Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Sunday 2nd Aug - Wednesday 5th August - Galapagos Islands
So, as I previously mentioned, had to get up at 5.30- horrible! The flight went via Quayaquil, and after a stop there, continued to the islands. We arrived by about 10.15 local time (one hour behind the rest of Ecuador). You have to pay 100 dollars to enter the Galapagos, approx 60 pounds, which is quite a lot, but hopefully the money goes to preservation and conservation of the islands and is well worth paying to be able to visit. They check bagagge on arrival to make sure you are not bringing in anything prohibited, this includes fruit and vegetables! A short 5 minute bus ride took us to where the boats were, and on getting off the bus we saw several sea lions lying on the benches in the shade! We got a panga, which is like a motorised dingie, to our boat- GAP Adventurer 1, el Pelikano. We had a welcome briefing from our guide Fabrizio, then were given our cabins (unfortnately I got the top bunk in mine). We had a delicious lunch were setting off for about an hour to get to our first destination, I was pretty tired and lay down and snoozed on the lower deck. We went to Bachas beach, which is on Santa Cruz Island, though myself and Andrea (in my cabin) missed the panga transfer as we'd been asleep and weren't ready and the guide said he'd leave 15 minutes after ringing the bell, but they went early! LOL! The panga took us over to the beach and we caught up with the group for a short walk. We saw our first marine igunana and one flamingo in the lagoon, as the guide said, one is better than none! There were lots of red crabs on the rocks (which was a regular site on the islands we visited) and we saw another marine igunana in the sea this time, they swim to go and eat the algae off the rocks. They can be over one meter in length, but these were fairly small ones. After the walk we could go snorkelling off the beach, I went in briefly, to get myself used to snorkelling again, saw a few fish. After showers and before dinner there was a briefing for the next day's activities then a welcome cocktail (Pina Colada!) where the crew were introduced. Dinner was again lovely, in fact the food on board was all really good. Very early night, probably asleep by 9, if not before, was so tired.....
We had travelled overnight so the next morning we were at our first destination called Sombrero Chino Island, "Chinese hat" island, due to its shape. We had another wet landing, transfer by panga to the beach, and went for a walk. There were lots of sea lions on the beach and young ones playing in the waves. We saw more marine iguanas and various birds. Then we did snorkelling and it was fantastic- we snorkelled with Galapagos penquins!! They are pretty small, I think the second smallest penquins, but swim around very quickly, darting around between us snorkellers! I took some pictures with an underwater disposable camera, which I really hope will come out- the people with proper digital underwater ones had some great pics.We also saw lots of different brightly coloured fish and a few white tip reef sharks- I was very scared on the first sighting, but once I realised they really do have no interest in people and just stayed near the sea bed I was ok!
In the afternoon we travelled to Bartolome Island. You could snorkel in the afternoon, but I didn't as I wasn't feeling great. After we went for a hike to the 114 metre summit of the island- it was a lot of steps (300 odd) to get there but fantastic views.
Right, second attempt to finish writing about the Galapagos Islands....better work this time! :-)
WE travelled overnight again to get to our next destination, Santiago Island. It was a very early start, off the boat at 6am!! On the island we saw some of the same wildlife again but also some fur sea lions. There were lots of lava pools and inlets, with lovely blue/clear water. The rocks were very slippery though, luckily no one fell. After the walk we had breakfast back on board then travelled to our next island, Rabida Island. After an early lunch we went for a walk on the island, this one was different as it had red sand, but I forget the reason why! We were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming by whilst admiring the beautiful views, which was cool! Our last snorkel was next, and whilst getting ready we finally saw some blue footed boobies (birds!!), actually there were not close enough for me to be able to tell but on looking at someone´s picture with a x12 zoom I could see that´s what they were! As we entered the sea from the beach there were lots of sea lions swimming around. I was a bit scared to start, but soon realisec that once i was snorkelling and could actually see where they were it was not so scary! It was really good fun, and they swam all around us, pretty close by! We then carried on snorkelling, folllowing the rocks of the cove round. Saw quite a few different fish, but as we turned round the corner the current was too strong for me and I just kept getting nowhere! I gave up and went back in the panga, which turned out to be a real shame as the others got to snorkel with/see a sea turtle! I was a bit gutted, but at least I´d seenone earlier and I can´t really complain as I got to snorkell with penguins and sea lions! What an experience!
As soon as we got on the boat it set off for the 6 hour trip to our final destination so from 2 til 8 we were at sea- it was horrible! I felt so ill.....I was never sick, but just felt sick and had an awful headache. I spent most of it curled up on my bunk, either asleep, or trying to sleep to escape from it! Comedy moment or moments when I had to go to the toilet, getting off my bunk was the first challenge, then in the toilet i whacked my head on the toilet paper dispenser due to the movement of the boat! Next problem: getting back on my (top) bunk....I must have been standing of my laddrer swaying back and forth for a few moments before i managed the move to the actual bed! Ha ha, but not very amusing at the time! We arrived at Santa Cruz Island and there was a farewell cocktail with the crew before dinner, and the guide told us it hadn´t even been that rough at sea!
The next day we had to be off the boat at 6am again! We had a quick visit to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, where we got to see various species of tortoises, including the giant ones, which really were huge! Some of them were between 100 and 150 years old!We also saw lonesome George, the last of his species, and at 90 years old they don´t think he´ll ever reproduce, the guide seemed to think he wasn´t able to as they have tried previously to mate him with a similar species. The downside of this morning was we had to rush round the centre, only to get to the tiny airport with a two hour wait and then our flight was delayed so we didn´t actually leave til 1pm!
Back to Quito hotel for about 6 and went out for dinner with Hanne and Megan (who had also been on the Ecuador trip) and another couple from the boat. We had a lovely indian meal for about 3 quid- bargain!
I´m so glad I got to go to the Galapagos Islands, but I have to say I was pleased to get back on dry land! Though I loved seeing the wildlife and islands, and I´d have liked to see more, I don´t think I could have done the 7 day trip as had originally been planned!
- comments