The Enchanted Isles - Galapagos

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Trip Start Sep 10, 2008 Previous
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  Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Saturday, September 20, 2008

Wow! Back in Quito after an amazing voyage of discovery in the pristine archepelago of Galapagos. Not much time to write as we are in the middle of a huge electrical storm in Quito and the computer keeps crashing. Have managed to upload a few photos but will write a bit more when we get to Lima!

Two days later...

Becks.  I am writing this from a random little hotel in Puno, 4,000 metres above sea level!  The altitude does funny things to your body so apologies if this isnt as lucid as usual!  Im also on a spanish + chinese keyboard and cant find most of the punctuation so youll have to forgive that too!

So we wrote a wonderful summary of Galapagos in Quito and then lost it to the might of a South American electrical storm so here goes again..

Lava lizard eating grasshopper

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Galapagos was simply one of the most amazing places on earth.  It was like having a window to what earth was like millions of years ago and you really did feel as though you were in a scene from Jurassic Park.  We were waiting for the terradactyles to come flying over head!  The prehistoric look of many of the animals, especially the awesome giant tortoises and the land and sea iguanas only adds to this feeling.  Sailing from island to island you have this feeling of vastness, expansiveness, and almost desolation were it not for the wildlife which literally pervades every corner.  I guess in that sense you could never feel alone in Galapagos, although one of the things I found amazing was that it did just feel a very long way from anything, and pretty untouched by the fingerprints of man.  Where else can you go in the world and never see a toilet, electricity pylon or concrete? (Apart from in the one tiny town called Puerto Ayora!)

We were expecting to see and enjoy the wildlife from a distance (hence the tripod and camera with huge zoom).  In fact, we literally had to step over much of it.  The animals were so tame and just everywhere!  One of the biggest challenges for the national park is to monitor and control this tourism closely so that the islands remain as untouched as possible, and we loved the fact that our guide was so passionate about conservation and that he did keep such a tight reign on us

Land Iguana with Archipell II

!  That, along with the other main problem on Galapagos _ eradicating the introduces species such as goats and donkeys _ form the twin concerns of the national park.

So, some of the highlights...

Snorkling!  What an amazing experience!  We swam with sharks, playful sea lions, sea turtles, giant sting rays and manta rays, galapagos penguins (who loved Steve _ I think they thought he was one of them!) and heaps of amazing tropical fish.  The mixture of warm and cold sea currents creates the most diverse eco system below the waves that you could possibly imagine.  Amazing.

Bartholeme Island.  This was literally a ptrototype for what an island would look like just after a Volcano had erupted!  Little had changed and you could still feel the heat of the volcanic rock as you walked through despite the island being formed 3 million years ago.  There were awesome lava creations, amazing gas bubble rock fossils and the odd sea iguana who braved the hostile landscape!

Dinner now so will try and write more later..

Birth of a sea lion

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Becks.  Back again trying to finish our Galapagos entry.  We are now in Cuzco ready to start the Inca Trail but still on a random South American computer so excuse the dodgy punctuation again!

So, some of the other highlights:

We went to an amazing bay on Floreana island on one of our final days and it was literally my idea of beach perfection,  Empty, white sand, islands dotting the horizon, surrounded by cliffs and vegetation and lots of space to sit and contemplate  We even spent an hour or so Sting Ray spotting in the shallows.  They were just everywhere!

Our boat!  Way more luxurious than we expected with 8 cabins, all with en suite bathrooms and hot water!  What a luxury.  We had some fab food courtesy of our chef, Charlie, and even took Salsa lessons from our resident Salsa teacher Miguel, also known as the Captain of the Dinghy.  Pablo, our guide, was great fun and had some hilarious Spanglish phrases, such as "In this place, we have seven metres of deep", and "Here the waves are 4 feet of altitude" and "please leave your shoes at the beginning of the boat" (meaning the front!)

Sleepy marine iguannas

.  We enjoyed a hilarious night of cocktails and salsa with him and some of the crew on our last night, in the only town on the island.  Was a very surreal experience Salsa-ing with the locals on Galapagos!

So, all in all and unforgettable experience.

Steve here. Wanted to write something about Galapagos as haven{t managed to get back to a computer since it crashed on me during the storm in Quito. I caught some parasite thing in Lima which laid me out for a couple of days but more on that later.

The pristine archepelago of Galapagos - a pre historic wilderness of islands, each with its own unique character. The sand beaches range in colours from volcanic black through green, red, brown all the way to dazzling white due to the variety of minerals and coral. The lowlands are dominated by parched sandalwood trees, a semi petrified forrest waiting patiently for the rains to come again. The alien looking catci punctuate the landscape. On South Plazas the vegetation has turned red to conserve energy, it feels like we have arrived on Mars. In the distance a small ancient volcano provides the backdrop as giant birds wheel in the air currents

Lava gull

. The magnificent Frigate Bird looks to me very much the terradactyl with its emmense wing span. The Pelican swoops and dives to cash a mouthfull of fish while the Blue Footed Boobies form regiments before arrowing into the sea at break neck speeds. Giant reptiles bask in the warm afternoon sun, yellow scales glistening, while their red eyes fix you with an unblinking stare. A Marine Iguanna ventures accross a small sea channel, little does he know that the resident white tipped shark has spotted him and is eyeing an easy meal. Beneath the waves the life is even more abundant. The sharks prowl the shore line looking for penguins, baby sea lions and possibly even snorkellers! Giant Rays glide majestically along the sandy bottom while huge sea turtles bank and propel themslves effortlessly through the azzure waters. My favourite snorkelling moments had to be my two underwater penguin encounters... On the first I had one swimming along next to my head whilst I was surrounded by thousans of red and yellow tropical fish. The second was when having just entered the water at James bay I sawe a penguin fly past me chasing fish. I watched it stream through the water as tiny fish jumped intop the air. It caught a fish and then swam back 20 metres to show it to me! It was litterally a foot from my face as it chewed on the little silver fish it had just caught, as if to say "there you go son, that{s how you catch a fish!" Absolutely amazing!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Sleeping bull sea lion	Pelican / terodactyl	South plazas / mars	Big Iguanna
Volcanic wilderness	Galapagos vista	Galapagos penguin	Baby sea lion
Sleeping sea lion	Trip to turtle cove	Sea turtle	Nice pair of boobies
Blue footed boobies	Baby frigate bird	Frigate in flight	Iguanna and sea lion
Galapagos sunset 1	Galapagos sunset 2	Galapagos sunset 3	Flamingo lagoon
Sting ray beach	Giant tortoise	Waved Albatross	Baby albatross!
Snorkellers	Galapagos Hawk	Two sea lions!	Flamingos in salt lagoon
Beach - full of Sting Rays!	Sting Ray!	The Crew!	Lonesome George (aaaaw)
Virgin Mary - Quito	A marine iguana	Chilling	Galapagos snake
Prehistoric paradise	Sally lightfoot crabs

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