Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are known as one of those bucket-list places, far off the beaten path.  What brought us there was the promise of some of earth's best snorkeling.  The country of Ecuador has taken great measures to preserve the environment there; thus, access is limited and prices are appropriate.  The islands are 500 miles off the coast of S. America.  Generally, people fly from either Guayaquil or Quito to get there.  Quito is at altitude in the mountains and has a milder climate, Guayaquil is on the coast, more tropical, and slightly closer to the Galapagos. Our travel company required us to buy emergency medical evacuation insurance prior to our visit.  Medical care (all services) are limited on the islands.  Our cruise medical officer told us of one visitor with a medical emergency where the distance made a difference.  His family demanded that he be flown to Quito, and he died.  He may have survived if flown to closer (and larger) Guayaquil.

We had been to Quito on a previous trip and selected Guayaquil for this venture.  It is also suggested that you fly to Ecuador a few days prior to your Galapagos departure to allow for "adjustments".  In our case that was vital, because Dawn's luggage was lost in route (Gate checked but it had been sent to Quito).  Dawn, at about 5'8" tall, is much bigger than the native women.  We combed Guayaquil to find clothes (Habla Español?) which could fit her.  Meanwhile, she wore some of my clothes.  Onboard our ship, another lady fortunately had a spare swimsuit which she loaned to Dawn.  The suitcase finally arrived after the cruise was mostly complete.

A few hotels are available on the islands, but being land-based severely limits experiencing all the islands have to offer.  There is an admission charge to the islands, paid on the flight over.  We flew into Santa Cruz.  The number of tourist vessels is limited, and the itinerary for each is highly regulated.  Sort of a "musical chairs" situation: no more than two vessels at any one location; must make daily moves; a one-week tour will allow you to see only half of the islands.  Then there is the issue of monohull versus catamaran vessels.  From my Navy experience, we chose the Evolution, a long slender monohull.  We had only 16 passengers (although it could accommodate 32); they came from England, Australia, and both US coasts.  We were the only "fly-over" country guests.  All guests got along very well; so much fun and a personalized experience.

Our routine was to go out for a morning snorkeling session, then an island hike to see the fauna and flora, lunch, siesta time, afternoon snorkeling, dinner, evening activities.  The cruise involved crossing the equator; thus, we were subjected to Davy Jones's court.  All meals were on deck under the shade of an awning.  We wore wet suits which both protected us from the sun and kept us from the chill of water swept north from Antarctica.  Small rigid inflatable boats, RIBs, transferred us to snorkeling and land locations.  A college-educated naturalist is required by Ecuador to be onboard, one for each 16 passengers.  Very knowledgeable; he could describe every living thing on the islands and also went snorkeling with us.

The prime snorkeling here was at greater depths than what we encountered around Tahiti.  I could comfortably reach about 20' deep.  Beyond that depth, the bottom sloped away, and I could see large sharks occasionally lurking/cruising past.  I had little desire to enter that realm.  Our RIB was usually somewhere near at hand, but we had no other restrictions on where we snorkeled.

We flew into the town of Santa Cruz, one of very few settlements allowed in the Galapagos.

Baby sealion feeding from his mother.  These animals have never learned to fear humans.

Some of the islands are desert-like while others have lush vegetation.

Have you ever seen such a colorful crab?

Sealions from an under water view.  They were all friendly except the big bull sea lion; don't get too close to his harem!

That is me chasing some fish.  I like to dive deep, but as soon as you stop kicking, you tend to rise to the surface; I've considered using a weight belt, but the natural buoyancy lifting you toward the surface when it is time for a breath is reassuring. (The green tint is due to the camera being on the dry land setting.)

Dawn putting on her snorkeling gear.

An afternoon visit (long shadows) to an island.

A male frigate bird showing off for the ladies.

A sealion lounging in the shallows right at our feet.

Our ship, the Evolution, a converted Japanese fishing vessel.  If we were to go again, I would probably choose the same vessel.  The length makes for easy cruising speeds and plenty of room for the small number of passengers.

This is the famous blue-footed booby.  They fly far out and fish offshore.

How is that for a school of fish?

Colorful fish.

More colorful fish.

A puffer fish.

Yes, they do have flamingos on the Galapagos, but how did they get here?

A centerpiece for one of our dinners.  We were treated very well.  They even made a lactose-free cake for me.

These tortoises are old and ugly.  They love to slop in mudholes like pigs.

Talk about ugly!  These iguanas are great swimmers, using their tails, and feed under water on seaweed.  At close distance, these things look like Godzilla.

I didn't always have my camera with me.  We saw many other creatures; schools of manta rays, plus many other types of rays; schools of hammer-head sharks, an owl whose nest is underground, blood-drinking birds..... nature in an unspoiled environment.

Our actual visit to the Galapagos was in May, 2014.  May is somewhat "off-season" which is why our boat was only half full of passengers.  I had somewhat put aside publishing any description of our activities there until recently.