Saturday 2nd November 2013
Tortuga Bay
After a pleasant evening and early night, Ismael and I woke naturally at 5am. We had a gorgeous breakfast at Galapagos Deli in town before heading back to check out. Our meeting with the cruise guide at the pier was not until 2.30pm that day and so we decided to walk to Tortuga Bay – a beautiful beach 45 minutes walk from the pier (the pictures don’t really do it justice).
The beach had silky smooth white sand and almost still blue-green water as it was sheltered in the bay, but to get to it we had to walk for 30 minutes along a path through a cactus forest which was far from beautiful. Between the cactus there were grey trees; the whole area was almost colourless. The vegetation seemed bleached by the equatorial sun and even the cactus seemed to be gasping for moisture. As we approached the first beach, the last hundred meters or so transformed from grey to green, which was a welcomed change of scenery. The sea was rough (too rough to swim in we were told) and we saw some people attempting to surf and failing. At the end of the first beach we came across a group of marine iguanas before arriving at Tortuga Bay. We barely stopped 10 minutes as we had to return for the cruise.
The guide was late meeting us. After having a minor panic about the unlikely event of three thousand dollars in cash being stolen from me in an elaborate con, we were picked up by a couple of crew members in a panga and boarded the ship for lunch – phew!
We realised after boarding the ship and looking in the mirror that were both thoroughly sun burned! I was gob-smacked! It was cloudy for most of the walk, my shoulders were covered and we were only out for a couple of hours, but there were clear strong lines around the neck and arms of my t-shirt. Wtf?! I had noticed that my face had gotten darker in Quito after our day around the Old Town and it was hotter in Puerto Ayora but not enough to expect what we saw. A 16km hike through the Samaria Gorge (Crete) and hike up Table Mountain (Cape Town) from the very bottom through the heat of the afternoon had burned a little on tops of the shoulders, and I knew it at the time but couldn’t avoid the sun. This was crazy – we didn’t even feel it happening, it was so quick. The outline of our t-shirts was thoroughly printed on our bodies – how annoying.
The motion on the boat was a bit of a shock and while eating lunch I started to worry about it. I wasn’t sure this meal would stay down let alone the next seventeen. After lunch we headed back to Puerto Ayora on the pangas for the Charles Darwin Station and while the guide was talking to us the ground was still moving!
On our way back to the boat we wandered through town, it would be the last town we would be in for the next three days (I’m not sure I’ve ever been in a place where there are no shops for three days!). We picked up some anti-sea sickness medication which thankfully worked a treat for the rest of the trip.
Charles Darwin Station
There were originally 15 sub-species of giant tortoises of which 10 remain. Giant tortoises can live for 18 months without food and water and so were a useful food supply on ships. Consequently a number of species were hunted to extinction. Their existence on the islands has also been threatened by the introduction of goats to the islands which compete with them for food. There are currently a number of breeding programmes in place to ensure their survival on the islands. One of these is at the Charles Darwin Station.
Darwin’s theory of evolution which was published in 1859 was inspired largely by observations of two species, the Galapagos mocking birds, the beaks of which he curiously found to be different on different islands, and the giant tortoises. He had been told by an inhabitant of the Island that they could tell which Island a tortoise came from just by looking at their shells. In particular he explained that tortoises from Islands Floreana and Española had upturned shells above the neck (this allows the tortoises to reach plants which are higher up).
The Cruise
After dinner, we had our first briefing of the trip where we were explained rough schedules for the week. We would be snorkelling everyday, some days twice and also having two landings a day on the islands, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. We would be briefed daily about the following day’s events, either before of after dinner. Our guide (Harry) was German, as were 10 of the 16 passengers, the other four were Chinese. Harry explained everything, alternating between German and English.
Ramblers Rumblings 