Meetings with Iguanas and other Galpagos locals!!

Hi there, just got back from the Galapagos Isls. It was incredible!! A wildlife experience of a life time. Worth every cent. The islands were teaming with wildlife including, sea lions, land and sea iguanas, lava lizards and many different species of nesting sea birds. We snorkeled with sharks, eagle rays, sea turtles and penguins as well as huge schools of fish. Though at times it felt like we were on a tourist conveyor belt with dozens of other boats all landing their passengers on the same islands. The islands are quite well managed with designated paths and in some cases landing jetties (dry landings) otherwise it was beach landings( wet landings) with the boats dinghy. The islands vary from barren less but weirdly shaped volcanic lava to scrubby and sandy with brilliant white beaches set against the back drop of turquoise sea.

Prior to going I trawled through the 100s of travel agents in Quito, checking out the mind-boggling number of tours on offer before finally deciding on a 8 day tour with the ‘Friendship’. Tacky name I know! The ‘Friendship’ is at the budget end (800 usd ) of the scale but what it lacks in flashiness it makes up for in character. She is made of wood and has loads of space for 18 passengers including a great top deck for watching the islands slip by with a pilsener or two.

The trip began when we landed at the tiny but jam packed with US tourists Baltra airport on the main Island, Puerto Aoyra. Walking off the plane and onto the hot tarmac it was obvious the next 8 days were going to be shorts and t-shirts gab. A nice change after the cool and rainy weather in Quito.

After handing over our 100 usd park entrance fee (this trip is not cheap and cost just under 1200 usd!!) we were meet by our the sprightly 69 year old English speaking guide, Cesar before being whisked off to the boat.

Cesar is a Galapagos local and has been guiding on the islands for 28 years so he knows his stuff and also speaks English. His jokes were pretty funny too. He was on board with us for the whole week except for the night we were in Puerto Auyora when he stayed with his 50 year old girlfriend!

The crew of the trusty ‘Friendship’ were brilliant and the food was the best I’ve had in Ecuador, with loads of fresh veggies and salad. Every meal has been different and we’ve even had pizza!

The cabins were basic but comfy enough with aircod and ensuites . A lot of travel between the islands was done at night which made for great sleeping with the roll of the boat. It reminded me of my Greek island touring though instead of 1000s of people on the islands there were 1000s of animal and mammals including birds, iguanas, sea lions and red rock crabs. I shared a cabin with Katrin from Germany. Other, mostly young passengers were from Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Finland and there was even a fellow Aussie in there. Halfway through the trip we had a change of passengers when we called in at Puerto Auyora, a chilled fishing town on the main island.

The days began at 7am with breakfast and then usually a walk or snorkel around the islands observing and photographing the very photogenic inhabitants. One of the greatest things about the islands is the complete lack of fear the wildlife has humans. It’s like we were invisible or at other times we were objects of curiosity for the sea lions, blue footed boobies, land iguanas, sea iguanas, lava lizards and sea turtles. The amount of wildlife we saw was simply unbelievable. It really is a wildlife trip of a life time. The islands, although some very barren were literally teaming with wildlife. Cameras worked overtime. Mine finally died but thanks to my crew mates and the fact that i'm now travelling with a second hand laptop i picked up in Quito, I have loads of pics. After our mornings exploring it was back to the boat for lunch and a very civilised siesta. Most days were around 32deg and as a lot of the islands were volcanic rock it got pretty damn hot at times.

In the afternoon there would be more walking\snorkeling. One of the greatest snorkeling trips we did was off a group of rocks a mile or so off island. The sea was literally teaming with fish. Not only did we see schools of colorful fish we also swam with white tipped reef sharks, eagle rays, sea turtles, curious seals and even penguins! We were all blown away. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Another highlight was just sitting on the many pristine white sand beaches while the baby seal pups waddling up to sniff us and check us out. Priceless. On a sad note 10% of pups are abandoned and left to die by their mothers due to lack of food and humans touching the pups. Luckily you can’t go on the islands without a guide and part of their role is to ensure that u don’t get too close. On some beaches there were quite huge and territorial males that were quite keen to let us know that this was their beach!

In Pueto Auyora we also went to the brilliant Charles Darwin Research Station (www.darwinfoundation.org) and checked out there great land turtle and iguana breeding program. A lot of land turlte and iguana populations were decimiated on a lot of the islands due to introduced species such as cats and dogs as well as poaching.As well as some new turtle arrivals they also have some oldies including lonesome George who is the last of his species and unfortunately won’t breed with any females that are closely related. He is 150 years old and is expected too live to 200 and weighs 170kgs! Also while in Puerto Auyora we took a bus up to the highlands and saw some impressive extinct volcanoes and had thee best chocolate brownies with ice-cream at a café!

Phew so that’s how I’ve been spending my last 8 days. I’m going to brave some crazy city traffic to go and post this. From Guayaquil, I’ll head down to Peru possibly stopping at another Ecuadorian highland town called Cuenca en route.