The Galapagos - Retracing Darwin's footsteps - The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
We arrived at Baltra airport at 9.40 am on Friday 22nd April, where we had to hand over our $100 entrance fee quickly followed by a $10 return bus ticket each, our pockets were rapidly emptying, something we would just have to get used to for the next 11 days. We were pretty annoyed with the bus charge however, as we later found out that TAME are the only airline that doesn't offer a free shuttle, and it is only a 10-minute journey. The airport is on a tiny island right next to the main island, Santa Cruz, so the bus-boat-bus journey is mandatory for anyone who is not getting straight onto a cruise. The boat crossing ($1) was again only 10-minutes and we caught our first close up glimpse of the turquoise blue waters and the flurry of birdlife. It was then a $2, 45min bus to Puerto Ayora, the main town on the island.
Cruises are the main way to see the Galapagos Islands and they are very customisable. They range from 3 to 8+ days in different classes of boat (tourist class, tourist superior, 3 grades of luxury and then the highest level – deluxe) with varying itineraries. The alternative way is to do it by island hopping and day tours. There are towns and accommodations on 3 islands, Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal. There is much to see on all of these and you also have the option of doing day tours to neighbouring islands off Santa Cruz. This option is more popular with backpackers as it is easier to control how much you spend. There are drawbacks however - you can only travel to a select few islands on day tours so you will miss out on some of the islands’ unique wildlife and landscapes, and the day tours themselves are expensive so you would likely just have to pick one or two plus maybe a couple of snorkelling tours. Accommodation, food and taxis are also expensive so although this is considered the cheapest option, the margin is small.
We did a lot of research before arriving in the Galapagos and decided we wouldn’t book anything in advance but instead have a look for some last minute cruises once we arrived (it is possible to get up to 50% off the full price when booking last minute). If we found one at a decent price with a good itinerary during our 11 day time frame we would do that and if not we would opt for the day tours option.
The bus dropped us off on the seafront in Puerto Ayora at around 11.30 and we went straight in search of the cheap local eats to get lunch as we were becoming very aware of our grumbling stomachs complaining about the absent breakfast. So it wasn’t until around 12.45 that we began our hunt for our ideal cruise. We decided not to check into a hostel straight away, just in case we found a cruise leaving that day, pretty unlikely but you never know…
It’s not a quick process looking for the last minute cruises, each tour agency has to ring the boats that they have connections with to speak with the captain to see if there is any availability is left and if so, the best price they will do. Each agency has connections with different boats, and some agencies can pull a better deal on same boat than others depending on how good their connections are. So you really do have to shop around. We sat down in the first tour agency and explained what we were after, after about 10 minutes of phone calls they came back to us with a list of what they had to offer. They ran through a few boats with us, ranging from tourist class to lower luxury (anything over that would be way out of our budget). One stuck out, the Fragata, a tourist superior boat with an amazing 8 day itinerary leaving 5pm that evening! It sounded perfect, and even though we knew it was coming, we couldn’t help that our hearts sank a little when we heard the price, way out of our budget. The search would have to continue.
We visited 6 agencies in total, over a 4 hour period. After about 2.5 hours our brains were becoming slightly fuzzy with an information overload but we powered on. In our 4th agency our eyes light up when the Fragata was offered to us at a much lower price, we couldn’t quite believe how big the difference was. It was still over our budget, but only just. It was very tempting but we decided to stick it out in case something cheaper came up. One more boat caught our eye, the Millennium, it also had a good 8-day itinerary, left on Sunday and had a price matching that of our recent Fragata offer. Nearing the end of our search we had realised 3 things. Firstly, we really wanted to get on an 8-day trip, the shorter ones did not jump out at us as much as you can’t reach the islands further away. Secondly, to get an 8-day cruise below our pre-set budget was looking pretty unlikely. And finally, the places on the cruises were selling out fast; some of the agencies we went into could only offer 1 or 2, if any, cruises that fit into our time frame.
At 4.20pm we headed to a café to grab a juice and collect our thoughts. We got the laptop up and looked up reviews of the Fragata and the Millenium. The Millenium search provided a mixture of good and bad reviews, the positives often focusing on the itinerary, while the negatives focussed on problems with the boat. The Fragata had much better reviews and had the best itinerary we had seen all day, that fact it left that day was also a bonus as it would give us a good 2 ½ days at the end to catch a boat over to Isabela (one of the few Islands it didn’t go to) so we could explore it ourselves. After a few more sips of juice and glances between the computer screen and each other, we were sold. It may be a fraction over what we decided our limit would be, but hey, we are only here once, there’s no point in travelling half way around the world unless you are really going to see it. Then we looked at the time…4.45pm…c**p! We knocked our juices back, threw some coins at the barman, grabbed our bags and ran.
We raced into the tour agency puffing and panting, 4.50pm. We asked if there was any chance that there was still space on the Fragata, the man glanced down at his watch, then back up at us like we were crazy. They advertised last-minute cruises on a big sign outside their shop, but I don’t think it had ever been taken so literally before. He quickly got out his phone and rang the captain, there was space, result! He asked for the money whilst ringing us a taxi – we needed to get back to the crossing to Baltra airport (45mins away) before 6pm when the boat would be leaving. Money…
"Can we pay by card?”
"No, only cash”
We empty out our pockets finding a third of the total price in cash. We run to the cash machine and withdraw our daily limits from each card. Conor forgets his PIN for his English card. Really bad timing Conor. We run back to the shop and present him with what we have, he tells us that if we leave our passports we can just pay the rest when we get back. We hand over our passports whilst getting ushered into the taxi, and as the engine started us we let out a sigh of relief. We were going to make it!
During the taxi ride a few things dawned on us, we now had pretty much no money on us, $11 in coins – we couldn’t imagine that a tip of that size would go down too well and the end of the week. We were also incredibly low on sun cream and shampoo, we had intended on picking some up from the supermarket before getting on a cruise but that obviously hadn’t worked out. We quickly decided that these were all things that we could worry about later and instead we started to get excited about the coming days.
We arrived at the crossing a little late, 6.15pm but we were assured all was okay and within a few minutes a dinghy pulled up to take us to the boat that was docked a little further out at sea. The man driving the dinghy introduced himself as Darwin (that has to be his 'gringo’ name right?!), a member of the crew. As we pulled up beside the Fragata we were greeted by Julio, the guide, and Oscar, the barman who showed us to our cabin downstairs. We had a couple of minutes to sort ourselves out before we heard the dinner bell ring and we headed back upstairs.
Before dinner we were to sit around in the lounge area and have a welcome speech and a briefing for the following day. Here we got to meet everyone else on our boat, there were 10 of us in total. A couple from Chicago, Larry and Tomasina, a couple from Toronto, Pac and Sai, an older couple from France, Liddy and Gerard, a young doctor from Melbourne, Steph and a Biologist from Italy, Anna. We learnt that the cruise had officially started this morning and everyone else had boarded the boat after getting off their planes at around 11am. They had eaten lunch soon after arriving on board and then had visited one beach and done some snorkelling, they assured us that we hadn’t missed out on too much. The whole crew was present for the welcome speech. We met Francisco the captain, Carlos the first mate, Miguel the engineer, Roberto the head chef, Horacio the sous chef, Erika the waitress, Oscar, Darwin (who unsurprisingly turned out to be the dinghy sailor) and Julio. We were all given a cocktail to have before dinner was served – we could get used to this new non-backpacker lifestyle. Julio ran through what we would be doing the next day, and a few general points about how the week would play out. In short our Itinerary would be:
DAY 2 (we had missed out on day 1): Genovesa
DAY 3: Bartolome & Santiago Islands
DAY 4: South Plazas & Santa Fe
DAY 5: San Cristobal
DAY 6: Española
DAY 7: Floreana & Santa Cruz
DAY 8: North Seymour
The dining room was set up with two tables of five, so over our first dinner we got to know Steph, Pac and Sai a little better and discussed our coming adventure. After dinner we headed straight to bed, exhausted after our busy afternoon and wanting to feel fresh for our first full day.
The following days ran with a pretty similar structure; generally, breakfast would be served at 7am. At some time between 7:30 and 8am we would make our first landing. The boats were only allowed so close to the islands so we would all travel in on the two dinghies and either have a wet landing (the dinghies would pull close to a beach and we would wade the rest of the way in) or a dry landing where there was some kind of makeshift dock or rocks we could step out onto. We would then normally have a quick pit stop back on the boat to get changed into our swim things and go out for a snorkel, again this could either be off a beach or out in the sea off the dinghies. Lunch would be served around 12am and then we often had a little down time until 2pm as the boat would navigate to the next destination. During this time most of us would relax up on the top deck of the boat, soaking up some sun, reading or looking out for sea creatures! The afternoons would follow in a similar pattern to the mornings with one land stop and one snorkel trip. We would have our briefing for the following between 6 and 7pm with dinner served straight after. We were all always pretty exhausted by the time the evening came around so after a little post dinner chat, we would tend to head straight to bed. At each mealtime we would mix up the seating arrangements so everyone pretty much had equal time chatting to each other and the dynamics would be a little different each time. We really lucked out with our group as everyone was so interesting and lovely and we all got on very well. We became the little Fragata family.
DAY 2 - GENOVESA
Overnight our boat navigated to Genovesa Island, one of the most northern islands in the Galapagos archipelago. It is an island known for its bird life, and to many people it is considered the best island, normally competing against Española. Our morning land stop started off at the Prince Phillip steps (named after a royal visit) and then we followed a path around the cliffs of the small semi-circular island. As we climbed to the top of the steps we were greeted by a very friendly nazca booby. He didn’t run away as we approached but instead put on a little show for us, flapping his wings, strutting around and whistling. There are very strict guidelines enforced on the islands; you cannot stray from the path, touch the animals, or disturb their breeding grounds. Even so, the birds and other wildlife will come very close, frequently crossing the path, but generally pay very little attention to us humans. This lack of fear is due to the absence of any natural predators on the islands (with the exception of the Galapagos hawk, although these generally prey on insects and lizards). This is great for us visitors as we get to watch all the animals going about their daily business without us scaring them away.
We spent quite a long time photographing this one friendly little guy, but after a few minutes of walking down the path we all felt a little silly as it turned out there were nazca boobies everywhere. Although, this didn’t stop the same thing happening every single time we encountered a new species! We also saw lots of frigate birds, the males with great big impressive red pouches over their necks which they could inflate to attract the ladies. We soon also saw Galapagos mockingbirds, brown doves and four types of Darwin’s finches (vampire, warbler, large cactus and large ground). Even though the finches are such small birds we were both really excited to spot them given their historic importance in the theory of evolution. As we moved around the island, nearing the steeper cliff drops we saw storm petrels, tropic birds with thin long white tails and swallow-tailed gulls. Each species was fascinating in its own way and Julio would tell as a little about each and about their specific adaptations. The most exciting bird we saw on this Island however, was the red-footed booby, this is the only place in the Galapagos where you can find them. They had stunning bright blue beaks and red feet which made for an impressive sight.
After almost two hours, when we reached the far end of the trail we all sat down overlooking the cliff edge and tried to spot the rarely-sighted short-eared owl that flies around this area feeding on the storm petrels. After about 10-minutes of looking we spotted one, we felt very lucky as Julio told us it wasn’t uncommon for bird watching groups to come here and sit for hours without seeing anything. Shortly after we re-traced our way back along the path to find Darwin and Miguel waiting to pick us up in the dinghies.
We were both excited for our first snorkel trip, especially Conor as this would be his first real snorkelling experience. When we hopped out of the dinghies into the cold water close to the cliffs we were a little disappointed to find out the water was a little murky. The water conditions change very quickly in the Galapagos so it is near impossible to predict the conditions on any given day, but Julio assured us that we would get to experience the crystal clear waters soon enough. Despite the slightly murky water, we still had a great time spotting loads of different varieties of fish and a stingray.
In the afternoon we went to Darwin Bay Beach where we got to see the frigate birds up close and saw our first Galapagos sea lions. We snorkelled off the beach, the conditions being very similar as to in the morning. We then had until 5.30 to relax on the beach or stay in the water. After some relaxing on the beach Conor decided to go back into the sea for another quick snorkel, he returned very happy after spotting three whitetip reef sharks.
DAY 3 – BARTOLOME & SANTIAGO
On Sunday morning we woke up docked near Bartolome Island. This island is famous for its partially eroded lava formation, Pinnacle Rock, considered to be the main landmark of the whole of the Galapagos. We climbed 360 steps, up 120m to a view point called “The Lighthouse”. Unfortunately, it was so foggy when we got the top that we could barely make out Pinnacle rock. We stood around and listened to Julio tell us a little history of the island and amazingly by the end of his speech the clouds had begun to clear to reveal the two stunning back-to-back beaches in the foreground, Pinnacle Rock and then the jet black terrain of Santiago Island in the background. We could also spot a completely submerged caldera off to the side of the Island. On our way down we spotted a few lava lizards, one of the few species that can survive on the harsh rocky terrain, and some sally lightfoot crabs. The waves were lapping up at the rocks as we climbed back into the dinghies which made it very slippery and caused Liddy to fall. Luckily she wasn’t injured but she was a little shaken by it and when we found out the terrain for the afternoon stop would be very rocky and tricky under the foot, she decided to stay on the boat.
Our morning snorkel was off the northern beach and we were all very happy to see much clearer waters today. We saw lots more colourful fish and some lobsters but no sharks or Galapagos penguins (which supposedly fish nearby).
In the afternoon we arrived at Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island. It is the fourth largest island in the archipelago and a volcanic eruption 135 years ago is the cause of its dramatic, sparse, black landscape. It is almost completely untouched by erosion and the patterns left by the lava are incredible. On the dinghy ride in to the island we spotted our first Galapagos penguins which made up for their absence in the morning, we watched them dart around in the water for a while before we explored on land.
The second snorkelling was amazing, we swam with more penguins, saw two huge Galapagos green turtles, some interesting new fish like the skinny needle fish and the very pretty king angel fish. Scattered over the beach were lots of black marine iguanas and lots more red sally lightfoot crabs. The boat was anchored relatively close by so a few of us decided to swim back to boat instead of taking the dinghy. Just after we had gotten out we spotted a bay shark circling the boat and we were tempted to jump back in, but we decided we had enough of the cold waters for one day and we were sure we get a chance to swim with them again.
The boat then navigated back towards Santa Cruz as we had four more people joining our Fragata family for the remaining 5 days. We sat up on the top deck Whale-watching. Unfortunately, no whales were spotted, but we did see more sea lions, dolphins, elliot petrels, a jumping stingray and a group of frigates that decided to fly along above the boat the whole way. Just before dinner we were joined by Don, Oren, Yail and Talia, four Israeli backpackers.
DAY 4 – SOUTH PLAZA & SANTA FE
We had a slightly disrupted sleep Sunday night as the boat began to navigate to South Plaza Island at 5am. Being down in the ‘dungeon’ rooms we could hear the anchor being lifted and the engines starting very clearly, but once we were moving along steadily again we quickly fell back asleep.
South Plaza is one of the smallest islands in the Galapagos but there is still lots to see. As we arrived we were greeted by lots of sea lion pups playing in the shallow waters and by the rocks – they were very cute! We also found our first land iguanas here, coloured yellow and black they were much brighter than the marine iguanas. They are also very unique, they eat prickly cactus fruit and have evolved so they are able to remove all the spikes without hurting themselves. We were lucky enough to see one eating, first they roll the fruit around the ground to remove the majority of the spikes and then they start to chew. They have developed strong muscles in their neck that contract as they are eating which pull out any of the leftover spikes and then once they have finished, this muscle fires the spikes back out from their mouth. It was quite a sight to see.
We walked to the cliffs and saw lots more birds; finches (small cactus and ground), puffins, nazca boobies, frigates and swallow-tailed gulls. Here also lives a bachelor colony of old Sea lions, these guys can be pretty grumpy and we found that out first hand pretty quickly. Steph carries a small toy giraffe with her which she takes photos with for her boyfriend when he isn’t there. She popped the giraffe down on a rock near a huge sleeping sea lion to get a quick snap. As she went to pick it back up again the sea lion woke up, let out a huge roar and swiped the toy giraffe under his flipper. It took a good 10 minutes, Pac’s GoPro pole and careful manoeuvring to get it back.
After spotting some baby cacti surrounded by netting, Juilo began to explain to us some of the negative effects on the ecosystem caused by humans inhabiting the main islands. There used to be Galapagos Hawks on South Plaza that would feed on the land iguanas, however once humans inhabited Santa Cruz, the hawks left South Plaza as the farms created by the humans supplied a much easier prey. This has caused a huge increase in land iguanas on South Plaza and in turn a dramatic decrease in the number of cacti. Until the biologists can think of a way to bring back the Hawks to restore the natural balance they have to actively protect and grow new cacti.
You are not allowed into the waters around the Plazas Islands so we had no snorkelling scheduled for that morning, instead we got back onto the boat and navigated to the nearby Island of Santa Fe. We looked out from the top deck as we pulled into the bay, and were taken aback by the beauty of the scene – bright blue waters, a little sandy beach, tall cactus trees in the background – it looked like paradise. After lunch we got our chance to get into the water. The main focus of this trip was to swim with the sea lion pups which we all had been eagerly awaiting. During our last few snorkel trips I had really felt the cold and had often needed to get out a little earlier than some of the others, I was told I could rent a wetsuit from the boat for $5 a day so I decided to take them up on this offer (we would figure out how we were going to pay for it later…).
Snorkelling with the pups lived up to its expectations and they were super friendly. Even so, we were still not allowed to touch them but instead could watch them swim around us, in between our legs and do flips in the water. They were really curious about all the go-pros so Conor was able to get some great up close footage of them. We then swam a little loop of the bay and saw more Galapagos green turtles and whitetip sharks. The four Israelis, Larry and I then swam back to the boat instead of taking the dinghy – all thanks to the wet suit of course. Erika and Oscar were waiting at the back of the boat with towels, hot chocolates and biscuits for us so we could re-fuel before our second landing.
It was a long rocky circuit around Santa Fe and we saw much larger land iguanas, more sea lions and huge cacti that looked like the kind of cartoon trees that kids draw. Liddy had been feeling much better today and herself and Gerard both decided to take on the rocky terrain not wanting to miss out on too much. Erika came along with us all to give Liddy a hand. We all took it at a nice relaxed pace and took in the beautiful surroundings as our third full day came to an end.
DAY 5 – SAN CRISTOBAL
We were woken in the night again by the engines, but this time they were turning off, we thought it must be the morning so we were about to get up until we looked at the time – 2.40am! Straight back to sleep for us. Our alarms were set for 6am as we had an earlier start, a 6.30am snorkel before breakfast at the famous diving spot, Kicker Rock.
There was a huge cloud over Kicker Rock as we approached it and we worried about the visibility and the cold (although I, along with a few others, was nice and snug in a wetsuit). As we hopped out of the dinghy into the water we realised the visibility wasn’t all that bad, we couldn’t see too far down but what we could see was pretty clear although a little dark. Within 10 minutes we had already spotted hammerhead sharks, Galapagos sharks, blacktip sharks, spotted eagle rays, and another turtle, and we still had 50 minutes left! When our time was up we clambered back up into the dinghies, all quite cold and hungry but with smiles plastered across our faces as we discussed what we had seen.
Once showered, warm and fed we piled back into the dinghies which brought us to the stunning Cerro Brujo beach on San Cristobal. It was the nicest beach that either of us had ever been on, the kind you find on the front cover of exotic holiday brochures. We had two and a half hours here to relax, explore and swim all out our own pace. We saw lots of pelicans and blue footed boobies swooping down into the crystal clear waters fishing for their breakfast. The two hours passed way too quickly and as it was almost time to leave we all went to gather up our things and found that a sea lion had comfortably spread himself out over Pac’s towel with all the bags around him, it made for a pretty good picture.
Soon after lunch we made a dry landing onto Islet Los Lobos just off the coast of San Cristobal, it was even smaller than South Plaza! The trail was very short, but we took it really slow and spent a long time watching the blue-footed booby couples dance with each other and exchange presents, their way of re-enforcing the bonds of their year-long relationships. Even though it was such a small island it still had a lot to offer, along with the boobies we saw more frigates, sea lions, pelicans and lots of washed up sea urchins.
We then travelled to San Cristobal’s capital, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. This wasn’t an official stop on our itinerary but the crew needed to buy more food now we had gained four extras. We were all allowed to disembark the boat if we wanted to and spend 2 hours relaxing in the town. When we found out about this detour at the briefing the night before Conor and I felt a wave of relief, we could finally get to an ATM and get some money out (to pay for the wet suit, for a tip and to pay off the rest of our cruise) and pick up some more sun cream. We got a little cheer from the others as they all knew the predicament we were in. So we were pretty surprised when we came out of our room to board the dinghy to see that we had been left behind! We called around the boat to see if any of the crew were still around. Just us. How had everyone managed to leave to quickly and quietly? We were starting to give up hope when we saw Darwin driving the empty dinghy back to the boat, he laughed when we saw us standing with our day bags at the back of the boat looking helpless, he pulled up to the side of the boat and told us to hop in. When we caught up with the others in town we town we found out that everyone in the first dinghy assumed we were in the second, and everyone in the second assumed we were in the first!
We walked around town looking for an ATM, the first one we came across wouldn’t accept any of our cards, so we continued on until we came to another. The same thing happened, now we started to worry a little. We asked around and found the third at final ATM on San Cristobal. Card declined. Uh oh. We went back to the first ATM, the only one with an actual bank attached to and went to queue up to find out what we could do. There we bumped into another couple walking out of the bank, they heard us discussing our predicament and asked us if are cards were visas, we said they were and they told us visa cards weren’t working on the island, and the lady at the counter said there wasn’t anything we could do.
We found a café with wifi (and one that accepted card payments) bought a drink, checked our bank accounts, and tried googling some solutions. Before we knew it it was 5.15pm and we had to head back to the boat. We would have to worry about this later…again…
DAY 6 - ESPANOLA
We awoke with Española Island insight. We had a dry landing onto Puerta Suarez and as we stepped out of the dinghy we had our eyes peeled for the famous waved albatross. This is the only island where these giant birds can be seen, they come to Española between April and November to mate and nest. In terms of albatross’ they aren’t the biggest, they have a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters, but they are the largest bird found in the archipelago. They are pretty funny looking birds, they are so big and heavy that they struggle to walk under their weight and their whole body swings from side to side as they waddle along. We kept seeing pairs of them looking like they were sword fighting with their long yellow beaks, Julio informed us that this is their main mating ritual, how they pick partners how also how the find their partner if they are separated (they mate for life). We also saw more nazca and blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, tropic birds and we even spotted a sleeping Galapagos hawk. But on this island the Albatross definitely won in holding our attention. A little further along the trail we came to a blowhole created by a lava fissure. We sat down here for a while watching the water shoot up into the air and the young nazca boobies learning to fly. On a little beach we saw a very distressed looking sea lion pup coming out of the water, obviously looking for his mother, he waddled around the beach looking for her and calling out and our hearts were breaking at the sight! Eventually he caught sight of her and raced over so fast, nestling in straight away to get some well-earned milk. It was very, very cute.
Our first snorkelling of the day was off the dinghy in and around some caves at the edge of Gardner Bay. We weren’t able to swim right to the back of the caves as the currents were too strong but it was good fun exploring around them. We stayed in the bigger cave for a little while watching massive schools of fish getting swept back and forth by the waves and currents. We also spotted some colourful starfish stuck to the base of the caves and a blacktip shark just around the corner.
We spent the afternoon on Gardner Bay Beach where we could relax or swim as we pleased. It was another stunning beach, and it didn’t take long for the clear waters to draw us back in. Conor and I swam out to a rock called Osbourne Rock as Julio told us it was the best place to snorkel. On our way out we saw we spotted a whiptail stingray (which we later found out was venomous and potentially fatal!). The water was a slightly nicer temperature here and we stayed out by the rock for about an hour. We saw lots more new fish and played around with getting some videos of us with two whitetip sharks that seemed to live under one of the rocks.
Once we got out of the water we had a run down the beach to warm up and then relaxed until it was time to head back on board for dinner.
DAY 7 – FLOREANA & SANTA CRUZ
We had another early start in store for us on our last full day. We had our alarms set for 5.30am and by 6am we on Floreana Island. We only spent about 20 minutes on this island where we walked to a fresh water lagoon to spot the bright pink Flamingos. Unfortunately, they were across on the far side of the lagoon so we could barely see them! Floreana was the first inhabited island in the archipelago, long before it was considered a sanctuary of wildlife, and the humans either killed or destroyed the habitats of the of the birds and animals that resided here. Because of this, there isn’t actually too much else to see other than the flamingos so we headed back to the boat.
We quickly changed into our swim things and went straight back out on the dinghies to get to the well-known snorkel spot: The Devils Crown, a half-submerged volcanic cone. The water was very choppy and the currents were strong so unfortunately it wasn’t as good for us as it is known to be. However, we still saw reef sharks, two giant rays, luminous purple starfish and lots of other fish so not all was lost. We had to get out of the water about ¾ of the way around and back into the dinghies as the current was too strong. Some of the group got back in after for another 5-10 minutes and spotted another Hammerhead shark, although it was too far away to get a picture. Once back on the boat we had very quick showers and raced up to the dining room for breakfast, we were all starving.
We then navigated for 4 hours to get to Santa Cruz. Just after breakfast, Darwin called everyone out to the front of the boat, about 20 dolphins had decided to swim along with us right next to the bow of the boat, they stayed there jumping in and out of the water for about 10 minutes. Once the dolphins had continued on their way Conor went to take a nap whilst I read up on the top deck.
We were stopping on Santa Cruz to visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre where there is a breeding centre for the endangered Galapagos giant tortoises, one of the only creatures we had yet to see. As soon as we step foot into Puerto Ayora, Conor and I raced to the ATMs telling the others we would them catch up on the walk to the Darwin Centre. We had all our fingers and toes crossed as we reached the ATMs. One was down but the second one worked! Success! We walked quickly to catch back up with the group, relieved that we finally had that sorted. Julio told us on the way on the centre that almost 75% of it was actually closed off to the public due to maintenance, this included the museum, which was a shame, but luckily we could still see the giant tortoises. And they really were giants. They were pretty fun to watch, very slowly going about their daily business, but as most of the centre was closed we only stayed for 30-40mins. We then had a couple of hours to relax in the town before getting back onto the boat for our final dinner. We sought out a tasty frozen yogurt shop and chilled out there for a while before taking a stroll around town.
During our final briefing the whole crew was present and we had the formal goodbye over some very fancy whisky that Liddy and Gerard had bought for everyone. We reminisced about the week over dinner before all going back to our rooms to start packing and then heading to bed.
DAY 8 – NORTH SEYMOUR
Our alarms were set for 5.30am again Friday morning, and we had a dry landing onto North Seymour Island as our final stop at 6am. It was a nice island to finish on and as the sun rose into the sky we watched the Blue-footed boobies dance away, the impressive male frigates inflate their large red pouches, marine iguanas scuttle into the sea whilst swallow-tailed gulls and tropic birds circled ahead. We were all a little sad to be heading back onto the boat for our last breakfast as the Fragata family. Over breakfast, we discussed all the amazing wildlife we had seen. The cruise finished up at about 8.30am on Baltra Island, near the airport. We said goodbye to Liddy, Gerard and Anna who were all going to catch flights straight away, and also to Larry and Tomasina who were actually staying on the boat for 4 more nights as they had booked at 12 day tour. The rest of us made our way back towards Puerto Ayora.
After the little boat crossing between Baltra and Santa Cruz we said goodbye to the Israelis before Pac, Sai, Steph, Conor and I grabbed a taxi to take us to a few sights on the way back to Puerto Ayora. First off we stopped off at the Gremelos (‘twins’), two 30-meter deep collapsed craters. We then headed to the El Chato nature reserve where we got to see the giant tortoises in the wild. There were two big old tortoise shells by the entrance that you could climb into, which made for some good photo opportunities. Nearby, there was also a series of lava tunnels that you can walk through, they are normally light up but the lights seemed to be broken so it was pitch black. We navigated through with the lights from our phones which actually made it a little more exciting. We then headed back to Puerto Ayora where we went our separate ways after agreeing to meet up after dinner for an ice-cream.
Conor and I checked into the Cormorant Lodging House, a nice cheap hostel recommended by our guide book, before heading straight down to the tour agency to sort out our outstanding bill for the trip. The guy in the shop remembered us as the crazy last-minute people but was pleased to hear that we had a great time. We made lunch in the hostel and then booked a boat to Isabela for 7.30am the following morning, After, we decided to walk down to Tortuga bay. It’s a nice little beach tucked in behind a long surfer’s beach about an hour walk from town. It was a nice stroll through a cactus forest and we took it pretty slow. We walked the length of both beaches before sitting down to watch the late afternoon surfers.
We grabbed dinner in town from a cheap eat recommended by the guide book before heading to a little ice-cream parlour to meet the others. This was a really nice way to round off the week. We said our goodbyes to Steph as she was catching a flight in the morning, and made arrangements to meet back up with Pac and Sai when we got back from Isabella (they were flying out on the same day as us).
We had pretty much two and a half days on Isabela and our main focus was to spend as little as possible, it was safe to say our bank accounts did not enjoy the Galapagos as much as we did. We found a nice cheap backpackers hostel, Posada del Caminante, that had a communal kitchen and a good chill out area. We cooked all our meals in the hostel and sought out the cheapest or ideally free activities to do in the area. On our first day we rented snorkels for $3 and headed down to the recommended spot, Concha Perla. The water was freezing and I didn’t last too long without a wetsuit. Conor was out soon after and we went to warm up on a little beach, Playa Embareadero. The snorkelling was good but nothing like what we had seen on our cruise. The beach was very relaxing and two little penguins kept us well entertained as they swam around in the shallow waters.
The following day we rented bikes from the hostel with another backpacker, Heather, who we had got chatting to the night before. We cycled to the Wall of Tears, a large stone wall built by a penal colony in the 1940s. We ate a picnic lunch up at a mirador overlooking the eastern side of the island before heading back, stopping off at a few more points along the way (some nice little beaches, caves and viewpoints). We said goodbye to Heather before Conor and I cycled up to the Tortoise breeding centre (as we weren’t able to see the baby tortoises on Santa Cruz as they were in the part that was closed off). That evening we walked the wooden footpath back up towards the centre, Heather had told us it was a very nice walk and a good place to see the sunset, she was right. The path passed over a few lagoons where we got to see some bright flamingos very close, which was nice after only seeing them from so far away on Floreana.
We just relaxed in the hammocks on Monday morning before catch a boat back to Santa Cruz at 2.30pm. The boat we caught back was very small and the water was very rough at the beginning of the journey, we would be lying if we said that the possibility that the boat could flip never crossed into our minds. Luckily we arrive 2 ½ hours later all in one piece and dry.
We met up with Pac and Sai for our last dinner on the Galapagos Island but no goodbyes were said as we were sure we would bump into each other at the airport in the morning, our flights only being 45mins apart. And sure enough we did. We also saw Larry and Tomasina there which was a nice unexpected surprise – they filled us in on what had happened on their extra couple of days on the cruise before we boarded our plane. Upon landing in Guayaquil, already wanting to escape the busy humid city, we headed for the bus station to catch an overnight bus to Banos.
It was an expensive, albeit amazing 11 days. Up until this point we haven’t been able to decide on a favourite place from our trip, everywhere has been incredible, but we both agree that the Galapagos has been just a step above the rest, and certainly won’t be a memory that fades fast.