The Galápagos Islands

I spent an incredible 6 days out in the Galapagos last week and I want to rave about it!

I spent most of it on board this sail boat name "Merak". It is a smallish, carrying 4 crews and 8 passengers. Wel actualy it is pretty tiny, as upon arrival at the dock the Merak was the smallest ship of the lot by far! The crew included one naturalist guide name Cesar, the captain Teto, first mate Lenin and the cook Jamie.

We had a good group of people on board which was nice as the boat was too small for any sort of difficulties. However we did not have an auspicious start as the American Pete (on the left of the photo) left his backpack on board the bus and we were all delayed from starting out on the cruise. He apparently saw the basking sea lions at the dock and got so excited with taking photos that he forgot all about his backpack - what a dumb arse! But we soon forgave him and forgot about the incident. :)

Cesar our guide is the best guide I have had so far in this trip. This old man who turns 70 next year, is one exceptional guide. Seriously! Cesar is a joker and can take as much himself as he dishes out. He tells us his favorite position is '69 LOL! This was after we saw this big male bull sea lion gave it to his lover (in the only style they can master - guess). Cesar must have a pretty long love life as he has 5 ex-wives along with 12 kids from past marriages. But he told us when the tax man came they told him he had 6 ex-wives so he is still looking for the last one! hahaha

Cesar is also strong for his age, always being the first on our inflatable, standing up to help with the navigation. As for his guiding style he would just walk off when he wants to, so if you do not want to hear his explanation you don't have to. He has been guiding for 30 years (including 2 as a cook!) so he can tell us anything and everything we wanted to know without a book. I love this old man and will rave about him to other travelers. So it is only a pity that Cesar plans to retire at the end of the year. Salud!

The Galapagos archipelago is actually a group consisting of 13 main Islands. And in our tour we only visited 5 Islands. They are:

Baltra - which everybody visits upon arrival as that is where the airport lives. We visited a beautiful beach near by on our first day, and saw ruins of a pier left by the American GIs station here during WWII.

Santa Cruz - the mainland hub which has the largest human population (20,000 and counting) and home of the famous Charles Darwin Research Station where massive land turtles can be observed.

Santa Fe - A small-ish Island full of cactus trees along with a whole host of lizards including the Land Iguana and Lava Lizard.

Espanola - My favorite Island for it's terrain and animals! It is full of bird species such as the wave Albatross, Hood Mockingbirds, Blue footed Boobies, Swallow-Tailed Gulls and Finches. There are also spectacular blow holes and loads and loads of Marine Iguanas (and we observe them swimming in the ocean!).

Floreana - Another beautiful Island with beautiful beaches where you can observe (and feel!) stingrays swimming at your feet on the beach, see pink flamingos in the lake and leave mail for someone to post at "Post Office Bay". The "Post Office Bay" is name after barrels of mail left by whalers back in the 18th century as a means for ships destined for the USA and Europe to deliver their mail home. Floreana had the best snorkeling around it's offshore Island called the "Devils Crown". It is actually a submerged volcanic cone full of coral and fishes.

On the left this is a Land Iguana, chewing on it's favorite food from the cactus tree. This big lizard was lazing around beforehand but move fast when Cesar cut and drop this cactus at it's feet. I am guessing it hasn't eaten in a while! The photo was taken at Santa Fae Island.

Sea lions abound in every Island we visited.
From the moment we arrived at the dock in Baltra we found these lazy creatures on land. However in water they are a different story. Garret, Dave, Bos and I had the most exhilarating experience underwater at Espanol Island, because the teenagers came underwater to play with us! They would swim right up to us, blow bubble in our face and swim off, one swam so close to me I got to touch it´s rubbery skin! They were so playful that they disturbed a white tip shark whom was basking beneath the rocks!

The Galapagos visit was an incredible experience for me because these animals weren't afraid of human presence. I guess they have no fear for us because they were never hunted by human beings like elsewhere. So we could get very close to these wild creatures. And some of them like the finches and baby sea lions would hop up to investigate or to play with us.

Blow Holes at Espanol Island

The landscape was also very beautiful, from big cliffs with blow holes, dried out windswept terrain, humid and wet forest, perfect sandy beaches to rising volcanic cones all devoid of human habitation. 97% of the Galapagos is protected and this is the largest marine reserve in the world.

I only hope that with the increasing human presence (both locals and tourist) that the Galapagos can maintain it's uniqueness, and that one day my kids will be able to see this landscape and animals in the same way that I saw it.