Let me start off by saying that my camera was stolen while in the Galápagos Islands, so I must give credit for most of these photos to my friends.
The Galápagos Islands have been on my bucket list since I can remember. I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel or something similar many years ago and decided that I absolutely must get to the Galápagos someday. I was fascinated with the wildlife and landscape. Well, I finally checked them off my bucket list.
The Galápagos Islands are 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. The only way to get there is by air. Ecuadorians pay far less for their airline tickets than tourists (tourists pay about double), but it's worth every penny. Upon arrival, every tourist must pay $100 for entry fee to the Islands. Again, worth every penny.
I arrived in the Galápagos Islands on April 4, 2013. In all, I spent nearly three weeks in the Islands. The Islands were amazing. I saw every bird and fish and turtle and iguana I could want to see. The turtles are huge, the frigate birds with their funny little red pouch hanging down their necks are quite spectacular, the boobies (red-footed, blue-footed and masked) are so cool and something I've always wanted to see, the iguanas are fierce-looking and spit, the crabs (the black ones that blend into the rocks and the red ones that must be easy prey) are fast and can jump from one rock to the next, the fish and sharks are somehow more appealing because they are in the Galápagos, and the sea lions are the most playful things I've ever experienced in the water. The Islands are magical and have a certain charm that I haven't felt in many other places. Somehow the Islands still seem to run on "island time," ya know, the laid back, slow-paced phenomenon that exists in most islands, but they get things done a little faster and better. The people are among the nicest and friendliest I've met in my travels. Actually, it's the first place that I feel like I didn't have to always be on my guard to make sure I wasn't getting swindled. You can find cheap food and expensive food, depending upon your pocketbook and tastes and although the Islands are generally more expensive than the mainland, you can still find good deals and less expensive options.
So, what's so special about the Galápagos? The short answer is: everything. I'm guessing, however, that if you're reading this blog, you wouldn't mind a little more detail.
When I stepped off the plane in Baltra (a small island that serves as the airstrip for Santa Cruz Island), I found a bus waiting to take us to a ferry, which traversed the small channel between Baltra and Santa Cruz, after which I boarded another bus to get from the northern edge of the island into Puerto Ayora, the largest city on the island. I went straight to a tour agency to try to figure out what to do with my time in the Galápagos. I only had six days originally planned and wanted to make the most of it.
On my first full day in the Galápagos, I went to Floreana for a day trip. We took a 2-hour boat ride to Floreana, during which we saw dolphins frolicking in the sea near the boat, a ray of some sort that jumped out of the water, and a whale (for the record, I thought it was another dolphin or shark, but the boat operator said it was most definitely a whale). So cool! Floreana is the oldest island in the archipelago. There are stone carvings that evoke thoughts and memories of Easter Island or San Agustín, Colombia. I saw only a few of the stone statues, but they were impressive nonetheless. There is evidence of an old city or community, with huge, strategically-placed walls and alleyways. In addition, Floreana has a refuge for some of the infamous land tortoises. I don't think I was fully prepared for how large the tortoises can get. Some of them were easily 2' tall, 3-4' long (or more) and 2-3' wide. They are massive! On Floreana, the tortoises are in a large area (many acres) enclosed by stout stone walls to protect the tortoises. Floreana also has a natural spring that provides fresh water to the people of the island. Not all the islands have such a source of water. On the way back to Santa Cruz, the boat took us to some other islands so that we could see blue-footed boobies and penguins. I'd always wanted to see the blue-footed booby. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea, but they are super cool birds with longish beaks and bright blue (almost a cross between baby blue and turquoise), webbed feet. We also saw penguins and lots of other birds.
The next day, I took a two-night trip to Isabela Island, the largest of the Galápagos Islands. I joined some others on a five-hour hike (2.5 hours in and 2.5 hours out) to visit a volcanic crater (I think it was the Sierra Negra volcano). It was really spectacular! An eruption many eons ago collapsed the center of the volcano, leaving behind huge area of lava. Since the original eruption, there have been many smaller eruptions that fill in more and more lava. It's like looking out over a black see of rock; it may not sound all that amazing, but it really is. We also went snorkeling in the waters around Isabela, which is some of the best snorkeling I've ever done in my life. The water was crystal clear and a perfect temperature. I saw three kinds of starfish that I've never seen before, including some amazing blue starfish with spindly arms. I swam with a sea turtle for a bit and saw some fish similar if not identical to the fish I saw while diving off the coast of Honduras. We also went on a small walk around one of the coastal areas to observe some land iguanas and white tipped reef sharks that nap in the relatively calm waters nearby. The iguanas are charcoal gray and black; don't get too close though, or they will spit on you! I've heard that their spit stinks worse than skunk and it's nearly impossible to get the scent off.
A couple days later, I went to Bartolomé Island and Santiago Island. Bartolomé is a really small island off the coast of the larger Santiago Island. Our guide taught us all about the Islands' formations, the type of lava spewed from the undersea volcanoes and the plant life of the island. Apparently there is a lava cactus that can grow with hardly any freshwater and it's natural by-product is a new kind of soil created by the nutrients from the cactus, creating a better soil for other types of plants to grow and stimulating the islands' plant life. We hiked up to a lighthouse on Bartolomé and from there we had an amazing view of the bay and waters below. It seems that some juvenile hawks also like the area, because they were flying overhead, landing on the railings of our walkway and at times blocking us in (our guide said we shouldn't get too close or they will attack, so there were a couple times that we just had to wait out the hawks). We also went snorkeling around Bartolomé and saw turtles, sharks and all sorts of cool fish. Even though it wasn't quite like Isabela, the snorkeling was still some of the best!
After all that I'd seen and experienced, I knew there was no way I could leave the Islands in the six days I'd originally planned, so I pushed my flight back by about five more days. I spent the next couple of days exploring Santa Cruz Island. There is an area, called Las Grietas, in which the ocean water comes inland and mixes with freshwater in some huge rock canyons. It was the perfect place for a swim after our long hike to get there. Santa Cruz also has a pelican nesting area not far from the harbor where you can check out the pelicans up close. That was definitely a treat. Usually the large birds are too busy flapping around in the ocean trying to catch fish for any decent pictures.
San Cristobal is a great island and I actually like the vibe better in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno than I did in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. It's a smaller city and actually feels like a town rather than just a tourist trap. Sure, there are the usual tourist things, like small agencies selling snorkeling tours or restaurants serving tourist food, but there are more mom and pop type restaurants and hostels. The minute I stepped off the ferry boat from Santa Cruz, I could tell that San Cristobal was different. As if the overall feel of the town wasn't enough to distinguish it from Santa Cruz, the sea lions basking in the sun on the beach area fronting the town gave the town it's own distinct odor. It's not a pleasant odor, but you get used to it.
On one of the days, a group of us took a cab to the top of the volcano on the island (it's not a very high volcano). There is a lagoon at the top, which is NOT fit for swimming unless you like swimming in mud, but was still a nice view. Our intent was to bike down the volcano back to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, but we decided to go the other direction at the last minute and wound up on the other side of the island at a perfect beach called Playa Chino. The waves were perfect for body surfing, the sand was soft and the weather was beautiful. The horse flies on the beach were a nuisance, but we quickly learned that staying in the ocean solved that problem. A couple days later, a larger group of us took a cab to Playa Chino to spend the day there with a grilled lunch and more perfect beach time. A delightful afternoon!! I spent a couple afternoons enjoying some quiet time at Playa Man, which is a short walk from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. Since snorkeling seemed to be the thing to do, a small group of friends and I booked a trip that included three stops and lots of snorkeling time. We snorkeled with sea lions for about an hour. They are such playful animals and so curious. We would dive down, twist, turn and swim along with the juvenile sea lions; it was the most fun I've had snorkeling ever!. The next stop on the snorkeling tour took us to Kicker Rock to swim with sharks. There were so many! The water was decidedly colder, but worth the slight chill to be able to swim with the sharks.
Sadly, my time on the Galápagos Islands came to an end and I returned to mainland Ecuador for a couple days before the Latin American part of my trip would end. I still had some more traveling to do, but the next few weeks would be travel within the U.S.
