February 6th, 2017

Days 314: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno & All Aboard

We had to check out of our room by 9AM the next morning, but we were able to leave our bags at the front desk while we ran some last minute errands before going down to the dock to meet our boat. While we had prepaid the cruise itself, we still had to pay for our equipment rental, a fuel surcharge, and gratuities in cash (or pay a 20% credit card fee) – we hit up the ATM one last time before shopping for some diving gloves (the *one* piece of equipment the boat wouldn’t provide for some odd reason). Since most people who come to the Galápagos are serious divers and have their own gear, there was not a lot of selection for either rentals or gear for purchase. We found one pair of gloves for a whopping USD $70 – rather than get a pair for each of us, we got one nice pair of gloves, then hit up the local hardware store for a pair of garden gloves. They were a bit ghetto and a big fit, but as long as they prevented our hands from getting ripped up on the rocks and coral, looks be damned!

Afterwards, we walked across town and headed over to the Galápagos National Park Interpretation Center and walking trail. Within this section of the park there was supposedly a nice beach, so we hoped to beat the crowds by heading over first thing after breakfast. There were far fewer people, and a lot more lobos (including a group of three adorable babies snoozing in the middle of the beach). Unfortunately, there also wasn’t any shade. The equatorial sun is strong and it gets hot out here really fast, so we were only able to last about an hour before we moved on to explore the rest of the walking trail.

The official visitor’s center of the Galápagos National Park is located in San Cristóbal

 

Paying homage to Darwin as we lay our bare feet in the sand and play with baby lobos

 

Igor takes an early morning swim to beat the crowds and the heat

 

The storm clouds are in the wrong part of the sky and offer no protection from the punishing sun as we walk through the park path

Tijeretas Cove – a popular snorkeling location that we will visit post-boat trip

We returned to the hostel, picked up our bags and walked back down to the pier at noon, where a pair of pangas met us (and everyone else who just arrived from the airport) and ferried us over to the Humboldt Explorer. The Humboldt is a 106ft yacht, which can accommodate 16 divers and 11 crew. Apparently it’s not the most luxurious of the many dive boats that visit Darwin & Wolf (our cabin bathroom was infested with non-biting bugs each night we were need the inhabited islands of the Galápagos, but mysteriously disappeared once we hit open water), but once we heard that all booze was included we couldn’t care less how fancy the digs were.

Before we could get liquored up, however, we had to try on our rental gear and jump into the water for a short 10min check dive to make sure everything felt comfortable. We were a little apprehensive – as I said above, most people who come to dive in the Galápagos bring their own gear. The rental equipment we used during our practice dives with Las Mantas was absolute shit (holes in the 5mm thick wetsuits, uncomfortable fins, and dive computers that neither we nor the staff at the dive shop could figure out how to use) – we were worried that we would get stuck with more crappy gear. Luckily, the Humboldt came through for us: the 7mm wetsuits were in very good condition, the fins were tolerable (Igor started wearing *socks* with his for extra protection against blisters, but otherwise his feet were OK) and the BCDs had actual bottom dump valves which would theoretically help us descend headfirst during a negative entry (although truth be told, neither of us have the coordination to pull that off yet). And the computers were perfect! Hardly a scratch on them and super easy to pull up our dive history. We were only disappointed that our check dive was so boring – we basically jumped into the water just outside the marina, so there was no interesting wildlife.

 

Our tanks and BCDs have been put away after our short check dive and we are free to enjoy the sunset

Once we got out of the water, we put our gear away in our assigned station. Igor got an extra-large 15L tank so that he could last longer underwater – like most men, he goes through air faster than his female counterparts (bigger lungs!) so the extra 3L of air would give him more or less another 10-15min underwater so he and Lindsay would finish their dives at the same time. After a nice hot shower, we returned to the deck to admire the view and get to know some of our boat mates. Even though we were advised against it, we spilled the beans about our small number of dives immediately (although we did round up to “25-ish” dives – it sounded a lot better than 21!). A few people were surprised, but more because they thought we were spoiling ourselves too early in our dive career – where in the world could we dive next that would beat this? No one seemed annoyed that we would be slow or hold anyone back – more the opposite: so many of the guests were dive masters themselves back home and seemed to enjoy the idea of introducing people to diving so much that they were eager to answer our questions, give us tips, and help us out.

The food was decent – every dinner started with a bowl of soup (mostly veggies – we liked them ’cause we were getting our GREENS), followed by a self-serve buffet (it was a tiny dining area, so it unfortunately could get quite crowded) usually consisting of salad, cooked veggies, fish and meat. Bread was just sliced white or wheat bread. The desserts were not bad – usually some type of cake or flan with fruit on the side. Wine was all you could drink, but limited to Viña Maipo Cab Sauv or Sauv Blanc (owned by Concha y Toro – similar in price & quality to Frontera) which was just fine by us! The pair of French guys on board got a little snobby about the wine selection (Lindsay just rolled her eyes as they complained), but they still downed several glasses per night anyways.

Our room was an ice box by the time we headed to bed. For some reason, the remote for AC unit was missing, so we just turned it off when we went to bed. The boat was gently rocking and lulled us quickly to sleep. We were scheduled to leave San Crisóbal around midnight – we would wake up in a new part of the archipelago: Baltra Island.

 

Freshly showered and enjoying our first night on the boat

 

Welcome drinks and introductions to the crew and guests of the Humboldt Explorer