A new TV, a Blue-Ray DVD…and a trip to the Galapagos Islands

[kpc]

Overnight, as we slept, the catamaran sailed from San Cristobal to Espanola Island. This is part of the reason why I chose a cruise as opposed to a land based tour (where you stayed in a hotel on the island each night) as the cruise gave you more time for sightseeing as your accommodation basically moved to the next destination!

Itinerary for Day 2:
Española Island – Gardner Bay – Osborn Island – Suárez Point

AM: Española - Gardner Bay: Breakfast in the morning. Wet landing. This bay has a white sand beach and there is a small colony of sea lions. The possibilities for swimming or snorkelling are excellent here. Paths: easy, duration: 1h.Osborn Island: Enjoy this place for snorkelling and swimming. Duration: 30min. Lunch on board.

PM: Española - Suarez Point: Dry landing. Walking there you can see the blow hole, sea lions, marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Darwin finches, Galapagos hawks, waved albatross, lava lizards, mocking birds, herons. Paths: difficult, duration: 2h30. Dinner at night.

Heading to Gardner Bay, Espanola Island


A colony of Galapagos sea lions


Up close and personal


A colourful, large male marine iguana


Another male marine iguana


A pair of Frigate birds


Even the Frigate bird was watching the iguana


There were thousands of these crabs on the rocks everywhere you looked


Sally Lightfoot crab (PS: yes, they can be eaten but it is illegal to catch them!)


Snorkelling with a sea lion

[SQJunkie]

Fantastic TR, kpc.
Gorgeous pix and great presentation.
Thanks for resizing pix so they load quickly.

[kpc]

Day 2 continued. This afternoon was a naturalist’s and bird watcher’s dream….I can see why Charles Darwin was fascinated by all the different species of birds here. Please let me know if I get the birds wrong!

Wildlife at Suarez Point, Espanola Island


Wildlife at Suarez Point


The many birds at Suarez Point


Spectacular scenery and wildlife


Very easy to mistake a sea lion for rock…


Playful sea lion pup


Marine iguana climbing a bush


Flightless Cormorant


Galapagos Dove

[kpc]

Day 2 continued.

Blue footed booby


I just love the blue feet…


Nazca Booby


Nazca Booby with chick


Swallow-tailed gull


Unknown bird


Galapagos hawk


Lava lizard


Blow hole

Next…day 3.

[Pinkfloyd]

Sweet pics! Cheers for the TR and keep it up!

[kpc]

Itinerary for Day 3:
Floreana Island – Cormorant Point – Devil’s Crown – Post Office Bay

AM: Floreana – Cormorant Point: Breakfast in the morning. Wet landing. This site has a beach of green olivine crystal sand for walking and swimming. The island has also a flamingos lagoon. Walking on towards the other side, there is a fine white sand beach where marine turtles nest from December to May. Paths: easy, duration: 2h.

PM: Floreana - Devil’s Crown: This place is excellent to snorkel and to observe fish, rays and sharks. Floreana - Post Office Bay: Wet Landing. Here you will see the famous barrel that served as the mailbox for eighteenth century whaling ships. Now tourists leave their unstamped letters or postcards for the next passengers to mail. Paths: easy, duration: 1h. Dinner at night.

We arrived overnight, and anchored off Floreana Island.

Our crew who had just dropped us off at Cormorant Point,Floreana


One of the many birds flying overhead

Most of this morning was spent walking around the island soaking up the natural landscape. We did come across a Flamingo lagoon, and we stopped for some time as all the cameras snapped away.

Pink flamingos…to be honest, we were a little disappointed as they were so far away


Beautiful beach

After the walk, we spent an hour or so snorkelling / swimming in the sea.

This sea lion joined us…


The fish and marine life just off these rocks were incredible….sorry did not have an underwater camera!

After lunch back on board and a short siesta, we were taken to the Devil’s Crown which must have been one of the best snorkelling spots in the Galapagos. We saw an amazing range of fish of all sizes, sea lions swimming, sting rays, small sharks etc. There are very strong currents around these group of rocks, and we were advised to swim against the current, as the current would then wash schools of fish in your direction. We spent around an hour snorkelling before we were hauled back into the pangas exhausted.

Devil’s Crown

After a quick shower and rest back on the “Treasure”, we were dropped off on another part of Floreana to see the famous Post office, where sailors in yesteryears used to drop off and pick up their mail.

Post Office

After that, we went Sea Turtle spotting.

Finally, we spotted a Green turtle!

Next…day 4.

[9V-SIA]

Enjoying this TR.

Nicest one I've seen of Galapagos.

All thanks to that woman on a bike who recovered your camera.

[kpc]

We arrived at Isabela Island overnight, and anchored offshore. I slept well and was getting used to the rocking and swaying of the catamaran; going to the toilet in the middle of the night was another matter!

Itinerary for Day 4:
Isabela Island – Sierra Negra - Tintoreras
AM: Isabela - Volcano Chico: Breakfast in the morning. Dry landing. This is the largest island in the archipelago. It has 6 active volcanoes: Alcedo, Cerro Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negra and Wolf. The enormous amount of lava expelled by these volcanoes formed this island. At Volcano Chico in the highlands of Isabela you can observe the beautiful landscapes of active volcanoes. Paths: moderate, duration: 2h. Lunch at noon.

PM: Isabela – Tintoreras: Dry landing. Walking through lava fields you can see Galapagos penguins, marine iguanas, white tip sharks. Afterwards you can take a last bath in the ocean on the beaches of Isabela or you can take a walk in the small town Puerto Villamil. You can observe sea lions, marine iguanas, pelicans, frigate birds, blue booted boobies. Dinner at night.

First sighting of Isabela Island

Unfortunately, it was raining heavily this morning but this didn’t put our guide off….the rain is warm!! We got dropped off at the jetty at the small and only village, Puerto Villamil, on Isabela Island. We boarded a minibus which drove us inland for about an hour on a most bumpy and uncomfortable ride to the base of Volcan Sierra Negra, one of the 6 active volcanoes on Isabela.

Jetty at Puerto Villamil


The 5 y.o. bus that looks and feels 20 years old!


Volcan Sierra Negra

We were to hike for about an hour uphill to see the crater, rising an altitude of around 200 meteres but it seemed a lot more in the very wet and slippery conditions.

Some smart people did it on horseback!


The crater with steam arising from the mix of hot lava and rain – a bit of an anticlimax if you ask me

On the way back in the bus we came to a couple of screeching halts. First to take a picture of this;

Vermilion Flycatcher

Secondly, we saw this bird:

Great frigatebird - the males inflate a bright red gulac sac to attract females during courtship

After lunch on board, we returned to Isabela to visit the tortoise breeding centre. We were half asleep on the bus when the guide ordered everyone off the bus to see this:

7 Pink Flamingos!

[kpc]

Day 4 continued:

A close up…


And a real close up….this made up for yesterday’s disappointment


Tortoise breeding centre at Isabela Island


Baby tortoises

There are 11 remaining subspecies of Galapagos giant tortoises; they have 2 main types of carapaces (shells):

“Saddle-back” tortoise


“Dome” tortoise

The Saddle-back tortoise resembles a Spanish horse saddle, and these saddles were called Galopegos – this is how the islands became known as the Galapagos Islands.

Straw roof restaurant in Puerto Villamil

On the way back to the “Treasure”, we saw the following:

Galapagos Penguins


Swimming penguin


4 Blue-footed boobies standing to attention – this probably is my favourite picture of all the pictures taken!

Next….day 5 (final) with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see Lonesome George and a final wrapup of this trip report.

[HUGE AL]

Simply stunning pictures! A very unusual welcome to the TR section.

What's the camera?

[kpc]

Simply stunning pictures! A very unusual welcome to the TR section.

What's the camera?

Thanks. Panasonic Lumix DMC T7 (the “stolen” camera) and Canon EOS 40D... I had a perpetual fear that one or both cameras would fall into the sea during our many excursions to / from shore on the "pangas"

[kpc]

Overnight, we sailed and anchored off Puerto Ayora, the main city on Santa Cruz Island. An unforgiving 6am breakfast heralded our 5th and final day on the cruise.

Our first glimpse of Puerto Ayora


Downtown Puerto Ayora…pretty basic, unattractive city, which is the largest in the Galapagos Islands

Itinerary for Day 5:
Santa Cruz Island -Los Gemelos/ Baltra Island - Airport

AM: Highlands of Santa Cruz: Breakfast in the morning. Check out. Dry landing. On your way to the airport you will make a short stop at the craters “Gemelos”, two deep twin volcano craters. Paths: easy, duration: 15min. Transfer out from Santa Cruz island until Baltra to the airport.

We had organised a private tour to visit the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island before our 1 pm flight so we bade a sad goodbye to all our fellow passengers who left the “Treasure” at 8am for the airport to catch an earlier flight back to mainland Ecuador.

Charles Darwin Research Station


About Lonesome George


Lonesome George, a saddle back-tortoise

You can read more about him here.

Up close to a giant tortoise


A land iguana – can’t swim compared to a marine iguana


Close up

[kpc]

Day 5 continued. We were then driven to Baltra airport which is on Baltra Island, and as I found out, a short ferry ride is necessary to get to the airport.

Directions to the airport


Our luggage being loaded onto the roof of the boat


Baltra airport – could easily be mistaken for your local bus station


Our AeroGal Boeing 737 bound for mainland Ecuador


Last sad glimpse of the Galapagos Islands

Over the next 3 days, we had a series of 5 flights, GPS-UIO (overnight hotel)-MIA-SFO(overnight hotel)-LAX-SYD to get home. Total flight time was around 27 hours but if you include all the travelling to / from airports as well as transit time, it took nearly 47 hours to get home to Sydney from the Galapagos Islands….but it was well worth the cost and travelling time!! The Galapagos Islands not only met but exceeded all my expectations!!

So there you have it – a rather detailed and lengthy report on my trip to the Galapagos Islands; one of the drawbacks of writing and posting the trip report in installments, is that it’s difficult to determine the final length of the report, so congratulations if you have got this far. I hope you found it interesting and worthwhile to read the report. Please feel free to leave a comment / ask any questions. Let me know whether I have stimulated your interest to visit the Galapagos Islands one day (if you haven’t previously been), or at least buy / watch the BBC Blu-Ray DVD!

Til next time….

[Kyo]

I really enjoyed your effort in detailing this TR and gosh, such an awesome location! A very good read indeed. Thank you!

[9V-JKL]

Ab Fab TR kpc. Many thanks for sharing