February 16th to February 26th, 2001
by Tab Hauser
The following is a log of our journey to the Galapagos Islands by 10 adults and 12 children. (ages 8 to 13.) The families were Baldwin, Ehrlich, Hauser, Lehman and Steinberg.
FEB 16th 10:30PM: Upon arriving in Quito, Ecuador we were met by the very efficient staff of the Marriott Hotel. Check in was quick and we were off to the executive floors of the hotel. We splurged the extra $15 per room so that we can have the use of their lounge that offered a complimentary breakfast. They also had bottle water, soft drinks, wine, beer and sweets at night.
Feb 17th: 8AM: Pattie and Eduardo of Safari Tours met us at the lounge where we discussed what to do for our day trip. (We arrived in Quito one day early in case there were any delays in travel to airline problems or weather so this was a free day. For today I arranged a bus, driver and guide) Eduardo stated the weather was clear and a good choice would be to head out of town to Volcano at Cotopaxi do Gienega instead of the Otovallo market in the lake district. Cotopaxi is the dormant volcanic national park used by hikers and tourists. The concern for visiting this park was altitude. Quito is 9000 feet over sea level and we stressed to the children not to excerpt themselves while we were here. The Cotopaxi entrance was at 11,500 feet and if all went well we would take our bus up the dirt roads all the way to 15,000 feet. Our group of 22 adults and children are used to an average altitude of a 10 feet over sea level let alone 15,000 feet!
To get to Cotopaxi’s base you pay a park fee of $7.00 each and drive through what was once a Canadian made pine forest for the purposes of making paper. On the park grounds lies the ruin of the paper mill that was stopped suddenly when one of Ecuador’s previous Presidents was thrown out of office. (that happens a lot in Ecuador) Presently many of the Canadian pines have a blight and were being cut down for lumber. To get to main attraction of the Cotopaxi volcano our bus had to gradually climb up hills and cross a shallow river (the last El Nino washed out the bridge.) We also passed a 4 room museum that we stopped in later. The museum has stuffed animals that are either living in the woods or were hunted to extinction. There are also relief maps of the volcano and the surrounding area. A few slow miles past the museum the road goes flat. The drive continues to a pond in the middle of a plain surrounded by older smaller older volcanic peaks. This plain is several miles long by about a mile wide. In the middle of this flat section live wild horses that constantly walk around looking for anything to graze on. Here at 13000 feet very little grows with the exceptions of small plants and flowers no more than a few inches high. A few parents and adults tried to approach the skinny horses but got no closer than 25 feet before they would walk away. At this altitude many in our group started to experience some shortness of breath and a few headaches. With a consensus of all we agreed to push on to the base of Cotopaxi agreeing to stay no more that a few minutes. It was the last 2 miles that the bus huffed and puffed up some switch backs until we got to the final parking lot. Here were could see the glaciers that covered most of the steep peak. The top of Cotopaxi is 19460 feet. We could not make it up the ¼ mile small incline to a wooden structure at the base. At 15,000 feet it was a chore just to get out of the bus for a quick picture. We were all short winded, and getting headaches. All of the children got very quiet and were uncomfortable. Our guide quickly pointed out some indigenous people of Ecuador that were going to attempt to be the first of their people to climb the summit. They were dressed in traditional bright colored clothes and were waiting until midnight to make the accent. The accent was to be made at midnight and would take about 6 hours. They do it at night so that the ice can be assured to be frozen giving them better traction for their clamp-ons. It was amazing that people were going to climb the summit that night while our group could not have walked up the hill to the base of the ice only a few hundred yards away. We were only able to stay 5 minutes before we headed down as altitude sickness was starting to get the best of all of us. As we were making our way down the children were all resting quietly and clearly not themselves. It only was only when the bus descended 1500 feet to a lower altitude of “only” 13,500 that the children picked up and started singing in the back of the bus. We left Cotopaxi with memories of a terrain none of us has ever seen before. We also took a sick Austrian hiker down to the main road as we headed for a beautiful hacienda for a late lunch.
This hacienda was built in the 1600’s and had the traditional garden in the center square, a small church, dining and rooms to stay in. That evening we got back to the Marriott where half the kids headed to the heated pool and half went to watch movies on a computer with a DVD player that was brought on the trip.
Sunday Feb 18th:
8:30AMWe are on the way to the Galapagos. Yesterday’s mini adventure was but today was the real thing. For what started as an idea 12 ½ months earlier is now going to be reality!
The Marriott provided 5 taxis and one van to take 22 adults, 28 bags to the airport. Oscar from Klein accompanied us. Airport check in went as smooth as it gets in this part of the world and we took off on time on TAME’s aged 727. After a 30 minute stop in Guayquil and 1 ½ hours over the pacific we landed at Baltra Airport in the Galapagos.
1:30PM Hot… That was the first thing we noticed. It was it was very hot! The air was also easy to breath. This was quite a change from the cool high altitude several hundred miles to the east we were a couple of hours ago. From the airport we headed on the local bus that took us to a small 60-passenger outboard motor powered ferry. The ferry ride over the clear green strait was only a few minutes across to Santa Cruz. It took another hour waiting at the dock to get our luggage. In that hour we encountered frigate birds flying over head, a very rare lava gull (only 400 pairs known to be alive) a family of bright red sally light footed crabs, a couple of sea turtles and sea lions as well as some rays and a shark. We were all excited to see all of this wild life just at the commercial dock not knowing as they say “we ain’t seen nothing yet”. The naturalists who were with us must have laughed to themselves, as we were all amazed at what we saw here. With the exception of Mike and Sandy in our party who were here before, the rest of us had no idea this really was nothing.
4PM: Next stop, Charles Darwin Station:
A month before our group was to make our adventure to the Galapagos an inexperienced captain piloting a small fuel tanker named the Jessica ran up on a reef spilling 160,000 gallons of mostly diesel fuel he was carrying. It was our group’s decision to take a day off from our touring and volunteer with any beach or animal clean up. After contacting various organizations I was in touch with Sara Fien who was the acting public relation director of the Charles Darwin Reseach Station on Santa Cruz. While she thanked our group for our volunteering she said we were not needed as damage was minimum and many of the towns people were volunteering. With the emails going back and forth to the Darwin Station a friendship was established. In fact we asked her what was she missed from the U.S. and at her request Nancy and Gary bought a bunch of Thai spices to give her.
When we arrived at the station Sara treated us like an old friend. It was truly a special meeting with hugs and smiles. Sara had someone to explain the station briefly then showed us a video tape on the Charles Darwin Station. The tape discussed all Station does to help the islands stay as pristine as possible. This meant constant battles to eradicate plants and animals that do not belong on the islands that were introduced by people. It also involves fighting with fisherman and a corrupt system. After the tape she briefed us on the effects of the oil spill. Her points were:
Next Sara and Pedro (one of our naturalists) took us through the center. They emphasized their tortoise-rearing showing us eggs in incubation. Also, we viewed small tortoises that were being raised in screened in areas as well as a large open area for the older giants. We were able to walk into the large tortoise pen. In there were several tortoises with the smallest being about 250 pounds. It was amazing as they were “in our face” and we literally had to get out of their way when they were searching for plant life to eat. There were two types of species. One looked like the tortoises you see in zoos or pet shops. These creatures were the ones that ate plant live low to the ground. The other type were the long necked tortoises. These tortoises evolved on islands where the food had to be reached up for. The shells were much further back and necks were very long. Some shells seemed to have a hump on them. One famous resident at the station was Lonesome George. He was found on another island and brought to live here. He is the last of his subspecies of this long necked tortoise. Sara mentioned there is a reward if anyone can find a female in this unique sub species otherwise after Lonesome George his uniqueness goes extinct. It is hard to believe we were looking at the rarest animal in the world just sleeping under some shade in his private area.
After leaving the Darwin Station we walked back into town to get to the dock where the dingy would take us to the Coral 2. After boarding we received a briefing on the first day from Pedro and was served dinner. This was the worst night on board as we were pretty much abandoned except for a mechanic on watch. The air conditioning was out on the upstairs cabins and it was pretty muggy the first night. We were told we would be underway around midnight and arrive at Espanola around 6:00AM. It was not a good beginning as the group was tired, hot and a little cranky from traveling all day.
Monday 2/19: First Full Day
6:30AM: We are awoken to soft music from the cabin speaker and head to our buffet breakfast. After a lathering of suntan lotion we board in 2 groups on the dingy and attack the Island of Espanola at Punta Suarez. This island is the most SE of the chain. It is 37 Sq miles and has an elevation of 680 feet. The weather was clear, hot but comfortable.
Landing on Espanola was going to be a “dry landing”. For the record, every landing we do on an island is supposed to be what is called a “dry landing” or “wet landing.” Dry landings are when we arrive on an island and do not get our feet wet. Wet landings are done on a beach in the water. Towels are supplied by the naturalists to dry our feet so you can get shoes on to do the rest of your hike. Then you have the “get the boat swamped by big waves crashing over the dingy ultra wet landing.” This occurs when the dingy pilot does not know how to read the waves. Towels are of little use to dry your feet in this instance as your sneakers or shoes have about as much water in them as the ocean does! (for more on this – see Urvina Bay.)
Upon landing on the island I immediately realized what makes the Galapagos special. We see wildlife everywhere! It is if we are in a menagerie. There are sea lions on the rocks, on the beach as well as playing in the water. There are marine iguanas also swimming around and on the rocks where we disembark the dinghy. We see different birds flying about and diving for fish. It was an amazing first step.
7:45AM: Step out of dinghy for a dry landing on the rocks and walk around a couple of adult sea lions on the path who look at you and go back to sunning themselves. We also observed one of the species of marine iguanas that would walk in front of the path or sun themselves here. Marine iguanas are endemic creatures to the Galapagos. They live on a few islands. Galapagos marine iguanas are the only species in the world that go into the ocean and can swim. They feed on vegetation that grows in the sea or in tidal pools. This particular red marine iguana of Espanola is endemic only to Espanola. Later on our journey we will see other species of marine iguanas of the islands.
We spent about 3 ½ hours doing a hike that started along the shore making our way to the southern end of the island to a blow hole and cliffs and then cutting back across a fairly level and rocky area known as albatross airport.
On the hike the naturalists pointed out and taught us about various species of creatures we encountered. These included lots of blue-footed boobies and masked boobies. Blue-footed boobies are birds that are about 18” to 24” tall when standing and have unusual webbed blue feet. It was courting time for them. They were all over the trail. At one stop no more than no more than a few feet from us was a male and female hanging out doing their courtship routines of whistling, stirring up weathers and dancing. We also saw masked boobies. Some boobies had an egg under them and a few had a featherless chicks they were protecting from the sun and predators. There were a few “fluffy” boobies by themselves that did not have all their feathers yet. They were waiting for food from the parents. In one spot we saw a beautiful Galapagos hawk eating a dead fluffy baby. The hawk just looked up at us and continued with his lunch. Other birds along the trail included mocking birds, lava gulls and a finch. Further down the trail we came up to a blow hole shooting water up 50 feet when the surge hit it just right. The view reminded me of the cliffs of Arcadia National Park in Maine. The walk back to the beginning was flat and rocky. This was called Albatross Airport. The reason for this name is because the area is wide open and flat. Albatrosses need lots of room to take off and land. Unfortunately it was not the time of the year to see these large birds.
Back at the beach Maureen and Mike kneeled down to look at the sea lions. One adult sea lion came up to them for look and sniff and waddled away. (Maureen held the famous Tane Alarm bag next one adult for a picture to be used later). The inflatable dingy picked us up after our hike and whisked us back to the Coral 2. Manuel (food server and bar tender) had ready cookies, crackers, pistachio nuts and drinks in the aft lounge. After our light snack we all grabbed our shorty wet suits and jumping over board to cool off in the ocean.
This first walk on one the “enchanted islands” made me realize how the animals simply ignore people. These animals are genetically as well as parentally trained to ignore people. It is nice they do not come up to you for food (as no one is allowed to bring food of any kind on the island) nor are they are they afraid you will attack them. They simply look at you as you look at them.
1:30 After lunch we arrived a little more than half way around the northern section of Espanola to Gardner Bay. This was going to be an afternoon of swimming and snorkeling on a pristine white beach. The dingy was launched and we headed for beach. From the distance we saw we were going to share the beach with a family of sea lions. We don’t bother them but some of the smaller ones come over to play with us later on. On the way to the beach, perhaps five hundred feet out in the bay, we spot 5 turtles in a mating ritual floating on the surfaces. This seemed like too good an opportunity to miss on camera so I jumped out of the dingy with snorkeling gear on and attempted to get close enough for the a picture. After I jumped out with camera in hand and dinghy heading toward the beach, a few things occurred to me. One was that the visibility in the water was not as good as it looked on the surface. This meant going slowly and getting closer to them than I anticipated to view the turtles. Another thought that occurred to me was that being in the middle of the bay with 5 turtles not wanting to be disturbed was perhaps not the best idea I had today. I swam up very slowly but the visibility was only 25 to 30 feet.
When I finally got close enough to start see them one of the male turtles looked at me and broke away from the group and swam towards me with his mouth opening and closing. This surprised me as I have dove with sea turtles in deep water where they either ignored me or swam away. This was different. Not understanding how sea turtles are on the surface at such personal gatherings it seemed like a prudent idea to make a very fast 180 degree turn and a B line back to the beach at full speed when we were eye to eye at 15 or 20 feet and closing.
At the beach all the children and adults checked out their snorkel equipment for the first time as well as to cool off from the hot sun. One funny thing I noticed on the beach was Daniel walking on his hands and knees with his fins flapping behind him imitating a pup seal lion no more than 2 months. I was not sure who was playing with whom but it was actually very cute seeing Daniel and the sea lion both on all fours acting the same.
The naturalists said the more experienced snorklers would load up on the dingy and go to Turtle Island about ¾ of mile away. (Billy the senior naturalist stayed behind and took Julie to small island 500 feet off the beach to give her experience in snorkeling.) Nancy, who was getting better at it but not a good swimmer stayed behind with Linda.
Turtle Island is no more than 100 yards long by 50 yards wide looks exactly like a sea turtle. The main section of the island is low with the shape of the shell, while the head is a tall section of rock that eroded or broke off from the main section. Pedro our naturalist directed us to swim clock wise around island but not too close warning us of surges able to put us into the cliffs. The water was deep and pretty clear and there were many fish around it. We noticed a couple of rays as well as bright blue star fish. With snorkeling over we all headed to the Coral 2 for dinner and After dinner we head to St Cristobal Island just north of where we were and arrive 9PM.
Tuesday Feb 20th: We are anchored in Wreck Bay on St. Cristobal. This is an apt name for this harbor as in the distance about ¾ mile out lay the famous Jessica on its side. This is the vessel that made news the third week of January by crashing into a reef and losing 160,000 gallons of fuel oil. It is easy to see how the inexperienced captain made a right turn before the lighted buoy instead of going between the buoy and the light house as he should have. Anyone with a chart and some experience would not have crashed on the rocks. The Jessica will have a permanent home here as no one can remove it. St Cristobal is the government headquarters of the island. I hope there window over looks this wreck in Wreck Bay! This island is 334 square miles with a population of close to 10,000 people.
7:30AM We load up on the dingy in two groups again to get into town where an old bus is waiting for us. On the way to the dock we see adult sea lions catching sun and sleep on many of the smaller boats moored in the harbor. They would gather a little speed in the water and fling themselves 3 to 4 feet on to the bow to catch some sun and a nap. In Port Washington where we live the boats only have to contend with birds resting on the owners boats, here it is sea lions. No efforts are made to keep them off and everyone goes about their business as usual. After we all board the bus we head to the 2 year old Galapagos interpretation center near the town. This place has exhibits and pictures of life on the islands. We mostly self-tour the place as it is all self explanatory.
The real reason to stop on this island was to take a drive inland to El Junco Lake. This is a unique lake that is 2600 feet high in a dormant volcano. It is 20 feet deep, 900 feet across and 48,000 years old. It is also the only place where the frigate bird learned that it could land in water. Frigate birds do not land in the water as they cannot dry their feathers of the salt water. El Junco is a fresh water lake and there is fish in here they catch. There is no theory our naturalists can offer as to how fish got into this lake. The drive to El Junco takes about 25 minutes passing through some very small villages. The road is lined with pretty floral trees and plants. On arrival we walk up a hill that takes us to a stair case with a few hundred steps to the rim of the volcano. On top the view was great and the altitude made it pretty comfortable, as we were hot in the town below. The hike around the top of the volcano was about a mile. It over looked the lake 330 feet below us. We had views of near by rocky islands and the ocean on both sides. “The Daniel’s” had the energy to shoot around at almost twice our speed and claimed to have lapped us. Overall between the views, climate and vegetation, it was a pleasing place to visit and not on all the usual tourist boats itineraries. After getting into the bus we headed back to Wreck bay and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno as the town is called. Here we were able to buy T shirts and other souvenirs at reasonable prices and then head back to the boat.
At lunch the guides recommended we change course and visit the Isla Lobos and the beach near it for a swim and some to try snorkeling. The reason for the change in course from visiting the far end of the island was because they received a report that the birds we were to see at the opposite end of the island were not there. We all agreed and one siesta later (or two hours) we were Isla Lobos. This was a dry landing but a rocky one. The group had two choices on where to go. One was a very rocky hike about ½ mile long and the other was shorter and but flatter route. I was on the rocky hike. On this hike we were seeing marine iguana nesting sites either being dug out or were closed because the eggs were inside. We had to step very careful around these nests as we did not want to disturb them. It was also here we encountered male red frigate birds resting. Unfortunately they only fluttering their red breasts and did not have them blown up like a balloon. It was at the end of the island while waiting for the dingy to pick us up that we were able to study the technique the blue footed booby used for fishing. You could see them make a couple of circles and gain an altitude of 50 feet and then do what looked like a stall, put their beak almost straight down and plunge in the water. The naturalist said they go deeper than other birds and will catch the fish on the way up instead of down. There large blue webbed feet make them greatswimmers. Also while waiting for the dingy Dave and Melissa made friends with a couple of young sea lions who visited then on the rock they were sitting on.
The rest of the afternoon was fun. We headed to a small near beach to cool off, swim, snorkel and relax. It was only our second day but we liked what seemed to be this routine. We could not hike every minute and catch every wild critter in our camera as it would make us crazy and perhaps bore some of the children and adults. Swimming was always a welcomed break. Besides, there was always a curious sea lion to amuse us somewhere around. Snorkeling here was not too good as the water was not very clear by the surge kicking up the sand.
5:00PM We left the beach and the captain got underway to visit a large rocky island called Lion Island (Leon Dormido). From a distance this large monolith does look a bit like a lion. One area is a head with a mane and the back section is the body. From a distance it also looks like they are connected. This place was a treat as we got here when the sun was setting so the colors were pretty. He circled the rock and then put the boat inside a very narrow section where the island separated. The cliffs went up a few hundred feet on either side. It was a beautiful view and a great place to do the group picture in our new custom Port Washington – Galapagos Tour shirt we had made up. We left here while the sun was setting into a hazy sky. The evening followed by diner and a briefing on the next day turning. It was bedtime around 9:30 for this tired crew.
Feb 21st 7:00: Early breakfast and on to a dry landing on North Seymour. This is another arid and flat island that is only 2 sq km. On this island we saw cactus of the prickly pear that the land iguanas here eat. There were courting blue footed boobies and swallow tail gulls. The swallow tail gull has to be the prettiest of the sea gulls. It is the only nocturnal feeding sea gull so it has adapted large eyes and yellow beak. It also has a white tip at the end of the beak so the young can see the parent. We also saw 2 red frigate birds with their red breasts puffed out looking for mates. It was back to the boat for an 8:30 pick up for 6 of us diving in the area.
8:30: Vicente of Nauti Diving picked us up at the Coral 2 and transferred us to his dive boat. (www.nautidiving.com) He is an easygoing person who moved here from Spain 15 years ago. All our equipment was on board as we met him the first day we were in town to make sure everything fitted properly. We also told him this was going to be our first dive since diving in the 6 million gallon fish tank at Disney’s Epcot almost 2 years ago. He suggested we do an easy dive for the first tank checking out our equipment and getting used to being underwater.
The first tank dive went OK. Everyone seemed to get back into the “swim” of things right away. After a half dozen OK signs from everyone at 20 feet we headed east along the rocky cliff. There were lots of fish including the largest trigger fish I have ever seen protecting a nest it made in the sandy – gravel bottom. It must have been about 2 – 2 ½ feet long. While going along the wall we had a good push from a current and we did not need to swim much. We were also visited at 50 feet by an occasional sea lion who wanted to see what we were up to.
The second dive was on the outside of the Seymour Island facing the open ocean. We were hoping to spot hammerhead sharks that the Galapagos are known for. We were told the wall goes down to 3000 feet on this side so we had the possibility of seeing larger fish and manta rays. This dive also saw lots of fish and few white tipped sharks. The only hammerhead shark I saw was on the surface after coming up to the boat.
What made this dive side trip special was what took place on the surface after we were all up and accounted for. First, we spotted a large splash a few hundred yards out into the open water so we headed for it thinking it was dolphins. It turned out to be a large manta ray jumping out of the water with its large wings. When we turned around to make our way back to the Coral 2 we saw dorsal fins coming out of the water trailing our port side. When they leapt up we noticed the nose was short and realized they were a pod of pilot whales. It was on the starboard side did the dolphins surprise us. Three dolphins raced the bow wake while half a dozen others were on the right side of the boat. The 8 foot pilot whales preferred the left side! Vincente had the boat stopped so we can jump in and see if they will swim with us. Unfortunately when we stopped neither pods lingered so it was on the boat to try again. Again, they raced with us between North Seymour and Baltra heading out to open sea. We stopped, jumped in and they raced off again. Mike and Sandy did see a 3 shoot under them when they were in the water. As we headed back to meet our families on the Coral 2, Vicente said pilot whales and dolphins swimming together along with the boat the was not normal and he did not recall in 10 years of this happening. He was as excited as us. Overall, an enjoyable side trip for the divers and it was back on board the board the Coral 2.
12:00PM We had lunch while underway to the Bartolome Island. Bartolome Island is a unique one. It is almost a square mile but has multiple volcanic peaks on the east and west side of a narrow isthmus between two beaches. It is one the smallest and most unique shaped island I have ever seen. It has beaches and peaks in one compact size.
The beach we were on was about 100 feet wide. The surge did not allow good visibility for snorkeling even out to 200 yards along the rocky side. When we were snorkeled out we saw our first penguin. Galapagos penguins are endemic to the islands and are the only “warm water” penguins in the word. The penguin we saw was at the end of the rock and just stared out even when went up was close. He barely moved so made jokes about Disney finally putting their animatronics here. Making our way back a sea lion pup decided to play with us by swimming up to our face and shooting away. He did this as long as someone was in the water. Later when we were out of the water they came up as if they wanted to be petted by the children. Ken was out in the middle of the cove being directed by us using hand signals trying to chase what we thought was a turtle. He said it was a large ray going up to the surface and then swimming deep. After 2 hours we headed back to the Coral 2.
5:00PM After drying up and changing Nancy, Doug and I with Pedro elected to do a final hike up to the top of the western Volcano. (The rest of the group either was tired or not interested) It was 380 feet to the top via a wooden stair case and walk way made to protect the landscape. Pedro pointed out the geological history of the island and how moon like it was. The sun was going down and we made it up to see the sunset. There were about 25 people on the top from other two boats in the harbor. The sunset was beautiful over the harbor we swan in showing the broken monolith called pinnacle rock pointing out to the orange sky. The Coral 1, Coral 2 and another boat were just outside the harbor waiting to head to their next destinations.
Feb 22 (Maureen’s Birthday)
Today we visit the big island of Isabela after traveling all night. Isabela is the largest island compromising of about half the land mass of all the islands. It has 5 large volcanoes each pretty evenly separated. (in fact that separation has created 5 separate species of land tortoises). It is also an island with people living on it. With people come invasive plants and animals that that hurt the endemic living things.
(Goats have been especially damaging on these islands as they steal the food the tortoise eat as well as eat the eggs of them and iguanas) What is interesting is the way the parks people are handling the goat problem. It was explained that they took 500 goats and attached GPS transmitters. They know goats congregate so what they do is wait a while and track them. When they are found the pars people kill the goats letting the one with the GPS go find another group. It is costing $8 million dollars and it is a slow process to rid the island of 100K goats.
8AM: Urvina Bay:
. This was supposed to be a wet landing on a beach. Basically the dingy (which is an inflatable type with a solid fiberglass center hull and 25HP engine) heads to the beach and then backs in to let everyone out in usually a foot of water. Our dingy pilot headed into the narrow harbor towards to the small beach and realized that in front of us the wave were breaking too hard on the beach so he pointed the bow back out towards the open water and saw the next wave approaching. He picked up a little speed and we bounced over it not getting too wet. He then pointed the boat back to the beach and realized that we were in the middle of what was several waves coming in at one time. We were about 100 feet from the beach and he decided to try to get out of the harbor until the waves subsided. Unfortunately the waves run several at a time. One wave gave us a good shake and the next one broke over and soaked us. I was able to hold my camera bag up in the air while the volume of water broke low over the bow. Everything and anything got wet with 6 inches of water on the floor. These dinghies are pretty sturdy and while waves were not large enough to tumble us, we did have a fun and exciting ride with no damage.
After our landing we were treated to a sea turtle finishing with laying its eggs in the sand. The naturalists said it is not common to see turtles lay eggs this time of the day.
We watched the turtle finish burying the eggs and head back to sea in the hot sun. Later the kids found a few turtle eggs lose on the beach. They felt like soft ping pong balls that you were able to push in with your finger.
Urvina bay offers a nice flat walk. That is because it was under water until 1954 when it was uplifted out of the water in a few short hours. We saw lots of land iguanas nesting here. The land iguanas were large and all on the path or under the trees. (some were 3 to 4 feet) These were the prettiest iguanas yet (that is if you think iguanas can be pretty) with colors ranging from orange to bright yellow. On this walk we got close to another Galapagos Hawk resting on a dead tree. As we continued we found the remains of a tortoise. Its shell were in a few pieces and we were able to fit a few pieces together like a puzzle. Next to it was the skull of a goat with its horns attached. Not far from the bones was a young tortoise resting under the shade a tree. His shell was about 2 ½ feet across. He just looked at us with his head partially tucked into his shell while we observed him and took a few pictures. Other interesting features were weather worn coral on the path that were there before the uplift. We were happy to complete this hiking loop on the island to be back on the beach at 10:30 where the kids played in the surge and the adults cooled off. (The naturalist marked off several turtle nests so we did not crush them). We were back to the boat for lunch and sailed up to Tagus Bay
2:00PM At Tagas the boat set anchor and launched both dinghies to do a tour of the wild life on the cliffs. Tagas is a protected cove with cliffs on both sides. It is on the west side of Isabela. It has been visited for many years as their is graffiti with the various ships names that have visited here going back over 150 years. In Tagus our dinghies cruised up and down the cliffs. We saw hundreds of blue footed boobies and many penguins on the rocks. There were also pelicans nesting up the hill. One highlight of the ride was going into a small cave. While the other dinghy was at the mouth of the cave their engine quit so we towed them back to the Coral 2. After the boat ride we gathered up again and took the dinghy to the end of the harbor to take a hike up to the top of one of the small crater like peaks.
5:00PM: Tagus Cove Hike.
We took the dingy’s to the end of the cove for a landing on some rocky steps. We were going to go 2 miles round trip and hike up to a 400 foott high lava out crop. This place is known as the Lake Darwin Hike. After landing the naturalist took us to an area that had the names of various ships on the rocks. Some were painted while the older ones were chiseled in them. Some names were from the early 1800’s. Our first stop uphill was at Darwin Lake. Darwin Lake is in a former volcano about 100 over the harbor over looking our anchored yacht. Its saline content is 7.5 making it impossible for anything to live in it. The scenery was very pretty here. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the top of a lava out crop. Sort of like a mini peak of a mountain. We had views of 3 dormant tall volcanoes and 3 mini ones. At the same time we enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Ken requested to see if this group can stay perfectly quiet and make no noise for at least a minute so we can hear “silence”. This was an interesting experience to see if 20 adults and children can shut up and stop kicking the lava gravel between their feet. For what was a beautiful 15 or 20 seconds we heard as close to nothing as one can here. No birds, no insects, no motors from boats. It was a strange experience until 2 of our ten year olds had the sillies and could not hold in their laughter. The hike down was dark and we were happy to have the dingy wisk us back to be met by margaritas and great guacamole with banana chips before dinner.
[Side note: Because it was Maureen’s birthday today, Nancy organized the children to decorate the dinning room with streamers of toilet paper and a large sign. The Chef (Luis) made a beautifully designed and delicious cake. All in all, not a bad way to spend a birthday!]
8:30 PM Briefing Under the stars:
We are advised that we will spend a very quiet night in Tagas Cove as our next destination will be on Fernadina across the strait leaving at 6:30AM. The guides explained Fernandina was one of the larger and most pristine of the islands. We will be putting in at Punta Esposa around 7:15 AM. On this briefing the naturalists explained how a corrupt government allows illegal shark and sea cucumber fishing. One said he used to report such activities years ago but the problem is you had to put your name on the report. That would get you in trouble when you returned to the town you lived in as you were threatened with violence. They said it is difficult to make people uphold the law due to corruption.
6:15AM Feb 23 Sunrise En route to Fernandina:
Watched the sunrise on this calm morning. The children and some adults went up front to watch the dolphins race in the boats bow wake. I was on the stern enjoying the morning when I noticed 2 dolphins doing jumps about 150 behind us. I was able to get a couple of pictures of them in the air. One of the dolphins was doing flips for what looked like the joy of being able to do them!
7:15: Punta Espinosa: Punta Espinosa is on Fernandina Island and is one of the most volcanic places on Earth. It has blown about a dozen times in the last 150 years with the last eruption in 1995. Fortunately it is quite dormant now.
Dry landing on the island. The first sites were lots of marine iguana nests in process or covered up. We saw a few females wrestling with each other. Mouths open, grabbing each other or pushing each other’s shoulders trying to get a good spot on the sandy area near the tidal pools or rocks. We viewed them eating the plants at low tide and swimming around. Our naturalist led us through the maze of nests to the end of a spit. It was here that a Japanese crew spent the last 2 hours filming the movements of a hawk on a dead tree with one camera. I thought this would be a boring video as the hawk did nothing except sit on the tree and turn his head once in a while. Then we saw another camera using time lapse photography on the sally light footed crabs. (I think I will pass on this documentary)
We continued our loop to a rocky tidal pool where we came across a large 5 foot long diesel engine half buried in some sand between the rocks. We were told that back in 1975 a fishing boat was anchored in the same spot. What occurred at the time must have horrified the crew but fortunately no one hurt. The section of land we were on was underwater and in a brief few minutes the land was uplifted and took the boat right out of the water breaking it up. Everything rotted or was washed since that time but the heavy engine. The entire section of island we were walking on was underwater only 25 years ago. You can see where the former sea shore was as there were remains of mangrove trees. After this walk we headed back to the dingy for the ride back to the boat.
Lunch was on board as we sailed back to Isabella during our afternoon siesta. We were going to a place near the equator called Punta Vicenta Roca. This is the NW tip of the island with magnificent cliffs reminding some of us of Hawaii. These cliffs are part a very large half eroded volcano stretching about a half mile around. The waves and wind have spent tens of thousands of years eating it away making it a pretty place to visit. Here the captain showed off his piloting skills by putting part of the bow inside a huge arch carved out by the sea. After anchoring away at a save distance we loaded on to the dinghy’s for a boat ride up and down the cliffs viewing fur sea lions for the first time as well as birds, penguins and what ever else we find. The dinghy pilots took us very close to the cliffs to see the wild life and then headed completely inside the arch like cave. It had a height of about 15 feet and went 25 feet in with an inner and outer cavern.
After taking the boat ride we plunged over board to see what was below. Visibility was only 25 feet or so but Melissa did spot the profile of a large sea turtle resting at 20 feet. We submerged and swam down for a peak only for him to look at us and swim deeper down away from us. Other creatures spotted were a very large stingray as well what some people thought was an eagle ray. Highlights of the end of the swim were sea lions darting in and out of us. They would swim to you at high speed, stop a foot from your mask, give a playful snap of their mouth and then do a 180 degree turn bending their head over there body showing you their flippers. This whole process of being curious about us took a few seconds but they did it often.
5PM:The adults headed up to the aft sun deck where we were handed a Caipirinha.
This is a traditional Brazilian style drink made from liquor of the sugar cane and lots of lime. It seems to be the drink of choice while passing the equator. We were also given a half of tuna sandwich, as it was traditional to have fish when crossing the equator. At 5:22 the captain blasted the horn signifying 00.00.00 on his GPS signaling we crossed the equator. We then make a toast to King Neptune for the bounty we have in front of us. We also have a few children top side with us to share in the toast. (Note: Contrary to some popular beliefs that may be lingering, we could not find the “blue line” across the water like you see on the globes of the Earth)
Feb 24th 8AM: Santiago Island (AKA James)
Wet landing on a black sand beach at James Bay or Puerto Egas
We dry our feet at the base of house in ruins that was part of a salt mine in 1954 and head into the island. We see a Galapagos dove, boobies, lava lizards, some unusual trees and a few American oyster catchers flying near the water. Pedro stops a few minutes when we get to the rocky shore to discuss a particular volcanic rock. It is a little bigger than bowling ball but has holes in it the size of ping-pong balls all around. He said in the early 80’s it was discovered that rocks made from fresh from lava spawned anaerobic bacteria as it hit the water. This he said is a very important theory as to how simple life on Earth got started. I think he called it hyper-thermo-phil?) It is when the hot rocks cooled down with the ocean allowing the simplest bacteria to start billions of years ago.
Further down the shoreline we saw large surge pools and grottos that would empty when the waves left and over fill when they came in. They ranged from 10 to 20 feet wide, 20 to 40 feet long and about 10 feet high. The grottos had fur sea lions living in an around them as well as marine iguanas and bright red sally light footed crabs. A few of these natural pools had stone arches over a few that we were able to walk across. In one pool had an 8 foot shark swam in chasing a fish however a bull sea lion did not like him invading his grotto so he chased the shark out.
11AM I was on the bridge when the anchor was being hoisted up and the captain invited me to pilot the Coral 2 out of the harbor. She drives smoothly with very little drifting in the calm water. I made a turn to port once we were out of the harbor and used the radar to help plot the compass degree I wanted following the bow with the rocky point several miles away. After 20 minutes I changed course go to port around the point and chased the Coral 1 many miles ahead of us. When I lost them in the haze I used the radar to follow them to the island of Rabida. When Maureen took a turn at the helm I saw he captain having a printing problem with his computer. I got Mike and Gary to look into the problem. Mike fixed the printing problem. Gary cleaned up his files deleting hundreds of temporary files dating back several years ago. The captain commented his computer was much faster. Lunch was served at 12 so we left the bridge to eat.
1:00 After lunch we did a wet landing on a beach on Rabida Island. No hikes here, just snorkeling with a little bit of beach time. The crew wanted to leave by 2:30 to get back to their homeport of Santa Cruz.
Rabida had the best snorkeling. Too bad it was our last time in the ocean. We left the beach and swam along the cliffs on the right side. Our first creature was a penguin who did nothing but stare from a rock as we passed him. We were able to swim up pretty close and see the details of his short body. The next thing we viewed while snorkeling were 4 white tipped sharks swimming near the surface and along the wall down to about 20 feet. At first your heart and breath stops as it does when one sees sharks. After a deep breath you calm down and enjoy watching them patrol back and forth. Swimming further out we saw various colored parrotfish and then playful sea lions darting around. We made it about ¼ of mile before turning back. On the way back we spotted sharks again and were treated to 2 penguins “flying” in the water after small fish under us.
The children were getting a little tired so we headed in and let them play on the beach. They were in the water not more than a few minutes when the sea lions came in to play. They were all around them swimming fast and shooting there body’s completely out of the water like a dolphin. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the sea lions or the people around them. This was a great way to leave our last island and make the 6 hour journey back to port.
Our last night was a pina coladas and the official good bye by the crew (in uniform). They only wear their uniforms on the introduction evening and departure evening. We were also treated to a 5 piece band from the Andes playing 4 traditional songs and one modern one on instruments from their area.
Feb 25th: We depart the Coral 2 after breakfast and head onto the buses to make our way back to Baltra. On the way back we head into the high lands to a Tortoise reserve roughly several miles square. On the way we had to stop the bus in the middle of the dirt road because it was blocked by a 200 pound tortoise eating the grass in the middle. The guide and three of us went and picked it up and moved it off the road. It was the first time we were allowed to touch the creature. The legs were felt like hard leather when I touched them. At the reserve we saw several tortoises in the muddy pools or under the trees staying out of the sun. Up close they look like artists rendition of dinosaurs. There leathery necks seem to have large rough scale like features. After observing them for 10 or 15 minutes we moved on to a lava tunnel. This tunnel was formed by lava that flowed through it and cooled off on the sides and top allowing the center to be clear. It was about 1/3 mile long and wide enough to put a subway through. It did not look natural at all. It looked like a man made tunnel with a muddy floor. The rest of the journey back was pretty routine. This included waiting for the ferry and taking the bus back to the airport.
5PM: Quito: Met at the airport by both the Marriott and Eduardo from Klein tours.
The Marriott took all 28 bags and group went with Eduardo for a quick tour of old Quito.
Eduardo had the bus go to the highest spot in Quito where the statue Virgin of Quito stands perhaps 100 feet high. This spot offered great views of the city and the old section where the San Francisco church is. It also offered a small mercado where traditional llama sweaters, local musical instruments and other trinkets were bought. Our guide then had the bus go through the narrow streets of the old section to the old church that started in the 1500’s. We arrived 10 minutes before the evening mass was over. Good timing as it was nice to see the service going on. (Mass concluded with a Hebrew song sang in Spanish) This church is very ornate with gold leaf and statues all over the place. We left a few minutes after service and went back to the church square where a band was playing and someone was lighting up rockets to celebrate. Dinner was near by at an upscale looking place called La Ronda where there were other tourists. The food was good and their was an Andes band with traditional dancing.
Thoughts: The Galapagos is truly a unique place. While more people are visiting it each year many of the islands do not seem to be changed by people. Last year 65,000 people visited the islands. 10 years ago only 20,000 visited them. Now there are 16000 people living permanently. Both the number of residents and visitors climbs each year. 65,000 seems like a lot of people. The islands get what Disney gets at their parks in a couple of hours during their busy season but Disney is set up for the crowds. We did not run into any crowds on the islands and there were no more than 3 boats at any one spot. Also, due to park rules we were almost always split up as a group. The laws say no more than a dozen people at a landing per guide at a time. This keeps the place looking like it is not being invaded. On some islands that had hiking loops, the guides went in opposite directions so there was no large group on a path.
The islands are very pristine and the best part is that the animals ignore people. The passengers on the Coral 2 did a good job in leaving the animals alone, allowing them to do there own thing. They did not run to us for any handouts not did they run away in fear of us. It would be great to see this part of the world not change as there are only a few places left that are not effected or altered by man’s influence.
Email Tab Hauser at tabh@hascorelays.com