TOURING THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS - 21 AND 22 March 2009

Just returned to the yacht after two days visiting other islands in the Galapagos Archipelago and what a wonderful time that was .... just too short of course (isn't this always the way !)

Tour Day 1 - Saturday 21 March 2009

Saturday morning we were all up at dawn which, being the March Equinox was a 6 o'clock. A hasty breakfast and then calling for a water taxi to take us from our anchorage in the bay into the town jetty. Scotty dropped his sunglasses off the edge of the stern platform and fell off after them forgetting that in his pocket was his new digital camera. Alas salt water does not agree with it and it has ceased to work since...

Our man Bolivar (a ship's agent of sorts) met us with a taxi for the airport. These taxi are generally Toyota Hilux (or Mazda equivalent) with a cab with seats for 5 and an open tray at the rear. What fun - I get to ride in the back. Arrival at a deserted airport gives time for photographing some lovely little blue butterflies warming themselves in the early morning sun on a round bush with thin leaves. Some lovely closeup shots. The airport also has some interesting sculptures of local animals and birds - a killer whale and the head of the Booby (there are two species - blue footed and red footed, we only saw the blue [see later pictures]). AFter a while the airport came to life and we were processed and led to the plane, a twin prop 8-seater.

The flight from San Cristobal to Isabela took about 40 minutes over open ocean - see this page for a plan of the islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands

The air is fairly hazy around here so long distance views even from 4500 feet do not go far, but the views down were wonderful especially our approach to Puerto Villamal, the small settlement on this the largest of the islands. The sea water is a cristal clear turquoise, parts of the land are still barren lava flow (some 200,000 years old we were later told and not yet vegetated). In the distance faint views of a volcano (Volcan Sierra Negra) the nearest to Puerto Villamil. The rest of the island looked very green and lush.

We were met at the airport by our guide for the day - arranged by our man Bolivar - Senor Selsar, a short man, very tanned, with a mass of white hair under his blue cap. In his friendly, knowledgeable way he toured us through the day with pretty good broken english. First he took us to our accommodation in his own house and that of a friend just down the road. OUr route took us across more barren cold lava flow and past the electricity generator which hummed and clattered loudly in the quiet morning air. Small dark finches darted around - these are known as the Darwin finches (los pinzones). Once settled we jumped back in the Hliux and were driven off on our tour which took us to :

- salt lakes just inland of the sea to see flamingos - none around
- giant tortoise breeding centre
- a neach to walk among marine iguanas
- a lava tube connecting to the sea
- a the site of a prison camp with the remains of a wall built by the convicts
- up a hill to view the distant volcano Cerro Azul
- on to a place to see turtles (there weren't any)
- back along the beach

then lunch in the centre of Puerto Villamil.

The afternoon was taken up with a boat ride out to some rocky islands lieing next to the port area of Villamil where we went snorkelling in a slightly cloudy sea, saw a few Galapagos penguins, and then back ashore for a walk over a lava field quite different from those seen before. This was all jagged and rough with spikes covered on their southern side by white lichen - a scene worthy of Dante's inferno. Here we saw many beautiful red and orange crabs, more marine iguanas, penguins and the lovely blue-footed booby.

By now the sun was sinking in the sky so we returned to our boat and back to the shore. A small side tour took us to Concha de Perla a small platform bathing area which was too busy to stop at. After showers and a rest we walked back to the main square of the town and had dinner there. I returned to my very lovely room and went to an early bed - 8.30 ! It had been a long and wonderfully fascinating day.
Pictures here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/GalapagosIslaIsabela21Mar09# and I am sorry not to have time to label them all - I hope they tell their own story !

Tour day 2 - Sunday 22 March

Awake before dawn after a most refreshing sleep, I decided to go out walking with the camera. It was quiet and cool, finches flitting around and a soft breeze wafting through the scrub. Down at the dock I saw a penguin flying through the clear water, more sealions, crabs and a snowy white heron (or egret ?). Boys were on the beach working on their boats. I had earlier passed a large boat cut into three pieces - amazing to see how they are constructed. And also home to a small colony of wasps. I returned to the swimming place which was now deserted and the water flat calm - no need for goggles to see the fish swimming in the clear water. It was quite magical swimming there in the early morning and sealions cruised curiously by.

Just after 7.30 we collected by our driver and taken to the airport, again deserted. Later, after processing, our plane returned and took us back into the heavens on another wonderful flight this time up to Isla Santa Cruz, the large island in the middle of the archipelago. The airport is actaully on the small island of Baltra which was a US base in World War 2. This is where the flights from the mainland arrive and was crowded with tourists. Here we were met by Jose who shepherded us onto a local bus for the short ride to the ferry to Santa Cruz. OUr ferry ran out of fuel half way across the short straight [remember this]. On Santa Cruz we jumped into Jose's Hilux - and again, o joy! - I got to ride in the back. The road road across the island runs straight south-west for a long way and then curves south and southeast into Puerto Ayora.

On the way we stopped at a huge sink hole - formed when a gas bubble occurs during an underwater eruption which hardens and the later the top collapses leaving a large crater hole. Then on to another lava tunnel. This time the tunnel ran for some 200 metres underground, at one point the roof was so low we had to crawl under it and at later rose to some 8 metres. Well lit it was reminscent of lime caves in other parts of the world. Further on the road we stopped at a ranch and saw some giant tortoises in their natural state including a couple mating .... something that can take up to 4 hours! Scotty tried on an old tortoise shell. OUr final point of tour was to the Charles Darwin Research Centre. Here much research is done by the international scientific community into the ecology of the islands and ways to control introduced species. Here is a another tortoise breeding centre, and some captive land iguanas. These are orange brown in colour, whilst their much more numerous marine cousins are black.

After a quick lunch we got onto our boat for the 2 hour ride back to San Cristobal.... Remember the ferry from Baltra to Santa Cruz running out of fuel ? Well half way across the sea our boat also ran out of fuel so there we were olling about in the shortish swell with a fine chop on the top. Several passengers were not well ... happy to report that our crew fared well. After about 2 hours a relief boat arrived with four large drums of fuel and took most of the passengers off. We got back to Puetro Moreno at 6.30. Curiously the crew did not seem in the least concerned. Amazing adventure.

And so we returned to NEREID after dinner ashore in Puerto B Moreno.

Pictures from the day are here : http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/GalapagosIsabelaToBaltraSantaCruzAndBackToSanCristobal#

General impressions of our time in Galapagos :

The people here are very friendly, relaxed and easy-going. The towns we have seen are clean and well kept generally and in the case of Puerto B Moreno that work on improving the seafront is really good. Of course everything has to come here by ship so it is more expensive, but there is enough variety of product to satisfy our needs. Fresh food, though, is freshest when the boat comes in (of course) and it came in with us - so buying fresh on Monday, our departure day, was not so good.

The scenery is spectacular - I wish we had had time to visit a volcano and peer into the caldera, or even get close to the one that erupted last year (May 2008) but such is life.

The wildlife is extraordinary as we all know, but to see it up close - and very close - has been amazing. The sealions around the bay here in Puerto B Moreno are very friendly - as I write this one has just been to visit our stern transom - again. Quite fearless.

On Isabela and Santa Cruz, seeing the giant tortoises both in captivity and in the wild was all I hoped for. I learned that the introduction of goats, pigs, rats, dogs and cats has been more catastrophic even than the decimation caused by whalers in the 18th and 19th centuries (we know from records that 100,000 tortoises were taken for food - they would live on for months onboard piled up on each other - something we would not countenance today). Additionally they were killed for food - it is thought maybe 200,000 were killed. Each island had its own sub-species - on Isabela we were told there were 12 subspecies living on and around the different volcanoes... three of these are extinct - the rest recovering due to human assistance. The eggs hardly survive in the wild now - animals and fire ants (introduced aslo) eat the eggs. But the breeding program is working well. You can see me with tortoises - really wonderful creatures.

The iguanas are fascinating too - I did not know there were land iguanas - the marine iguanas are well known. The males are quite a bit larger than the females. Rather ugly creatures even so - only a mother could love one ! They sit in the sun to absorb heat, and when they reach the right temperature they turn around and point at the sun - less surface area to heat up.

The penguins were penguins - we did not see too many of them. The blue-footed booby was lovely - it is not mating season so we did not see the dance they do presenting their feet to each other - but we've seen this on TV !

Isla Isabela is a much younger island still with active volcanoes, so the landscape here differs from Santa Cruz which is well farmed and cultivated. It is more wild. Lots of cactus, very dry, and the remains of the penal colony - that wall built just for punishment - most interesting.

Santa Cruz was quite different and very green - plenty of farming here and indeed, the place where we saw the tortoises mating was a ranch. I was told it was possible to hire horses and ride out into the national park in which we would have seen many more tortoises. It was also a lot of fun riding in the back of the car ! Such child-like pleasures .....

The weather has been wonderful really. I thought, being near the equator, we would be very hot, but the days have been warm and dry with a breeze mostly which has been really pleasant. Quite a dry heat too which is comfortable too. The sea is a clear blue, sometimes turquoise, sometimes pale blue, sometimes almost indigo, and a delight to swim off coral sand beaches with sea-lions flopping about on the shore. And at night the clear warm sky is full of stars.

How blest am I to be able to be here, experiencing this. And to see that these islands are now the subject of so much care and scientific interest. There are challenges to be sure - modern life requires certain standards of living that cause havoc with nature (plastic plastic plastic - again). However .....

To be honest it is hard to describe accurately in a short article like this, and with time constraint (I must post this before we sail in a couple of hours) so I will end here and just say - look at the pictures. Next stop the Marquesas ....
Final pix - Farewell to Galapagos ! http://picasaweb.google.com.au/Stephen.Couling/FarewellToGalapagos#