Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - part 1

Visiting the Galapagos Islands has been a fantastic experience for us. We got to see so much wildlife and animal behaviour, as well as spending much time in or on the water. Truly an amazing week! We hope the blog posts, pics and video go some way to show you all what we´ve seen and done.



WARNING: These few blog posts are lengthy with a lot of detail, pics and video. A lot of it is meant for us (like a travel journal to remind of us of all the wonderful things we did and saw) so please bear with us and feel free to skim through - but def check out the pics and video!

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So then, on to the main event. To be fair, so much of what we´ve already seen and done in S. America could be considered as a ´main event´, but the Galapagos Islands is the highlight that most people have been very excited to hear about when we´ve listed our itinerary out. This was going to be an experience of a lifetime!!

Why the Galapagos Islands are so special and home to an amazing variety of wildlife:
- the islands lie directly on the Equator line
- the islands are relatively young (1-4 million years vs. Hawaii for example at tens of millions of years)
- the biological isolation of the Islands by sea, combined with their volcanic formations and warm and cold currents have led to an astounding variety of habitats and species
- each island has a different set of unique species due to both isolation by sea and variations in island age and topography: in the East, islands like San Cristobal and Espanola are older, flatter and more eroded; in the West, Fernandina and Isabella have young active volcanoes and high, rugged and less eroded peaks; taller islands have humid zones in the highlands supporting a wide variety of native plants and animals not found in the coastlands.
- the diversity of life in the Galapagos is truly an evolutionary wonder. With relatively little human contact until the early 1900s (except some pirates and bucaneers who killed many of the tortoises for meat and oil), many species are endemic to the islands.
- Galapagos was so named because the Spanish settlers referred to the saddle-backed shape of tortoises as galapaga.

Protecting the Galapagos:
Owing to it´s world-famous stature, there are some very strict rules enforced on the Islands to protect them from further human destruction.
- since 1998, only people native to the Islands could live and work their indefintely; everyone else (tourists and mainland Equadorians alike) must pay National Park entrance fees (US$100) and receive a transit card at the airport clearly stating how long they can spend on the islands. The government is cracking down hard on illegal residents on the islands.
- all bags are checked when arriving in to the Islands and when moving from island to island. This is to ensure no animals, plants, seeds, fruits, coral etc. is transferred from one island to the other thus ruining the unique ecology of each island - we heard startling stories of the destruction caused by ´introduced´ species (like ants, rats, goat) from early 1900s, wiping out populations of animals and plants.
- all incoming flights and checked in baggage are sprayed to prevent any foreign insects from getting on the Islands.

And 1 more thing...
Before we get any further, let us dispell a myth that we´d run in to before this trip. You CAN LIVE on the islands - you don´t have to spend each night on a boat cruise-ship style. In fact, thousands of people spend their lives on the islands to help with the big tourism and fishing industries. There are towns large and small, plenty of shops, bars and restaurants - some islands are more built up than others as we would soon discover.



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DAY 1:
Tour group in tow, we headed for the airport in Quito to catch our flight to the island of San Cristobal - the first stop in our 8 day tour of the Islands. After a 3.5 hour flight via Guayaquil (Ecuador´s biggest city), we arrived in Galapagos. We were met by bright sunshine, intense heat and humidity - immediately we were reminded of the sweltering days we spent in Brazil.



After settling in to our hotel (a much-appreciated luxury after our days in hostels), we were straight out for our afternoon activity. We drove up through El Progresso to a mountain top to be introduced to the Galapagos Islands, some of its flora and fauna and of course great views across to the neighbouring islands and Pacific ocean. We then rode down the hill on mountain bikes, stopping a few times to admire the view and learn about some of the history of San Cristobal. For example, a long time ago, a powerful slave trader took hundreds of slaves and made them work tirelessly to help cultivate introduced crops. It was only a matter of time before his closest allies turned on him and killed him.



We finished our bike ride on the bach and the main promenade of San Cristobal. Just last year, the whole sea front had been done up to celebrate Charles Darwin´s 125 year anniversary. It was very pretty with wooden benches and huts, paved pictures of the wildlife and marine-inspired children´s playground. On the shore front, we saw a big colony of sea lions, beached up on the sand, basking in the final sunlight on the pavements and even on the children´s slide! Some were swimming in the shallow waters, young pups suckled on their mothers, bigger sea lions waddled over other smaller sea lions to snap up the best spots on the beach - it was a remarkable sight and one we watched for some time! Some of the juvenile sea lions were very curious and happy to come up quite close to you. Also on the beack rocks, were lots and lots of bright orange crabs. We even spotted a couple of small marine iguanas. We soon found out that these picture-perfect moments, featuring a trio of different animals, were to be a common occurrence on our trip!
Watch the video below and keep an eye out on the sea lion behind Navita! (video coming soon, sorry!)



DAY 2:
Today was our first chance to see some of the abundant and beautiful marine life so unique to these islands. Early starts were common on this trip, so by 8am we were on a boat heading off to another part of the San Cristobal island. Here we donned snorkelling gear and jumped out in to a shallow lagoon near Isla Lobos (Sea Lion Island), protected from the Pacific by natural rock formations. Pretty much immediately we were greeted by large sea turtles, serenely swimming their way across the sea bed. Alkesh managed to tear his eyes away from this sighting, only just in time to see a sting ray crossing right in front of him. Wow! This was the Galapagos Islands! As soon as he saw it, he froze and gazed in amazement in how effortlessly it floated through the water. We then swam over to hang out with some marine iguanas and a nursery of baby sea lion pups who were plopping in and out of the water. With the adult sea lions away catching food, the young ones were left unprotected and so we got a closer look at them playing in and out of the water, thanks to the snorkelling masks. Amusingly, the pups were curious and happy to play and come up quite close to us - we wished we had an underwater camera to capture these sightings.





Let´s not forget the bird life either. Since it was mating season, we were treated to aerial displays of male frigates, with their bulbous red throats as they fought for the females´ attention. Other sightings included a pelican diving for fish and some blue footed boobies (yes, that is what the birds are really called! - and Mona, I managed not to laugh as much as when we were up on Mount Titlis!!) perched high up on the rocks.





After snorkelling for almost an hour, we headed back on to the boat and made our way to a second snorkelling location - Kicker Rock. This time we were out in the open sea when we dived in to go snorkelling. The late morning sun was getting mighty strong, so a dip in the water was very welcome. Here we saw many types of large fish and schools of other fish with the odd sea lion thrown in for good measure. Alas no sharks like we had been promised - but I mean, come on, it was only day 2 for goodness sake! Alkesh got a dose of sun burn on his lower back during this session in the water and we both realised how strong the sun really was on the Equator. Fortunately, we´d been tipped off back in Quito and so we had factor 60 (!) sun block with us.

We were starting to get to know our tour group better by this point. Spending so much time together meant we got over the initial introductions and swapping of travel itineraries. We ate all our meals together and often enjoyed a drink or two or a game of cards in the evenings. We were fortunate to be on a trip with a great group of people from different backgrounds and ages.


DAY 3:
Today we left San Cristobal island and made our way to Isabella island - the largest island of the Galapagos archipelago and home to 4 volcanoes, including Sierra Negra that last erupted in 2005. We broke up the day and long boat ride to Isabella with several stops. First off, we stopped off at Luz del Dia for snorkelling. Here we were treated to some awesome sightings of white tipped sharks, many more turtles and even a junior eagle ray! Oh and there were plenty of tropical multi-coloured fish to boot! And if this wasn´t enough, we also spotted some small penguins. Galapagos penguins only grow to be 1-1.5ft tall but they are adorable. These penguins were on the rock and swimming near us in the water - then we saw one waddle out of the rock to join it´s companion on the rock and then they hugged / kissed... it was so cute (and no, I´m not guilty of anthropomorphising anything!!). It was a great snorkelling trip but all too soon it was over and we were back on the boat.



Our next stop was at Floreana island. Now this island has quite a lot of history as it was where the first German settlers arrived (early 1900s) and started to make a life for themselves from very very humble beginnings - living in a cave to begin with as it took them 3 months to build a tin shack. Unlike the other more urban islands, the Floreana community never expanded beyond a few families and today the island has a population of just 100 peoople. As the German settlers became accustomed to their then-harsh surroundings, people started stopping by to visit them - fellow travellers or sailors. These people would bring the German family household items and foodstuffs. Back then, tortoises were prized for their meat so the Germans received several of the tortoises. The Germans decided to keep 1 such tortoise alive and it still lives today - and we saw it. It was massive! Tortoises can live to be very old, say up to 120 years old, because (after their first few years (when their shells are very fragile and vunerable to destruction)) they have very few / no natural predators.





After a short hike in the intense heat and many changes of hat-bandana-sport cap combos (Alkesh was still trying to get used to the heat and protect his scalp!), we arrived at a small beach. It was supposed to be a sealion nursery but they were not around when were there but the morning´s snorkel had sure made up for that! After this, we once again boarded back on the boat for our last part of the trip to Isabella island.



Close to the mainland of Isabella, we passed Isla Tortuga. The boat slowed down to show us an amazing vista of Frigates mating and Nasca boobies. We saw many male frigates with their tell-tale red bulbous throats - some were even pecking one another as they tried to get the females. It was great to watch and we were pleased to find out that some of us would return another day to do some diving round Isla Tortuga.

It had been a long and hot day but very rewarding. Alkesh snoozed on the boat, but I woke him up with shouts of ´whales, whales!´. Yes, whilst travelling on the boat we had (accidentally?!) come across an entire school of Pilot whales who seemed to be crossing the channels between the islands. Carlos, our guide, said we were very lucky as Pilot whales where rare in the islands, esp. at this time of year. There were 10s of them appearing on both sides of the boat and very close to us too. Alkesh didn´t bother fetching his camera, knowing too well that whale sightings were too unpredictable given our experience on the west coast of Canada. Instead we just kept a keen eye out on the water and marvelled when they breached the water for a precious glimpse of their bodies.



What a great day, island hopping and snorkelling and even spotting some whales! I know we don´t have any faithful photos to back up any of the above but suffice to say, you must come the Galapagos to see it all for yourself! We finally arrived in Isabella - it was a lovely small town where the roads were still dirt tracks and eveyone seemed to know everyone. We were greeted by many small children waving and saying hello to us. That night was the last night of a 3-day festival, commemorating the birth of the town. Unfortunately the festivities didn´t start until after midnight, which was just a little to late for our bedtime (boring! I know, but it had been a long day already).