Ecuador - The Galapagos Islands

After a brief stopover in Quito, we caught a flight to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, then another to the Galapagos Islands, 1000 kilometres off the coast of Ecuador in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Many people chose to travel between the islands on small but expensive cruise boats as this is the most efficient way to see all the sites. We had only booked one night's stay in the largest town of Puerto Ayora - population 18,000 - to maintain our flexibility.

 Galapagos sea lions catching some rays.

Grabbing a last minute cruise was a possibility, but travelling between the larger populated islands on the small regular ferry boats combined with a few day trips to outlying islands was also an option. Our first full day in Puerto Ayora we found a six day trip on a small cruise boat. While the cost made a mockery of our daily budget, it was cheaper than the prices we'd seen online before our arrival, and once on the islands we'd calculated that spending on day trips while also paying for accommodations and food was likely to be almost as expensive. So we bit the bullet and signed on for a six day all inclusive cruise that left in three hours.

The Floreana, our home for six days.

It turned out to be a good decision. The boat was fine, the food was decent - if not gourmet - and plentiful, and we enjoyed spending time with the twelve other people onboard with us. Our guide Victor was knowledgable and most importantly, our days were packed with activities and shore excursions. In total we visited six islands and snorkeled at least once almost everyday.

The islands were a bit of a surprise to us. The weather was wonderful and the water was warm, but they aren't what most people envision when they picture a south Pacific island. The islands are very rocky and dry rather than tropical. Cactus far outnumber palm trees, and although there are some fine beaches, lava rock is much more common than sand.

Of course Galapagos is famous for it's wildlife, but it's not particularly biologically diverse. The real attraction is two fold. First, there are many species and subspecies on Galapagos that are found nowhere else on the planet. Being 1000 kilometres from the nearest land can do that. The giant tortoises are probably the most famous, but from sea lions and iguanas to birds, marine life, and the tiny Galapagos penguins there are many subspecies that are genetically different from their cousins elsewhere. Fully one half of terrestrial species, and one fifth of marine species are endemic to the Galapagos - found nowhere else on earth.

How many iguanas can you see?

A yellow land iguana.

The other attraction is the approachability of the wildlife. They seem blissfully unconcerned that humans might pose any threat to them. On shore excursions it took real effort not to step on baby sea lions as you disembarked from the zodiacs, and three foot long marine iguanas were always underfoot. It was easy to approach within a few feet of Blue Footed and Nazca Boobies, and massive giant tortoises ignored us as we passed close by.

Blue Footed Boobie.

Galapagos Hawk.

Male Frigatebird showing off.

The highlight for me was the snorkeling. I haven't snorkeled a lot in my life, but several locations were outstanding. There were dozens of types of colourful tropical fish, some in schools of several thousand. There were large green sea turtles, and several kinds of rays. On our first snorkel we passed overtop of a dozen white tipped reef sharks. The single most incredible - and briefly heart stopping - encounter was with a seven foot long Galapagos shark that cruised directly towards Cyd and I before slowly turning away about eight feet in front of us. When it's swimming right at you, it's amazing how big a mouth even a little seven foot shark has!

White Tipped Reef Shark -
photo courtesy our guide, Victor.

How cute is this little guy!

Sally Lightfoot Crab.

We finished our cruise with six nights still left on the islands. From Isla Santa Cruz we caught a two hour boat ride over to Isla Isabela with Chris and Sarah, new friends we'd met on our cruise. From Australia, they were about halfway through eighteen months of travelling. Chris was kind enough to share all his underwater snorkeling photos, but technical difficulties mean it will be a while before I get a chance to post some on the blog.

Giant Tortoise. Large ones like this old guy
can weigh over 500 lbs.

We spent four nights on Isabela, then four hours on two boats to get to Isla San Cristobal where we had two nights before our flight back to the mainland. On our last full day on San Cristobal we met Laurel and Tyler as they got off their own Galapagos cruise. Laurel went to university with Cyd at Lakehead in Thunder Bay, and she and her husband Tyler had planned a couple of weeks in Ecuador to coincide with our time there. We couldn't make a joint cruise work, but we did get to spend a day together on San Cristobal, and had a week planned together after the Galapagos.

On the move - another Sally Lightfoot Crab.

Although it was expensive, our Galapagos trip was worthwhile. We'll probably never make it back there, so it really was a once in a life time opportunity. As we hike and paddle in the Yukon where seeing grizzlies or caribou in the wilderness is always a special event, I'll probably think back to the Galapagos and San Cristobal where walking down the main street and seeing a 250 pound sea lion lounging on the park bench six feet away became just a little run of the mill.