Galapagos - Part 1

For weeks, the Galapagos dangled in front of our noses, just beyond reach like carrot bait enticing a tortoise. Although we agreed it would be most excellent to see the islands, we weren't sure it would be financially feasible after 11 weeks of unilatetal dinero flow, or whether we could handle confinement to a cruise boat after so much independent travel.

We spoke with some people we met along the way and did some research on our own, and it turns out that it is possible, and often even preferable, to visit the islands independently. This intel jived with our budget and our style, so we bit the bullet, bought some plane tickets, and that carrot is ours! The final week of our big trip is set against azul seas, sunny skies, and discordant desert-jungle landscapes.

...like this weird cactus tree.

...and this one!

Our flight from Guayaquil landed at Baltra Airport, a converted WWII US Air Force base on a small island off the north end of Isla Santa Cruz. Getting to Puerto Ayora, the town where we would spend the next 3 nights, required a 15 minute shuttle to a 10 minute ferry followed by a 45 minute bus across the length of the island to the south shore.

Baltra Airport

On the ferry from Baltra to Santa Cruz

As has become the norm for travel days such as this one, we threw down our packs and left the room promptly in search of nourishment. Some delicious ceviche and shrimp rice later, we wandered the port's central area, taking in the brilliant colored buildings, boats, and buoys, and pricing out some tours for the next two days.

After booking a bay tour for the following day, and a longer full-day excursion to Bartolomé island the next, we decided to check out the Charles Darwin Research Center just outside of town.

The research center is just a short walk out of town, nestled among a thick forest of mangroves. We saw baby tortoises that had been hatched from eggs recovered from the wild, much larger and older souls who stretched their necks out on the lava in an attempt to cool off, and several land iguanas, which was especially cool since we were not likely to see these guys in the wild.

Giant tortoise

Kate as a giant tortoise

Land iguana

Jeff as a land iguana

 We wrapped up our first night in the Galapagos with some delicious pizza and a walk down the cleverly lit pier, where we could see sea lions and fish, meters below the surface, swimming their nightly routines through glowing green waters.

Sea lion swimming off Puerto Ayora

The bay tour the next day departed straight from the pier at Puerto Ayora. Right after our small boat left the dock, Jeff spotted an iguana swimming through the harbor, his (her?) head raised above the water as he (she?) cruised along.

For our first stop, we motored out to a sea lion hangout called Los Loberia.

We snorkeled there for a bit, saw some fishes, and then we cut back across the bay and pulled up alongside the steep rocky cliffs on the western point of the bay to see the blue footed boobies.

Blue-footed boobies

Blue-footed boobie

 Our next stop was Las Grietas. A volcanic rift filled with brackish water that made for a most excellent swimming hole! We swam and scrambled as far back into the rift as we could go, but soon had to head back to join the group once again.

Las Grietas (volcanic rift swimming hole)

Post-adventure-swim at Las Grietas

Finally, we hoofed it to Playa de los Perros, a beautiful beach, ridden with marine iguanas and bright orange light-footed crabs.

Marine iguana up close

Marine iguana amid light footed crabs

One last snorkeling spot at the end of the Bay Tour

The bay tour dropped us back at the pier at 2pm, and knew we had to rally to squeeze in a visit to the lava tubes in the highlands that afternoon. After some circling of blocks in town, the taxi driver whose truck we had hopped into at the pier pulled over and asked a young person to help translate where we wanted to go. "Las Tuneles" was correct for the lava tubes, but we were misinformed in thinking "...estan circa de Los Gemelos", the twin craters. Confusion waned, communication was mostly accomplished, and we arrived at the entrance to the mas grande 800m stretch of lava tube that we had heard was the best. The woman at the entrance handed us large red flashlights and explained that they were for use in emergencies only because the whole tunnel was lit. Well, probably half of the lightbulbs were out (an obvious emergency) and I ended up using my light for ten of the fifteen minutes we were down there.

Kate did not find it very amorous

Jeff near one of the functioning lights

Heeding the advice of our Baños savior and San Cristobal resident, Daniela (she gave is a ride down 600m from the treehouse where Jeff injured his knee), we booked a more expensive, full day tour to Isla Bartolomé for our second day.  It was a great way to see more of the impressive sculpted landscapes and wildlife of the northern Galapagos. 

A pick-up truck picked us and another couple up at the pier at 6am and drive us back to the north end of the island where we took a water taxi and boarded the Española, a much larger sea-faring vessel. We spent an hour watching a Galapagos shark circle our boat while waiting for the rest of the group to arrive and then motored two hours north of Isla Santa Cruz to Isla Santiago.

Galapagos shark (~1.5-2m!)

On our way we spotted several sea turtles bobbing along while we stretched out and reclined on the bow of the boat. The Española moored just off of a beach on Isla Santiago, and Jeff and I snorkeled from the boat. Almost immediately after getting in the water, we saw another Galapagos shark!

We also saw all of these fishes:

Ok, maybe not ALL of them

After an hour of amazing snorkeling and serious fun swimming among schools of glittering fishes, we headed back to the boat and put on our shoes for a hike up to the top of Bartolmé.

Bartolomé is a barren but beautiful rock of an island, its small rocky inlands habited only by lava lizards and a few plants.

Isla Bartolmé

Lava rock and the trail to the top of Isla Bartolmé

Lava lizard on Isla Bartolmé

Crescent beaches and a pinnacle rock on Isla Bartolmé

In a wild and crazy coincidence, we actually ran into Daniela on Bartolomé toward the end of our tour. It was especially surprising to us because she never said she was a tour guide, and we only knew she lives in San Cristobal, another populated islands we wouldn't have time to visit.

We filled the morning hours of our last day on Santa Cruz with a visit to Tortuga Bay before catching  an afternoon ferry to Island Isabella. After a 45min walk and some frolicking with iguanas, I had some quality reading time on the sunny sand while Jeff played at being a fish in the warm waters.