Didn’t start off too well… after a big panic/argument in the morning about where the tickets were (and who last saw them etc etc), we set off to the airport not in the best of moods, only to discover when we got there that the passports weren’t in the document case. Bugger. Now at this exact point in time, we were looking at potentially seeing the plane flying off without us, the boat setting sail without us and the best part of 2 grand trailing closely behind it. Also fair to imagine that the ensuing week in Quito wouldn’t have been spent in the best of spirits. Fortunately, the nice people at Quito airport checkin/Galapagos tourist control in Quito/security control/boarding process/Galapagos airport arrivals etc were all kind enough to let us through with nothing more than a photocopy of our passports.
When we arrived, relieved, we bussed over to the main port in the islands to meet up with the others in our boat, then back on shore to check out the Charles Darwin Research Centre, which is the centre for conservation efforts in the islands, and where they breed the giant tortoises to save them from extinction. There’s one old fellow they found 20 years ago, called loneseome George and is 150 yrs old, who is literally the last of his kind, he therefore can’t mate with anyone (though I’m sure if he just followed our example and downed 8 pints of Stella Artois beforehand, he’d find his standards had dropped remarkably, and that he wasn’t too concerned by that point about the particular sub-species he was trying to get it on with.) Another of his buddies, Diego (120 years old), is having more joy, and was busy going at it shamelessly as we wandered round.
Back to the boat, for dinner and to meet our guide proper for the week. There were 15 of us on the boat, a nice bunch, though with so many French that trying to speak in French/Spanish/English got very confusing. Add to that the peculiar variant of English that the guide was speaking, communication wasn’t easy.
We didn’t move overnight, as the next morning we were back on the same island, Santa Cruz, to the see the ‘Gemelos’ (literally ‘twins’), which are a pair of volcanic craters between 100-200 metres wide, and approx 70 metres deep, covered in jungle now. After, disappointingly, no-one managed to fall in, we headed back to the boat again, and (finally) set sail. It was only a short journey of 2 hours, but the waves were choppy enough that at least 2 of the passengers threw up over the side of the boat. Luckily the sea sickness pills that we’d scored in Quito did their job and we felt ok (and through the rest of the week as well).
On arriving on Santa Fe island, Barrington Bay, we had our first snorkelling of the week. Firstly, it was bloody cold, no wetsuits, and I at least was shivering throughout. Having said that, we got to swim with a group of sea lions, eagle rays, giant marine turtles… all pretty incredible really. When you shell out so much money to come to the Galapagos, you’re looking for something unique – maybe you can get to do this elsewhere, but I doubt there’s anywhere else it’s quite so easy, and that the animals show so little fear of you (this was the story throughout the week). We followed this up with a tour of the island, where we saw land iguanas (the yellow ones), and various other odds and sods.
Overnight on the boat, an interesting experience sleeping about two feet from the engine, with the boat swaying from side to side like a rollercoaster, but managed to sleep ok (with the medical assistance of our pills and a bottle of wine we picked up in the port).
Wednesday – Isla Espanola, the most attractive of the islands. On this island you can find it all – sea lions, marine iguanas (the black ones, thousands of them), mocking birds, frigate birds (that look just like terydactyls), albatroses, blue footed and masked boobies (yes, you can buy the t-shirt), hawks, crabs, golondrinas (petrels), swallow tailed gulls, herons, and more sea lions. You have to be really careful wandering along not to step on half of these, there’s just so many of them and they have no fear of humans. At one point, you have a beach with high cliffs, with a big blowhole (where the waves fill up an underground cave with a hole in it, through which the water bursts out in a big tower). It’s a bit like the Antrim coast in Northern Island, or perhaps the west coast of Scotland, but with sunshine. And iguanas, obviously. Spent a good 40 minutes just chilling there, could have happily spent the day there. Albatroses look cool, big and majestic while flying, but unfortunately a bit like a giant version of the kind of rubber duck you have in the bath, when on the ground.
As we went back to the boat, one of the most unexpectedly impressive sights of the week was watching the blue footed boobies (feel free to snigger by the way) diving for fish… they really get speed up, look just like the kamikaze planes from the war, but with blue feet obviously. And they get to go more than once. Also saw penguins at the end, always seems weird to see penguins at the equator.
Spent the afternoon snorkelling again, more swimming with sea lions (this time a big scary one that went for me, or at least looked like he was), plus manta rays, followed by chilling on the beach while our guide tried to chat up one of his colleagues.
Thursday - Isla Floreana, and flamingos. Obviously. Very pink, lots of them. Plus sting rays which you could see from the beach. The guide claimed that they weren’t the dangerous type of stingray, like the ones that killed Steve Irwin in Australia, but the nice friendly ones that do work for charity on Wednesday afternoons, and listen to Dido albums. Didn’t get too close at any rate.
More snorkelling in the afternoon, loads of giant marine turtles, must have seen 6 or 7 of them, and was able to follow behind one for 10 minutes of so until he finally outran (or outswam) me. Trust me, keeping up with a giant turtle is harder than it sounds, in water at least. I’d fancy my chances on dry land. Only disappointment was not seeing any sharks, which most people manage to do at some point (usually hammerheads or white tail). Did get a glimpse of a hammerhead shark swimming under the boat that evening, but not quite the same.
And finally on Friday morning, up early to do a tour round a small island near the airport called North Seymour. Here you had the mating grounds for frigate birds (with their big red chests puffed up to attract their mates, a bit like the Brits out on the piss at the seaside), and the ubiquitous blue footed boobies. Plus more sea lions (by this stage we could have seen a sea lion eating an ice cream singing excerpts from Les Miserables and we wouldn’t have batted an eyelid).
Then finally back to Quito, to hunt (unsuccesfully) for our passports. Overall, a great week, would have liked to have done the 8 day option, but silly money would then have become over sillier.
Gary
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