Galapagos Islands

This was a trip a long time coming. Q, Rosanna, and I went to Galapagos Islands, Ecuador for our holiday vacation!

Getting there was a hassle. We used points for our flights. I went SFO->Houston->Panama City->Quito. After some small mishaps, we all met up in Quito, where we stayed the night. The next morning, we flew to Quito before finally flying to Baltra Island, Galapagos. There, we took a shuttle to a boat, to a shuttle to get to Puerto Ayora, a (actually, the) small port town on the island of Santa Cruz. With many derelict buildings, it certainly felt third-world. We booked some last minute tours there. We got okay deals. In the evening, one small street shuts off to vehicles, and the restaurants fill the pavement with seating. We ate at one of those restaurants and had some fresh lobster. It was good.

Dec 29

Two casual tours. The first was a “bay tour”. We took a small boat from the dock, where we saw some blue-footed boobies hanging out on the cliffs. Then we went out of the bay to visit a small island inhabited by sea lions. We swung west to another bay where we disembarked and hiked a bit through an arid, desert-like environment to a beach inhabited by marine iguanas. We went back to look for sharks resting in a calm ravine, but our tour guide said it was too hot. We did some snorkeling, which freaked me out haha. Took a little while for me to rememeber how to float. Then we went to another larger ravine where we jumped off a small pier and explored a bit. In the afternoon, we did the Highlands tour, which was kind of lame. We expected some hiking. A driver took us to two volcano craters, then a turtle ranch, with, well, turtles and lava tunnels. Nothing too crazy or adventurous.

Dec 30

A day of fun in the water! We went to Santa Fe for a snorkeling trip. We went in the water in two spots, once on the North side of the island and once in a bay by the beach. We spotted sharks, turtles, and plenty of fish. The tour guides took the boat fishing with us in it. After, we went to a “hidden” beach on the East side of Santa Cruz. There, we saw sharks and iguanas, and we sun-bathed for a bit.

Dec 31

Day trip to Isabella today. Boat ride was two hours one day, and it got rough at times. I took a motion-sickness pill, which helped incredibly. We got on a bus and drove around a bit. We saw some flamingos, which was kind of lame. We went to a turtle…conservatory(?), where we saw turtles of all ages. We went to a picturesque beach. Then, we joined a bay tour, where we saw docile penguins. We did some snorkeling and happened upon a sleeping sea turtle. We did a quick walk around the volcanic Tintoreras, where we once again did not catch sleeping sharks. New Year’s Eve was interesting. The town square filled up by the end of the night, there were tons of booths selling cheap beer and delicious food, cross-dressers harassed traffic for money, and (apparently) life-size paper mannequins were burned. We drank a decent amount and didn’t last too long into the night.

Jan 1

This day turned out to be awesome! We took our time getting up, then headed out to Tortuga Bay, about a one hour walk from our hotel. The first beach was gorgeous, enormously vast flat white sand. The surf there is too rough, so, as advised, we headed to the second, smaller, beach. There we laid down, ate, and relaxed for a while, as small finches investigated us. Then, we rented kayaks, which was incredibly fun. I drifted off from Rosanna and Kliulai eventually, and ran into tons of animals! Further out, near the end of the bay, I happened upon several sea turtles, whose only signs of presence were their occasionally surfacing air-seeking heads. I frantically paddled towards their position whenever I saw a poking head, but alas I could never see them through the water. I continued my tour and found a sea lion! It was too agile for me, though, and I lost it. Then, I came upon all the birds. Somewhere around one hundred blue-footed boobies and pelicans were resting on rocky outcroppings. I paddled up to the rocks to get close-ups. As I started to meander back to the beach, I noticed some birds were hunting, to my delight. It was really captivating to watch them hunt. They would circle, and without human-visible warning, plunge at neck-breaking speed into the water. I sat enthralled for a while, until, apparently, it was bird dinner time. Soon, a flock of around one hundred birds were circling above the bay together. Every now and then, a couple birds would fall out of formation and plunge into the water when they saw prey. And every now and then, the entire flock would throw itself at the water, having undoubtedly sighted a large school of fish. The experience was mesmerizing; the birds didn’t give two shits about me. I chased them all around. Often, birds plunged into the water mere feet away from my kayak. Eventually, I had to sprint back to the beach to return the kayak. I was excited for a while.

Jan 2

Not too much adventure this day. We spent the morning browsing shops; I was looking for presents for Shin. In the afternoon, we took a boat to San Cristobal. In Baqueriza Moreno, we had a nice dinner at a cheap, substantial local restaurant.

Jan 3

Our last day was a good one. We took a boat to the North-Western part of the island. We did some “warm-up” snorkeling at a beach. There I got to play with a sea lion! I swam in fluid, quick actions, and it swam around me for a while. We also happened upon some turtles. Then, we headed to Leon Dormant, or Kicker Rock. This was over some deep ocean. A lot of girls got tired and didn’t stay in the water the entire time. The waves rose and fell some serious distance. We swam around the rock, spotting Galapagos sharks. We went back and forth down the channel. There I got to swim within arm’s reach of a shark and a polka-dotted manta ray (not its official name…). We were in search of a hammerhead, but we couldn’t find one. After we got back, they were a little tired, so I went for a hike.