One Week in Galapagos

GALÁPAGOS

Going to Galapagos is one of my best Experiences ever and you should try it, it feels like you are going to Jurassic Park because the weather, animals and plants around there.

         DAY 1: Starting to discover the Islands from the first day:

               

Once we had everything in rule with papers and baggage checking and all of those annoying things. We could start the real adventure.

               

Our boat, a beautiful catamaran, originally built in Italy – was waiting on arrival. There’s a Jacuzzi on board that was brought into existence by her original Italian owners, but Galapagos sustainable tourism practices means we can’t use it (it requires hot water, which requires power, which is deemed an unnecessary use). A crying shame on one hand, a win for the planet on the other. 

Once on board, we took a short trip to Santa Cruz Island and made a wet landing on Bachus Beach. There, sea lions, iguanas, Sally Lightfoot crabs, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, pelicans and a sole flamingo were waiting.

We strolled the beach, following the fishing spectacle, and took a thousand photos then swam for a while before boarding Nemo III.

Tomorrow we will arrive at Genovesa Island, for more bird watching and some snorkeling.

      DAY 2: Going to Genovesa Island.

            Sleep was good. It’s completely unsurprising how tiring it is to be walking and snorkeling all day and I can’t even begin to describe how exhausting boat life is.

 This morning I awoke an hour early for breakfast, because I forgot to set my clock back an hour when I arrived.

We took a short boat ride to some steps that ascended the steep cliff and arrived, after climbing said steps, at a clearing, in which masked and red-footed boobies were going about their business as if mankind had never set foot on their turf.

One thing that’s difficult not to be struck by in the Galapagos Islands is how the majority of the wildlife doesn’t so much as flinch when approached by humans. 

       Day 3 and 4: Santiago Island, Sullivans Bay, Dragon’s Hill and Santa Cruz Island.

              

We woke up to the serenity of Sullivan’s Bay. Pinnacle Rock was close by, though not many seemed to pay attention to it. Many other islands and chunks of land were visible too.

        

Lava fields might not sound that interesting or spectacular. But once you begin walking across the field, and you find yourself considering that everything underfoot was once flowing, molten lava, it’s impossible not to feel something.

        

        

           

 We finished the day doing snorkeling and all the sea lions where just beside us.

I loved to find myself in Sullivan´s Bay and Snorkeling and Playing with sea lions was the best of my day.

Next day we went to Santa Cruz Islands and Turns out that Puerto Ayora was pretty similar to places I’d been before. It’s the most populated town in the Galapagos and a bit of a tourist hub.

                            

We got up early to make tracks to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, the most important point of the scientific research that takes place in the Galapagos Islands; we couldn't see any scientific labs because we went too early in the morning but we could see some turtles and the most important and giant in there, Lonesome George, the last Pinta giant tortoise lived before he passed away in 2012 and was the last one from his species.

              

       

  Later, we travelled into the highlands and saw some giant tortoises in the wild.

In the afternoon we spent free time in the town. Free time consisted of a couple of beers in a colorful bar, watching local kids skateboarding and playing volleyball.

           Days 5 and 6: Isabela Bay.

We went to walk across some more old lava formations on Isabela Island early in the morning, like 8 o'clock.

We saw some flamingos and our guide told us a story about a young American student who walked off the track six years ago and fell 20 meters to his death. The most striking part of the story was that his girlfriend, who was travelling with him, didn’t even notice he was missing until dinner that night: "What a Creepy History".

Afternoon went something like: snorkeling with sea turtles (which was by far and away one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had), spotting a seahorse whilst snorkeling, visiting a black sand beach, and snorkeling with Galapagos penguins of the black sand beach.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

         Day 6: Fernandina and Isabela Islands.

I felt exhausted when I woke up; it could be because of beers I had last night but nothing to worry about.

We arrived at Darwin Bay, the lake was nice and all my family was really happy and all of us went swimming because it was too hot.

We had a long navigation to our next port of call, Santiago Island. It was 5.25pm and we expected to arrive around 5am (That is the worst part, being 12 hours inside a boat). 

When we arrived, we wanted to go out the boat and we went to swim with fishes, that was amazing, a lot of those things just beside me! I was going to get crazy.

       

Later, we went to walk, the walk was similar to other Galapagos walks we’d had; we wanted to enjoy our last days in Galapagos.

   

    Day 7: Last Day and Return Home

Nothing much planned for the day, except the overwhelmingly sad journey back to normality.     

We just went to the airport and waited the plain that was going to take us to Quito.       

I again felt a very real sense of gratitude wash over me. The Galapagos Islands are surreal. I find it difficult to comprehend just how unbelievable the past few days have been.