We just got back from Galapagos and mang, what a place that is. It costs enough to get out there and take any sort of tour that it kind of keeps the riff-raff out. Which is a good thing considering how fragile the ecosystem is there. It was eight days full of activity and adventure, and I am still trying to work out how to document it. I think I will start with an itinerary, and then some specifics.
We landed in Baltra, which is a small island connected to one of the biggest islands, not far from Puerto Ayora, which is where the majority of excursions are based out of. We were soon on our boat, alternatively called Friendship, Amistad, and Gabi. We went immediately out to the big water and made our way south to Bachas Beach, where we saw our first big batch of sea lions. Those things are everywhere. Seriously, you get tired of them, no matter how 'cute' they may seem. From there we traveled overnight down to Santa Fe and watched a lot of lizards of different kinds. Crabs all over the place, birds, iguanas and the occasional snake. From there we sailed for a long overnight to Española to see a huge island haven for sea lions, marine lizards in all sizes and colors, and blue footed boobies. (Insert boobie joke here, you get over it) On the fourth day we sailed to Floreana and did some diving in an area called The Devil's Crown. In the middle of the trip, we returned to Puerto Ayora to drop off the short-timers, and to pick up a few more. While on the big island of Santa Cruz, we went to the Darwin Center to see how they are protecting and breeding endangered iguanas and tortoises and then in the afternoon we went to the highlands to see the huge Galapagos turtles in the wild. That night we were back on the boat and we went to the east to Bartolome and Sombrero Chino. We were in that area the last couple days and then back to Baltra to see the Frigate birds with their huge red balloon bellies before we got on the airplane yesterday afternoon to come back to Guayaquil on the mainland.
The wildlife in Galapagos is really interesting and the situation there offers a rare opportunity to get really close to the animals and see them close up. These animals have no history with humans, and so consequently, they have no fear of us. (One day they will figure out that we should be feared.) You can walk right up to almost any of these creatures and look them right in the eye. The sea lions will flop right up to you and touch you if you don't watch out. There are rules against touching any of these animals. The sea lions cluster themselves on the beach and often go on for as far as the eye can see. There is a lot of grunting and groaning, and if you have ever heard the sound that Jeremy and I use to greet each other, than you have a round about idea of how these big critters sound. The iguanas where some of the coolest animals for me. They have all sorts of colors and are really big! Some of them are smaller, but many of them are just gigantic, lying on the hot rocks in the sunlight of the morning. There are land iguanas and marine iguanas. I had the chance, one day while diving, to see a marine iguana feeding in the ocean, down about fifteen feet. It was unlike anything I have seen before, with his feet and tail pushing away the multitude of fish that swirled nearby while he used his teeth to scrap food from the rocks. The turtles are also quite amazing. Or I should say, just as amazing as I hoped they would be, having grown up with the idea of those giants living in my imagination. We chased them around this swampy area in the highlands of Santa Cruz. They move very slowly so it really isn't chasing. But you can walk right up to them and they draw their heads into their huge thick shells and make sounds that sound like Darth Vader. They look like ET, and sound like Darth. They weigh hundreds of pounds and are suspected of being able to live as many as two hundred years!!! Many people come to Galapagos to watch the variety of birds. There are finches and boobies of three kinds, and hawks and albatrosses with a wind span of almost fifteen feet! For me, the most interesting of the birds was one called the Frigate Bird. The male is a good sized bird with a huge red balloon that can be inflated on its chest when attracting a female. The females will fly around, circling above while the males will puff ot their chests and make unique calls to them. (Not unlike our species...ha ha.) We also saw a couple snakes crawling around on rocks and cactuses, which is rare.
For me, the really interesting wildlife was to be found below the surface of the great green ocean waters. Everyday we went snorkeling a couple times and would spend hours floating around underwater, watching hundreds of colored fish, octopus, sharks, starfish, devil rays, and jellyfish. The water was warm and most of the time it was very clear. I got good at diving down really far to check out the things happening on the bottom. We saw numerous sharks of various kinds. Not the kind that attack you, but they are very big and the way that they move is reminiscient of the movie Jaws. When I see them coming from a distance I get the feeling that I can't swim anywhere near as fast as I wish I could. I really liked following the octupus' around. The way they move and swim is quite trippy. When you get close to them, they have these srange deep eyes that look out at you. It's unsettling. The various rays were also a bit worrisome to me. I don't know why, but when those huge pancake looking bastards float towards you, you tend to want to move the other way. A couple times I floated into clouds of small jellyfish and that isn't where you want to be either. Those stings hurt in a unique way. Kind of electrical. When you watch them, they are interesting enough, light green with translucent skin. But when they hit your skin you put your fins to water and get the deuce outta there!!! The fishlife down there is terrific. The colors and varieties of the fish are overwhelming. You can swim right into huge schools of silver and gold and blue and follow them as they make their way along the channels of coral.
I will include more info in the following blog...there is a lot to recount...
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