The Galapagos Islands
By Josh - November 27, 2018
The Galápagos Islands - Ecuador
No words.
Pictures will be added in a couple of days, for now here’s what we got up to in the Galapagos.
Day 1
No suprise, another early start but neither of us minded as we were both so excited to go to the Galapogas. It takes just under 2 hours to fly from Guayaquil to the Galapogas and this was uneventful as you can imagine. We were met at the airport by someone from the tour company, a bus took us to the dock on San Cristobal island, we got a very short boat across to Santa Cruz then a 40 minute car journey to the other end of the island to the town Puerto Ayora. It was here we met Teo who was in charge of the tour on Santa Cruz. However we didn't meet him for long as we were put on a boat to go to Isabella island. The journey took between 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Isabella island from Santa Cruz but it felt like so much longer. The waves were so choppy and neither of us had any entertainment for the journey and both were struggling with sea sickness. The only good thing about that boat journey is that there was only four of us on it when its usually about 25 people. From the bigger boats you have to get a water taxi into the docks. When we got to Isabella island it's fair to say we weren't in the best of moods but we instantly saw some wildlife as when on the water taxi the driver pointed out a sting ray. We then met Kevin one of the tour guides, he took us to a little lagoon called Flamingo Lagoon. Which considering Flamingo is in the name there really wasn't many flamingos there, only about 4, but we did see some iguanas which was pretty cool. After this he took us to our hotel where we had a couple of hours to chill before dinner which were very much appreciated. We decided to use this time to go explore the beach and the town Puerto Villamil of Isabella. The beach was beautiful with such clear waters, we saw many Darwin's finches as well as pelicans. We went back to the hotel and then got an early night as we were both shattered from all the travelling.
Day 2
Today we started the proper activities. In the morning we were doing the Sierra Negra hike. The volcano has the second largest crater in the world, approximately 6 miles in diameter and 300 feet deep. It was a 16km round trip, it wasn't too difficult as the inclines were very gradual. Starting out from the south the weather wasn't good at all. Light rain and mist so not alot could be seen. As the day went on this started to lift and we got some pretty spectacular views on the crater and the island. The volcano had only recently erupted (28th June) meaning there was old and new lava rock to be seen. What we liked most was that the English translation for the name of the new lava was "ouch ouch lava" because it's so sharp. The rocks were also rich in colour due to the minerals and salts which was cool to see.
We headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a little rest of the legs before our snorkelling trip. This was the first time snorkelling for Rachel so she was very excited. We headed to a place called Concha Perla with the hopes of plenty of marine life and clear waters. Lounging around the dock were sea lion pups enjoying soaking up the sun, and who really weren't bothered by our presence. Getting into the water was a tad shock to the system without wetsuits but we soon warmed up swimming around. We did get to see lots of little colourful fish. And a few too many of these small territorial black fish who bite if you hang around their rocks too long. We saw some chubby orange star fish and a bright blue starfish which was long and thin. We swam through a slightly enclosed area when deep down at the bottom our guide spotted a sting ray. We weren't to go too deep to disturb it (not that either of us wanted to get close) but we had to swam over the top to get into the more open water again. We spent about an hour in the water, when getting out a sea lion pups was blocking the stairs on the side we had gone to. Luckily after not so long he made his way into the water which was cool to watch.
Day 3
This was our last day on Isabella but probably the one we'd most been looking forward to. Our morning consisted of a bike ride to the Humedales Complex. We started of hiking to the end of the trail to the Wall of Tears which had many giant tortoise along the path. We didn't know what to expect from this. But our guide started out telling us about how the US had used the Galapogas Islands during WW2, which neither of us had any idea about. Because of its strategic location, 3 radars were placed on Isabella Island. After the war, Ecuador told the US government they had to remove all their equipment because the islands belonged to them. Most of the equipment was just dumped in the sea and destroyed rather than being taken back. A few pieces still remain, including a large patch of land they had cemented over. So, the Ecuadorian government decided to make use of this land and create a prison. It would be impossible for prisoners to escape because it's an island. Prisoners from the mainland, mainly those who had committed political crimes were sentenced to prison on the galapogas. Tied up in chains, the prisoners had to build the four walls of the prison - which still remain today. However the walls were never completed. The police officers began to abuse their power and began to kill prisoners. This lead the prisoners to believe if they weren't to escape they would have the same fate. One night, a celebration occurred and the prisoners made sure to get the officers very drunk. Once they fell asleep they stole the keys and put their chains on the officers. They then headed to the harbour and stole a boat to get to the mainland. Once they got to the mainland the authorities were waiting for them so they were all arrested again, but they weren't sent back to the Galapagos and that's all these men wanted. The prison was then shut down and left for vegetation to grow over. The walls remain as a reminder "The strongest guys, the weakest eyes". Our guide told us interesting stories about some of the known prisoners and their families that still remain on the island. This was a very eyeopening morning which neither of us had expected.
On a much lighter note we got back on the bikes and made our way back down the trail stopping off at Playa del Amor, Estero de Isabela, Mirador Orchilla which gave panoramic views of the island, a lava tunnel and finally the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. The largest giant tortoise in Isabela lives at the breeding center, he was pretty easy to spot, but it's also home to hundreds of other tortoises of all ages. From 0-2 years they have to be kept under metal mesh to protect from rats, from 2-25 they are juvinilles, and they can live up to 170 years maybe even more.
After lunch we headed on a kayaking and snorkelling excursion. It was the two of us, then three other adults and two young children who were all together. We both ended up going in individual kayaks for this reason, but neither of us minded much. We set off kayaking along Puerto Villamil bay reaching Tintoreras Bay in about 20 minutes. We then left the kayaks jumping into the water. Straight away some white tip sharks were spotted. Neither of us had ever been so close to sharks, it was a great start to the snorkelling. We then went in the opposite direction up El Faro and there was so much more diverse wildlife than the day before. Huge blue parrot fish, and many other big fish. A large sea lion glid past us, before some eagle rays decided to join us, it was amazing. On the way back to the kayaks Rachel spotted another shark under a rock but with the waves being quite strong was pushed away before she could get Josh attention with the gopro, it was then we learnt we should both take them. Once back on the kayaks we took a slightly different route back, past some lava formation usually home to the Galapagos penguin. You can get too close, but we spotted 2!! They are the second smallest penguin in the world, and they blended into the black rock pretty well but we do have a picture you can make 1 penguin out.
Day 4
Neither of us were particularly looking forward to the boat journey back to Santa Cruz, but we were hoping that this time as it was at 6am it wouldn’t be as bad. We weren’t as lucky with this journey, although a newer boat there was at least 25 people on it. It’s difficult to say which journey was worse, although we felt fine, and the ocean was calmer the boat went faster meaning going over waves meant lots of jolting about which sometimes was painful. We were picked up at the dock in Santa Cruz by Ceaser who was going to be taking us around that day. We went to the hotel and had breakfast before walking down to the Charles Darwin Research Center. This was a bigger version of the breeding center on Isabela. We were shown around and the conservation efforts on each island were explained to us. After lunch we were taken to Cerro Chato Reserve. Our guide told us he had friends at the reserve Ceaser 1 and Ceaser 2 both of which were tortoises, who happily posed for pictures with us. We then got to walk through a lava tunnel. This was way bigger than we expected, apart from one tiny section you have to crawl through, the ceilings were very high and the path fairly wide. Before going back to Puerto Vilamil we stopped at The Twins, two huge craters. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole afternoon and was pretty misty so we didn’t hang around in many of the places for long. We then had free time before dinner so we wandered around the village. Although Isabela is a bigger island the village was small in comparison to Santa Cruz, here there were many shops and restaurants along the docks and coastline.
Day 5
This was our first day without he tour so we tried to have a lie in, we didn’t succeed. After checking into our new hotel we got our things ready to head down to Tortuga Beach. It was about a 10 minute walk down to the main area from where we were now staying then a further 40 minutes to the beach. This also happened to be the sunniest day so far making the walk not the most pleasant. Getting to the end of the path it opened up to the finest whitest sand beach with perfect turquoise water, it was beautiful. Tired of walking and carrying our stuff we sat down pretty quickly to enjoy the views. Unfortunately a red flag was up meaning we couldn’t enter the water, and we’d hoped to do some snorkelling. We slowly made our way down the beach before stopping as we thought what we could see wasn’t worth going to. Thankfully Josh got too bored and wandered down further, finding out around the corner there was another beach with much calmer water we could actually go into. Luck wasn’t on our side though as the water wasn’t clear and we couldn’t see much.
Day 6
Our guide Ceaser had recommended the tour of Bahia for when we’d finished the initial tour we were on so we had booked it for Thursday afternoon. We weren’t really entirely sure what we were doing, except that we were guaranteed to swim with sea turtles. We were a bit baffled because none of the others in the group seemed particularly equipped to go swimming when this was the main point for us. We set off in a boat towards Loberia, an area supposedly great for spotting sea lions. We did see a couple but the water was quite rough. We then moved to Canal de Tiburones, in the water lots of sharks swam and in the surrounding lava rocks we got to see blue footed boobies for the first time along with many other birds. We got off the boat to a platform we could see the sharks from above, before heading to Playa de los Perros, another beautiful beach full of marine iguanas. We got back into the boat and got slightly away from the shore before getting into the water formsnorkelling, where we had been promised sea turtles. Within minutes we had spotted several sea turtles, you could eat so close. Annoyingly the new gopro Josh had froze so it was up to Rachel to get good videos. It was such a surreal experience, we were no more than 30cm away from them at some points. W hoped back into the boat a and headed to Las Grietas, a crack in the lava rock which is filled with water. We once again swam through here which was cool
we Day 7
Day 1
No suprise, another early start but neither of us minded as we were both so excited to go to the Galapogas. It takes just under 2 hours to fly from Guayaquil to the Galapogas and this was uneventful as you can imagine. We were met at the airport by someone from the tour company, a bus took us to the dock on San Cristobal island, we got a very short boat across to Santa Cruz then a 40 minute car journey to the other end of the island to the town Puerto Ayora. It was here we met Teo who was in charge of the tour on Santa Cruz. However we didn't meet him for long as we were put on a boat to go to Isabella island. The journey took between 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Isabella island from Santa Cruz but it felt like so much longer. The waves were so choppy and neither of us had any entertainment for the journey and both were struggling with sea sickness. The only good thing about that boat journey is that there was only four of us on it when its usually about 25 people. From the bigger boats you have to get a water taxi into the docks. When we got to Isabella island it's fair to say we weren't in the best of moods but we instantly saw some wildlife as when on the water taxi the driver pointed out a sting ray. We then met Kevin one of the tour guides, he took us to a little lagoon called Flamingo Lagoon. Which considering Flamingo is in the name there really wasn't many flamingos there, only about 4, but we did see some iguanas which was pretty cool. After this he took us to our hotel where we had a couple of hours to chill before dinner which were very much appreciated. We decided to use this time to go explore the beach and the town Puerto Villamil of Isabella. The beach was beautiful with such clear waters, we saw many Darwin's finches as well as pelicans. We went back to the hotel and then got an early night as we were both shattered from all the travelling.
Day 2
Today we started the proper activities. In the morning we were doing the Sierra Negra hike. The volcano has the second largest crater in the world, approximately 6 miles in diameter and 300 feet deep. It was a 16km round trip, it wasn't too difficult as the inclines were very gradual. Starting out from the south the weather wasn't good at all. Light rain and mist so not alot could be seen. As the day went on this started to lift and we got some pretty spectacular views on the crater and the island. The volcano had only recently erupted (28th June) meaning there was old and new lava rock to be seen. What we liked most was that the English translation for the name of the new lava was "ouch ouch lava" because it's so sharp. The rocks were also rich in colour due to the minerals and salts which was cool to see.
We headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a little rest of the legs before our snorkelling trip. This was the first time snorkelling for Rachel so she was very excited. We headed to a place called Concha Perla with the hopes of plenty of marine life and clear waters. Lounging around the dock were sea lion pups enjoying soaking up the sun, and who really weren't bothered by our presence. Getting into the water was a tad shock to the system without wetsuits but we soon warmed up swimming around. We did get to see lots of little colourful fish. And a few too many of these small territorial black fish who bite if you hang around their rocks too long. We saw some chubby orange star fish and a bright blue starfish which was long and thin. We swam through a slightly enclosed area when deep down at the bottom our guide spotted a sting ray. We weren't to go too deep to disturb it (not that either of us wanted to get close) but we had to swam over the top to get into the more open water again. We spent about an hour in the water, when getting out a sea lion pups was blocking the stairs on the side we had gone to. Luckily after not so long he made his way into the water which was cool to watch.
Day 3
This was our last day on Isabella but probably the one we'd most been looking forward to. Our morning consisted of a bike ride to the Humedales Complex. We started of hiking to the end of the trail to the Wall of Tears which had many giant tortoise along the path. We didn't know what to expect from this. But our guide started out telling us about how the US had used the Galapogas Islands during WW2, which neither of us had any idea about. Because of its strategic location, 3 radars were placed on Isabella Island. After the war, Ecuador told the US government they had to remove all their equipment because the islands belonged to them. Most of the equipment was just dumped in the sea and destroyed rather than being taken back. A few pieces still remain, including a large patch of land they had cemented over. So, the Ecuadorian government decided to make use of this land and create a prison. It would be impossible for prisoners to escape because it's an island. Prisoners from the mainland, mainly those who had committed political crimes were sentenced to prison on the galapogas. Tied up in chains, the prisoners had to build the four walls of the prison - which still remain today. However the walls were never completed. The police officers began to abuse their power and began to kill prisoners. This lead the prisoners to believe if they weren't to escape they would have the same fate. One night, a celebration occurred and the prisoners made sure to get the officers very drunk. Once they fell asleep they stole the keys and put their chains on the officers. They then headed to the harbour and stole a boat to get to the mainland. Once they got to the mainland the authorities were waiting for them so they were all arrested again, but they weren't sent back to the Galapagos and that's all these men wanted. The prison was then shut down and left for vegetation to grow over. The walls remain as a reminder "The strongest guys, the weakest eyes". Our guide told us interesting stories about some of the known prisoners and their families that still remain on the island. This was a very eyeopening morning which neither of us had expected.
On a much lighter note we got back on the bikes and made our way back down the trail stopping off at Playa del Amor, Estero de Isabela, Mirador Orchilla which gave panoramic views of the island, a lava tunnel and finally the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. The largest giant tortoise in Isabela lives at the breeding center, he was pretty easy to spot, but it's also home to hundreds of other tortoises of all ages. From 0-2 years they have to be kept under metal mesh to protect from rats, from 2-25 they are juvinilles, and they can live up to 170 years maybe even more.
After lunch we headed on a kayaking and snorkelling excursion. It was the two of us, then three other adults and two young children who were all together. We both ended up going in individual kayaks for this reason, but neither of us minded much. We set off kayaking along Puerto Villamil bay reaching Tintoreras Bay in about 20 minutes. We then left the kayaks jumping into the water. Straight away some white tip sharks were spotted. Neither of us had ever been so close to sharks, it was a great start to the snorkelling. We then went in the opposite direction up El Faro and there was so much more diverse wildlife than the day before. Huge blue parrot fish, and many other big fish. A large sea lion glid past us, before some eagle rays decided to join us, it was amazing. On the way back to the kayaks Rachel spotted another shark under a rock but with the waves being quite strong was pushed away before she could get Josh attention with the gopro, it was then we learnt we should both take them. Once back on the kayaks we took a slightly different route back, past some lava formation usually home to the Galapagos penguin. You can get too close, but we spotted 2!! They are the second smallest penguin in the world, and they blended into the black rock pretty well but we do have a picture you can make 1 penguin out.
Day 4
Neither of us were particularly looking forward to the boat journey back to Santa Cruz, but we were hoping that this time as it was at 6am it wouldn’t be as bad. We weren’t as lucky with this journey, although a newer boat there was at least 25 people on it. It’s difficult to say which journey was worse, although we felt fine, and the ocean was calmer the boat went faster meaning going over waves meant lots of jolting about which sometimes was painful. We were picked up at the dock in Santa Cruz by Ceaser who was going to be taking us around that day. We went to the hotel and had breakfast before walking down to the Charles Darwin Research Center. This was a bigger version of the breeding center on Isabela. We were shown around and the conservation efforts on each island were explained to us. After lunch we were taken to Cerro Chato Reserve. Our guide told us he had friends at the reserve Ceaser 1 and Ceaser 2 both of which were tortoises, who happily posed for pictures with us. We then got to walk through a lava tunnel. This was way bigger than we expected, apart from one tiny section you have to crawl through, the ceilings were very high and the path fairly wide. Before going back to Puerto Vilamil we stopped at The Twins, two huge craters. Unfortunately it rained pretty much the whole afternoon and was pretty misty so we didn’t hang around in many of the places for long. We then had free time before dinner so we wandered around the village. Although Isabela is a bigger island the village was small in comparison to Santa Cruz, here there were many shops and restaurants along the docks and coastline.
Day 5
This was our first day without he tour so we tried to have a lie in, we didn’t succeed. After checking into our new hotel we got our things ready to head down to Tortuga Beach. It was about a 10 minute walk down to the main area from where we were now staying then a further 40 minutes to the beach. This also happened to be the sunniest day so far making the walk not the most pleasant. Getting to the end of the path it opened up to the finest whitest sand beach with perfect turquoise water, it was beautiful. Tired of walking and carrying our stuff we sat down pretty quickly to enjoy the views. Unfortunately a red flag was up meaning we couldn’t enter the water, and we’d hoped to do some snorkelling. We slowly made our way down the beach before stopping as we thought what we could see wasn’t worth going to. Thankfully Josh got too bored and wandered down further, finding out around the corner there was another beach with much calmer water we could actually go into. Luck wasn’t on our side though as the water wasn’t clear and we couldn’t see much.
Day 6
Our guide Ceaser had recommended the tour of Bahia for when we’d finished the initial tour we were on so we had booked it for Thursday afternoon. We weren’t really entirely sure what we were doing, except that we were guaranteed to swim with sea turtles. We were a bit baffled because none of the others in the group seemed particularly equipped to go swimming when this was the main point for us. We set off in a boat towards Loberia, an area supposedly great for spotting sea lions. We did see a couple but the water was quite rough. We then moved to Canal de Tiburones, in the water lots of sharks swam and in the surrounding lava rocks we got to see blue footed boobies for the first time along with many other birds. We got off the boat to a platform we could see the sharks from above, before heading to Playa de los Perros, another beautiful beach full of marine iguanas. We got back into the boat and got slightly away from the shore before getting into the water formsnorkelling, where we had been promised sea turtles. Within minutes we had spotted several sea turtles, you could eat so close. Annoyingly the new gopro Josh had froze so it was up to Rachel to get good videos. It was such a surreal experience, we were no more than 30cm away from them at some points. W hoped back into the boat a and headed to Las Grietas, a crack in the lava rock which is filled with water. We once again swam through here which was cool
we Day 7
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