The Galapagos
Did I ever tell you about the time we went to the Galapagos? I had always wanted to go, having been brought up on David Attenborough’s trips on the BBC when I was growing up; it turns out I had no real understanding of just how big an area it was, or how rich in life it is. Of course, not all paths run smooth in life and certainly not in travel; and this was no exception as I will tell you all about.
“sometimes No hablo español is a good thing!”
We booked our trip through Happy Gringo in Quito. It was a bit of a slog to get to their offices from our hostel in the old town, and the return journey had a run in with the law who (correctly) assumed that the people riding in that car were using an illegal ride-sharing service, sometimes “No hablo español” is a good thing! There are two main routes available and we chose a tour that would take us to the Western islands. We had to book an early flight to meet our boats departure, or so we were told by our travel adviser (it turns out they tell this to everyone, but we were the only ones who took any notice), and so, after a 5am flight from Quito; our day of waiting began.
We got to our boat and were pleased to discover that our cabin was above the water line; we had heard stories about chronic sea sickness for people staying below, and we didn’t want to spend what time we had laying down on a floor trying not to spew any more. And so, we waited; as more members of our group began to arrive and introduce themselves, it was a good mix of young and old from across the globe and with the sighting of a humpback breaching off the coast it all seemed like the trip was going to be memorable. That afternoon we set sail for Santa Fe and Plaza, where we enjoyed our first taste of snorkeling with the sea lions and caught our first glimpse of the famous Galapagos iguanas!
We’re gonna need a different boat!
We docked that night at Santa Cruz and it was there where the trip took a turn for the worse. Our guide spoke at dinner, and told us we were not going to like what he said; the Aida Maria had engine failure and could not continue with just one operating engine, the mood in the room just dropped. He explained that there were no other boats operating in the area heading West, so our group was to be split across a number of different boats. We at least got to stay with a couple of Dutch girls that we had been chatting to; but the rest of the group were leaving the following day. We had only spent around 36 hours with them; but sharing a once in a lifetime experience bonds you with people, so we were gutted. We were asked to wait in Santa Cruz (one of the few inhabited islands) for our new boat The Angelito, who would pick us up in 3 days time and take us back the way we had just come past Santa Fe and Plaza, and then onto Espanola. This was disappointing as we would lose 2 days at sea waiting, would be repeating part of the trip and would be heading East rather than West, but we had very little choice so figured we’d go for it.
The giant tortoise at the Darwin centre
Whilst we waited for our new boat they arranged a day trip in Santa Cruz where we went to the Darwin centre and saw the famous giant tortoises of the Galapagos. We were then joined by some more new shipmates, who were due to join us at Santa Cruz on the Aida Maria for the rest of our planned trip but were soon given the news that they were to join us on the Angelito. In this new group was a French couple who had already changed boats once because their previous ship had sunk a few days prior (not a great sign) and a couple of American ladies that were travelling together; these along with our Dutch friends would be our travel partners for the next few days. That afternoon we had a lovely lunch of prawns and salad. One of the prawns must have visited some shady grazing areas as that afternoon, just ahead of another tour on land in Santa Cruz. I started to feel a little off. While Kezia went on the trip I stayed behind, swapping between the fetal position and an explosive weight loss program. It was not a fun 12 hours, not least for Kezia due to the toilet in our cabin being behind a wicker door, with my knees literally touching the door; wicker is not renowned for its acoustic properties, nor for its ability to seal a room. It was a rough night.
A day trip to Puerto Villamin
The following morning, they arranged a day trip to Puerto Villamin, I was still not feeling 100% but as our boat was broken down, they had arranged water taxis each way and an overnight stay and I thought I could manage it. 3 hours later …. a loud, bumpy, vibrating fast boat, in rough seas, seated opposite a lovely French lady who was constantly throwing up into the smallest bag was a real test but one that I passed. We spent the day exploring, with snorkeling in the morning and an afternoon trip to a volcano in the afternoon. I skipped the afternoon trip to catch up on some sleep, but by all accounts it was well worth seeing. Another fast boat in the morning took us back to Santa Cruz where we would await The Angelito. To make the most of our morning, we booked a local tour in Santa Cruz that took us by boat to a few snorkelling spots, we also visited the tortoise farm which was fantastic; the breeding programme they have was great to see (not like that!) and it was good to know they were ensuring these majestic creatures would be around for a few more thousand years!
Salvation arrives in the form of our new guide..
Later that day we met our guide from The Angelito, her name was Maya and she was dressed in khaki with some all terrain sandals, very much how I expected a nature guide to look; this was looking up. We were taken to our new vessel and she was a beaut, gone were the bunk beds and micro bathroom, we now had single beds with an area between, the bathroom whilst not cavernous had a bit more room, the door was a real door too so if there were any more bad food related incidents, noses would be spared. We set sail that night for Espanola and a shot at redemption for the trip, but this leg of the trip would deliver so much more..
It soon became clear on the first morning just how much of a guide Maya would be, there was nothing she didn’t know about the flora and fauna on the island and boy was there a lot of different species! We saw the bright red crabs (Sally Lightfoot crabs) that were everywhere, land iguanas, marine iguanas, seals, Darwin finches, frigate birds, lizards, albatross, albatross chicks! Hawks, nazca boobys, it was incredible, and you can understand that this part of the trip was the one where my camera go the biggest workout!
Santa Fe and Plaza Norte
The next few days took us to Santa Fe and Plaza Norte, Maya continued to guide like a demon, facts, passion, stories, all told as if it was the first time she had seen things, had been asked these questions, it was so much more than we could have ever hoped for. We explored beneath the waves too, snorkeling in the Galapagos gave a glimpse into another world rich with diverse life, across the trip we swam with reef sharks, sea lions, turtles, penguins and so many different fish. We also saw many types of whale, humpback, blue, pilot (look at the video that shows our morning greeting from one pod). The water was cold to freezing, with one of our last dives a real challenge to breathe through a snorkel; but so worth it for what we got to experience. We were hooked by this, the dream we had held since childhood, that had appeared so close to being snuffed out; was being realised in an amazing way. It was a shame that we would only have a few days of this before our trip was to end, but then came a twist in the tale…
Westward Ho!
One evening after dinner, my wife and our Dutch friends were speaking with Maya and talking about how much we had loved our time with her and the crew; she had seen how much we were enjoying our time, how fascinated we were with everything we saw, and had acknowledged our keen eyes for wildlife. She mentioned that they were sailing on for a further 5 days with no additional passengers from where we would be dropped off, she said she had been touched by our enthusiasm and the sad story of our previous trip and offered for us to continue with them, in exchange for basic costs for food and fuel. They even offered to help us to change our flights, at their expense. Words cannot express how this news was received. I cannot help but smile widely at the memory of it all, how surreal, how fantastic; how lucky we were to have this opportunity. It all came to be, we kept our rooms and got to carry on our trip past Santa Cruz; Westward Ho! to waters of migrating whales, oceans rich in aquatic life; and a bona fide active volcano spewing lava into the sea at night. Bucket list item ticked? More like annihilated!!!
Goodbye old friends, hello new..
We dropped off our American and French friends at the airport on Isla Baltra and gained some German friends in the trade, off we went to explore where we had not been before. Firstly, to Las Bachas, Isla Mosquera, and Cerro Del Dragon, snorkelling, walking the island and coves, taking heaps of pictures of the locals. Further additions to those seen previously were flamingos, cacti, Oystercatchers and a real shock was to see a scorpion at Cerro Del Dragon!
Our days from here on in followed a very similar pattern in terms of structure. Early rise with a light breakfast, into the small inflatable boats to head to whichever island we had come to see, back for breakfast, a cruise to the next location, maybe some snorkelling, lunch, a nap as we cruised to the next location, back into the boats for a trip to a cove or back in the water for a snorkel, some downtime then dinner and a couple of drinks, but most times it was to bed as we were so exhausted from seeing and doing so many things throughout the day.
The crew of the Angelito
The crew of the Angelito were incredible, from the chef (who was great) to the barman, the captain of the boat, the other sailors, and all of the deck hands; they all made us feel very welcome, even if the majority of us could not speak much Spanish (Kezia excluded – thank goodness). This makes all the difference on these trips, our experience on the Aida Maria was different, I never felt very comfortable on there, it felt almost like I was intruding in their space, not being welcomed in. This could have been down to the fact that they knew the boat was faulty and that we wouldn’t be there for long, but the gap between my impression of the crews was vast.
Whales ahoy!
One morning we were travelling down the west coast of Isabela to Tagus Cove when we awoke to the excited squeals of Maya, we got ourselves up and out of the cabin to see what the fuss was about. When we got up on deck, we saw a huge pod of pilot whales surrounding the boat, all breaching to breathe, there were loads of them! We must have spent at least 30 minutes stood in awe watching these amazing creatures, just being, they must have been as curious of us as we were of them, I challenge you to find a more magical way to start your day; I DARE YOU!!
Tagus Cove and the flightless cormorants..
Tagus Cove was amazing, we took a boat to Isabela in the morning and walked up the hill to look back over the cove and Darwins salt water crater lake. There was some really beautiful vegetation on the island, contrasting colours against the turquoise of the lake and the blue sky. Look for the graffiti and inscriptions in the rocks, it is said that they are from the many sailors who have used the cove to shelter from rough seas over the years. Afterwards we snorkelled in the cove, where some penguins joined us in the water, diving past us, heading deeper to where the good eating was. Flightless cormorants (endemic to the Galapagos) lined the shore, drying themselves after a morning of diving for their breakfast, it was a lovely, peaceful place to visit.
Next stop was to Fernandina, the island to the right of Isabela, we took a boat to its shore and explored inland. There was an impressive skeleton of a whale on the volcanic rock, a short walk inland. Marine iguanas were here in large numbers, there were piles of them all laying together trying to get warm, the smell was pretty strong! We also saw cormorants feeding their young via the regurgitation technique, this was both amazing and pretty gross at the same time; but another of natures wonders seen with our own eyes for the first time.
The Mangroves of Isabela..
From Fernandina we headed back towards Isabela to Bahia Elizabeth where we would take the smaller boats into the Mangroves to see some more bird life, turtles, sharks and rays all swimming under and around our boats as we slowly maneuvered through the mangroves; trying not to disturb anything as we went. It was here that I managed to get a picture of a mangrove finch, but more interestingly the Galapagos flycatcher; much to the chagrin of our resident twitcher! Back out to the ocean and we saw many seals, turtles, boobys, pelicans, and got to see lots of the bird life dive bombing the ocean, obviously after a large shoal of fish that were making their way across the top. Inland we saw more of the Galapagos giant tortoise, iguanas, birdlife and some beautiful flowers. Setting sail that night to get closer to Punta Moreno we got to see the active Sierra Negra volcano that had been spewing molten lava into the ocean for the past few weeks, it was an amazing sight but very difficult to capture from the distance we had to maintain.
We were into our final day, but considering how our fortunes had changed, we could not be too saddened by the end of the trip, after all we were heading next to Peru, Bolivia and down, but more on that later. Today was to take us to Punta Moreno and to see the landscape there, all cooled lava flows and it looks pretty barren and uninhabited, but upon closer inspection you find all sorts of basic plant life, natural pools with the odd flamingo (or 4 in a row!). There was also an in-land pool complete with a ray and a white tipped reef shark! The day ended with a viewing of a blue whale that we spotted and tried to follow to grab pictures, it’e easier said than done when they’re on the move, but to see them with our own eyes was enough.
Looking back at the trip, it ended up better than we could’ve dreamed of. Finding Maya and ending up on the Angelito was nothing short of a miracle, if we hadn’t had the initial bad luck we would not have seen the things we saw. If you are planning a trip to the Galapagos, do your research, think about the kind of things you want to see, what you want to do with your time, do you want to snorkel, do you want luxury accommodation, are you on a tight budget; read up on the many different boats and their crews as this could inform your decision. Most of all choose a sustainable option and only give your business to those who are truly striving to preserve this unique natural treasure. Not all guides or crews behave in the same way or have the same priorities. If you can, choose a local outfit – rather than one of the big foreign boats. Don’t be afraid to leave it until you get to Quito to book, if you have time on your side you may get a real bargain; just don’t let on to your fellow passengers as they may have paid significantly more than you!
If you have any interest in the Galapagos, go there; don’t wait, don’t procrastinate. It may not be there forever, and if you don’t see it then believe me when I say, you would really be missing out.