Cruise Day Four: Isla Isabela

Tuesday 5th November 2013

Moreno Point

Young blue footed boobies

Lava field

Young blue footed boobies

Blue footed boobie being fed

Young blue footed boobies

Blue footed boobies

Baby blue-footed boobie

Young blue footed boobie

Young blue footed boobie

Lava cactus

Lava formations

Cerro Azul

Flamingo

Flowers in the lava rock

Lava rock gone green

This morning was the hardest walk so far, especially for my swankle. Moreno point is a massive lava field created by the volcano Cerro Azul over ten thousand years ago. It consists of uneven rocks and huge cavernous areas where the bottom of the structure has collapsed from the weight of the lava above, making it difficult terrain to navigate. Inland it looks brown and lifeless other than the few and far between lava cactus, which in itself is a sight to see. But near water, either on the coastline or in pools (where the sea had found its way through cracks and crevices), we did find life. Crabs feeding off algae, blue-footed boobies nesting, a flamingo and some interesting plant life.

The Galápagos Islands are the result of a volcanic hotspot. They are part of a large raised platform on the Nazca plate and at the confluence of three oceanic currents which both give and take life away. The islands are on a huge conveyor belt moving east/southeast by approximately 2.5 inches every year (incredibly fast by geological standards), emerging from the sea in the west and submerging in the east. The youngest and most volcanically active island (Isla Fernandina, less than a million years old) is in the west while the oldest (Isla Espanola, around 3.5 million years old) is in the southeast. The most fertile islands are in the middle (Isabela, Santiago, Santa Cruz).

Urbina bay

View to the sea

Black beach

Brown pelican

Land iguana

Giant tortoise

Giant tortoise

Galapagos mockingbird

Giant tortoise

Flowers

Flowers

In the afternoon we visited Urbina Bay where we were able to see giant tortoises and land iguanas in the wild. The beaches here are black. Galapagos has a beautiful and bizarre array of different coloured beaches, white (Isla Santa Cruz, Tortuga Bay), yellow-orange (Isla Bartolome), black (here!), red (Isla Rabida) and green (Isla Floreana, Punta Comorant). The black beaches are the youngest, composed of basalt. The beach in Tortuga Bay consists mostly of quartz (silicone dioxide), while the red beaches of Rabida consist of oxidised iron (rust). The green beaches on Floreana consist of large amounts of mineral olivine which has been naturally filtered out of the basalt by the sea.

Sunset

We watched the sunset from the boat.

Cruise Day Three: Isla Isabela

Monday 4th November 2013

Tintoreras

Galápagos penguin

Galápagos penguins

Lava field

Marine iguana

White-tipped reef sharks

Sea lions

The boat travelled overnight to Tintoreras on Isabela. After breakfast the pangas dropped us again on some lava rocks (no pier). On the way we saw some Galápagos penguins. The landscape was different to any we had seen before. The lava had dried in a way that meant it stuck out of the ground in strange sponge like formations. They were white on one side, where the wind had carried moisture and nutrients for lichen to grow, and black on the other side. The marine iguanas were well camouflaged against it and easy to miss.

Inland there was a fissure where white-tipped reef sharks had been trapped after the tide went out, allowing us to view them from the land. On the way back we caught a couple of sea lions chilling on a bouy.

Wetlands

Sea lions

Young sea lion

Flamingos

National park entrance

Giant tortoise breeding program

Isabela toroises

Giant tortoises

Giant tortoises

Darwin finch

Young giant tortoise

Young giant tortoise

Young giant tortoise

Baby tortoise

Giant tortoises

Lava lizards

Tortoise food

On arrival at the wetlands we were greeted by sea lions relaxing in every way and place possible, under trees, on boats, on the pavement. One in particular crossed the road to come say hello and posed for the cameras. We got a bus to the giant tortoise centre and on the way passed a lagoon filled with flamingos. At the giant tortoise breeding centre there was a particularly friendly baby tortoise who, intrigued, marched right up to my camera lens.

Cruise Day One: Isla Santa Cruz

Saturday 2nd November 2013

Tortuga Bay

Breakfast at Galapagos Deli

Enjoying my coffee

Cactus forrest

Snake on the path

Mature opuntia (prickly pear) cactus tree

Young opuntia cactus tree

From grey to green

First beach

Marine Iguana

Lots of marine iguanas

Darwin Finch and marine iguana

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

Marine iguanas

Darwin finches

Darwin finch

Darwin finch

Giant tortoises

Giant tortoise

Giant tortoises

RIP Lonesome George

Baby giant tortoises

29.5 is the magic number

Galapagos mocking bird

Darwin finch

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.