Giant tortoises and Blue Footed Boobies!

Off for a dip
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I feel this could be along one! Got to really do the place the place justice after all!

We booked an eight day cruise round the Galapagos islands on a boat called Monserrat II. The boat only came into service in January this year so it was nice and new. We decided that as time was tight on our trip we didn't want to risk going for a late booking and so paid in advance, however I am pretty sure that some people on our boat got it cheaper, so there you are folks, if you have time to spare you could save yourself a quid or so! There are many agencies in Quito offering late deals. We also were very specific in where we wanted to go. The trip had to include Genovesa island, and I am glad it did as this was definitely our favourite island. It is amazing! more on that later.

A Stupid Arse!
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After the check in desk clerk messed around before boarding ("sorry you don't have a reservation","what, of course we do". "no you don't, please stand in the stand by queue!"....."can speak to your boss please....") we hopped over the sea to Galapagos.

First impressions: Jeez it is hot. We haven't felt this type of heat since Buenos Aries. We met the guide at the airport. His name was Williams. He was a very interesting chap. Good English, but a slight Manuel from Fawlty Towers about him. We met the rest of the group and headed to the boat for lunch. Wow. What great food. And it was healthy. No fried potatoes in sight. This trend continued throughout trip. Superb food.

Blue Footed Boobie on an egg
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The afternoon was spent back on the island near San Cristobal where we went for a walk along the beach and Williams explained the rules surround the wildlife on Galapagos. Dos and don'ts etc. Along the way we saw our first sightings of Galapagos (everything has the Galapagos prefix hear by the way to make it special!) sea lion and land iguanas. They were both very big and amazingly tame. They are not scared of humans at all. This is one of the unique properties of all the fauna in Galapagos (bar the land tortoises because they have a long life span and have suffered at the feet of man). A good start to our trip.

Its George!
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Overnight (after a splendid dinner and a few ice cold beers) we sailed to Genovesa island. This was the island that swayed us towards to Monserrat II. What an island. After a short cruise along a cliff face in a dingy where we spotted many birds and a Galapagos fur seal, we climbed some steps to the top of the cliff. We were immediately greeted with inflated male frigate birds trying to catch the attention of the female birds. This really is a sight to be seen. They do these crazy dances and make even crazier noises. Brilliant. When they do attract a female, more dancing and after acceptance by the female, the male places his wing around the female. Sort of like "your mine pet". We saw many frigate birds on our walk around Genovesa. Also saw many Boobies. you can't come to Galapagos and not see Boobies. On Genovesa there were many Nazca boobies nesting on the ground, right next to and sometimes on the path very reluctant to move out of the way. As you can tell from the photos, they are not scared of humans. Also saw many red-footed boobies in the trees, along with their offspring. Walking around this island is like nothing we have ever, and probably will ever again, experience. I don't imagine it has changed much since Darwin wondered around 170 years ago. So much noise, and such strange noise; the sky so full of birds. Brilliant.

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After Genovesa we sailed to Santa Cruz, one of the larger inhabited islands. Here we saw the Galapagos penguin on the rocks, a small penguin only around 25-35cm large. This penguin has adapted to live in the warmer climate of the Galapagos islands by hiding in lava tunnels when it gets too hot. Sadly they are greatly affected by the El Niño event where there is a severe lack of food for them. As a result the numbers are currently reduced.

We checked out the lava formations on Santa Cruz and Bartolome. Some are only 120 years old, so that's something darwin missed then! Crazy patterns made of rock. Including some blast holes that look like, errrmmm toilets. Darwin is fortunate enough to have one named after him (well it is the biggest...). Then it was snorkeling off the beach and around some rock-formations. Another activity we immensely enjoyed in Galapagos. To save repetition, over the 8 days we saw: black and white tip reef sharks, many sting rays, manta rays, eagle rays and many colourful fish typical of warmer seas. Even managed to swim with turtles.

poser!
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We stayed around Santa Cruz for another day so we could check out the land tortoises. These tortoises are big, some as weigh as much as 250kgs. We saw them in the wild and also in the Charles Darwin foundation. Amazing creatures. Hard to believe they are related to the little fellas some people keep in their back gardens. Some sad stories surround this ancient creatures: they were slaughtered by man in their thousands for their "sweet tasting meat" and their fat, which was used in lamps etc as fuel. From numbers running into hundreds of the thousands, their numbers dwindled to a few thousand. Some species were completely wiped out, never to return. With the help of the foundation, numbers are on the increase however they are still incredibly endangered, especially some of the species. Everyone has heard of Lonesome George, the last remaining tortoise from Pinto Island. Well I checked and he is still refusing to get it on. Seemingly scientist are trying everything, including natural viagras....

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Espanola island followed Santa Cruz. Espanola is another action packed island. There are many marine Iguanas - Iguanas that have adapted to the sea. They live off seaweed attached to the rocks. The male Iguana can spend over an hour under water. Not bad for a land reptile. Again these creatures were unfazed by our presence, wandering right through the group while Williams was briefing us!

This island also had lots of birds, including Red Billed Tropic Birds (with really long tails), Pellicans, Naska Boobies and Galapagos Doves. In the afternoon we did more snorkelling from the beach. Discovered a cave with 5 white tipped Reek Sharks inside. A little tap on the top of the cave and they all came out to join us - pretty cool (if a little scary!). Also saw some big turtles and Rays and lots of scholes of colourful fish. Best snorkelling yet!

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We visited Santa Fe Island, an island covered in huge cactii. Many more friendly Sea Lions here too, sunbathing on the beach. While snorkelling off the dingy near the rocks some Sea Lions decided to come and join us in the water. Really playful, swimming around us. An amazing experience we felt very priveledged to enjoy.

In the afternoon of the same day, after a 2 hour sail, we arrived at South Plaza Island. This island has many Iguanas, both marine and land and also Lava Lizards. Th Iguanas were the most colourful we saw while in galapagos. they were pretty fat too!

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Our last day was spent at Black Turtle Cove, where we went around the cove in the dingies spotting wildlife. As well as LOTS of mosquitos, we saw more Blue Footed Boobies, Black Tipped Reef Sharks, Rays and Many big turtles. It was great fun! We were suprised when we spotted two big turtles mating - they were both just under the surface, the male was on top of the female (who was a lot larger). They seemed to be at it for ages and the female only came up for air very occassionally!

Galapagos was an amazing experience. We thoroughly enjoyed all of it and would highly recommend going if you ever get the opportunity to.