The Galapagos Islands

The week I spent in the Galapagos Islands was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life. It is so beautiful there, and it amazes me how people can discover a place like that and be able to keep it as pristine as it is today.

We took an airplane from Quito to Guayaquil, sat at the terminal for about 35 minutes and then we were off the the Galapagos! After about an hour and a half plane ride, we arrived at the island of Baltra where we unloaded our luggage and took a bus to the bay where our yacht- the Daphne was waiting. The crew took over our luggage and we took a little zodiac- called a panga- to the yacht. The yacht was not huge, like a cruise ship or anything, but pretty big. It could hold 16 people, besides the crew. We picked our rooms and got situated while we traveled to the first stop- a beach on Santa Cruz (Playa las Bachas). The beach on Santa Cruz was wonderful, the sand was organic and brushed right off without sticking. It was made up of coral pieces chewed up by parrot fish. After our walk we got our first chance to swim off the Galapagos! I went in slower than most everyone else- they are from Boston and think the water is warm. ha! The water was very clear- a beautiful turquoise. and sparkled like I have never seen. That night we had a welcome cocktail and the crew were all introduced. The boat captain looked exactly how I would imagine one to look. He was very dark skinned, shaved head, with an octopus tattoo on his right shoulder, a tribal band around his arm, a tribal sea turtle on his had and lettering on his fingers. There were three chefs that made the most amazing food. Their kitchen was very small- I don't know how the managed it. The food was very healthy, we go fresh fruit juice every morning with toast, eggs, sausage, French toast, granola with yogurt, and fruits. For lunch we had differing foods, always followed by dessert, as was dinner. Every time we got done with snorkeling, they made us a snack, or hot chocolate. Our guide was named Rafa and had the funniest laugh I have ever heard. Its hard to describe, kinda like a hiah hiah hiah! if you can imagine it. His grandparents were one of the first to the Galapagos, and he grew up there. He has been all over the world and has worked for National Geographic as an underwater photographer. Very cool.

The next day, we went to the islands of South Plazas and then to Santa Fe. I got to see bunches of marine iguanas, sea lions and swallow tail gulls (one of my new favorite birds- gery, black and white plumage with red feet and red rings around its eyes)Rafa also pointed out a rare cross between a marine and land iguana. It had brownish and yellow stripes. We snorkeled around off the panga- the water was cold! Our professor, who hates the cold, was wearing a wet suit! Wet suits were available to rent for 20 dollars. I decided I could so without one. I wasn't expecting coldness that close to the equator! But the ocean current on the south side of the equator is the Humbolt Current and brings cold waters up along the coast of Peru.

The third day we went to Española. In the morning we went ashore at Punta Suárez, and then in the afternoon to Bahia Gardner (Gardner Bay). The sand on Bahia Gardner was like flour, and blindingly white.

On the fourth, we visited Floreana and went to Bahía del Correo and in the afternoon to Punta Cormorant. There we got to see the first blue footed boobie (my other new favorite bird) The chicks are soooo fuzzy. The males make a funny whistling sound- very much like the toy straw thing you twirl over your head. The females made a honking noise. They were constantly dancing (stepping slowly and skypointing- a movement where the male points his tail, beak, and wings towards the sky.) They nest on the ground and take turns incubating and caring for the chick. The day was ended with a beautiful sunset over distant islands and dolphins playing in the bow wave of the ship. That night we went into town for a few hours, and saw a high school band playing Blink 182- pretty surreal. Also to see the lights of the town after the natural darkness of the islands and sea was a bit strange.

The next day we went to the Charles Darwin Station where they incubate tortoise and iguana eggs. We were lucky enough to see lonesome George, the last of his kind. The researchers there think though that he has bred with the two females in his pin- they have found two nests of eggs and are waiting to see if they match George's DNA! Later that day we went into the highlands to see the tortoises in their natural habitat. It looked like Jurassic Park! We went into a lava tunnel, and then to an old farm where the tortuses were wandering about. They are so huge. They almost don't look real- like someone put them there to watch people's reactions who saw them. The were very easy to see, and you could tell where they had been by the flattened grass trail they left behind. That night we traveled eight hours, and I slept on the sun deck of the yacht, waking up at about 3 am when the sea got rough and my deck chair started sliding back and forth! I moved onto a more stable bench on the deck and got some sleep, then woke up at about 6 and went down to my room because I wasn't supposed to be sleeping there (the blankets supposedly would get wet and start smelling funny- or thats what the crew said- mine didn't though) A few others and I had gotten away with sleeping up top a few nights before this because we were feeling a bit seasick. I had been watching an Asian movie with subtitles as we were traveling- and that made me pretty queasy- my first ever sea sickness). Not fun. That night we crossed the equator, our guide jokingly said that we should get up at about 3am to watch the crew lift the equator so the ship could go under it, and that up until then we would be going pretty slow, but after that it would be fast since it would all be downhill from there.

Next we went to Genovesa (a half sunken volcanic crater) - visited Escaleras del Pricipe Felipe and Playa Darwin. There are so many things names after Darwin! I guess since we had traveled so far that night, I got used to the motion of the boat. Land didn't move properly after that until about yesterday! Land sickness is so strange feeling. Climbing the steps up the cliff that morning was a real struggle, as was walking around on the island. Once I got back on the boat though, I was ok. I wasn't the only one affected this way. Standing still on land I could see the others in my group swaying slightly as they tried to keep their balance. We saw frigate birds, Nazca boobies, (the tectonic place that moves the Galapagos Islands is called the Nazca Plate), and waved albatrosses. We also went to the Post Office Barrel (where people lave letters and post cards for the next groups to look though- if you or they find a letter addressed to a place near where they will be traveling, or live, they take it and hand deliver it to the people), and got to see flamingos who got there as they were blown off course by winds.

Next we moved (during the day this time- our captain and guide took pity on our lack of sleep from the night before) to Santiago and to Puerto Egas. We saw many more birds of all types, nesting, dancing, sleeping, and soaring around.
Bartolome was next. It looked as if part of Mars had come to Earth. It was covered in volcanic ash and cliffs made of hardened lava structures. One was called Pinnacle Rock, a tuff structure formed by the hardening of lava inside a volcanic peak and subsequent erosion of the surrounding soil, leaving the lava spike. One the way back to the yacht, we saw Galapagos penguins! Seeing penguins and cactus together in the same place is so incredibly contradictory! We got to snorkel near Pinnacle Rock with the penguins.

Leaving the next day was so sad. I wish I could have stayed there for a month or more. To work there as a tour guide would be the most amazing job. We took a walk before we left, everyone was quiet.

Some of the most amazing experiences there were snorkeling with the penguins, while blue footed boobies were diving for fish all around us, seeing huge Galapagos sharks, watching parrot fish chew on coral, getting stung on the face by a Portuguese man-o-war variant, seeing the bow wave glow from phosphorescents at night while dolphins played and jumped in the waves- their bodies glowing, being so close to animals without them having any fear, walking barefoot without worry, not seeing city lights for days, sleeping on the top deck under a sky filled with so many stars it was almost unreal - watching a few shoot across, and playing cards late at night with Rafa, Jame and some friends. As Rafa said at the good-bye cocktail, "You may leave the Galapagos, but the Galapagos will never leave you."