30th
Had to get up far too early (I’m never drinking again!) to go for a 5.45am panga ride around the nearby estuary. Large shallow sheltered bay with lots of mangroves growing on the basalt rocks. Saw lots of wildlife. Large and small eagle ray. A school of baby white tipped reef sharks. Lots of boobies and pelicans. We stopped at the end of the bay and a nearby mangrove branch was shaking violently. Juan Carlos looked closer and declared that there was a Turtle caught in the branch. We watched for a couple of minutes concerned for the poor creature until we realised it was two turtles having sex!
Back on the boat we had breakfast and packed our bags ready to leave for the airport.




There was a couple of numbered envelopes on our bed for the tips for naturalist and crew. The brochure for the cruise devotes an entire page to explaining what the suggested tip should be and going to great pains to point out that it is optional and the crew are paid good wages etc etc. We both thought the suggested amount was a bit high and the week long trip had already cost us a small fortune being about 50% higher than expected thanks to the Aussie dollar's performance the last couple of months. Ecuador's currency is USD.
We left the crew $60USD as they had been very friendly and helpful and they worked pretty hard to keep the boat clean.
Juan Carlos we left $20USD as although he had been informative during our trips and was happy to answer questions, some of the information he was giving us was incorrect (he needs to study up on his geomorphology) and despite him putting on a friendly face he was kind of a jerk.
Everyone gave him his tip envelope before we left the boat and he shot off to his cabin to check the numbered envelopes to see how much people gave him. “Oh dear” I thought. Are the low tippers going to get their bags accidentally dropped in the water while offloading?
He seemed to be quietly fuming to himself on the bus trip to the airport and when we all got off the bus he decided it was time to show us what a jerk he really was and declared that in all the years he has been doing tours he has never been so insulted and turning on a nice young Dutch couple he said they can have their $5 back and thrust a $10 note into the guys hand. He said this isn’t $5 and tried to give it back but Juan Carlos turned his back and walked away leaving them in tears of embarassment.
Up until that morning the trip had been perfect, what a way to leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouths! And to single them out in front of the group and give them $10 back was just nasty. We all wanted to ask for our tips back then but he still had all our plane tickets to book in our luggage so we were kind of stuck with him. He came back a few minutes later in damage-control mode and apologised for his behaviour but didn’t seem too sincere about it.

After booking in we had an hour to wait so went to the airport cafeteria and watched Darwin Finches hopping around on the tables eating crumbs.

The flight back to Quito was uneventful but boring as we had to stay on the plane for an hour while refuelling at Guayaquil.

29th
Visited the island of Rabida. Lots of cactus trees and sea lions on the beach. A large iron ore deposit makes up the island so it is very red including the sand on the beach. Salt lagoon behind the dunes which is currently too salty to support any animals although it used to have lots of flamingos.
Snorkelled off the beach and saw a blue footed boobie diving underwater for fish as well as a Penguin! The penguin just swam underneath me and rapidly disappeared but I was happy to have seen it.

Afternoon trip to an island called Sombrero Chino (Chinaman’s Hat) which was a rocky volcanic cone. Sarah didn’t bring shoes as a lot of the previous ‘rocky’ walks were able to be done barefoot but this walk was on sharp jagged lava flows and crushed coral! I shared her pain and she wore my sandals on the return trip. Very painful going! The crushed coral was the worst.

On the way back to the boat we detoured along the coastline and finally saw some elusive Galapago Penguins sitting among the rocks.

At dinner we had a drink with the crew as it was our last night on board. Juan Carlos thanked us in advance for the generous tips we would be leaving the next day and explained that envelopes would be left in our cabins the next morning. One for his tip and one for the crew.

Everyone stayed up quite late playing cards and drinking and we depleted the beer supply for the second time in the week so the cook had to take the Panga to go get more from Nemo II which was fortunately moored nearby.

Visited the island of Bartholome which was a stark volcanic cone and one of the youngest islands in Galapagos. We climbed to the top of the ‘volcano’ and had a great view out over the area. The island had very little vegetation, some Lava cactus’ and small shrubs.
Getting back into the Panga, Domonique stepped in some sea lion poo and accidently smeared some on Lev’s leg. Bit of a stinky ride back to the Nemo after that!

Later we got to go snorkelling again being dropped off in a nearby bay by the Panga. We were told there was a chance of seeing penguins in a little bay but instead we had a cute little sea lion come and play with us for a while. He seemed to enjoy swimming around with us and we had fun diving under the water and playing with him.



On the way to the next island we had another large pod of dolphins swim along with the boat for a while.

In the afternoon we stopped on the island of Santiago and walked to “The Grottos” which were little canyons and undercutting of the basalt rocks along the shoreline. Saw sea lions swimming and sleeping along the sides. Lots of marine iguanas and pelicans.

Thurs 27th
Arrived in a bay after dark. Lots of sea lion noises.
Took the Panga to land on the beach and had a short walk on the island. Two little beaches. Massive cactus trees. Saw one land iguana and Galapagos Hawke on the sign.
20 minute cruise to a snorkelling area (first bay too dangerous due to bull sharks.)


I went to bed as I was feeling sick. Not sure why but I was feeling very nauseous since waking. Couldn’t eat any breakfast so skipped the snorkelling and lunch and slept on and off to 3.30pm when went ashore and visited the Charles Darwin research centre.


Saw some Galapagos Giant tortoises including “Lonesome George” who was found on one island 20 years ago as the last of his species. They had been trying to breed him since and he had a couple of female companions of a closely related species from another island but no success. They may try cloning him as a last resort but he is a youthful 85 years old so they still have 150 years or so to try breed him before needing to resort to that.
They also had baby tortoises who look so funny because they looked exactly like the big ones but only a few centimetres high. Like they had been shrunk!

Walked through the town to the dock to be picked up. Juan Carlos had ditched us to have coffee with a girlfriend. Lots of t-shirt (“I like Boobies” ones are popular) shops along the main street but very high prices. Saw a fish stall on the dock with some pelicans and a sea-lion keeping a close eye.
After dinner most people went back to the shore to go out in the town. I stayed in bed as I was still feeling sick. Apparently they had fun at the bars and caught a water taxi back to the boat just before midnight.

Wed 26th.
Woken up to the sounds of something being "shooed" up on deck and saw a sea lion walk over our cabin hatch! He then settled in outside our cabin window for an hour or so. So very cute!

Later we took the Panga to the beach, “wet landing” in the water with a small number of sea lions. Walked across the island from “green” beach on one side which had lots of small semi-precious stones (Malachite?) to “flour” beach on the other which was fine white sand from coral. Some turtle nests in the dunes.
Afternoon trip to post-office bay. Walked through a lava-tube (cave) before going to the “post office” which was a wooden barrel and tradition dating back to 1700s. You could leave a letter or postcard and someone who later visited might collect it and hand deliver it to the recipient. Someone went through calling out towns in case someone present lived there!

In the afternoon we left quite early as had a distance to cover before dinner. During previous days the boat had been doing most of the cruising during the night while we slept. They put the sails up (and left the motor on too) and we saw a massive pod of dolphins which must have numbered 50 or more. We all went up the front of the catamaran and sat on the netting as they swam with the boat below us.

Each evening we had the schedual for the next day written up on the whiteboard.

Typical schedual:

25/11
Island “Española”
“Punta Suarez”
7am Breakfast
8:15 Dry Landing, 2.5 hours, very rocky trail (circuit)
-Sea Lions, Marine Iguanas, Lava Lizards, Blue Footed Boobies, Hood Mockingbirds, Darwin Finches, Waved Albatross.
-The Blow-hole

-Departure 50min

“Bahia Gardner”
12pm Lunch
14:30 Wet Landing/snorkelling
2 hours free time at sandy beach, take snorkelling gear.
-Sea lions, Hood mockingbirds, migratory shorebirds, snorkelling off the beach.
18:30 Briefing
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Film (BBC Galapagos)

Morning Panga to island of Española. Off the boat onto rocks. Passed marine iguanas and a couple of sandy bays with baby sea lions waiting for their mothers. Some very small, newborns.
Walking across the island we saw a juvenile Galapagos Hawk which Juan Carlos was quite excited about as it’s unusual to see one so close. He said the hawk was hatched in the rocks nearby and he had seen it as a chick.

Came to the albatross “landing strip”. Clearance in the bushes with baby albatross hanging around under the trees. Albatross don’t build nests. One adult landed to feed a chick while we were watching.

Walked to nearby cliffs where the albatross’ go to take off. More marine iguanas on the rocks and a blow hole with some nesting Nazca Boobies which had green feet instead of blue. On the walk back to the boat we saw some blue-footed boobies doing their courting dance.

In the afternoon we snorkelled off the boat and went to nearby beach to sunbake and paddle with the sealions. Later we snorkelled off the beach. Saw sea lions, coral snake and lots of fish.

Lots of Boobies!

In the morning after breakfast we took the Panga (Rubber-ducky inflated boat) to another island which was very rocky and barren looking with lots of dead looking vegetation. As we were approaching the landing spot there was a bull sea lion swimming around in the water calling to warn off other males as this was his territory. Juan Carlos called back a few times which made him a bit mad so we had to scramble quickly out of the boat up onto the rocks.

There was a pair of Swallow-tails Gulls nesting close by. They are the worlds only nocturnal feeding gulls and were quite pretty for seagulls with red markings around their eyes.
Lots of sea lions close to the water and we had to step carefully around a suckling newborn and it’s mother lying on the path. The pathway was marked with white posts and we had to stay within them as there were lots of little Lava Lizards which nested in the sandy areas and might have been stepped on!

Walking further inland we saw nesting Frigate Birds which were jet-black apart from a bright red throat sack on the males which they inflated in order to attract females during breeding season. Takes hours and a lot of energy to inflate so they don’t eat for days when they do it. Basically sit there in the nest they build waiting for “the ladies” to fly over and admire their big red sack. They make some weird gutteral noises with it as well which our guide said was used for the pterodactyl calls in one of the Jurassic Park movies which is quite fitting because there is a prehistoric look about them.



After the Frigate birds we came to some nesting Blue-footed Boobies which were very funny looking birds. The adults are mostly white with bright blue feet. They are named Boobies from “Bobo" for clown as they are not very graceful walking on land and do a funny mating dance lifting their feet side to side and bowing to each other while whistling. Incredibly good divers while fishing though. Glide on the breeze over the water and just fold in the wings and shoot into the water like an arrow. We came across a juvenile Boobie and the guide tossed a small stick to him and he walked around flipping it in his beak, getting practice for when he would need to do it with fish.

After lunch we snorkelled off the Panga. Saw a sea lion zip past and some large white-tailed reef sharks and a squadron (What’s the collective noun for rays?) of maybe 20 eagle rays. Took a disposable underwater camera which is yet to be developed (film! What‘s that?) but Andy had a proper camera which was waterproof and got some good pics.


In the afternoon we went to another island which was inhabited by Land Iguanas. Most of the Iguanas in Galapagos are marine but these ones have evolved from the marine iguanas to now live solely on land. They live in groups with a dominant male and spend all day sitting under a cactus tree waiting for the fruit to fall. As a result the cactus on the island has become very tree-like with massive trunks.
Did a loop walk around the island which looked so alien with the green cactus trees, red saltbush and grey gravel earth.

During the night we had a long cruise to the island of Española which was quite rough and made a few people sea sick.