Galapagos – [no internet or even cell service while here so
this will be one long post which we tried to work on while on the boat mostly
for our own memories – if you aren’t interested, skip the words, and hopefully
you will enjoy the pictures].
We arrived in the Galapagos with no
hitches and had to wait at the airport for about 3 hours because the other half
of our party was on a later flight. It’s a small airport with virtually nothing
to do and so we passed the time by having breakfast, playing a little soccer,
and buying postcards. Eventually our crewmates arrived. We are cruising with 3
other couples, two from Australia, who are longtime friends, and one couple
from New Zealand – great for us because we are headed to both places soon so
can learn more about them firsthand! We
all boarded a bus which took us to a ferry (the airport at Baltra is the only
thing on the uninhabited island and it’s a short ride to the ferry which hops
over to Santa Cruz – the closest island with people). The only town on Santa
Cruz is Puerto Ayora, which is all the way across the island and about a 40
minute drive. As we pulled up to Santa Cruz we spotted our first blue footed
boobie on the rocks!
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| Map of the Islands with our stops circle |
We took
the bus to a part of the island known for huge tortoises and we were not
disappointed. While standing still we could see over 50 of these impressive
animals. Apparently we are visiting during mating season, so they were
everywhere. We were served a quick, delicious lunch and given rubber boots to
walk the land. Off we went to explore. We learned that it’s believed that this
type of tortoise can live to be 250 years old, but they are not sure because
humans don’t live that long, so it’s never been witnessed. Now they are
tracking them with chips and newer technology, so the current crew growing up
will be tracked with more accuracy by future generations than previously
possible.
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| Family shot with a Giant Tortoise! |
This
“farm” we learned is privately owned which is very rare in the Galapagos as 97%
of the land is owned by Ecuador. Of course, once again, SJ was offered free stuff
and requested for photos. Meanwhile, one of the boys stepped on a fire ant hill
and was swarmed – he had a fantastic disposition so the day moved forward well!
From here
we drove to the Charles Darwin Research Station which is more or less a third
world zoo. We joked with our guide later that animals seen in the zoo don’t
count for our check-off list which they gave us. In addition to wildlife, we learned about
different cactuses that grow in the Galapagos.
After walking through Puerto Ayora we went to a dock, where we watched
blue footed boobies dive bombing into the water for fish, and we caught our
“panga” (AKA dingy), which drove us out to our boat. Having little idea what to
expect (beside what was listed on the internet) we were thrilled. The boat is
amazing, has plenty of space and the crew are extremely friendly (though they
speak little to no English). We spend a lot of time ooh-ing, aw-ing and taking
photos of our surroundings as we are just so thrilled to be here.
ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Giant Tortoises and Blue Footed Boobies
Day 2 – Saturday – Floreana Island
The boat anchored for most of the
night and began moving about 3AM. This woke up most passengers but we tried our
best to sleep through it. Breakfast is at 7AM every day and we get served a
fantastic spread before heading out at 8AM. While we were still a bit tired, being
here has a bit of a dream-like trance. Everywhere we look the views are breathtakingly
amazing. Our morning was spent at Punta Cormorant, on the north end of Floreana,
where we trekked across this small island to an incredible beach, and learned about
which animals are endemic (found only here), resident (live here) or migratory
(came here from elsewhere). Each island has various versions of animals found
that exist solely on it, as various species have adapted. Our guide (Juan) is well-spoken
and fun to be around.
After
about a two hour hike where we were initiated to many of the unique wildlife ‘regulars’
(vibrant Sally-lightfoot Crabs, Marine Iguanas, Lava Lizards, and and finches),
we returned to the boat for a quick change and headed out to snorkel with the cautious
expectation of seeing: turtles, various fish, stingrays and maybe even a
hammerhead shark. They outfitted us with wetsuits, snorkels and fins and the
panga drove us over to Corona Del Diabla (Devils Crown) where we snorkeled for
about two hours. The experience was amazing! Words really can’t express fully
what all we saw and experienced as we swam around. The water here, while not
crazy, was a bit choppy for SJ so she stayed in the panga the majority of the
time with our driver Gustavo, but he would let her jump in and swim and
participate (in her mind at least). We would swim by and say, “Hi!” and swim
with her a bit too. We weren’t sure how this portion would play out but it
worked wonderfully and everyone had an amazing experience.
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| Stunning Sally-Lightfoot Crab |
Once done, we headed back to the boat for
lunch. This consisted of soup, rice and beef and veggies and was delicious. We had
a few hours before our next stop, which is known as Post Office Bay.
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| We sorted through many baggies of post cards placed in this barrel. |
Post
Office bay was established in 1793 by Whaling Captain James Colnett and is a
literal barrel where people leave post cards (or letters) for others to
deliver. It originally was established as a line of communication to move mail,
and one would leave a letter and someone else would take it if they were headed
that way. It is literally sort of an honorary postal service that still exists
today. As a group we poured through the bags of letters and found things
addressed to all corners of the globe written in every language. There were
actually two from cities very near where we live (Prior Lake and Hopkins) so we
took them and plan to deliver them by hand once we return from our journey. We also placed our own postcards in the
barrel, so a few of our lucky readers might receive a Galapagos postcard soon
or years from now!
After
this we hiked up further into the island and descended into a cave that was formed
from lava. Our guide told us a true but mysterious story that involved a German
woman who used to live on the island. This story is retold in a book called
“When Satan Visited Eden” and just may be an interesting read.
When done
we played on the beach and then headed back a little earlier so the boys could do
some jumping off the top of our boat. Our other guests aren’t quite sure of our
sanity but enjoyed taking pictures as they returned.
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| Group jump from side of the boat |
Time on
the Galapagos is very surreal indeed. We don’t see any other people all day
long except for the occasional boat off in the distance. Juan has explained
that the whole thing is controlled so that there can never be too many in the
same area at once. Yachts (of which roughly 100 are moving around every day) are
not allowed to just anchor without checking in first and hiring a licensed
guide. They are very focused on preserving this unique habitat and all the
lives here. No one is allowed to collect anything from the islands as bags are
thoroughly checked upon departure.
Dinner was at 7 and bedtime
followed fairly quickly. The boat will move at 3am again we are told.
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Floreana Lava Lizards, Marine Iguanas, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Greater Flamingos, Cattle Egrets, Ruddy Turnstones, Semi-palmated Plowers, Wandering Tattlers, White-checked Pintails, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Blue-footed Boobies, Yellow Warblers, Medium Ground Finches, Small Ground Finches, Sally-lightfoot Crabs, Green Sea Turtles, Galapagos Sea Lions, Spotted Eagle Ray, White-tipped Reef Sharks, and Fiddler Crabs, along with many beautiful fish
Day 3 – Sunday- South Isabela Island
We awoke
just off the coast of Puerto Villamil on the island called Isabela (the largest
Galapagos island), which is a small settlement of about 3000 inhabitants. Breakfast
at 7am and at 8 we are off to hike the Sierra Negra Volcano, but we have to
first take an open air bus ride about 15 miles and then proceed to climb. It’s
a very misty day and appears we are hiking in the clouds. The trail was a bit
muddy and the rocks were slippery. We hiked for about 45 minutes up a mild
incline, all the while hoping that the clouds would blow over. The volcano
itself is active and the caldera is about 2.5 miles across, making it the
second largest active caldera in the world. But, to our disappointment, when we
got to the top it was even cloudier and we had to use our imagination.
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| Sea Lion hanging out on a bench near the dock |
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| Hike up Sierra Negra Volcano |
Everyone
was a little bummed but nothing could be done about it, so we hiked back down.
SJ was tired and cranky so we tried to get her ahead of the group and worked on
our Scripture memorization while we walked.
In the afternoon we panga-ed to the
town and visited a lagoon with a variety of birds, including a single flamingo
and then walked over to a local church. The church is Catholic and has stained
glass windows of flamingos and iguanas, and a large mural behind the pulpit of
Jesus rising to heaven in mid-air surrounded by blue footed boobies. Juan says
it is the only church like this in the world, which is hard to doubt. There was also a large turtle sculpture on the
altar, and banners on the wall describing how God created the world and
everything in it according to Genesis, which was interesting considering that
Charles Darwin is a hero here.
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| Jesus being taken up to Heaven with Blue Footed Boobies |
The rest
of the day we were free to hang out at the beach and walk around. This was sort
of a bummer, because being Sunday almost everything was closed. Additionally
the sky was still very grey and it was not all that warm. We just sat at the
beach and watched the kids play. No one was too thrilled at the time allocated
here or the lack of information which we received, but we were picked up at 6
and the panga took us back to the boat for dinner. The boat had to drive for
about 7 hours at sea that night, it was rough and sleeping was tough, as at
times it feels like we might be thrown right off the bed, and mom worries about
the kid’s safety as they are in separate cabins. All in all, not the best day
but we had high hopes for Monday.
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Small Tree Finches, Warbler Finches, Woodpecker Finches,
Common Gallinules, Common Stilts, White-checked Pintails, and Lava Lizards
Day 4 – Monday – Isabela Island
Today
started like all the days with breakfast at 7AM and our excursion at 8.
However, today was a completely different day as the sky was blue and the
temperature was perfect. We took the pangas to a beach at Punta Moreno, on the
southwestern side of Isabela Island, and headed out for a hike through a lava
field. We learned about vegetation and how certain types of tree and bushes
eventually grow right out of the lava rock. From any distance one would think
that it’s black dirt, but once you walk and touch it you realize it’s rock. The
sight sort of plays a trick on your senses. Then every so often you will come
across a lagoon that looks like a mirage. At the lagoon will be more plants and
trees and also some birds. Very surreal. There are large crevasses where we saw
layers of lava which correspond to the different eruptions over the last few
thousand years, and we learned about different types of lava and how it
flows/explodes and hardens. We headed back to the boat for lunch and had some
time to relax on deck until our excursion at 4.
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| Family hike through a lava field. |
Our
afternoon excursion was a panga ride around Elizabeth Bay, through mangroves
and fairly shallow water. Here we saw sting rays, sea turtles, sea lions
perched in trees (quite a site), and many different birds. At one point our guide
shut off the motor and paddled silently in order to get close to the animals. It
was incredible! We returned to the boat
as the sun was setting and our driver let the kids steer the pange, which they
thought was really cool!
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Galapagos Penguins and Brown Pelicans
Day 5 – Tuesday – Isabela Island
Our boat
sat in the same place until 4am, which meant a great night of sleep compared to
the previous nights. Today was a full day as we had three excursions. In the
morning we did a “wet landing” on a beach at Urbina Bay, to search for Land
Iguanas – we found about a dozen huge ones. We then snorkeled on a beach and saw
some turtles, but the waves were fairly active, making the water somewhat
murky.
There was
about a two hour boat ride as we moved further north through a channel, our
next stopping point was Tagus Cove. On the way we spotted some humpback whales
and out captain did a full bore U-turn to get a closer view. We saw them up
close as they cleared their blow hole. It appears like a small land mine goes
off in the ocean each time. Truly incredible! Also several Magnificent Frigatebirds
flew with us most of the way and periodically landed on the boat while moving.
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| Whales near our boat! |
We arrived
at Tagus Cove and had several hours to relax and were able to swim with penguins around the boats and do more jumping. We then prepared for excursion #3 of the day (this was the first day we have done 3 things), which was a short hike up a
volcano. From the top the views of the bay were spectacular! We were able to
see this enclosed lake, named Darwin’s Lake, which looks like it’s higher than
the ocean but is actually an optical illusion. Years ago, Darwin himself saw
this and expected fresh water in the lake, but it turns out that the lake is
actually lower than the ocean is and is fed from the bottom. Because it’s
enclosed it is even saltier than the ocean and little wildlife lives there. We also
had a great view of Darwin’s volcano.
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Elliot’s
Storm Petrels, Humpback Whales, Mink Whales, Galapagos Hawk, and a Galapagos Mockingbird
Day 6 – Wednesday – Fernandina Island and Isabela Island
Today marks the completion of our sixth week of travel. While it's hard for us to believe we've been gone for so long, we miss our friends back home who have started their new fall routines and activities as life goes on. However, knowing we are six weeks into it allows us to feel a bit more experienced at this whole crazy adventure. Yet we know that these six weeks have been easy in a sense because we know and have accumulated enough Spanish to get by. As we move onto new continents, we imagine this will be a new challenge as we have no other language skills! We are blessed to have remained mostly healthy and to all be enjoying one another and this idea enough to be excited about continuing on!
We began our day on the Island of Fernandina, one of the most volcanically active islands of the Galapagos. We landed at Punta Espinoza and hiked the lava and sand shores looking mostly for Sea Lions, snakes, and birds. We enjoyed watching the Sea Lions play, and looking at the unique sea shells and fossils. Thankfully we managed to escape stepping on the multitudes of Marine Iguanas camouflaged all over the islands sneezing salt water at us, and we didn't run into any snakes!
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| Our guide guessed that this Sea Lion had given birth to the cub just hours before we arrived! |
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| Marine Iguanas with a Lava Lizard on head. |
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| Cute little Sea Lion Cub! |
After the hike some of us snorkeled in a recently re-opened area. We saw a Marine Iguana swimming in the water for the first time and enjoyed watching the playful Sea Lions jump and entertain us!
As our boat traveled to our next destination we were given a show from some dolphins leaping through the air!
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| Dolphins near our boat. |
We rested for a bit as the boat travelled, and as we dropped anchor in Punta Vicente Roca we groggily looked out the windows and were stunned at the magnificently steep cliffs surrounding us! “Breathtaking” doesn’t do justice to this location of an ancient volcano now formed into a bay. We kayaked and snorkeled along the cliffs. The water was very clear and there were many turtles, interesting fish and underwater life. Dad saw an enormous Marble Sting Ray, and our son shot 45 minutes of GoPro video!
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| View of Punta Vicente Roca as we left the bay |
As we set off for a long night of traveling around the north-western tip of Isabela Island, our crew had set up a fun celebration as we prepared to cross from the Southern Hemisphere back into the Northern Hemisphere. However, the waves were extremely rough, and twice large swells caused all of their handiwork to tumble. The last swell caused things in the kitchen to break, chairs to fly, and drawers to open, so the celebration was postponed. However, we all had our matching T-shirts on and cheered as GPS watches showed 0'0'0' as we crossed the Equator.
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| The wonderful and patient friends we made on our Galapagos adventure! |
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Flightless Cormorants, Green Sea
Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Common Dolphins, Marble Sting Ray, Whimbrels, Galapagos Shearwater, Brown Pelicans, and Brown Noddi Terns
Day 7 – Thursday – Santiago (James) Island
Our day began with a wet landing onto a beautiful black sand beach filled with Ghost Crabs and surrounded by unique rock structures and caves. We set out exploring and all enjoyed the warm colors of the islands brush and the wave-ribbon-like patterns of the lava we walked on.
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| Stunning views & goofing around - PUSH! |
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| The left behind shell of a crab. |
There were also stunning carved out features in the black lava rock that would fill with ocean water, sometimes rising and sinking in seconds - these were beautiful and amazing to see. One time we watched a Sea Lion playing in this little pool - rising and sinking, swirling, and turning!
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| Beautiful water color! |
After our hike, we had our last opportunity to snorkel. SJ wanted to give it a try so mom took her to the beach to practice keeping her mouth closed tight around her snorkel and breathing through her mouth. She had a fun time and even snorkeled with a couple of Sea Lions who came within feet of her and then tossed around on the beach a bit! She hadn't seen any marine life underwater while she was swimming up to this point, and was a bit frightened at first and screamed underwater! But when she realized she was safe, she thought it was wonderful. She also saw several fish. What a treat to have these Sea Lions come to her in water less than 4 feet deep! Meanwhile the guys were within 4 feet of several White Tipped Sharks and having a great time!
In the afternoon we hiked to the top of the extinct volcanic cone at the Bartolome islet on Santiago Island. This is one of the 'younger' islands and the landscape was much more dry and deserted than the other areas we had been to. We hiked the 365 steps up to the lighthouse at the top and had amazing views. It is famous for its Pinnacle Rock which jets out in a unique shape.
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| Bartolome Iselt with Pinnacle Rock formation on the right. |
Being that it was our last night on board, the crew dressed up and came out for a farewell celebration. We had the privilege of having a special dinner of lobster that night! Earlier on our voyage we had noticed a boat of strange men stopping at our boat. (Some of us had feared they might be pirates!) It turned out that they were fishermen who needed their air compressor fixed so that they could continue diving at night to get their catch. Our crew was able to help them and in exchange for the service, the fishermen gave our boat some of the freshly caught lobster! SCORE!
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| Kids with the crew from our boat! |
NEW ANIMALS SEEN THIS DAY: Ghost crabs and Galapagos Fur Seal
Day 8 - Friday - Seymour Island
As we stumbled ashore Seymour Island at 6am for our final excursion of the trip, we were jolted alert by the numerous birds active all around us! Being on the island early allowed us to witness the Magnificent Frigate Bird with its red pouch puffed up as it is mating season. Having been around these birds all week, nothing could have prepared us for how large this pouch truly is when it is fully inflated - it was incredible! We were also able to witness many Blue Footed Boobies and even saw them do their mating dance! It was a memorable way to wrap up our week of adventure in these famous islands.
As we stumbled ashore Seymour Island at 6am for our final excursion of the trip, we were jolted alert by the numerous birds active all around us! Being on the island early allowed us to witness the Magnificent Frigate Bird with its red pouch puffed up as it is mating season. Having been around these birds all week, nothing could have prepared us for how large this pouch truly is when it is fully inflated - it was incredible! We were also able to witness many Blue Footed Boobies and even saw them do their mating dance! It was a memorable way to wrap up our week of adventure in these famous islands.
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| Magnificent Frigate Bird during ready to mate |
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| Blue Footed Boobie! |
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| Baby Magnificent Frigate Bird |
Amazing!!!
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