This first group of pics was on facebook. Scroll down to Day 2 for the other days!
Afternoon Day 1
Afternoon Day 1
We left Guayaquil at noon onboard a white bird taking us to
the Galapagos! Great flight and we were
excited to get to our destination.
Fortunately, all went well and after about an 45 minutes at the airport
on Baltra Island, we boarded a bus to a little port type area where we took a
Panga (aka Zodiac) to our ship, The Eclipse!
Nice ride out to the boat… getting off in the choppy water and landing on the boats platform and then the stairs, not as much fun. But we manage without hurting ourselves! Once on board, they fed up, took care of the safety stuff and announced we were going to North Seymour Island.
Back into the Pango, camera in plastic bag and we headed to shore for a ‘dry landing’… again, one cannot be shy as they jump from the boat to the rocky shore while holding onto the crew’s arms/hands on the way. But, when you do, you are rewarded with great pics! And saw our first ever2 etc for the rest! Blue Footed Booby!
Yup, you just walk among the critters!
Couldn't get a clear pic of this frigate... but the red is a guy blowing up a sac on his neck getting sexy for a female
Day 2 South Plaza
Island and Santa Fe Island
Last night was a bit rolly polly…Took Bonnine to help me sleep. Oh No!
I bought the non drowsy formula.
With a wake up at 6:45am, I was quite frustrated not being able to get a
good nights sleep. But, the next day’s
adventures kept me and us going!
After brekky, went and hiked South Plaza Island. Saw the most vibrant crabs, more sea lions
and saw unique iguanas. They are eating
all the cactus and have even denuded some areas fully. Will create some issues for them, for without
their food source, they will die off. In
this case, the park is trying to resurrect by planting some cacti and protecting the baby plants from the
critters. Lots of birds, and just plain
pretty.
Boat picked up anchor when we returned. We headed to Santa Fe Island. After lunch, we went on a ‘deep water’
snorkel, meaning we enter the water from the panga. We wore wet suits, flippers and our mask…
felt like ‘Sea Hunt” from years gone
by! Borrowed Teri Ehnat’s camera so
Jerry took some pics under water… Fish, sealions and turtles. A good time.
Back on board, then
out again for another hike looking for the Land Iguana. This landing was what they call a wet landing,
where you get out of the panga in shallow water and walk ashore. Then, dry your feet cuz before putting your
shoes back on. This hike would not be
conducive even to flip flops. Lots and
Lots of sea lions, tall, tall, tall cactus trees and FINALLY, hidden in a bush,
a Land Iguana… Fat and dull gold in color.
Almost blended in… and of course, more sealions… They climbed clear up
to the height where we were at. Back to the
beach then, walking around the sealions, and one teenage sealion was wanting to
play… Tried to explain… no we can’t… but she tried
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| Marine Iquana... hanging on the rocks! |
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| Land Iguana |
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| Wanna Play???? |
Day 3
San Cristobel Islan, Pitt Point, the Cerro Brujo
CRAP!!!! 6 AM Hike…
and we do mean hike up cliff… and we made it!
I think the word beautiful gets boring but the sites are pretty in a
different way than sites at home! Today
we saw the Red Footed Booby, Blue Footed Booby, Mockingbirds, Frigates
attaching the Mom Boobys trying to feed their kidllets. I snapped a pretty good shot of that. The hike up had been strenuous, and dog gone
it, if the hike down wasn’t the same path.
Got back to the boat about 8:30 and it was time for
breakfast. After breakfast, had about 45
minutes of downtime, then back on go the swimsuits and wetsuits! Going snorkeling again. So, hard to describe how much cooler this
snorkeling is than what we do in Hawaii.
Many more fish, just as colorful, plus sealions. Saw a really, unique to us, starfish. And the Sargent Major fish, very colorful and
big. Schools of yellow tipped something
or others. Got back to the boat a little
after noon, showered and really relaxed.
At our lunch, started reading on the upper deck… and next thing you
know, we just wanted to be lazy. The
boat moved to another beach on the island about 3 hours away. The next adventure was going to be going to
shore to ‘play and swim’ on the beach.
We looked at each other and thought, naw, let’s just stay here and
read. We had just showered, etc., I
mean, you feel our thought process! The
boat had a hot tub topside, plenty of lounges to lay back, enjoy the view, read
and then snooze…
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| Yup, hiked up that puppy!!! |
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| Our shadows on the hill... |
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| Red Footed Booby's mate for life |
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| Frigate coming in to swipe the food the mother Booby was giving to her kidlet (who is a large kidlet by the way). She did fend him off! |
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| Marine Iguana |
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| Swimming with wild sealions who don't mind us at all! |
Day 4
Floreana Island, Post Office Bay & Baroness Viewing
Point then onto Chamion Islet and
Comorant Point
We headed to shore after breakfast… another wet
landing. To make it a little more
exciting, there were gobs of stingrays right at the shore. All I could think of was Steve Irwin… and how
he died. These were small, but non-the
less one had to be respectful and just drag you feet so they know you’re coming
and they will run away.
Walked to the Post Office which in the days of old was just
an old whiskey barrel where the pirates with put their mail with the hopes of
other pirates/ships picking it up if they were returning to where the address
was on the note. It’s amazing how long
communication took back then… but it did take place! And the communication
continues with modern day sojourners! We left a couple postcards and picked up
a couple that we will deliver when we get home.
Back on board for lunch, then another journey out in the
panga for some deep water snorkeling, meaning you enter the water from the
boat. Another great Sea Hunt
moment! Weren’t as many fish as
yesterday, but did see a barracuda below.
Also, the friendly sea lions zipping by.
The water was a little choppy, but the current was with us, so swimming
was easy. The water here was nutrient
rich with krill and plankton, so at times when the sun shone on it, it looked a
bit cloudy. We left the underwater camera on
the mother ship, so we don’t have
pictures! Still, another wonderful day
of adventure!
Later in the afternoon after going back to the ship, we changed and went back to land... another hike... and FLAMINGOS! hard to believe...
We had a long sail to
the next island for tomorrows sights.
They warned us the ride might not be as smooth. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t what I
would choose. The best part of the sloppy sea ride is that everyone, crew
included, walked like drunken sailors!
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| The Mail Box.... Fun taking out postcards that we will deliver when back home! |
Day 5
Isabela Island Elizabeth Bay -
Moreno Point
Well, the even wasn’t too bad, but there was some pretty
good rocking and rolling till we got out
of the channel. Then, smooth… ahhhh… nice!
Took a Panga ride out to Elizabeth Bay where you are not
allowed to land anywhere. It was pretty
cool! Mangroves everywhere… AND TALL
ONES… as big as trees. We saw Galapago
Penguins, Land Cormorants, Turtles, Sea Lions, schools of fish below, Sting
Rays, and, did I say Turtles? There were
Pelicans, Frigates, on the list goes.
Our guides and Panga drivers do such good jobs getting us out there into
the nooks and crannies. Even the
sealions found their way into the Mangrove Roots, about 4 feet off the water
and could snooze.
The great thing on this trip are the Naturalist. Man, they have some much information in their
brains that they impart to us. How the
islands formed, what species are there, the ones introduced by pirates,
etc., Javier and Paulina were awesome!!!
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| Penguins!!! |
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| Land Cormorant getting his breakfast! |
Day 6 Santa Cruz Island
We picked up anchor about 3 in the afternoon the previous
day and sailed all night. Was so calm
till we went around the tip of the island.
Got a little choppier, but nothing really awful. Jer and I and 6 other folks had planes to
catch in the morning, so the boat was on a mission to get us there in plenty of
time. Alas, the best laid plans don’t
always work the way you envisioned. Woke
us a 6 for a 6:45 departure on a Panga to the Panga pier. Looking out our window, I mentioned to Jer
there was no way we were going ashore at 6:45… we hadn’t even made it into the
bay. Sure enough, Javier and Paulina sat and talked with us. The original plan was to see the giant
tortoises on the way. Good news came for
us but bad news for two other folks.
Ends up our plane was delayed an hour, turtles would be on our way. Carola and Maria’s plane left at 10, so they
could not see the sanctuary. (Did hear
from Carola that they did get to see some of the on the road… yes, they just
walk down the highway and drivers wait for them to cross.)
After we landed, got on our van and zipped out to see the
Turtles. Pretty cool looking
creatures. The population was almost
wiped out due to the ‘old’ days when Pirates and Sailors landed, they would
take the tortoises for their meat. So
sad. Then, when some came back to settle
the island, they brought goats for milk, cheese, etc. Well guess what, the few turtles left suddenly
were competing for food with the goats… and the goats were winning. The Islands have spent much effort in getting
rid of all the goats on many of the islands (talking sharp shooters from
Australia and helicopters) and it has been successful. So very interesting what happens when humans
muck up a natural ecosystem. Same thing
happened bringing cats to islands, etc.
Pics taken and now 40 more minutes to the ferry, which
would take us to Baltra Island where the airport is. Interesting little ferry and interesting way
to get on and get off. No handrails, no
lines pulling the ferry to shore, just sorta jump (okay, it was a very small
jump, but the boat was bobbing making it a bit more dicey). On our way we saw Blue Footed Bobbies in a
feeding frenzy… flying and diving for food!
Got to the airport and we were all checked in and could
catch our breath for the next leg of the trip!
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