The Galapagos Islands

We flew from Quito to Baltra Islands in the Galapagos Islands, which is one hour behind Quito, which makes us that much closer to Seattle time! We were greeted at the airport by our guide, Maurice. We took a bus to the dock, where we took a dingy to our yacht, the Galapagos I. While waiting at the dock we had already seen two sea lions and a marine iguana. We arrived on our boat and settled into our cabin. Our cabin consisted of a bunk bed, small night stand and bathroom. Surprisingly, in comparison to our Amazon riverboat cabin it was less spacious and there was no TV! We had lunch in our dining room, where the 16 in our group ate our meals everyday. The meals were three courses, and pretty tasty. That afternoon we had a wet landing onto Santa Rosa Island, where we took a two hour nature walk. Dry landings mean there is a dock to step onto, while wet landings have no dock and we have to step into the surf. We saw tons of wildlife; birds galore, sea lions, iguanas. We were able to get really close to the animals, as they do not feel threatened by humans. This is the closest we’ve ever been to animals in their natural habitat. After the walk we had time to swim and snorkel on the beach, although didn’t see much. We returned to our boat, and later that night we had a cocktail hour where we were introduced to our crew consisting of eight people. After dinner we went to bed early; we had an early wake up call the next morning, so we needed our beauty sleep!

Maurice woke us up at 6:30am the following morning. Breakfast was supposed to be at 7am, but it was delayed so that we could go out and see some penguins and blue footed boobies that were nearby on shore. We went out on a dingy and were able to get fairly close to them. We returned and finally had breakfast around 8am. After breakfast we got back in the dingy and went to Chinese Hat Island, which surprisingly enough looks like a Chinese hat. We walked around the island for a few hours and learned more about the islands and their formation. We went back to the boat for lunch and sun bathing on the roof. After lunch our guide took us out to go snorkeling. This time was MUCH better! We saw tons of colorful fish, penguins, sea lions, huge star fish, and even sharks! But don’t worry, they were all harmless. The best thing we saw was above the water on the rocks where penguins, marine iguanas and blue footed boobies were all mingling harmoniously. We were the only ones in our group with an underwater camera, so everyone was jealous! Back at the boat we changed and got ready for our afternoon landing. About 40 minutes before leaving it started to rain; and this was supposed to be our “dry landing.” We got our raincoats on and headed out anyways to St. Bartolome. We hiked up a lot of stairs and were able to see some amazing views of the surrounding islands. After a couple hours we headed back into the water for more snorkeling. Although this time wasn’t as good as the last, we still saw some beautiful marine life. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired and looking forward to dinner. However, about an hour before dinner the boat got really rocky. Pretty much everyone (except the crew) was nauseous. We managed to get a little bit of food down and then went straight to bed.

The third day our wake up call was at 5:30am! We headed to James Island, which had a black beach. There were tons of marine iguanas here. They all stand so still, you can barely notice them sometimes. We saw a double fur seal, which is really just a sea lion. The difference is in their fur and the shape of their head. We also saw the Galapagos Hawk, which apparently is rare to see. On the walk back we found a scorpion. It was a lot smaller and less scary then you’d think. When we returned to the boat we went whale and dolphin sighting. We saw a few in the distance, but nothing extremely close up. After lunch we went to Jervis Island, which has a red beach. Who knew sand came in so many colors! We saw more sea lions and even some baby ones that were playing together. So adorable! We saw several different kinds of finches, and learned about how the different species evolved on the islands. We also saw lots of pelicans, which are really freaky looking birds! We went out for one last snorkel, but unfortunately the water was kinda murky. Before dinner we had a farewell cocktail, which tasted like bananas. Around this time the boat started getting rocky again, and some people skipped out on dinner. We made it to the dining hall, but didn’t eat a whole lot. Nicole, from Boston took a few bites and then had to be excused. About 3 seconds later we heard her heaving off the side of the boat. The whole room grew silent for a moment, and then we all burst into laughter. She returned briefly and apologized, which just made us laugh harder. Poor girl! After dinner the boat finally docked, so we were feeling a lot better! We had docked in Puerto Ayora for the night, and a bunch of us decided to go into town. About twelve of us went to a bar and had a few drinks. A couple people started dancing, including our guide who was grinding up on one of the girls. It was hilarious! Us, two British girls, two of the crew members and our guide all went to a disco nearby, La Panga. Apparently, our guide is also an architect because he designed the bar. We drank and danced till around 2am when the place closed. We took a $1 water taxi back to our boat.

The last morning we had to wake up early yet again. We had our last meal on our home away from home, and then headed to the Darwin Research Center. Here we saw giant tortoises. We were able to get really close to them too. We learned that the only real way to know a tortoise’s age is to pour acid on their shell and count the rings, which of course you can’t do while they’re still living. After the center we said our goodbyes and left for the airport. We got back into Quito that evening and checked back into our wonderful hotel. The Galapagos Islands were definitely a big highlight of the trip. The weather was amazing; blue skies and clear blue ocean. It is amazing how much diverse wildlife you are able to see, and how close you can get to it. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime!