It wasn't a tornado, it was a typhoon!
We have spent 10 days in the Galapagos islands, mostly in or around Santa Cruz island, and Peurto Ayora itslef, and have thoroughly enjoyed our time getting to know the wildlife and some of the locals, or Galapagonians, as they proudly refer to themselves. We decided to base ourselves on land, even though it limited our travel to only the nearby islands because the water here is outstandingly wavy, and for the boat trips that we did end up taking to dive and get to other islands I needed to heavily drug myself in order to make it. Thank goodness for Gravol!
We met a cowardly sea lion, a scare-Darwin's finch and a tin-marine iguanna
Where to start? Right at the beginning I suppose. Within half an hour of landing at the Baltra airport and then taking a bus, a little ferry and being picked up by the owners of our hostel I knew I would be happy here. Before we had even settled in we saw a sea turtle in the water, bobbies, pelicas and frigates overhead and sally lightfoot crabs, marine iguanas, and sea lions lounging around.
Darwin finch
Magnificent Frigate
Pelican
Sally Lightfoot crab
Marine iguana
Pile of marine iguanas on a log
Lava lizard!
My very favourite place in town was in the fish market down by the water. You get to watch the fishermen bring up their catch and clean it on the cement tables right in front of you, and then bag and sell it to anybody walking by. But, the even better part was the pelicans and sea lions who sat around patiently, or sometimes not patiently, waiting for a scrap or some bones, I have decided that my beloved sea lions are more like their Portuguese direct translation of "sea wolves" because they are more like big loyal puppies than cats. There was one sea lion who sat at the feet of the fisherman, with just his nose showing above the table, every so often he was slipped a bite. and, if he was not slipped a bite by what he decided was frequently enough, he gave a bunch of loud barks!
Pelicans hanging around
Three times we made the 3km trek out to Tortuga Bay. One time Nathan and Krystal attempted to surf there. They never did get up, which was the surfboards' fault, but they had a good time trying. My favourite place on the beach was a little lagoon filled with colourful fish and swimming and lounging marine iguanas. They weren't too bothered by anyone, but if you did get too close (not me) you rewarded with projectile snot in your direction.
Beware of the wicked west wind!
The weather here was crazy, at any given point it might be raining, and it was for a good part of every day, but if you walked a kilometre in any direction, you could find the sun. The weather seemed to blow over the island and just keep on going.
In the Munchkin Land...
I have really enjoyed where we are staying, up about a 25 minute walk into neighborhoods and away from "touristville". As one street vender remarked, (at least this is what we pieced together from our Spanish) the "tourismo" don't come up this far, but he was happy to have us. The benefits of staying in a more local neighborhood meant that groceries were a little cheaper. We found a covered sports dome that opened up into a little street food market at night. And there, we found the most wonderful empanayadas! These ones were deep fried goodness. They became Nathan's favourite "dessert". As well as the usual, chicken, rice, fries and soup. On our walks "home" we had to pass a soccer field that did not ever not have a soccer game going on in the evenings. One night we even sat as spectators and enjoyed a game. Our hostel was delightful too. We had our own room, kitchen, and private bathroom. Our hosts, Nelly and Claudio, were amazing. They drove us around town the first day pointing out landmarks, often they would catch us walking into town and give us a lift and Nelly frequently showed up at our door with snacks she made or fruit from her garden. The whole island felt safe and friendly. Rumour has it that if you are convicted of a crime, your status as a Galapagonian is revoked, so you are no longer allowed to own land on the island, and they ship you back to mainland Equador. It's enough of a paradise that I guess that is a good enough incentive!
Very cool fruit from the garden. Does anyone actually know what it is?
Luna, our hostel dog!
Follow, follow follow the brown brick road.
Most of the island of Santa Cruz and surrounding islands are national parks, and you are very restricted in what you can do, don't touch the animals, don't use your flash, don't carry in food, etc, and where you can go, stick to the clearly marked path. It's to prevent impact on the environment. They also have very strict limits and schedules for visitors for where you can go and how many people can go to each location. But even with the strict guidelines there are still a ton that you can do, because the animals are just everywhere!
We enjoyed the things there were to see on the island, including the Darwin Research center, where they do lots of research on the wildlife, with a priority on the land tortoises. It was the home of Lonesome George for many years, we missed him by about a year and a half. He passed in 2013, the very last of his species.
One day we took a ferry ride to Isabella island and got to walk around there a bit. It wasn't much different than Santa Cruz. Although it did have flamingos, lots of blue footed boobies (yay!), and penguins!!
Another day we took a ride to Santa Fe island. The highlight there was a cove that we snorkled in which was a "nursery" for baby sea lions. They were extremely friendly, curious and happy to play. At one point Krys was swimming in circles at the surface of the water and a young sea lion was swimming in circles a few feet below her under the water, it was so cute.
Galapagos flamingo!
Galapagos penguin!
A row of juvenile penguins!
Blue footed booby!!
Sea lion!
Baby sea lion and ME!
Baby sea lions under the water!
We're off to see the Whale Shark, the wonderful Whale Shark of Galapag-oz.
Ok, spoiler alert, we never saw a whale shark. Although someone we were diving with one day reported seeing one the day before off of Isabella island. Someday.... We did see amazing things though!! We did four days of diving, 8 dives total and they were all great! This was Krystal's first experience outside of her certification dives, so she more than doubled her bottom time, and did it like a pro!! We dove off of Floriana, Seymour, Daphne, Mosquera and the "famed" Gordon Rocks. Some of the highlights of the dives, for me anyway, included lots of really colourful fish including damselfish, pacific creole fish and my loves, tonnes of different species of parrotfish. I just love their silly overbite, and their stunning turquoise colours. Our first dive we got to see the Sea Robbin creep along the bottom using its leg like appendages. We also got to see sea lions in the water, and it is impressive what graceful dancers they are under the water, because they sure waddle ackwardly on land. There was at least one giantic sea turtle on each dive and multitudes of white tip sharks, as well as some black tipped and galapagos sharks. I was getting a little frusterated by the third day of diving because I had not yet seen a hammerhead shark, even though they were around. Both Krys and Nathan had seen multiple ones. I promised my dive master at least a beer if he could make one appear. During that fifth dive I was so focused on everything I would need to do in order to maximize my time under the water, I actually had a ton of air left when the rest of my group was low. My dive master droppped me off with the other group, and within a minute... hammerhead!!! Yes!! Peak buoyancy control should be my next class because it was worth it! The last two dives were at Gordon Rocks and it was deep, cold, poor visibility and a strong current, such that it took a little less than half of my air to reach the bottom and hold on to the rocks to try and conserve. The dives were short and hard, but totally worth it, as we were surrounded by schools of hammerheads, below, above and into the blue!! Overall I was delighted with the company we dove with, Academy Bay diving, and if you are headed to the Galapagos and want to dive, I highly recommend them. Their equipment was good, they were safe, fun, and easy because with their full service they even dress you! Lol! True story, fins, bcd, everything!
White tipped sharks
Eagle Ray
Pretty purple starfish
Sea turtle!!
Crazy Sea Robbin
Pufferfish!
Batfish!
On the way home we took a little more time in Quito, in the old town and got to see some impressive police presence in advance of some protests that are expected for the day we leave. We visited the presidential palace and got a private English tour. Very beautiful building, and our very sweet guide made the president sound like an admirable, stand-up kind of guy. We also caught a ride up to Mindo, in the spectacular cloud forest where we fully enjoyed our last full day. Starting with river tubing, we floated, bounced and sandwiched our way down the river filled with very cold water. It was like tubing in Tennessee, with the slightest dash of the Zambezi thrown in! After that we did an aerial tour of the forest on a zip line canopy tour. Lots of fun! Then we tried to take a cable car across a valley to do some hiking, but it was closed. Perhaps for safety, it was pretty rickety looking. Finally we went to a place that had orchids (not really in season), some butterflies, but most exciting, a bunch of hummingbird feeders meant to attract the local resident hummingbirds! Of which, there are over 60 species in the cloud forest alone! I saw between 10-20 different ones. It was hard to tell, but it was amazing! They are really amazing creatures, flitting this way and that, and hovering in the air! Much too soon, we had to leave Mindo, we should have spent at least a night there!
The senate of the presidential palace
Outside the presidential palace
Outside the presidential palace
Hummingbirds are so cute!
Hummingbirds in Mindo!
Cute
I love hummingbirds
River rafting!
River rafting!
Ziplining in the cloud forest!
There's no place like home...
We are on our way back now!
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