We heard that visiting the Galapagos was expensive, but we were able to find reasonable airfare, and cheap accommodations (~$30 a night). Sure the 10-night live-aboard dive boats were pricey, but we can always do some day trip dives. So what is so expensive? The answer is simple. The islands are so spread out, the only way to see the vast majority of them is by multi-day cruises. They are simply too far from the inhabited areas to be reached as a day trip. Cruises range in longevity from five days to two weeks, with most of them being either five or eight days. Even on a two week cruise, you won’t see the entire place, you need about three weeks to do that. Since we are nearing the end of our trip, the finances are dwindling fast. After talking with a few different tour companies and considering a few different boats and itineraries, we ended up booking the last four nights of an eight night cruise. We had to make hard decisions about what we wanted to see, and found a boat that was going to hit those areas.
OK, before you get the wrong idea, I use the word “cruise” because that is the term they use here, and I couldn’t think of a better word. But forget about the gargantuan Carnival cruise boats that lumber throughout the Caribbean. All of the boats here are much smaller. Ours, the Yolita II, has 16 guests, and a crew of 8. It was spacious for the number of guests however, and we had a private ensuite cabin. Also, forget about lounging on the sundeck sipping margaritas like you would do on a jumbo ship between Miami and Nassau. There are no roulette tables nor a midnight buffet. No one stayed up past 10pm because of our early mornings and very active days. OK, you get the point. All this is good because I am not a big fan those floating cities on which you eat and drink yourself sick.
Our boat basically circumnavigated the largest island of Isabella, also making stops at Fernandina, Santiago, and Rabida. The daily routine went something like this... breakfast at 7ish, in the zodiac by 8am with wetsuits on and mask and fins in hand. After snorkeling, back to the boat by 9:30, change out of your wetsuit and back into the zodiac by 10am to head to shore for land based exploring like a hiking up a volcano. Lunch on the boat, usually followed by another snorkel, then another hike on land. Then dinner around 7 back on the boat, and maybe drink or two after dinner while we socialized with the others. In bed before 10pm. That was the usual schedule, but because I was battling some sort of stomach ailment, I ended up skipping one snorkel, two breakfasts, and a lunch. It is also probably why I was asleep before everyone else.
It seems like a lot, and it was, but that is the way it needs to be because there is so much to see, experience, and learn about. While snorkeling, we saw sharks, more turtles than you can count, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, sting rays, eagle rays, grouper, seals, sea lions, thousands of schooling sardines, and more tropical fish than I care to bore you with. In addition, on land we also saw tortoises, land iguanas, and many types of birds, including blue footed boobies, flightless cormorants, penguins, and flamingos. That’s right, flamingos and penguins on the same island. The Galapagos penguin is the only penguin found in the northern hemisphere (the archipelago straddles the equator). While on land, our expert guide, Washington, explained details about all of these animals. He led each of our snorkeling and hiking excursions and kept us engaged with his passion, humor, and most of all his in depth knowledge of the islands’ history, geography, flora, and fauna. Here is some of that fun stuff...
The Galapagos are incredible because they are such relatively young volcanic islands. The oldest of the islands are now underwater as they drift on the Nazca plate eastward, and downward into the ocean. Volcanic eruptions continue to add land mass to some of the islands and are sure to produce new islands in the future. As some of the islands are disappearing under the ocean, some continue to rise. We walked on a trail covered with shells and huge coral remains one kilometer from the shore. Just 50 years ago that area was underwater, but the rest of the movement tends to happen much slower, at about an inch or two per year. The animals that ended up here at first did so by swimming, flying, or floating on driftwood. That is no easy feat since it is 560 miles to the mainland. The animals that did end up here had to adapt because it is so different from where they came. The newer islands have a harsh landscape without much vegetation. As a result, many of the animals here have evolved into unique species. There are huge numbers of endemic species in the Galapagos, meaning that they are found nowhere else in the world. In fact, most of the islands have species that only exist on that one island, and on none of the others. Perhaps the most interesting adaptation is that of the marine iguanas. When they arrived on the island, they were land based lizards. There wasn’t enough vegetation on land, and they were able to adapt so that they can hold their breath, swim to the bottom, and eat the from the sea floor. They even have glands that help to remove salt from their system which they expel by blowing it out their nose. What they lack in good looks, they make up for in adaptability. While the iguanas appear to be extremely abundant, we were reminded how tough survival can be by the hundreds of skeletons resulting from a shortage of the algae this past season on which they subsist.
Marine iguanas have a face only a mother could love.
The remains littering the rocks and sand are a reminder of the harsh conditions.
There are endemic cormorants which are the only species of cormorants in the world who can’t fly. While blue footed boobies aren’t endemic, they are icons of the islands. These guys look like cartoon characters, and don’t seem to fear humans at all, like many of the other animals here.
A nesting flightless cormorant.
Blue footed boobies!
I know there are seals and sea lions all over the world, but I have to say they are pretty much my favorite animal (after the liger for you Napoleon Dynamite fans). Scuba diving with gray seals off the coast of Maine as a teenager is one of my favorite memories. I came close to that experience again snorkeling here. There was a pup fur seal that swam with us for ages. While he kept out of reach, he gracefully darted all around us, twisting and turning in the water, under and around us. He was incredibly cute with enormous eyes. The sea lions typically kept their distance underwater, but one particular guy didn’t seem to mind me at all. I was swimming along side him as he slowly slid along in a straight line, allowing me to keep up. He was eyeballing me the whole time. He got very close at one point, then wanted to know what I tasted like. He opened his mouth wide, showing his enormous teeth, and started to put his mouth around my leg. He did this very slowly, which leads me to believe he was just curious, not aggressive. Also, it gave me enough time to freak out and push him away before I had marks to prove it. That was the end of our time together.
One of my sea lion buddies with the Yolita II in the background.
Sally Lightfoot crabs can be found just about everywhere on the rocks along shore.
Sea turtles are common in many parts of the world as well, but I have never seen so many as I did snorkeling in the Galapagos. These are interesting creatures to observe and also don’t seem to mind people. They are an endangered species for a few reasons. In the Galapagos, introduced species such as rats, cats, and dogs eat their eggs. But also, the young turtles return to the same beach where they were born 5 years later to have offspring of their own. If that beach is no longer there, it is believed they don’t reproduce. A peculiar fact is that after laying the eggs, the temperature of the eggs determines which gender that individual will be. So, often the eggs in the middle are warmer and tend to end up as female.
We really enjoyed the cruise, and wished we had the funds to do it for longer. The other passengers on our boat were all fantastic. There was only one other American couple, Connie and Jerry, and it turns out we have only one degree of separation. They are good friends with and former neighbors of the family of my very good friend, college roommate, and fraternity brother from RPI, Justin. In fact, they and I were all at his wedding.
Apart from my sickness, there was another downer on the boat trip. On the last night, half of the cabins realized that there was cash missing from their rooms. The thief took some of the cash, but not all, apparently hoping that it wouldn’t be noticed. However, a few of the victims meticulously record the amount of cash they have at any given time, so therefore know without a doubt when some is missing. Jesslyn and I are not that careful with our accounting, but a mental check accounted for what we had and spent within a few bucks. The silver lining is that the boat paid each person the amount of money they reported to have lost. I don’t know how they dealt with that situation internally, but it was awesome that they paid the money back. In this day of Trip Advisor and online ratings, I guess they couldn’t have sustained the terrible reviews. The happy mood was restored in time for the slide show of all the pics and videos that our guide Washington had taken during the trip.
I just had to include more birds! I loved watching the numerous pelicans just hanging out and dive bombing for fish.
There are many frigate birds. These guys can stay in the air for weeks at a time.
Our cruise was awesome, but we still hadn’t been scuba diving yet. So, after the end of the cruise, we booked a day trip to Gordon Rocks, a dive site known to be a good place to see hammerhead sharks. We were not disappointed. We probably saw about 30 of them, and pretty close too. These are the largest sharks I have ever seen underwater, not to mention they are so unique looking. We also saw a large Galapagos shark up close. At this point, I have seen enough sharks that I don’t really have a fear of them while diving. Maybe that isn’t such a good thing, but I love to see the sleek graceful animals gliding through the water. Jesslyn just recently said to me, “I want to see them eat something.”. I was thinking the exact same thing. The dive at Gordon Rocks has some strong currents, so only experienced divers are allowed. Jesslyn did awesome, I guess she is officially an experienced diver now!
- Jake
Video courtesy of our fabulous guide, Washington Paredes.