Nov 2009

24 – 31 May 2009

Southern Route

So this year is all about once in a life time travel experiences and what better than spending 7 days sailing around some sunny, white sand beaches in crystal blue waters whilst some funny blue footed birds fly over, inquisitive sea lion cubs play whilst you snorkel and iguanas lay in big orgy groups basking for heat on the beach . Not far from the mainland and an entirely different world lives thriving in the unique Galapagos Islands. The islands remain mostly unspoilt, the skyline missing the normal sky-high million dollar hotels which one would expect for such an exotic place and where the best postal service is still to leave unstamped letters in the beachside wine casket where passing ships or travellers pick them up for hand delivery in their home countries.

We knew this would break our budget, 2 days were spent in Quito asking ourselves if it was worth it, and eventually we decided its only going to get more expensive, more regulated and more touristy, so whilst we are only a mere 1000km away we should take the opportunity!

Day 1 Sunday

We flew from Quito early on Sunday morning, arriving at Baltra Airport by midday, and luckily just missing the Iguana who had found a great place to heat up on the runway tarmac! A hefty little entrance fee, $110, and a little worried about the fossils Seb was carrying from Colombia, but all went off well and we were granted entry!

We were greeted at the harbour by the a couple of sealions and the Eden Yacht crew and quickly whisked off to the start of our 7 day cruise. On arrival at the boat we were given a short welcoming, intro to the crew members and other traveller’s. We were then shown to our cabins – and lucky us landed up with a top deck cabin - super for those hot nights.

After a yummy lunch we headed to Las Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz Island. Here we were given our first taste of the tame wildlife. We were just returning from viewing pink flamingos, when we noticed a flock of birds hovering above the beach. Immediately we thought – prey - there must be something going on so we hurried closer to see what was up. The birds were after a fish which a sea lion had caught. The sea lion was slamming the fish onto surface of the ocean to break it up into biteable pieces. With all the commotion a shark was attracted to the scene as well. So now the sea lion, after catching the fish had both the birds and shark trying to get the fish from his mouth. In his attempt to escape the shark the sea lion hurried onto the beach but this did not seem to frighten off the shark and the shark just followed the sea lion onto the shore. In the end the sea lion out witted the others and triumphantly displayed his catch, posing picture perfect.

Wow, wow, wow! This is 50/50 material.

We then headed back to the shore for a tad of snorkelling. A bit unlucky with the vis that day but there were still big schools of angel fish swimming about. The next thing we bumped into some sharks, with the vis being shitty we could only see them when they became inquisitive and swam right up close, then there were 2, and they kept on coming back, Kate's heart starting racing and all she could think about was not to pee and get out of the water. Turns out that they were only Galapagos white tip sharks and are not considered dangerous.

Day 2 Monday

We awoke to find ourselves staring at a huge volcanic wall – a straight even wall which had risen up to form North Seymour Island. With pancakes in our tummy we launched in the dinghies on the island and headed off to see sea lions and blue footed boobies up close for the first time. We were even lucky enough to find a frigate bird puffing out its normally testicle looking throat sack into a striking red balloon to attract a mate – the poor male hadn’t seen any action the whole mating season and was still desperately trying in the last few days of the official mating season.

Frigate Birds

Blue Footed Boobies

In the afternoon we headed to Santé Fe Island - all about the snorkelling, sea lions and cacti! Taking advantage of the midday sun we slipped into swimmers, propped a snorkel and mask on our head and flipped overboard – snorkelling time. It was so great to be swimming in the sea again after our last month in the interior of Colombia and Ecuador. The coral was not as bright as we had expected but there were so many colourful fish, and then the darting nearly face plunging sea lions arrived and we were sold. Snorkelling in Galapagos with the sea lions is so much fun; they are so cute and inquisitive with their big eyes and armless bodies.

After lunch, we launched on a beautiful white sand beach, completely dominated by sea lions basking in the last afternoon sun. Amazing that they just lie like a big lazy sausage whilst we all walk around - just making sure we stay away from the big beach master and moms’ with pups.

At the end of each day before dinner we had a briefing from our Guide. He was rather funny and always insisted on acting out the animals which we would see the next day. Seb is rather good at the courting Frigate Bird impersonation - ask him to give you a show one day!

Day 3 Tuesday

A bit of a chilly day, but Kate had to try and overcome her fear of snorkelling with sharks, so we found ourselves plunging into the open ocean and swimming around Devils Crown. Devils Crown is a small blown out volcano which has not risen very high out of the water, so in the middle of the ocean there is a circle of rocks, weathered in such away to look like a crown. The vis that day was excellent and just snorkelling we could see 20m and the sharks circling below. At one stage we even snorkelled into the middle of the crater which is very shallow and found ourselves less than 5m away from Galapagos White Tip sharks.

A little bit of a warm up was in order, so after the snorkelling we headed to Suarez Point where we had a giggle at the “Albatross Airport” – such clumsy birds which always manage to trip during their takeoff or landing. On the rocks below the poor sea iguanas tried to swim out of the sea with waves continuously bashing them against the rocks – poor little critters, especially when a huge unsuspecting wave comes and drags them off their rock perch.

Day 4 Wednesday

A little adventure was under way as we headed into a dark cave in search of the underwater lake. Torch in hand we crawled and scampered, a few unworldly screams later and we had arrived at the chilly lake for a quick dip in the darkness.

Post Office Bay – exactly what it says it is. Back when sail boats were wooden and email didn’t exist an old wine casket was set up as a post box. All ships passing by would pick up the mail to take back to the “modern” world. Today its still in operation for tourist humour, except sailors with parrots don’t stop by, instead tourists fly them home. The tradition being that as a tourist you leave your postcard in the box, and then when another tourist comes along from your home town or near enough they will collect it and then hand deliver it. In reality, the postcards which we sent were taken home to South Africa and then posted to our friends, but we think all have now arrived.

A fun morning but way to short on the island! Tourists can either take the Eden tour for the full 7 days or 3/4’ days. A stop at the Santa Cruz mainland was thus in order to say goodbye to some (the Angelic Canadians, Rowdy Abby and the Vino Blanco Americanos) and hi to others (Adventurous Marie and the photographic mad Jap and Spanish), our salvation during the trip - the Irish – thank god they stayed the full 8 days with us.

Day 5 Thursday

An off boat day! After some dodgy pink drinks last night, a day with out constant rocking motion is much welcomed.

We spent the day at the Darwin Research Centre and in the Highlands of Santa Cruz. Darwin Research Centre is largely a breeding project for the various Galapagos Tortoise species. They have some really large fellows there including Lonesome George, who is yet to find a suitable mate at the age of 90.

In the last 4 days the vegetation on the different islands has been similar, small shrubs with a couple of Cacti, but no large lush green trees. The Highlands thus came as quite a surprise, by no means the Amazon Jungle but still worlds apart from the rest of the foilage we had seen. Amazing that with in a few km’s such a change occurs. They even manage to grow coffee!

Northern Route

Day 6 Friday

Back on board the boat we had travelled over night to arrive at James Bay (Egas Port, Santiago Island). The coastline was really beautiful due to excavations made in the rock by the sea, creating crystal clear dipping pools that are nicely protected from ocean swell. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to snorkel due to stupid tourist predecessors causing havoc, resulting in stricter regulations on what and what not we are allowed to now do.

We did however head back to where the boat was anchored and swim off the near beach. So many turtles and of course the ever playful sea lions.

The morning had again flown and we headed back to the boat to make the lunch time sailing trip to Bartolome Islands. A great sight was the dolphins which came to play with the boat sternum during the journey. What a spectacle they put on ducking and diving, and flying in the air!

Bartolome Islands was one of our favourites because the landscape is so different to any of the others. The reason being that the island is relatively new compared to the others with volcanic eruptions only being 1 million year old instead of 4 mil. Due to the island being in its infancy, vegetation has not yet bloomed and the whole island feels like it really is a volcano with pumice rock all around. It is amazing how light pumice rock really is.

We also enjoyed snorkelling with the Galapagos Penguins – Seb was so amazed seeing Penguins which he largely associates with Antarctica (bar Boulders beach) at the Equator – 2 extreme weather temperatures.

Day 7 Saturday

Our last full day – triste (sad), going to miss this unique place! And our last day to try and see hammerhead sharks – can’t believe that we are going to voluntarily jump into a section of the see infamous for these sharks – they look so scary.

We started the day waking up in the middle of a blown out volcanic crater – Darwin Bay, Genovesa Island. We enjoyed a small walk on the Island, entering by Prince Philips steps, can’t even escape the Royal influence in Galapagos. For the first time we saw Red Footed Boobies and were also lucky enough to see the Galapagos Owl, generally very difficult to spot, all army gear should be manufactured after this bird.

We then headed out hammerhead shark hunting – but due to terrible vis were “unlucky” and didn’t get to say hi. The swim was rather chilly so the afternoon beach lounging session was welcomed. A cute little sea lion pup lost its mom, and in its search came across us. They are so tame and actually landed up taking over our beach towels - Kate wants one!

Day 8 Sunday

A really early morning and we were out on the rubber dinghies by 5.30am heading for Black Turtle Cove. A little inlet surrounded by mangrove swamps and home to many a black sea turtle and schools of sting ray. Seeing the sting rays swimming by in such large groups and so close to the dinghy was fabulous – so graceful!

The early start left us all famished so we headed back to the yacht for a last breakfast and then back off to Baltra airport. Where we said goodbye to the lovely Irish, and happy snappy wildlife photographers!

Just before boarding the plane we heard a shaky Spanish accent over the loud speaker – “Sebastiaan Swart, Mr Sebastiaan Swart”. As Seb rushed off my heart sank, the fossils! His face told it all on his return – they had confiscated them. After 3 months of lugging these dam rocks around in the backpacks they were taken. Aaaaggghh.

Tips for other Travellers

You need a bit more than spare change in the pocket when going on the trip so it’s best being ready with a bit of info. These are some tips which might make it an easier decision for you.

Where to Organise?
You have the option of booking the trip before arrival in Ecuador via the internet etc this is generally a lot more expensive, but if time is limited and you are going in the busy season it could be the best. We had a few days to play with so opted to see what deals we could find either in Quito or on arrival on the Islands. Mariscal Sucre in Quito has many tour agencies; we shopped around a lot and eventually booked through Happy Gringo Tours in Quito. The tours offered were generally similar at all the tour agencies, but the service at Happy Gringo was better.

We also had the option of arriving at Galapagos and booking, but in the end we figured the money we may have saved ($200 per person) we would’ve maybe spent waiting around trying to organize a trip from the island, waiting for space on boats and a decent itinerary. We later met a lady who had arrived on the island, she had hoped to speak to the boat owners direct and view a boat before choosing a trip, it turned out that the boats were nearly always on tour so she never saw the boats before and she found it rather difficult to find owners to chat to them directly – she waited a week before finding a tour – but she got an excellent deal on a luxury boat!

What type of Boat?

Tourist – basic, small boat, v small cabins, food ok not great, guides level 1 only, itinerary lmt to islands near Santa Cruz, 8 day cruise ($750 – 1200)
Tourist Superior – (Eden, our boat) cabins were small but comfortable with priv bathrooms, rooms cleaned every day, food was excellent, crew always helpful and friendly and the guide was level 2, lounging room such as deck chairs and indoor TV room was very comfortable, more itinerary variety not only lmt to islands close to Santa Cruz, 8 day cruise ($1300 – 2000)
1st Class – similar to tourist superior, but rooms slightly larger and potential of getting a level 2/3 guide, itinerary’s could allow for Isabella and Fernandina visits, 8 day cruise ($1700 – 2500)
Luxury – level 3 guide and itineraries often include Isabella and Fernandina, 8 day cruise ($2500 – 5000)

Cash?
Paying in cash is optimal as with CC add another 5% or so, which really adds on $100’s

Boat names?
Eden – our tour – recommended
Others that we saw which looked good – Aida Maria, Guantamera
Avoid – Amigo and Flamingo

The itinerary?
You can either do day trips, only to close islands, or take a 3/4/8 day tour.

In terms of routing there are 4 basic options – doing the northern islands, southern islands, western islands (Fernandina and Isabella) or a combination. Only luxury or 1st class boats do Fernandina and Isabella so we couldn’t afford this, even though it would’ve been lovely with fewer tourists. We thus did a 8 day tour of the northern and southern islands – the downside with this is that we spent a day on Santa Cruz at Darwin station which one could easily do by themselves with an extra day after/before the tour spent independently on the island, but it was good to have a break from the boat, and their weren’t really any other options.

Must see sights according to Kate and Seb?
The islands which we enjoyed the most – North Seymour, Santé Fe, Espanola, Floreana, Bartolome, snorkelling at Devils Crown – a good mix of most of the animals and landscapes

Costs?
It’s expensive:
Tour cost ($750-$4000), guides and crew expect ridiculous tips (the guide recommends approx total $120 per tourist for the guide and crew), park entrance fee ($110), drinks on board – BYOB, flight ($400), snorkels/flippers/wetsuits sometimes incl., sometimes not

Flight?
Our flight was due to leave at 12am, but others on the boat had a 9am flight so we all had to leave the boat and head to the airport in time for their flight! Really irritating as we had booked our flight through the boat and had expected to have the whole morning on the boat doing an activity. Make sure you are on the earlier flight 9am, and you can change for free later.

Last day?
The 8 day tour advertised is somewhat a farce – we had a really early start 5.30am and by 8.30 we were on the way to the airport, so really it is a 7 day tour.

Repetition?
We were concerned that there would be a lot of repetition in explanation etc when the new tourists joined midway through the tour, we didn’t find this was a problem though

Beds?
Don’t ask for a double, as they are really small. Request 2 single beds on upper deck – fresh air, esp. if the aircon breaks