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“Start of Cruise-a little "rocky"” |
Sunday Nov. 20: We flew to Galapagos Islands , Costs about $400. You have to stop in Guayaquil for about 15 minutes. Nice plane. You put on the sticker of the boat you are going on, and the guide finds you at the Baltra Galapagos airport. There were 13 of us on a catamaran. We found most of our ship mates in about 15 minutes. There was 4 Canadians, 3 USA citizens (Me, Mel, and a guy who had been born in Hong Kong), 2 Germans, a Mexican, a South African, and 2 ladies who lived in Portugal and Switzerland respectively. Everyone spoke good English, which was lucky, we could have ended up on a boat where everyone spoke Norwegian! Our Guide was Gino. He pointed us to the bus that would take us to the dock. We arrived to the dock, got on a small yellow rubber boat called a ponga that took us to our bigger boat, the Nemo II. Our luggage had already arrived, so after lunch we unpacked and got used to our cabin as the boat moved off. The pump toilet was interesting, we didn't fully figure out how hard and long to pump it for a couple of days. The shower was a drain in the floor between the toilet & sink. We were cautioned to take very short showers, since the boat had to carry all the fresh water it was going to use. In the afternoon we boarded the ponga to go ashore where we saw crabs, marine iguanas, and sea birds.
Well, the first day we had engine trouble & no mast or sail (something about drunken Russians the previous tour) so the company compromised with promises of free soft drinks, & beer/wine with meals (instead of itemized charges). Well, that suited everyone just fine. They got the engine etc. running (after a couple of trips to town in the small boat).
That night was lovely, we went to the top of the boat to look at the stars, it was wonderful to see without any city lights. The sky was so different from home, however (being in a different hemisphere). Nothing was familiar except for orion, which was in a different place. The stars were all so brilliant. I can't remember seeing them like that before, except when I was a kid out in the country on a crisp cold january night....
Anyway, everyone was tired, so we didn't stay up very late, only till about 9 pm, then went to bed, me in the upper berth (Mel had the lower one), and the rocking boat quickly sent us to sleep. However the engines started up in the middle of the night and the boat rocked a lot more in transit. A wave came in about 3 am through my skylight, hitting me in the face, but I was lucky, people in the front of the boat really got drenched, I only got splashed. I learned to close the skylight at night, however!
previous travel blog entry
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