Wednesday 13 January

Bartolomé Island – all day

Today we learned more about Galapagos’ volcanic history, visiting some volcanic areas. This morning was an early start with breakfast at 6.30am, so we could leave the ship at 7.30am to go across to the island and do an early ascent of the 370-odd steps (along a wooden pathway) to the summit to get a 360 deg. view of the Galapagos Islands, before the day got too hot. 

  

Afterwards it was back to the ship for a short break before we were out again to do snorkelling (Stuart) and glass-bottom boat (Lesley) fish viewing.

Stuart saw fish whilst snorkelling and took photos but he forgot to change the setting on the camera and without his glasses was not able to get decent photos. He also got tired and came out of the water and missed the sharks and sea lion which swam among the snorkelers, (but got sunburnt). Lesley had more luck and saw both from the glass-bottom boat, the sea lion coming up beside the boat to check out the occupants.

After lunch, served on the sundeck outside (under shade), we had an excursion onto the lava flow on nearby Santiago (James) Island. This is an extensive flow, formed only about 130 yrs ago. The demarcation between old lava and the newer lava was quite marked. 

 

Already little spiders and lizards have made a home there, and here and there are small plants that have managed to get a hold on the black lava. Also popping up occasionally were some lava cactus – so incongruous in this location. It was fascinating to see the patterns formed by the moving magma. It wasn’t too easy to move across – we had to watch our footing constantly.  Its depth averaged about 5m, and was like a rolling sea, with many ups and downs, and flows bashing into each other causing one side to rear up a bit. Some of it looked like twists of liquorice. As it ages lava weathers, showing the iron content. The old lava formations are an ochre colour and the oldest are now a dark red-brown. 

Lesley thinks the lava walk has been the highlight of the trip so far.

Tonight the ship leaves our current anchorage at 1am for a 5 ½ hour journey north across the Equator  (crossing about 3am) to tomorrows anchorage at Genoversa (Tower) Island.

Tuesday 12 January 2016

Eden Inlet (Santa Cruz) and Sombrero Chino Islet

We were woken at 3.45am when the ship lifted the anchor so it could be moved to our first activity point by 6am. We are also the 2^nd cabin from the bow, so very close to the anchor. We tried to get back to sleep but the movement of the ship kept Lesley awake.

After breakfast we went on pangas (zodiacs) to look at wildlife along the nearby shoreline. We saw a large number of marine iguanas, numerous birds (Blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Brown pelican), a lone Galapagos sea lion and a few Galapagos penguins.

   

Back to the ship and we then went on a glass bottom boat (in lieu of deep water snorkelling) to look at the fish swimming next to the island. As the Galapagos Islands are devoid of rivers and streams and therefore the associated nutrients, the water is clear (visibility is very good, at least 15m), but there is not much that fish can eat, other than algae growing on the rocks.  

During lunch the ship changed positon, to another area of the archipelago. We went out on the pangas again to do a walk over lava flows on Chinaman’s Hat/Sombrero Island to see baby sea lions waiting for their mums to come back after a day of fishing. 

 

They were so cute, but we weren’t allowed to touch them, and had to move out of the way if they came towards us. We also saw a couple of marine iguanas and more of the red crabs. A Galapagos penguin swam around the group who went swimming. The rest of the group went out further to do some deep-sea snorkelling. The water was about 23 degrees, and lovely once we got past the initial shock of cold. Everywhere were very pretty red crabs (Sally Lightfoot Crab), with lovely markings in various colours on their shells.

The ship later took a cruise around some islands, going very slowly past one which was very obviously a small extinct volcano with one side blown out. The crater has a lake inside, home to a flock of flamingos that were feeding.

The ship stopped before tea and we overnighted at Bartolomé Island.

Monday 11 January, 2016

Guayaquil (pronounced ‘Whayakill’) to Santa Cruz (Island), Galapagos Islands

We were up early to have our bags packed and ready to be collected before breakfast so they could be quarantine inspected before we left the hotel (organised by Scenic so that we didn’t have to be at the airport hours early). 

After breakfast on to bus and out to airport for flight to Baltra (Galapagos Islands) which was an American Airforce and Naval base during WW2 – still building remnants to be seen.

At Baltra airport, on Nth Seymour Island, our hand luggage was checked to ensure no unprocessed food is bought onto the islands.  The Equadorians are very mindful of the heritage area of Galapagos and take bio-security very seriously indeed. The plane was fumigated before we landed.

From the airport a bus trip to the Itabaca Channel and a short 300m ferry ride to Santa Cruz Island, then another bus trip across the island to La Pinta our home for the next 3 days. The landscape at Baltra around the airport is like a desert with very sparse vegetation and prickly pear. The Galapagos Islands were created by volcanic activity and thus the ground is very rocky and even though they straddle the Equator, they don’t get much rain.

Part-way across Santa Cruz we stopped off and visited a farm (ranch) where the owners are reducing their cattle herd and concentrating on tourism because their lushly-grassed property has a concentration of Galapagos tortoises – the largest land tortoise in the world.  While there we also saw a tiny yellow bird with a red-capped head called a golden warbler, which co-habited with the tortoises to remove bugs from them. 

This area is more mountainous and has a good rainfall – thankfully not when we were there, but there was much evidence of a good healthy few days of heavy rain which washed away parts of a path beside the road!   

On the way to the boat we drove through two towns, Cero Dragon, and Puerto Ayora, a coast town which was bustling with commerce and people. At the harbour we saw two sea lions curled around each other on the end of a wharf. The pelicans here are light brown in colour, and smaller than ones we see at home in Aus.

  

We travelled by Zodiac boats, called ‘panga’ to our ship, the La Pinta, where we had the boat safety drill, talk about the cruise, then dinner and bed.

   

Tomorrow we have a number of activities including snorkelling, boat rides, beach walks.

Brisbane to Guayaquil.

We arrived here in Ecuador last night after over 33 hours of travelling. A couple of delays, firstly in Sydney (QANTAS flight was late arriving) and then in Santiago (Chile) when the LAN flight was delayed over an hour and we had to change gates. Our bags were checked in, in Brisbane and picked up here in Guayaquil.   

Stuart didn’t sleep (only cat napped) during the flights. Lesley managed to sleep on and off, but was still very tired when we finally got to Guayaquil. Got a very long sleep – way longer than either of us expected, and after going to bed around 11.15pm, we woke up after 9.30am this morning. It was a scramble to get dressed and look awake to get downstairs in time to get breakfast!

Because around 16 of us (including the tour director) had arrived the night before, the Tour Director organised an optional bus and walking tour of Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador (population over 3 million). Our hotel is in the business part of town and there isn’t much to see here. Parque de Simon Bolivar, known to locals and tourists alike as the Iguana Park, is home to hundreds of these creatures. We also visited the nearby Catholic cathedral, which has the only image in the world of God as a man (normally God is never depicted as a person), and a long walk along the river front.

           

Tomorrow we fly to Galapagos, where we will be out of phone and internet reach. Expect to hear from us again in about 6-7 days.

Packed and ready

We have packed and are both well under the 23kg allowance.  We decided that we should buy solid 77lt cases in lieu of our 5 year old fabric cases.  Our bags are full.  We could have bought larger 100lt bags.

It has been fun trying to determine what clothing we can get away with when we will be experiencing the tropics, 3000m altitude and the cold of Antarctica.

Staying with Matthew and Sam tonight, as we have a 6am flight.