Month: March 2017

Day 324: Santa Cruz in Transit

We had one full week left in the Galápagos Islands at this point, and we weren’t quite sure what we wanted to do with our time. We decided to catch the ferry to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. With a population of 12,000 people it is by far and away the biggest town in the archipelago. And, with its strategic location in the center of all the island, it is the jumping off point for most tours. We figured we could spend the afternoon walking around tourist agencies, and see if anything struck our fancy. Igor had read that it was possible to get rock-bottom priced deals on multi-day cruises – maybe we’d find another boat trip!

We had purchased tickets for the ferry the night before for USD $30pp, although we soon found out that by “ferry” they mean one of half a dozen speedboats that shuttle people from one island to the other. When we arrived at the pier 30min before our departure time, we found an absolute shit-show of confusion as ALL THE BOATS tried to load their passengers at once. Their brilliant method of organization was to simply call out passenger names from a list and hope that people were paying attention/could hear their name being called from the end of the pier. Then they had to squeeze through the throng of people waiting on the dock with their luggage to finishing loading each boat one at a time before the next boat could start. Needless to say, we did NOT leave on time. The boats themselves were almost identical to the little boat we took for our Española tour the day before, however we now had to share the tiny space with 24 people, rather than 10. The seats were narrow and horribly uncomfortable, and only the seats inside the boat had shade (but no air circulation).

FYI, there are small 9-seater propeller planes that fly between San Cristóbal and Isabela. At USD $120pp they are much more expensive than the ferry, but we would have gladly paid the upcharge for a more comfortable ride. Unfortunately, the Thursday flight was sold out so our only choice was a hot, bumpy 2hr. boat ride from hell. When we finally arrived in Puerto Ayora around 10AM, we stumbled over to our hostel and hid in our room for a few hours to recover from the ordeal.

We get an awesome room at Captain Max’s Hostel in Puerto Ayora – spacious with AC, strong Wifi and a hammock! We’ll hide out from the heat in here for a few hours

Once we felt human again, we starting walking down towards the main street, stopping in various tour agencies along the way to inquire about the “LAST MINUTE CRUISES!” they all had advertised outside their windows. True, the prices were about half what they would have been if we had booked online (about USD $150pp/day). Since they include all meals, hotel, transport and activities (walking & snorkeling) for 4-5 days, it was technically cheaper than island-hopping on our own, however we would have had to give up the flexibility of choosing our own itinerary. Sadly, none of the remaining cruises looked that interesting (most would revisit sites we already hit during our dive trip & day trips from San Cristóbal), so we eventually decided to pass, and just continue to wing it. We bought some tickets for the ferry to Isabela the next morning through our hostel (he assured us it was one of the “better” boats), and spent the of the afternoon and evening wandering around town.

 

Sadly, the fish market is closed for the day by the time we emerge from our hostel hideaway, but a handful of birds are lingering by the fishy-smelling tables

 

This stubborn pelican won’t give up his spot (guess he wants to get the best fish pieces tomorrow!) and barely blinks an eye when Igor gets in his face for a picture

 

It’s election time! Ecuador will hold its presidential elections on Sunday, and everyone is out campaigning

OK, *what* is with the caterpillar train? Normally this cartoonish bus takes tourists on a ride through Puerto Ayora, but tonight it was been commandeered by the political rally. And we thought the US election was bizarre…

 

The evening street fair is steps away from our hostel. Most restaurants have an identical menu – a grilled fish for 2 costs USD $22

 

Fresh fish, ready for the grill!

 

Nice variety available – corn on the cob, ceviche, and grilled meats

 

We opt for to share a fish for 2 – buen provecho!

Day 323: Isla Española

We booked a day-trip to Española Island, the southernmost island in the archipelago which is only a 3hr boat ride from San Cristóbal. The island is particularly famous for being the near-exclusive breeding site for the Waved Albatross – the only tropical breed of albatross. Every year, over 34,000 pairs of albatross return to Española to mate and lay one egg. Albatross also mate for life, so when they return, they must find their spouse (although a “widowed” bird will “remarry”).

This all sounded pretty cool to us – we were really excited to see the only type of bird we had missed so far during our exploration of the islands. However, there was one piece of information the booking agencies didn’t think to mention before we signed up for the tour: the albatross don’t return to mate until April, and the last of the baby chicks reached maturity and left the island in December. From January – March there is not a single albatross on the island. BOO!

 

Driving away from a cloud-covered San Cristóbal as we head to the southernmost island in the Galápagos – Española

Our tour started with an hour-long snorkel in Gardner Bay. Even though the water wasn’t terribly cold, the tour agency gave us shorty wetsuits to help keep the chill off while we were in the water. Unfortunately, the fins they gave Igor aggrevated his feet so badly that he stopped kicking altogether and only swam with his arms. We got yelled at by our guide for not keeping up with the group, who seemed to think speed is an asset in snorkeling. He claimed that we just missed a school of 50+ rays and a Hammerhead Shark because we were so far behind. Sure.

 

We jump into the water near a rock pinnacle for our snorkel – sadly, we’ve been spoiled by our diving and are not very impressed

 

We’ve seen hunderds of White-tip Reef Sharks at this point, but they are still so pretty and graceful!

Lunch was awesome, though. Best ceviche we had in Ecuador! And a pretty big portion, too. Sure, it was a bit early (only 11:30AM) when they served us – but I guess they didn’t want us to hike on an empty stomach. When our hosts asked if we wanted anything to drink with lunch, we started to decline as they had just served us juice with our post-snorkel snack, but they kept offering, “Water? Coke? Juice? Wine?”

Wine? Really? We looked at each other, “OK, I’ll have some wine!” Lindsay replied. Our host seemed a little surprised tha someone would actually take him up on his offer. He went inside the galley of the boat to get the wine. Up until now, all our our drinks (water & juice) have been served in normal plastic cups. When the guy returned with the (boxed) wine, he handed Lindsay a teeny tiny tasting cup and filled with with about a shot’s worth of wine. She didn’t ask for more.

 

An early lunch of ceviche, plantain chips and the smallest glass of wine ever!

After lunch, we changed into dry clothes and rode the panga over to the beach at Punta Suárez for our 1.5hr walking tour of the island. It was INSANELY hot. Española is one of the flattest and driest islands in the Galápagos and there is no shade anywhere along the trail. Luckily, the wildlife eventually distracted us from how uncomfortable we were, and the heat started to break about halfway through the walk. Even though we missed out on the albatross, the iguanas of Española were gorgeous and kinda made up for it.

 

Function over fashion! Lindsay opts for comfort even if Igor thinks she looks like a fool (whateva, I be stylin’)

 

Huge waves pound the rocky cliffs of Española

 

More boobies! The Masked Booby is the third and final booby we see in the Galápagos

 

Booby eggs! Masked Boobies typically lay 2 eggs at a time, so both of these birds proably have another one on the way in a day or so

 

Booby chicks! These guys may look sweet and innocent, but notice how there is only ONE chick – didn’t just say that boobies lay TWO eggs at a time? That’s because the stronger chick will kill the weaker sibling after it hatches in order to get all the food from its parents

 

You guys are murderers.

 

Wow – that is an ugly teenager! This juvenile booby is in the final staging of molting its baby down feathers. It can’t learn to fly until all the adult feathers have grown in – this poor guy looks so ready to grow-up

 

The marine iguanas of Española are by far and away the most colorful we have seen in the Galápagos (on most islands, they are plain black)

 

Notice how the iguana’s face is light-colored? Apparently that is due to salt residue that the iguana constantly sneezes out of its nose – the spray accumulates on the skin and, well, it’s not like these guys have a bathroom sink to wipe off their face…

 

The iguanas of Española are known for having red skin year-round, but they also turn bright blue along the ridges of their backs during the mating season in order to attract a mate (Hey! It worked for the Blue-footed Boobies, right?)

 

A blow-hole shoots up a huge plume of spray every minute or so

Española Island – in addition to being one of the oldest islands in the archipelago, it’s also one of the flattest. Since there is not much landmass to trap passing clouds, it gets the smallest amount of rain per year

 

Swallow-tailed Gulls

 

Lindsay and Igor taking in the harsh, rocky landscape of Española

 

A colorful little Lava Lizard perches on the tail of a marine iguana

 

Heading back to our speed boat for the LOOOOOOONG 3hr ride back to San Cristóbal

Days 321 – 322: San Cristóbal

After a final breakfast buffet, we get kicked off the Humboldt Explorer by 10AM. Boo – now we have to feed ourselves and plan our own itineraries again.

We were pretty lazy our first day back in town. We returned to Casa de Jeimy without a reservation, luckily they had one room left. Even luckier, it was a nicer *matrimonial* room (during our first stay we had two twin beds) – we could sleep like a married couple in the double bed…or use the extra twin bed and remain apart. I’ll let y’all guess which option we chose.

Once the afternoon siesta was over, we walked through town, checking out the various tour agencies for a day-trip to Española Island. We’re suspecting that there is some price-fixing going on in the Galápagos as every single agency offered identical itineraries for USD$180pp. The only difference was which day of the week the tours were scheduled for – each agency seemed to take a different day of the week. We decided to go with the one that ran its tour on Thursday, since we wanted to catch a ferry to Santa Cruz on Friday morning, giving us one more free day in San Cristóbal to visit all the beaches we missed before the dive trip.

 

Saying hello to our favorite lobos at the Puerto Baquerizo Moreno pier

 

Taking care of chores – booking a tour to Española Island for Thursday and doing some much needed laundry

 

We get a much better room when we return to Jeimy’s hostel! Lindsay kicks back with her Kindle while Igor cooks up something tasty

The next morning, we headed out right after breakfast to start hitting all the beaches. We rented a snorkel from our hostel for USD $3 and walked over to the Playa Lobería – a good 30min walk from town, behind the San Cristóbal airport. Judging by the name, we expected the beach to be covered with sea lions, just like the beach in town. HUGE disappointment: there was literally only *one* lobo on the whole friggin’ beach. The beach itself was incredibly rocky, making it difficult for us to get into the water, plus the surf was really strong (we noticed a couple of surfers nearby – looks like this is more of a surfing beach than a swimming/snorkeling beach).

 

Early morning walk to the lobería beach – even though it’s 8AM we are already sweating bullets

 

Igor stalks the one lone sea lion on the whole beach – at least he was receptive to photos

By the time we returned to the road we were ridiculously sweaty. The next beach on our list was all the way across town – we were dreading the long walk! As if in answer to our prayers, a taxi pulled up, dropping off a group of tourists – we quickly grabbed the empty car and gladly paid the $2 fare to Playa Mann. We had passed Playa Mann last week when we visited the Galápagoes Visitor Center – just outside the entrance to the park and is the only beach we found on the island that has a lot of shade. We laid down our blanket beneath a tree and Lindsay settled in with her Kindle while Igor tried to go for a swim.

Just as he tried to get into the water, a large sea lion swam up and started barking. At first, Igor was delighted, and he took ourt the GoPro to film the interaction. However, when he started walking into the water, the lobo started to charge him! For some reason, this guy was being very territorial and wouldn’t let Igor or anyone else into the water. Even after all the people backed off, the lobo wold swim back and forth along the beach. So much for swimming.

 

A very territorial sea lion won’t let anyone get into the water at Playa Mann

We packed up and walked once again, this time into the national park. We returned to the snorkeling cove that we had missed the first time we were in town. Even though there was no beach – just a stairwell down to a rocky shore – a dozen napping sea lions nearby and biting damsel fish near the shore, we were determined to get into the water this time! Lindsay took an exploratory swim with the snorkel, but didn’t see much worth getting excited about. After about 20min, she climbed out and gave Igor a turn.

As soon as Igor got into the water, a group of about 20-odd tourists showed up and started getting into the water, kinda ruining the serenity of the place (there were only 3 other swimmers up to this point). Igor swam to the far side of the cove to get away from them…and that’s when he found the sea lions. Unlike the lobo at Playa Mann, these guys were friendly, and one in particular decided to have some fun with Igor! He swam circles around Igor, blew bubbles in his face and kept coming back for more! It was a truly magical moment. (LINDSAY WAS SO JEALOUS.)

 

Snorkeling in Tijeretas Cove

 

Lindsay sees practically nothing during her snorkel – just a bunch of Blue-eyed Damsal fish

 

Igor has all the luck! He finds a trio of sea lions and one starts to play with him!

 

This playful lobo keeps circling ’round and ’round Igor, and even blows bubbles in his face…twice!

 

Igor chases down a marine iguana as it swims by the shore

In order to leave no stone unturned, we still had one last attraction to visit before we could call it a day: the viewpoint at Tijeretas Hill. It was quite a climb, but we got a beautiful view of the cove from the top. We also discovered yet another trail leading to a supposedly secluded beach. It was long – the sign warned that it was 1.5hr (Igor insisted that was the roundtrip time – it was actually *each way*) but we made it there and back. By the time we returned to our room, we were confident that there was *nothing* left to do or see on this island – we were DONE.

 

When the crowds and the clouds roll in, we leave the cove and take a hike up Tijeretas Hill and then follow a long overgrown trail to a secluded beach

 

There’s no one at the beach, but unfortunately the shore is very rocky, so it’s difficult to swim. The only spot in the shade is swarming with mosquitos, so we turn back after only 30min