The Galapagos

Our boat, the Nemo II
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The Galapagos-

Day 1, Nov 20th- took a plane to the islands and met all the 13 other people and the crew we would be spending the next week with in the boat- ok, good so far, no extreme mutants, everyone seems pretty normal so far. The boat was a catamaran, really cool looking. However, the mast had cracked in half on the previous cruise, so no mast. How? We heard something about drunken russians in the last tour group. Well, whatever, because they use the engines to get from place to place anyway. For compensation, our group got unlimited free wine and beer the whole time, so of course that more than made up for the loss of the sail.Went to a beach that afternoon and saw all sorts of crabs and sea turtle nests. At night, we layed on top of our boat as it rocked gently and looked at the stars- I have never seen so many in my life. Thestars were all different, orion was on the far horizon and was the only familiar constellation. Mom wanted the top bunk with skylight. Ok with me. Took Dramamine and fell asleep.In the middle of the night, a large wave came through moms skylight onto her head.

Crabs all over
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Day 2- Walked to the top of a lava ridge after 300 stair steps and had a great view of the islands. Good workout first thing in the morning. Went to a beach and were greeted by an aggressive sea lion, I have never seen a person run so fast out of the water in fins. Walked over ropey lava and saw many fuzzy doe-eyed baby sea lions. They sound like calves when they call to their moms, and the moms sound like sick belching cows when they answer. Our guide did a great impression of sea lion noises. The animals ignored us and we could observe them and walk closely next to them. Went snorkelling and swam with a couple large sharks- yikes.

Sea lion in a boat
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Day 3- Went to Sierra Negro crater- the volcano that had recently erupted a couple weeks ago on Isla Isabella. On the drive up, we went from desert to rainforest. Then we walked over a couple miles of red dust until we reached the top. The ground around the crater was still warm and smoke wasstill coming from the ridge where the eruption had taken place. The whole crater, which was about a mile across and previously full of treeswas full of hardened steaming lava. It was amazing to be right on a volcano. Afterwards we went to a galapagos turtle reserve. After a siesta and lunch we walked over aa aa lava which is spiked and sharp. I guess it was named after the sound you make if you walk on it with bare feet. We saw a tide pool teeming with sharks that are trapped there until the tide comes back in. We went snorkeling nearby in murky water, mom kept thinking of the movie jaws. I saw sharks and rays and tons of fish. With all limbs intact, we went to a town for a beer.

Iguana
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Day 4- Woke to barking sea lions, went to a post-office on Isla Floreanna which is basically a box on a desert island where people drop off mail and you take a couple post cards back to your country and mail them. Heard ghost stories of disappearing people. Saw mating sea turtles up close. Saw boobies (the birds with blue feet), sea lions, pelicans, crabs. Went snorkelling at Devils Crown which was amazing- it was a very deep water snorkel with big waves and strong currents around a sunken eroded volcanic crater in the middle of the ocean. I swam over schools of fish so dense they looked like the sea floor and would all turn and flash in unison. In some places the water was murky with tiny baby fish clouds, but most of the time you could see 60 feet down to the bottom. There were huge rays several meters across, sharks, and dangerous shallow rocks I somehow managed to float over while fighting an impressive current.

Nasty male sea lion.
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Saw a beach with green sand from the crystal olivine from the volcano. Saw sting-ray city where tons of rays were hiding in the sand. I got stung by a small jellyfish. Saw some flamingoes in a lagoon. We started sailing that night early before I could swallow the dramamine. Mom was, of course, hogging the bathroom taking out her earrings or something like that, but she exited quickly just in timewhen I yelled my intention of throwing up. So anyways, I did not sleep well that night as the dramamine never had much chance to absorb.

Galapagos tortoises all over.
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Day 5- Thanksgiving, I think. But we plus one other were the only americans on board, so no turkey. Went to Espanola Island, which was the best island by far. There were waved albatross doing their mating dance and clicking of their beaks, it was very magical to be so close to these huge birds acting naturally and ignoring us. We spent about an hour sitting on the cliff watching them carry on. To fly, they stepped off the edge of the cliff with their wings out and floated away. We saw masked boobies with fuzzy babies. There were blow holes where the ocean would roar and rumble and then water would spurt up like a geyser. We also saw tropic birds which were beautiful white with long tails and a voice that sounded like rusty hinges. After lunch we went swimming/snorkelling with the sea lions where two people in our group got severely bitten by sea lions- one guy was bleeding all over and needed stitches. The guide books never said anything about THAT. At sunset, we pulled into puerto ayora on Santa Cruz island. The harbor was like a city of floating lights with all the ships and fishing boats. We went into town and had ice cream and caipirias (lime drinks).

Another ancient being.
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Day 6- Spent the day in town, went to Darwin station where they are raising giant land tortoises to reintroduce onto the islands, the turtles had almost been hunted to extinction on all the islands by humans for food. Saw tons of turtles. Went to the high lands and saw the turtles in the wild. They were not tame, and would pull into their shells with a loud hiss of air when we approached. They never moved very fast, and some were over 150 years old and they looked their age. We then went to a lava tube that was 30 or more feet in diameter under the ground and went on for about a mile. This tube was discovered when a couple unfortunate cows crashed though the ceiling, and their bones are still there. That night the whole crew was sick of us and went into town for a bender. A few of us stayed on the boat and raided the tiny galley (kitchen). We ate olives, cheese, and peanuts to our hearts content (and drank wine).

Land iguana- as opposed to the extremely numerous marine iguanas.
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Day 7- Saw a violent fight between two male sea lions, and a bachelor colony where the losers went. Otherwise sawMORE of the everpresent iguanas, sea lions, crabs, birds. In the afternoon, we saw the frigate birds with the large red pouches trying to attract the females who were flying overhead.

Day 8- Went on a quiet boat ride in the early morning though the mangrove swamps. We saw herons, many rays, and several sea turtles. We packed, went to the airport, and on the dock we had to step over yet another sea lion laying over the path. Asea lion on a park bench gave another member of our group a nasty goodbye bite.

This goes without saying on a cliff edge...
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Lessons we learned from this trip-

1. Keep skylight closed at night

2. Dramamine is my BEST friend in the whole world

3. It is possible to get sick of seeing sealions, iguanas, and crabs

Frigate birds looking for mates.
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4. Stay away from the sea lions

5. How to flush a boat toilet and howto take a shower kneeling down.

6. Galapagos may be near the equator, but the water is freezing cold

7. The galapagos islands are basically deserts with cacti and rocks.