Galapagos

Fri 7/29
Santa Cruz Island

Our flight arrived at the Galapagos airport around noon. Dad and I were going on about four hours of sleep, and I assumed that we would be heading straight to the boat and given time to relax. Instead, we took a bus, a ferry and then another bus to the center of santa cruz island for a hike around a pit crater. The giant (200 feet deep) crated was a sinkhole, caused when the movement of magma left a pocket of empty ground so the soil above caved in. We also got to see several of the many finch species that Darwin made famous in his work. The ground finches eat seeds and have disproportionately large beaks (relative to body size) for cracking nuts while the tree finches eat insects and have pointy beaks. Then we headed to a restaurant for lunch-everyone ordered the fish and it was delish.

Our next stop was a turtle reserve to see lonesome george, the most famous turtle in the world (don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him…I hadn’t either). George is so well known because he is the last of his species. He is a saddle tortoise (named for the shape of their shell) and there have been attempts to get him to mate with several similar types of turtle, in order to replenish the species. Unfortunately, George doesn’t seem too interested in the ladies. In his last attempt to mate, george fell asleep while on top of his female counterpart. He is currently between 92 and 95 years old, so can you really blame him?

While at the reserve, we also got to see dozens of baby turtles and watched a female turtle lay her eggs.

Then we walked back to the boat we saw hundreds of lizards, a GIANT spider (I ran away and daddy laughed at me), sea iguanas and tons of birds.

At six o’clock we finally headed to the boat for dinner. Everyone was exhausted so we all headed to bed right after.

So far our boat is home to 11 people (plus the crew). There is a couple from Connecticut (Don and Eileen), two women from London (Sarah and Suzy) and a family from Spain (Elena and Luis (the parents) Pedro (10), Guillermo (8), Luis (7). The boys are adorable, so well behaved and they LOVE the lizards so they point out each one they see.


Saturday 7/30
Breakfast was served at 7 but dad woke me up at 6 (he wanted to go get coffee and read upstairs) so I decided to shower. Today’s destination is Floreana Island, which is known for the flamingoes and turtles.
Our dingy took us to a beach and we were greeted by four sea lions. The baby sea lions are too cute (cue the Varuca Salt “daddy I want one NOW!”-Willy Wonka incase you didn’t get the reference). I came to the conclusion that in my next life I would like to be a sea lion because all they do is sleep on the beach and swim when they get hot or need to find lunch. We went on a short hike to see the flamingos but there were none to be found. Then we headed a bit further and came out by the ocean. Words cannot describe how beautiful the beach was...Picture paradise in your mind and you’ll get close. The sand was soft, the water was at least ten shades of blue, and we were the only people around. There were hundreds of huge crabs running along the beach and hiding in the rocks. Daddy even spotted a turtle in the ocean.
Next we returned to the boat to put on our snorkeling gear. I started my prayers that went something like this: Dear god, no sharks PLEASE (repeated as many times as a repenting catholic would say their hail mary’s). My fear is not unrealistic...Last night when we were taking the dingy to the boat the driver pointed out a shark swimming next to us. Luckily, I saw no sharks. I did see three large sea turtles and one came and swam along side me for a bit. It even surfaced when it was close enough to touch (not permitted so I didn’t) but it was truly an amazing spectacle. When we got back to the boat Eileen said that she did see a shark that looked to be about three feet. She said it was swimming right below daddy but he didn’t seem to worry so she stayed calm (note: daddy wasn’t being brave, he simply didn’t see the shark because he was distracted by the sea lion that kept swimming back and forth in front of him).
Now everyone is taking siesta or lounging on the deck (daddy is snoring). This afternoon we are going to look at the lava tubes and hopefully after we see them I can better explain what they are. There will also be the opportunity to swim but I have already showered twice today so I think I will sit this one out.
p.s. there have been several blue footed boobie sightings. Clearly not noteworthy enough to even make it into the body of this blog (like seriously they look like seagulls with blue feet…what is the big deal?). I would also like to apologize for the hundreds of photos we will make you look at when we get back, most of which will be of small seemingly insignificant birds. Whatever.
During the afternoon we visited the lava tube. I learned that this is an underground cave that is caused by the movement of lava. It was pitch black but daddy, who I have learned is very skilled at packing, brought awesome headlamps. While this gadget made me look like a fool it was very helpful when I was trying to climb down a nearly vertical wall in the dark. When we got to the large cavern at the end of the path, Juan (tourguide) had us turn off our headlamps so that we could experience silence (obviously I had the simon and Garfunkel song going through my head… “hello darkness my old friend”). After we emerged from the lava tube there was time to swim. I opted to make an sand structure with Guillermo and Luis instead because I had already showered. We made lonesome george and later changed it to georgina and gave her a hole with eggs. Everyone on the trip was amused by our creation. Then we headed back to the boat for dinner and everyone went to bed immediately after. This seems to be the routine, everyone is tired by 9 because the days are so packed.

Dinner was slightly eventful because Luis, the bartender on the boat (confusing I know because there are three) gave me his card and his number in front of everyone at dinner. He speaks English about as well as I speak Spanish so our conversations have been brief. He is 33 and I appreciate his bartending skills but this language thing is sort of a minor (ok major) deal breaker. Between the card exchange and my plans to meet up with Luuk (boy from Holland I met on the plane) I think daddy is ready to stay the full time with me down here.

Sunday 7/31
This morning Dad and I got up at 645 (I have explained to him that if he continues getting up at 6 I will force him to sleep on the deck). After breakfast we took the Panga (dingy) to Isabela island. This is the largest island of the Galapagos and we will be spending tomorrow there as well. Once on land, we took the boat to a tortoise reserve. En route we had to stop the bus and wait for a giant tortoise to cross the road. It took about ten minutes because they take one step, pause for a minute and then continue in the same laborious manor until they have reached their destination. I learned that while the Spanish have one word for all turtle/tortoises, Tortuga, the English words have different meanings. Turtles can swim and have flippers while tortoises are land bound and have claws. After seeing the turtle reserve (which included some mating scenes and a turtle that had flipped himself on to his back) we headed to the location of the penal colony. The prisoners were forced to carry heavy rocks and built a massive wall that had no purpose except to serve as a form of punishment. We walked around a bit and then headed to the beach for an hour. Dad wandered off to find an internet café. Guillermo Luis and I made a sea lion and a dolphin (we are getting quite good at this sand art! They want to make a penguin and lizard next time..they are really testing my abilities). Then I explored the beach for a bit. It is still amazing to me that there are places here where I can be the only person on a quarter mile stretch of beach. We then returned to the bus (dad was five minutes late…I am contemplating purchasing a tracking device) and went back to the boat for lunch. On the way back we stopped to see flamingos (dad’s favorite). He pointed out that the flamingos in curacao eat by kicking up the food (the dance we recorded) while here the flamingos make their beaks vibrate to churn up the water. Then it was nap/lunchtime.

After lunch we went on a long bus ride to the summit of an active volcano. We climbed up a muddy slope for around 45 minutes. Several people slipped and everyone got very muddy. Unfortunately, when we reached the top it was cloudy so we couldn’t see down into the caldera so there was not much of a view. Then everyone started climbing down but the boys and I got bored so we raced to the bottom. We passed three wild horses near the bottom and then had to wait almost 15 minutes for the rest of the group to get back. Then we all went back to the boat for some downtime before dinner. Five people joined the ship today, a Chinese family of four and Andy, a lawyer from nyc (he has been practicing for 3 years so I am guessing he is in his late 20s, early 30s). It will be interesting to see if the group dynamic changes at all with these new additions.

Mon 8/1
Today was a 645 wake up. After breakfast we went out to explore ______ island. On this trek we were able to see hardened lava (the last eruption was more than a year ago). There are two types of lava formations, one that looks like a rope and is smooth and the other that looks like a bed of nails. The Hawaiians named the latter “ah ah” lava because when you step on it with bare feet or sandals it is quite painful. I made one careless step and ended up cutting my knee and hands on ah ah lava, though Ill admit my response was to say “oh shit” not “ah ah”…good thing they didn’t ask me to name it. There were also several bays that were connected to the ocean and we saw several large fish, some flamingos, and a four-foot white fin shark (cue the jaws music). It made me want to never get in the water again but alas we had a snorkeling session scheduled for after lunch.
Then we went back to the beluga to change into snorkeling gear. I went in for a bit and saw a turtle, a giant yellow starfish (called chocolate chip starfish because it has black spots) and hundreds of fish. Then my knee started hurting and it was pretty cold so I decided to head back to the dingy and wait for everyone else. Luis, Guillermo and Pedro got cold too so we spent the time looking at the marine iguanas (around 2 feet in length!).
We just had lunch and after, we will head out on a two-hour boat tour of a breeding area. I was told there will be sharks, turtles and maybe penguins. I am not so worried about the sharks as long as I am not in the water with them so this is not a huge issue.

Wednesday 8/3

So the blog started getting long and I decided it might be better to be succinct (plus Dr. Israel was right, after several days of lots of turtles and blue footed boobies these animals become less exciting).

Yesterday we went on a panga (small boat) ride to explore a cove. We saw a group (5 or 6) stingrays and dozens of turtles. We also went on a hike to an area that Darwin explored.

Today (8/3) We explored an island where the marine iguanas are found in groups of greater than fifty (just a guess). It was amazing how many there were and they blend into the rocks so I nearly stepped on one. These animals look like mini dinosaurs. They also have this gross habit of shooting salt out of their noses-I learned in biology this is how they control the ion concentration in their bodies…I’m still not a fan.
My favorite part of this island was the baby sea lions. One couldn’t find its mother and was crying so I tried to convince daddy that we were morally obliged to take it home with us-he didn’t go for it. Then we went snorkeling. I was enjoying the view of a large school of fish when dad nudged me and pointed to my right. There was a six-foot manta ray approaching me with its mouth opened. Dad was excited. I was terrified, and pissed at dad for calling my attention to the animal. I prefer to be blissfully ignorant. Hopefully, if we are joined by a group of sharks tomorrow, he won’t tell me about it.

8/4
Happy birthday mom! Sorry we weren’t there to celebrate, but I am sure dad will take you out to a nice dinner when he returns.
This morning we went on a short hike and then snorkeling. We saw some beautiful fish (dad got pictures). Then I rounded the corner and ended up in some deeper water where I found a SHARK! It was a white finned shark, less than four feet in length. I watched it for a bit and then started getting a foot cramp so I got out. The rest of the group saw a few other sharks and a giant sting (manta?) ray. Then this afternoon we climbed up a volcano to take some scenic pictures of the island. I figured out how to take panoramic photos so I am hoping some of those came out well (they looked alright on my computer).

We had a feast for dinner and then I was put in charge of cutting the farewell cake. Everyone was impressed with the job I did and I was asked if I wanted to change careers. I told dad maybe I’ll do surgery (kidding!)

Tomorrow we have to be off the boat and head to the airport by 8 so we are getting up early for a 6 o clock landing. The goal of this walk is to see the inflated sacks on the male warbler. These black birds have a giant red pouch below their beak that they inflate to attract a mate-should be amusing. Then dad and I are off to Quito!


Closing thoughts:
The Galapagos was most accurately described by early travelers as “las ilas encantadas” or the enchanted islands. The variety of animals that you can find on this island as well as the diverse landscapes that are found in such close proximity to one another is truly unlike any other place that I have seen. I think that the people of the Galapagos have done an amazing job favoring preservation over profit from tourism. Most of the islands are uninhabited by humans. There are strict rules about what islands can be visited on tours and which harbors can be used for snorkeling and other recreational activities. All of these efforts have allowed the wildlife to flourish here. Where else in the world can you see sea lions, giant sea turtles, marine iguanas, hundreds of species of birds, sharks, rays, penguins and more all in a single day or even on a single beach. It is unreal. While I appreciate what the Galapagos has done by preserving the natural environment, it makes me wonder what places like Hawaii could be like if they hadn’t been overrun by tourists.
Thanks dad for an amazing time. To my beluga family- you are all great and I will miss you dearly. Mom- thanks for letting me borrow daddy for the week and I am sorry we missed your birthday, I hope it was fun anyway.