snorkeling is the height of my achievements.
Just to backtrack!! The GI's are a group of 22 islands - most of which are off limits. We visited 8 of them during the course of our 8 day trip. Our guide, Walter, is a native and has been guiding for 23 years and diving for 40 years - so we were in safe hands - he was also really interesting, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his homeland. Our daily routine was early rising, eat, snorkel for 2 hours, walk on islands, see all wildlife, lunch, rest, more landings, briefing for next day, drinks, dinner and early to bed for another early start - no TV, radio, Internet - a complete switch-off from the outside world - bliss!!
I have kept a programme of each day but will not go into it in detail here. If anyone wishes to go there and wants detailed info please let me know and I will be happy to help.
I will list the islands we visited, tell you what we saw on them and give a final overview of this trip.
We visited Santa Cruz, Sombrero Chino, Santiago Island, Bartolome Is, Santa Cruz, Floreana, Espanola, Gardiner Bay, Sante Fe, Rabida.
We had a wonderful day walking on Sombrero Chino Beach - saw iguanas, lizards and sea lions. It was very hot so we did some snorkeling in the bay where we saw beautiful coloured fish. My snorkel did not work very well - it was letting in water through the nose-piece. After lunch I changed the snorkel and this time I managed to see penguins, sea lions and loads of fantastic fish. We then had a walk to the summit of Bartolome Island - great views. We got back at 5.30 and had a briefing for another full day tomorrow on Santiago Island. We then had a 4 hour sail to St James Bay on SI. After dinner we had a drink and retired to bed at 9 pm - it is very tiring snorkeling and I suppose being on the water also makes one sleepy. Having the owner, his daughter and the guide's wife on board made it more interesting as they gave us a lot of local information and told us interesting things about the islands.
The next day we had a 6.30 start for a beach walk!! We saw many marine iguanas (they are almost black and are well-camouflaged), fur seals, beautiful delicate flowers, blow-holes and an unusual lava beach with lave pipes. We then had a dingy ride to see blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, seals and penguins. We did some snorkeling on Rabida Island which has a red beach. This time we say rays (both sting and manta), sea lions, grouper, admiral fish, and puffer fish. The colours were stunning and the water was crystal clear and warm.
We then had a long sail to Santa Cruz - 1.30 to 8 pm. On the way we spotted whales, tuna and manta rays. However, we had to lie down on our bunks and take sea-sickness pills as the sea was very rough - no dinner!!
On 7th May we were up again at 6.30 for breakfast and we visited the Darwin Research Station at 7.15 am until 11.45. There we saw magnificent giant tortoises including Lonesome George, who has not mated for 36 years!! poor chap! He is the last of his species to be alive and is 200 years old. We also saw iguanas, baby tortoises and visited the information centre to learn the history of the centre. We then walked in to the town and had coffee.
After lunch we went up to the Highlands where we say wild giant tortoises and went down lava tunnels - that was scary and we decided to come back as it was pitch black, with water and mud, and you had to crawl on your hands and knees at one point to get out the other end - not for the claustrophobic among us, including me!! It reminded me of pot-holing in Mallam Caves in Yorkshire!! We also saw how the locals live in their fincas and farms. It was a very interesting day - got back to the boat at 5.30 pm.
The only blot on the day was that I lost my sunglasses in the Highlands - a tip - do not put your sunglasses on top of your sun hat because when you take off your hat the glasses disappear into the undergrowth, and it is too late when you realise you have lost them!!
The next day we arrived at Floreana - having had a long overnight sailing. We had a "wet landing" - means you have to get into the water from the dingy to land on the beach!! We went for a hike and saw lots of pink flamingos in the lagoon. It was a brown sandy beach this time. We then went on to a white sandy beach where we say sea turtles, lots of fish and rays. We also saw some small sharks near the shore.
We went snorkeling at Champions Rock - sea lions, fish and sharks there. After lunch we went to Post Office Bay where there is a mail box that was used in the old days by sailors to put letters and cards in to be collected by the next passing ship on the way back to the UK. We posted our cards there - no stamps - to be picked up by people who lived in the same area as yourself and they would be posted in the UK - would you believe it works!!!! My cars posted there got to their destination and the ones I posted in Baltra, the main town, never reached their destination - there must be a moral there! Again we did two hours snorkeling in the afternoon - the time flies when you are looking at all the wonderful sea life - it is all so colourful and interesting - I never thought i would enjoy something so much - especially as I am not a good swimmer.
After our dinner and briefing we sailed overnight for Espanola Island. We arrived there the next morning at 6 am. After breakfast we had a dry landing at Suarez Point, where we saw a Red Marine Iguana Colony and a Sea Lion colony. We also saw waved albatross, blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, mockingbirds, doves, finches and lava lizards. There was also a huge blow-hole (see picture).
At 11 am we sailed to Gardiner Bay which had a gorgeous beach - we had a long walk there, lunch and a siesta. At 2.30 we had a wet landing on a coral sand beach, where we saw a sea lion colony. We did some snorkeling off this beach - again to shoals of the most beautiful coloured fish - I know it is getting boring going on about all the fish we have seen but believe me if you ever go, or have been there, you will know what I mean - it is no exaggeration.
At 6.30 we had our usual briefing and dinner. Bed as usual at about 9 pm. I slept really well on this trip - we were knocked out at the end of each da, having done so much!!
On 10th May at 7.45 am, we had another wet landing at Sante Fe Island . This place is famous for its iguanas and prickly pear cactus - also cactus finces and lush vegetation. By 9 am we were again snorkeling with sea lions, turtles, sharks and rays as well as the now boring coloured fish - only joking!!
We then sailed to South Plaza for 2 hours and on the way we saw dolphins. It was a pretty rough sea ride so we lay down in our cabins. After lunch we had a walk on the beach where we saw lots of sea lions and land iguanas, and tropic birds. these birds are very difficult to photograph as they are so fast in flight. We also saw the Batchelor Sea Lion Colony in that area. The cliffs here are very dramatic and the waves are pretty high and rough.
At 4 pm we sailed to Itabaca Canal and saw some dolpins on the way. When we reached the canal we had to refill the water tanks on the boat with fresh water. That evening we had a briefing and dinner - afterwards we had a farewell cocktail "a Grasshopper" with the crew and a Brithday Cake from the chef for one of the guests whose birthday happened to be on that day.
On Sunday 11th May we had our farewell breakfast and had a wet landing on North Seymour Island where we say large iguanas.
Where I stayed:
Adventurer II
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| 17. | Trip to wonderful Galapagos Islands - Baltra, Ecuador May 11, 2008 |
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