Day
1
January
8, 2012
Aboard
the Guantanamera
For our first day on the Islands, today was quite
eventful. We boarded our plane from the
Guayaquil Airport and headed to the Island of Baltra. We landed outside and proceeded through the
security process. We saw one of Darwin’s
finches sitting on a cactus while we waited.
The animals here really do not mind the presence of people at all. We grabbed our luggage and met our tour guide,
Washington.
As we headed to the dock to board our ship, the
Guantanamera, we saw a large land iguana soaking in the sun right by the dock. Two sea lions watched us as we entered our
dinghy. When we arrived on the ship we
went upstairs and watched the puffer fish and sharks swim around the boat.
Washington assigned us our rooms; Melissa and I are
staying in room 2, which is below deck.
We then ate a lunch of tuna, fruit, a salad and some rice. It was quite tasty.
After lunch we made a wet landing at Santa Cruz
Island. We first spotted some finches ,
sally light foot crabs, and some lava lizards.
One of them was sleeping with his head on a little rock, which reminded
me of Loki, my dog. We walked around through
the sand and saw many more birds. As we
rounded the corner through some cacti we saw some huge, dark shapes on the
water. They were sea turtles, mating and
swimming around. We were very close to
them and could see their faces when they poked their heads out of the
water.
We then walked back to the beach to put on our wet suits
and try out of snorkeling gear. Tomorrow
we are going to do some good snorkeling where we will be able to see more. We headed back to the boat and began sailing
toward South Plazas Island. On the way
we saw a Manta ray jumping out of the water.
Frigate birds were following our skip, flying above us while we sat on
deck. When the bell rang we headed
downstairs and ate dinner of chicken, rice, mashed potatoes and some cake. We went upstairs and were introduced to the
crew. We watched a short film about the
Galapagos and headed to bed.
Day
2
January
9, 2012
Guantanamera
Today we woke up and ate breakfast at 6:45, then we got
into the dinghies for South Plazas Island.
The first thing we saw were the sea lions and sea lion babies. They make noises that sound like sheep or
goats. They make the calling noise
because this is the way they communicate with their mothers. The mothers recognize their babies by their
sounds and smell. Baby sea lions drink
their mother’s milk for 2.5 years and they never have twins. Mother’s carry the babies for nine months
just like humans. We could get so close
to them, they had no fear of humans.
We saw a lot of lava lizards, marine iguanas and land
iguanas. Land iguanas depend a lot on
the cacti. They eat the leaves and
flowers of the cacti. The males are
territorial to the cacti, and when the females come to eat the leaves or
flowers that fall the males attempt to mate with them.
We walked to the top of the island and saw where the
bachelor sea lions hang out and wait for a good time to challenge the
dominating male. When a male challenges
the dominating male, they fight. Then
the winner gets to mate with the females and protects the bay where the female
and baby sea lions live.
We left the island and got back onto the boat. We ate lunch then headed out into the open
sea for two hours. When we arrived we
put on our snorkel gear and headed out in the dinghies to snorkel outside the
bay. We got back into our boats to go to
another spot, but when I was getting out I got stung by a jellyfish. I got out of the water and sat in the dinghy
with Danielle because I did not have a good reaction to it. We saw sea turtles and sea lions.
When we got back, Wacho gave me some vinegar for my sting
and it stopped hurting. We had a nice
dinner then headed o bed, for we were headed over more rough sea to Espanola
Island.
Day
3
January
10, 2012
This morning we got up, ate breakfast and made a wet
landing at Gardner Bay- Gardener Beach.
We walked along the beach on our own.
I saw more sally light foot crabs and lava lizards. One lava lizard I saw was digging a hole high
up in the dunes. I also saw many more
sea lions swimming and lying on the beaches
After our time on the beach we returned to the boat and
prepared for snorkeling. This time I
put on a long sleeved t-shirt to protect my arms from future jellyfish
encounters. I saw many different things
on this snorkel trip. I saw pencil sea
urchins, rays, a white-tipped reef shark, a red sea star, a chocolate chip sea
star and a sea turtle in the water.
There were also many amazing fish with lots of different colors.
We returned to the boat for dinner and headed to Square
Point on the other side of Espanola Island.
We landed on the beach and were greeted by so many sea lions and
iguanas. We climbed up over the rocks
and saw the blowhole, as well as many birds; blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies
and most impressively, the albatross.
Because the islands are currently experiencing El Nina, there were many
albatross pairs left on the island. This
island is the only place they mate and raise their chicks. They do an intricate dance with their bills
and make very exotic noises.
We returned to the ship, and as I wrote in a journal Jose
came rushing up to me pointing at the back of the boat. I looked down to see our sixteenth passenger;
a sea lion chilling on the back of our boat.
Day
4
January
11, 2012
This morning we woke up at 5:30 off of Floreana
Island. We headed to the island right
away in hopes of seeing the sea turtles on the sand. We saw many in the water but none in the
sand. We looked at their tracks in the
sand and the holes they dug to lay their eggs.
We hiked back and saw a large lagoon and one sole flamingo. It was very cool to watch it filter feed in
the sand, using its beak.
We returned to the boat and ate breakfast, then we had a
siesta and went snorkeling. We saw a ton of fish and coral. We did five jumps. I saw sea lions swimming around me and playing,
then they swam right underneath me. The
current pushed us along nicely so we didn’t need to swim at all, just float
along looking at the wonderful things around us. The last dive we went out into deeper darker
water looking for some hammerhead sharks, but I did not see them. I also saw three white tipped reef sharks,
chocolate chip sea stars, golden rays and a massive sting ray. I was literally swimming in fish when it
became very shallow.
After lunch we went to Post Office Bay and played a game
of soccer. We went to the post office
and delivered post cards that other tourists will pick up and deliver when they
return to their homes for free.
We then headed to the lava tunnel. It was created by magma flowing out of the
now extinct volcanoes. The outer layer
cooled and the hot lava poured into the sea.
This was a very interesting lava tunnel because it ended below sea
level, so it gradually filled up with cool, clear water as you progressed
through the tunnel. When we made it to
the end of the tunnel, we turned off our flashlights to experience pitch
black.
We emerged from the lava tunnel and returned to the boat
for another snorkeling trip. The water
was not very clear and it was very cold, so we did not stay out long. Some people saw up to three sea turtles. I did not see any.
We then headed to Santa Cruz Island for a night on the
town. There are more manta rays in the
distance as we head towards Santa Cruz.
Watching those things jump is the coolest thing ever.
Day
5
January
12, 2012
We woke up early and ate breakfast, then went to land and
took a bus to the Highlands to see the giant Galapagos tortoises! On the way we passed many buildings,
including the office of the Sea Shepherd, which we read about before we left. We also went by a fire station and a soccer
court. We passed lots of tortoises on
our way, walking by the road or munching on grass next to some cattle. We saw accai trees, blackberry, guava,
banana, orange and plantain trees, all introduced species.
Before we went to the tortoise “farm” we went to another
lava tunnel. This one was lighted, but
some lights were out and some passages were a bit tricky. At one point we crawled through a tiny
opening on our hands and knees. The
lava tunnel was very dark, but it was also very cool.
We then headed to see the tortoises! The farm had an old tortoise shell that we
could climb into and have our picture taken.
The shells are very heavy. We
walked around the farm and watched them eating and sleeping. We learned that the smoother their shells
are, the older they are, because the ridges get rubbed off over time. They sleep in the mud to protect themselves
from bugs and to stay warm at night. We
looked around the farm, then drove back down from the highlands to the
port. Up in the mountains it was cool
and rainy, but when we got to the shore it was hot and dry. This is due to the rain shadow, caused by the
volcano blocking the clouds.
After lunch we headed to the Charles Darwin Research
Center. It was sweltering hot but we saw
marine iguanas swimming in the water for the first time as well as many finches
on our walk to the tortoises. We went
into a small museum, which was very informative about the work they do at the
Darwin Station; promoting awareness for the importance of the environment,
screening what comes in and out of the islands and their work eradicating
invasive species throughout the islands and protecting the endemic ones.
Wacho told us about the process for preserving the many subspecies
of tortoises. The park goes out to the
nesting sites on the different islands and collects the eggs. They bring them back to the station to be
incubated and remain there for a month after they are born, for that is how
long they would remain underground if they were in the wild. The park raises them until they are four. At this time they are big enough that they no
longer have any natural predators, so they are released back from the spot
where they were taken from; they nest the same place they are hatched, so they
return to the spot where the park releases them. It costs seven thousand dollars to release
one tortoise back into the wild. Those
are expensive babies! Females can mate
at 16, males at 25.
The baby tortoises were very tiny in comparison to the
adults we saw earlier that day. If we
were allowed to hold them, they could fit into my hand. The babies are marked with a number on the
back of their shell and had little enclosures to walk around in. The species has been depleted greatly since
human arrived on the islands; a tortoise can live for a year without food or
water, so sailors would store them on their backs to have fresh meat on their
long journeys.
The Darwin Station also had land iguanas that they were
breeding. Land iguanas were almost
extinct on Baltra, because when the bored soldiers were there they used the
land iguanas for target practice.
Scientists moved a population of them to a different island to encourage
breeding and survival.
After the station we went to their coffee shop to support
their efforts. I bought two books, a book of Galapagos bedtime stories and a
booked called “How the Booby Got Its Feet”.
We went shopping in town and we were able to use the internet and phone
booths to make calls to the states. I
had a chocolate shake; it had a different texture, kind of like a smoothie, but
it was yummy. After that I went to the
post office, but it was closed so we went to the dock.
We returned to the boat and had dinner, then got ready
for the exciting day that lay ahead.
Day
6
January
13, 2012
This morning we ate breakfast at 6:30. We then took a ride in the dinghies around
Rabida Island. It was very cool. We saw blue-footed boobies, pelicans and fur
seals. They looked very soft. They always live in the rocks to find shade,
because they cannot lie in the sun because they get too hot.
After the gentle boat ride we went to the island and
walked around. All the sand and rocks
were red from the high iron content in it.
The cacti on Rabida have soft spines because they do not have any
natural predators, so they don’t need them for protection. We could pet the cacti without hurting our
fingers. We saw many hermit crabs and a
lagoon without flamingoes. We ended our
hike at the beach and saw more sea lions and some marine iguanas eating algae
off a rock. There were also many comb
jellies on the beach; they looked like little thin ice cubes.
We took the dinghy back to the boat to go snorkeling. We did a jump for about 30 minutes. A sea lion came up to me and was swimming
around. It came very close to me,
completely fearless. We returned to the
boat and went to snorkel at Chinese Hat.
The water was chilly but the animals on this snorkel were the best we’ve
ever seen. I saw eleven marine iguanas
eating algae underneath the water. I saw
three white-tipped reef sharks, chocolate chip sea stars and a wide variety of fish. We also saw 6 penguins swimming around, and a
blue-footed booby dove right in front of me, trying to get some fish. It was a surreal experience I will never
forget.
After all the amazing things we saw on this dive, we
headed back to the boat for lunch. The
captain sailed the boat by China Hat and I got to see some of the flamingoes
inside. We then sailed to Bartoleme for
another hour of snorkeling. The dive was
very cold and cloudy, but we saw some torpedoes that were in the water from
WWII. We drove around in the dinghies
and saw some more penguins on the rocky shore around Bartoleme. The Galapagos penguins are the third smallest
penguins in the world, and their population is rather small. We sailed around Pinnacle Rock then headed
back to the boat.
I played cards with Danielle, and then we went to
Bartoleme Island. We climbed up many
stairs to the top of the island. The
volcano is dormant and the island is very new, so there were not many plants
growing on the island. We could see the
whole of the island from the top. We
returned to the bottom and went to the dinghies, walking over some marine
iguanas to dinner. After dinner, my new
friend Eugenio taught me a new game called cuarenta, which means 40, in
Spanish.
Day
7
January
14, 2012
This morning we left at 5:45 for Genovesa Island where we
saw many birds; red footed boobies, frigate birds, Galapagos doves and the
little Galapagos owl. We also saw a
snake and some more sea lions. We saw
one sea lion who had just given birth to her baby.
After we returned to the Guantanamera and ate our
breakfast, we got ready for our final snorkeling trip. We saw many different colorful fish and
coral, as well as a manta ray and a hammerhead shark. We returned to the boat and everyone got to
pick out a bandana with a map of the islands on it, a gift from Kevin and Wade. It was very neat.
We went to the beach and walked around. We saw sea lions, red footed boobies, lava
herons, and some finches.
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