Tim's Galapagos
Page
For two months of travel
through Peru and Ecuador, I wondered if i would spend the $ and fly out 600
km. to the Galapagos islands. I had been traveling with Yfat for several
weeks, and we finally decided to jump on a plane and head out to the islands.
We decided that we would just get a room for a few days, and relax by the
ocean. We wanted to take our time and carefully handpick both the boat and
the boat mates that we would be living with for a week. We climbed aboard
many boats, and had mucho beers and danced with many travelers before putting
together both an excellent group and a great boat.
Everything
is negotiable in the tropics, so never ever book ahead. You might get lucky
and end up with some awesome companions for the week, but you could be real
sorry! We
turned down several excellent deals on real nice luxury boats, just because
we didn't want anything to do with some of the wealthy ornery bastards we
met. We weren't at the Galapagoes to be pampered with fancy meals and onboard
events. We wanted to have maximum time seeing the wildlife on the islands,
and in snorkeling the water with fun energetic people. I met lots of folks
from other boats who seemed to book blindly with an agent, ending up with
a lousy group of rich arrogant lazy dinks, and telling me how much it sucked.
Our small close group had three awesome weeks on the islands! And
everything can be three times as expensive if you do book ahead.
On the beach where we
saw the sea turtle hatchlings getting eaten by the Frigate birds (sad, but Darwinism
at its finest!)
Yfat saying "hi" to a Blue-Footed Boobie. Animals were everywhere,
and totally unafraid!
Cruising between islands, the captain spotted a very rare Whale Shark
lounging near the surface.. He turned the boat around, and we spent the
next half hour photographing and just marveling at this huge guy! I took this
shot from the top of the boat, looking down at the dingy.
Yfat (from Israel) and Bridgette (Swiss schoolteacher) on the dingy,
headed back to the boat for lunch!
Exhausted, trying to climb back in the dingy, after some serious snorkeling!
Time for lunch! We snorkeled three or four times every day. We pushed
our naturalist (the guy steering, a local native) to the max! We
all wanted to go, go, go, all the time! We weren't here to relax; we had been
doing that for the last three or four months, and would all kick back later
in Colombia! Our poor guide was completely
exhausted at the end of every day! (Thank God we had no yuppie-preppies
or slow old fogies along to slow the pace.) We usually sat out on top of the
boat every night after dinner and the naturalist talk, just singing, playing
guitar, and drinking rum, but were usually asleep by ten every night.
No time for excessive partying or reading (except lots of field guides) on this
trip!
*
Hundreds of Iguanas everywhere.
Totally unafraid of anything!
Our boat
for the week
Hanging out, Waiting for
Supper! (Yifat (Israel),
Tim, Brigette (Switzerland), and Kathleen (California)
Meals were always good,
as we had an excellent cook. However, we were always so hungry and exhausted
at the end of every day that we would have probably eaten just about anything.
Typical sunset every evening during dinner on the boat. $55 bucks
a day included everything (except booze, so bring rum!)
The Crew;
Guide, Captain and Cook
We snorkled at least three
or four different times every day, and swam every chance we could, including
every time we got into or out of the dingy.
These guys
would just come right up to me without fear!
After spending a week on
a boat ($55/day; everything included, but bring your own rum!) touring
and visiting most of the major islands, seven of us hired a boat and went out
to one of the outlying islands (Isla Isabela, see map below). There we stayed
in cabins right on the ocean for about $3 a day. We were the only "gringos"
on the island, and for meals we had to stop by the outdoor cantina several hours
before mealtime and let them know how many would be coming by!
We spent almost a week out
hiking around the Island everyday.......
One day we decided to take
the long horseback ride up to an ancient volcanic rim (see photo above; I'm
top left). We spent a few hours getting there, then several hours on foot
exploring the cinder fields. The place was like a lunar landscape. The
whole day (horses, truck for the day, and guide) cost us $10US each!!!
On the way back, both Anne
(bottom right in photo) and I had fast horses. After trotting several times,
she took off in a gallop. Seeing how it was my second time on a horse,
I decided to race her! Yee-haw! The closer I got, the faster she went. While
blasting through a small mud bog, my ass slowed down abruptly, but I kept going!
I was airborne! Luckily I held on to the reigns, so that dude didn't get
away. If he had, he would have gone all the way down the mountain without
me! Stupid horse!
Two years earlier I had
a slower horse on some backcountry roads in coastal Costa
Rica. That dude just would not go, until I got him on the beach.
There he went like heck.
On a late afternoon hike
to a deserted beach, we watched this sea turtle hatchling crawl mysteriously
out of its nest under the sand. As it made its way towards the safety of the
sea, the waves kept pushing it back on shore. We watched the struggle for about
10 minutes, untill eventually the little guy made it past the breakers. Our
guide explained how this fella only had about a two percent chance of ever reaching
adulthood, but we were so psyched to see him swimming away to join his siblings.
As we were walking away, we looked back one last time and saw a frigate bird
circling above where the turtle had been. Sure enough the frigate swooped down
and scooped up the tasty morsel!
Afterwards,
Yfat and I headed north to Columbia!
Next stop
for me and Yifat; Colombia!
EcuadorTours.com
www.galapagosislands.com
Terraquest
Virtual Galapagos
Charles
Darwin Research Station
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Note; sorry about the poor
photo quality. These images are all from 4x6 photographs I took, then
scanned in on my $99 scanner, then compressed as small as possible to upload
to my ISP's server. The original images are much nicer.
Page created and updated
by tim d -- August 1999 (updated April 10, 2009)