5th - Galapagos

This is the first day where we didn’t go snorkeling. I like snorkeling, but I don’t mind skipping it as it tends to be such a hassle getting back and forth to the water with all the equipment.

We started with going to Darwin Research Station where we were introduced to the tortoises of the islands, which was quite interesting. We also saw Lonesome George, the last of its species, which the scientists have tried to find a genetically compatible mate for. We also saw Super Diego, a tortoise that has fathered more than 1500. Unsurprisingly our guide Diego couldn’t help mention the similarities of his and the tortoise’s name….

For lunch the new group showed up. For the afternoon they visited the Research station, while we visited a private property where the tortoises lived in the wild. We finished with seeing a lava tunnel that was 4-5 meters tall and wide. A lava tunnel is when the lava solidifies on the top which is in contact with the air, while the lava below still flows. When the lava is gone a tunnel has been created.

On the way back we bought a bunch of lobsters for use for the dinner tomorrow.

Tonight we will sail to Floriana Island where we will have a walk and do some deep water snorkeling, and in the afternoon we will go to Puenta Cormoran where we will have a walk and snorkeling.

Lonesome George

These things are huge! And this wasn't the biggest - far from it!

Lava tunnel

4th - Galapagos

Lunch

We started early this morning at Puerto Egas so that we would get a head start in front of the other tourist that also had arrived during the night. Breakfast was therefore served at 0630 so we could be ready at 0700. Breakfast this morning was pancakes and eggs, which helped compensate for the early start. The weather wasn’t perfect, though. Low clouds, windy and high humidity. But it cleared up, though the wind didn’t ease up much.

We did a wet landing on black sand, and we had a 2-hour walk where we saw a lot of marine iguanas and sea lions. There were also a few very young sea lions, all of which we could get close to without them reacting.

Afterwards we did some shallow water snorkeling. This was at times quite hard as the current at places was fairly strong, and there were a few rocks close to the surface that we had to be careful not to hit. A few were struggling with the currents and waves at times, but luckily nobody got hurt. But we got to see several sea turtles swim around which was a beautiful sight. Somebody also saw a very playful sea lion pub, but that had only been for a short while.

Back at the boat we are now on our way to Isla Rábida located just south of Santiago. Here we will be doing another wet landing, walk and shallow water snorkeling.

Sea lion pub

A lot of marine iguanas were gathered at Puerto Egas.

Evening

We did a wet landing on a beach where there were several sea lions sunbathing. After a short walk back and forth on the beach, where we also saw a couple of blue-footed boobies and several iguanas.

Afterwards we snorkeled from the beach, unfortunately there was not much to see and the sea lions did not come out and swim. The current made it quite hard to get back to the beach, so most people gave up and jumped into the zodiacs that where keeping an eye on us.

Getting back to the boat we started moving to our new location. We only sailed for two hours so we could eat dinner without having to do it with the ship rolling. While sailing we saw for a short while a small pod of dolphins swimming in front of the boat. Not much jumping going on, but it was still very easy to follow them while they were there.

Before dinner we had a goodbye cocktail as the group that was present on the boat when we showed up are leaving tomorrow early morning. Dinner was as usual very good, and soon thereafter we continued the voyage, and we will probably reach our destination around 2300.

Tomorrow there will be no snorkeling, instead we will be spending time in Puerto Ayora at Darwin Research Station, and after lunch when the new group arrives we will go to the Giant Tortoise Reserve.

Booby!

Marine iguana

Dolphins following the boat

3rd - Galapagos

Lunch

We started the morning with breakfast at 0700, and at 0745 we did a wet landing at a place call Chinese Hat on Isla Santiago. The name comes from a small hill top that has a shape of a Chinese hat and in Spanish it’s called Sombrero Chino. Here we saw sea lions (in the water and also circling the zodiac and a couple sunbathing on land), marine iguanas, and lava lizards.

Coming back to the boat we did deep water snorkeling. Wearing wetsuits we took the zodiacs out from the boat and jumped in from there. The depth was app- 5-10 meters. Here we saw several different colorful fish, a couple of white-tipped sharks and one large sting ray.

When coming back to the boat around 1100 we sailed on to Isla Bartolomé. Here we had lunch, and at 1430 we will be doing shallow water snorkeling (from the coast, as yesterday).

Marine iguana

Lava lizard

Sea lions playing

Sunbathing but still keeping an eye on us...

Evening

After lunch we went on a shallow water snorkeling. The visibility wasn’t bad at all, and it was easy to see the many fish swimming around. They were surprisingly un-afraid as they hardly reacted when we came swimming, despite being within reaching distance. We got to see a couple of Galapagos penguins sitting on the rocks. Mike, my friendly American roommate (cabinmate?) saw a shark. The shark came pretty close, apparently; circled a few times and hit his flippers, which made him decide it was time to get out of the water and into a zodiac. A few others saw the shark too, and they quickly swam in the opposite direction. It isn’t clear what shark it was; it wasn’t a white-tipped shark but apart from that nobody was quite sure what it was. But Mike didn’t feel it necessary to stay around and find out.

Getting back we soon after went for a walk on Bartolomé. The island is – like all of Galapagos – created by lava and previous eruptions (last eruption was back in 2008) which gives it all a moon-like look. Bartolomé had a redness which made it look more like Mars. On our way back in the zodiacs we went past some of the cliffs we were at while snorkeling so we got some shots off of the penguins. Sitting with a long-range zoom lens it is really hard to get a steady shot when sitting in a small boat…

The boat has just stopped and cast anchor which means that we have arrived at Puerto Egas (on the other side of Isla Santiago from Bartolomé) where the first part of tomorrow is going to take place. A walk followed by shallow water snorkeling will be taking the time until lunch, after which we will be going to Isla Rabida where another walk will be followed by another snorkel.

Panorama of Bartolomé

A galapagos penguin in all its might. 1 foot tall.

2nd - Galapagos

We got picked up early at the hotel at 0615 to go to the airport. We departed at 0740 and flew to the airport at Galapagos on Baltra Island, via Quayaquil. When coming to Galapagos and seeing the airport from the air you realize how short the landing strip is, and if the pilot screwed up the landing there would nothing but water to greet you. There was also quite a lot of wind when we were landing, so the pilot had to almost throw the plane onto the tarmac, making the landing quite rough. But any landing you can walk away from is a successful landing, so no problems there.

After passing through security and having paid the necessary fees, we were put on a bus which took us to a small harbor. Here we were picked up by a zodiac which took us to our boat, our home away from home the next 8 days.

There were already tourists on the boat; they were the 10-day trip people that had started the trip on Wednesday. When they disappear on Wednesday (including a couple of us that are only on a 4-day trip) they will be replaced a new group of people doing the 5-day trip, so we all will leave the boat on Sunday together.

We started off with some lunch, and after sailing to Santa Cruz, a place called Las Bachas (a frigate bird sat on the boat for some of the time, so a couple of close-ups were possible), we did a wet landing (sailed with the zodiacs to shore, but had to walk the last couple of meters in the water). Here we had a walkaround in the near area, where we saw iguanas, crabs and a single flamingo. Getting back to the beach we had time for an hour’s snorkeling. As a first time snorkeler it was some scary shit to getting used to breathing under water. After getting used to it, it was quite pleasant, but unfortunately the water was quite murky so the visibility was close to nothing. Saw a couple of fish, though, but not much else.

Got back to the boat, and after some resting we had dinner.

During the night we saw a great sunset, and a couple of pelicans sitting on the boats zodiacs (which we now hanging on the sides of the boat) looking for fish. Also a single sea lion was circling the boat eating. Unfortunately we are not allowed to use flash, so it was limited how good photos could be taken. But it was quite a sight.

Pelican

One of many crabs found on most islands

Frigate

Raul was our bartender, waiter, cleaner and almost everything else. He was a very cool guy always happy.

Night guest on a zodiac

Sunset with frigate

1st - Arrival

I have now arrived in Quito after 19 hours of transport. Despite being able to cope with the 22 hours to Australia, I was surprised of how much more problematic I felt this was. Probably because I didn't get much sleep before the day of departure, spent most of the day stressing around before leaving and the entertainment system in the plane was pretty much screwed. If you didn't get a black screen when selecting a movie or tv show, you probably just got something else. I was also sitting next to a guy with very long and pointy elbows - my patience is generally pretty short with people who don't try not to constantly poke the neighbour on the plane. On the other hand I had 4 meters of leg room which was awesome! Arriving at Amsterdam I located a self-service transfer machine to see if it was possible to upgrade myself to more room on the long haul (the 40 euros I paid last year when going to Africa for this was a great success), but every time I tried I got an error. I had to pay €70 for the upgrade, but I felt it would be worth it. So I found a help desk, and after the employee had been messing around on several different computers she had managed to give me the seat. And she did not see any reason for me to pay fot that. So I'd say that was probably the best 0 euros I have paid so far...

Now I am sitting in my hotel room (fast stable and free wireless internet!) and recovering from the trip. Had a nice bath and shave which was very much missed. We have a briefing at 1700 (right now it's a little past 1000, we are 7 hours behind DK), but until then it's a matter of relaxing and maybe finding something to eat somewhere. I feel completely smashed and wouldn't like anything better than getting some sleep - but that would probably not be a good idea. Damn time zones and potential jet lag.

Quito from my hotel room

30th - Departure

The time has come. I am now sitting at the airport waiting for the first flight towards Amsterdam. The wait is a killer. I am getting impatient and want to just fast forward to arrival in Quito. I have a layover in Amsterdam of almost 3 hours and I am going to bore my balls of. I am too lazy to swim, though, so I assume this is my only option. Oh, well.

Luckily I didn't have many problems getting out of the apartment this year - no oversleeping like when going to Africa. But considering that I am leaving in the early evening (and not in the (insane) early morning), that would have been an accomplishment if I had been oversleeping. Instead I spent most of the day stressing over whether or not I have packed everything. I have still to think of something I have forgotten, so I assume that's a good thing. My bag was heavier than last year, though, which was a surprise.

Waitwaitwait. Argh!

Next vacation confirmed

Mails have been sent from Kilroy, confirming my payment and confirming that Gap Adventures has room for me.

My next trip will be as follows:

30th of September

Departure from Copenhagen going to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The flight will be via Amsterdam with two stops at Bonaire (Bes Islands) and Guayaquil (Equador). Luckily I won't have to get out of the plane at the two last stops, so no worrying about delays and potential lost flights as a result of that.

1st -10th of October

Arrival at Quito the 1st, and early in the morning of the 2nd the group will be taking a flight to Baltra. For you who don't know where that is (I don't blame you), it's one of the main islands at the Galapagos. From here we will be transferred to a boat on which we will be sailing around the islands until the 9th where we will fly back to Quito. Looking forward to some great - and unique - sightings!

10th - 21th of October

The 10th I'll leave Quito and fly to Lima. The next day we will transfer to Cuzco from where we will see local historical sightings. The 13th to the 16th we will walk the Inca Trail. A truly unique trail, and even though we will not even get close to the heights we were at last year on Kili (4200 as opposed to 5895 meters), I expect it to be tough. The heat and humidity will be killer - Kili was pleasant being (mostly) dry and cool. After the trek we will return to Cuzco, after which we continue to Puerto Maldonado, deep inside the Amazon jungle. Here we will spend a couple of days sailing down the river taking in the sights ("Ooooh... Look at that tree!"). It even says it will be possible to do some pirana fishing (I wonder how... Bait will be unruly tourists?). The 20th we will fly back to Lima, spending our last day in Peru.

21th - 22th of October

Return to Denmark, this time via Paris and no extra stops anywhere.

What can I say? I'm looking forward to it, and October can't come soon enough.

And yes; I already know where I'm going next year. But that's a completely different story.