Wednesday 21st January - Quito to San Cristobal Island, Galapagos
Up early once again to leave for the airport at 8am and our flight to the Galapagos. Our hand baggage was checked by National Park staff for plants, seeds etc. as they have strict regulations on introducing alien flora into the islands. A reasonable flight in a Boeing 727 with a stop at Guayaquil near the coast and then on to San Cristobal island. A short bus ride to the quayside at the Islands capital Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and then donning lifejackets we were taken on inflatable Zodiacs to Galapagos Explorer II out in the bay, some sixteen people in each sitting on the sides. The ship can take one hundred passengers. Various sealions and birds were seen in the water and on the small boats. We were allocated our cabins, our baggage arrived, then we met for a talk on safety, etc. and were divided into groups for activities - we became dolphins for the week with Alex for our leader. After an escape drill and obtaining some snorkelling gear, we went in the Zodiacs to Ochoa beach for a swim, having a wet landing, i.e. we stepped off the boat into the edge of the water. The sea and air were warm but there was a strong ebb and flow. Lifejackets had to be worn and put on before going down the steps at the side of the ship with sometimes quite a drop on to the inflatables, quite hilarious but we all soon became quite agile. After our swim we changed for dinner with a welcome cocktail to start and then went to the restaurant. Dinner each evening was a la carte, two choices of main dish after soup and followed by a sweet. After a short talk in the main lounge about the following days activities we went to bed.
Thursday 22nd January - Espaniola and Santa Cruz Islands
We were up at 6am for breakfast which was buffet style - plenty of fruits, yoghurt, hot and cold items - and our first excursion by boat to the island of Espaniola. This is the most southerly and relatively flat, our landing was on to rocks and then over sandy beaches and through low bushes and scrub on a path with various rocks and small boulders. We saw sealions,and numerous marine iguanas, some dark grey and others in mating colours of rose and turquoise. Birds seen were masked boobies nesting on the bushes and bluefooted boobies which nest on the ground, on just a mat of old vegetation. Sights of swallowtail gulls, the white tropic bird with its very long tail feathers, hood mocking bird, waved albatross, hawks and pelicans in various places. The nesting birds are completely unworried by the proximity of humans, one can touch them, except one does not do so and the sealions pups just lay around on and near the paths. Lava lizards were also seen. Our 3km walk took us as far as a blowhole which did just manage to oblige. A really enjoyable first excursion. Back to the ship for a buffet lunch shared with Lu Waynne, and writing postcards. By the afternoon we had arrived at Santa Cruz (population c12000) for a visit to the Charles Darwin Centre at Puerto Ayora. We landed nearby at the edge of the mangrove swamp and walked round the various enclosures to see captive great tortoises, and the baby tortoise pens where eggs are incubated and hatched so that the young can be released to their various islands about five years later when large enough to avoid predators. Each island in the archipelago has its own particular species so the young are carefully separated. We were able to go into one enclosure very close to one large creature, and also saw some land iguanas in their pen. Alex, our guide, gave us comprehensive information about everything we saw during our visits in the week, he had spent two years at Birmingham University gaining Masters in ecotourism and business management. There were various plants, flowering trees and bushes to be seen, one being the palo sante, holy stick, which smelt slightly of incense, another with yellow flowers and a sticky fruit. Also seen was the yellow warbler. We walked back to the main jetty through the small but busy town, mainly tourist shops etc. with some homes to be seen in the side streets. The ride back to ship was rather choppy through lots of small boats in the harbour. including three and four masted yachts. After dinner and the talk of next days activities we went to bed tired out from the fresh air and hot sunshine.
Friday 23rd January - Genovesa Island
The ship sailed overnight to the island of Genovesa in the northern part of the archipelago, which is uninhabited and is also the only one completely in the northern hemisphere. We moored in Darwin Bay, basically a submerged central crater. There was a small beach but mainly low cliffs of dark volcanic rock. We went slowly along these cliffs looking at the sealions and fur seals on the ledges, some sea urchins, red sally lightfoot crabs and different nesting birds. On the top were red footed, blue footed and masked boobies of various ages, noddy terns and both types of frigate birds, some of which were showing their red pouches. We landed at Prince Philips steps, just a cleft in the cliff face up which steep steps and rocks took us up to the flattish top. During a walk we saw various birds such as storm petrels, swallow tailed gulls, galapagos doves and the boobies on their nests, so close we could touch them easily; the masked boobies nest in the low bushes about head height. On over the rocky terrain of a lava field for some way we saw lava cactus, but no lava lizards. That part of the island is home to short eared owls although we did not see any, and is also where the petrels nest in the large cracks in the lava. We returned to the ship for lunch and then went to the bridge for a look around. Later in the afternoon we went by Zodiac to a nearby coral beach where there was, of course, coral but also lots of sea urchin spines among the sand. A short paddle up a creek from which we retreated when a bull sealion arrived and then a chance to swim and try out the snorkelling gear. There were sanderlings to be seen on the beach, lots of boobies nesting, and mangroves nearby. Back to the ship for dinner and briefing for the morrow before going to bed.
Saturday 24th January - San Cristobal Island and Isla Lobos
Now we were moored up at San Cristobal again so that those who were leaving could go to the airport. Everyone was on shore at 9am and we joined a coach for the ride to the higher part of the island and the crater lake of El Junco at 2800ft. It is a secondary cone of the main volcano which formed the island. We passed through various vegetation zones, most of which are very green and used as farmland, there were cattle and horses. Lots of the low trees were festooned with dark brown moss but the highest parts were not unlike southern Dartmoor although obviously the plants were different. We saw a cattle egret and also mora bushes, the leaves are similar to raspberries but the fruit darker, they are called blackberries. Back to the port and a coffee in a quayside cafe while waiting to return to the ship. The town has various cafes and souvenir shops which seemed to have mainly tee shirts for sale. After lunch aboard we went to Isla Lobos, a tiny flat rocky island which has a large sealion colony. We were able to swim off the side of the boat in the stretch of water between it and the main island, here the young sealions play around in the water. Rather confused information before we went meant we thought we were swimming from the beach so Alan did not have the video camera. Also he did not swim because of being unsure of the depth of water. The hour long ride back to the ship was quite choppy but we did see a lava heron and also a great blue heron on Isla Lobos as we left. Ended the day watching the sun go down from the top deck.
Sunday 25th January - Bartholomew and Santiago Islands
The ship sailed overnight to Bartholomew Island, famous for Pinnacle Rock, probably the best known postcard view in the islands. Had a Zodiac trip around the rock of tuff which is very pitted from wind erosion and also as it was used for target practice by the Americans in the Pacific war. The rocky ledges shelter sealions, crabs and large numbers of galapagos penguins. We also saw a yellow crowned night heron. We then landed nearby and climbed up to the highest point - 380ft and 367 steps - with great views of Santiago, Sullivan Bay and Pinnacle Rock. In places the boardwalk takes one over the lava field and up the steps: we saw many types of lava, and some of the plants which first grow such tiquelia nesiotica. Back to the ship for lunch, no shade on the sun deck so we spoke to Reception about the situation and the chaos as some 85 people tried to get served. In the afternoon we had a wet landing on the beach at Puerto Egas in James Bay on Santiago which is also known as Isla San Salvador. We walked out through the low vegetation and then back along the beach. Had a look at the soft spined prickly pears, the very spiky espino, a galapagos spider, a grasshopper and yellow/orange fritillary butterfly plus lava lizards. On the black rocky beach, which has been eroded into pools and inlets, we saw sealions, lots of male and female iguanas, whimbrel, american oystercatchers, ruddy turnstones, wandering tattlers, the two types of green sea urchins, and beach morning glory with its long trails of green leaves and pink flowers. Back on board after dinner we had a quiz in the main lounge (to make sure we had listened to everything we were told by the guides?) Only three teams and the Dolphins came joint first!
Monday 26th January - Fernandina and Isabela islands
Overnight we sailed to Fernandina island, the most westerly and the youngest of the archipelago. Up early again and after having breakfast on the sun deck, where a group photo. was taken, we left for a walk over Punta Espinosa. There was black ropy lava everywhere with sands of coral, lava and urchin spines. There were many marine iguanas and sea lions and it is an important nesting place for flightless cormorants. We walked over the rocky lava platforms to a creek edged by mangroves where we saw green turtles, a hieroglyphic hawkfish and rays in the water. A tricky walk back to the zodiacs and a short ride along the shoreline to see various birds including a few penguins and a galapagos hawk. After returning to the ship for lunch, during which we sailed to Isabela island, this being the largest one and composed of six shield volcanoes. We anchored off Punta Vicente Roca, where one volcano meets the sea in almost 500ft high cliffs and different layers of rock can be clearly seen, dark basalt with vertical lines of harder rock between the tuff with scree slopes. A flatter strata of much paler buff rock, almost sand and stones, overlay the black lava in one section and formed a deep cave. Was this pale rock the older underwater shield volcano uplifted by the later eruption? We went on the dinghies along the cliffs to see various birds, blue footed and masked boobies, penguins, pelicans, brown noddys, green sea turtles, sealions, a sunfish and audubon shearwaters skimming the waves. The water here is very cold due to ocean currents and when we went into the cave the temperature dropped considerably. We crossed the equator at 7pm so there was a celebration for some folk, we watched from our cabin. We had already crossed twice during the night of course.
Tuesday 27th January - North Seymour and Santa Cruz Islands
When we awoke we were moored off North Seymour and set off at 8am for a two hour walk around. It is a major nesting place for magnificant frigate birds, the males of whom display a red puffed up pouch in the mating season. There are also land iguanas here of which we were lucky to see four (said to be only forty on the island), they are a yellow grey against the brown lava. We also saw lava gulls, many blue footed boobies and their courting behaviour, and as expected, numbers of sealions. Vegetation is a dry type, the frigate birds nest on the low shrubs such as palo santo. On the return to the ship we saw the basalt columns of the low cliffs and also were able to see an eagle ray and other fish. After lunch we sailed to a small bay off the north coast of Santa Cruz and had a short walk to a brackish lagoon on which the flamingos gather - we saw four. There were also several tracks left by tortoises making their way up the beach to lay their eggs. We were able to swim off the beach. We returned to the ship and then sailed the short way to Baltra island to tie up at the fuel jetty and so that we could leave early the next day to fly back to Quito.
Wednesday 28th January - Santa Cruz and Baltra Islands - To Quito
A final disembarkation took place and we joined coaches to go over the island and cross by ferry to Santa Cruz where we boarded another coach and were taken to the higher parts inland. We passed through transition zone vegetation, agricultural lands, and scalesia forest to the pit craters, collapsed magma chambers some 100ft deep with vertical sides covered in undergrowth. Back to the airport on Baltra again for the flight to Quito with the opportunity to spend our money in the duty free booth-like shops there. A last farewell was said to our guide, Alex, who had led us through the week and made everything so interesting. The flight was a round trip and we landed at San Cristobal to set down and pick up passengers, again at Guayaquil and finally at Quito, our luggage arriving safely with us. There was the short journey to Hotel Marriott again and a grand sort out the luggage as we were to go on to the Amazon the next day and needed clothes suitable for the hot and humid weather there. A tiring day with a lot of travelling.
