Adventures continue in the Galapagos

The 4 of us (Cindi, Adam, and friends Kevin and Emily) have continued to rack up the Galapagos miles, as well as the critter count!  For watching wildlife in their natural habitat, totally unafraid of humans, it's hard to imagine a place coming close.  We've now spent time on the 3 major islands permitted on our autografo, Islas San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, and now Isabela.  The 3 are nice easy 40 mile day sails apart...perfect for hopping from one to the next.  Because of the protected status of the entire archipelago, we must take guided day tours to various snorkeling, diving, and critter watching sites.  Can get a bit pricey, but we haven't been disappointed yet on any of them.  Cindi will write up the diving in a separate blog post, as I haven't been able to join in as I continue to nurse my hurt shoulder.  Update is that it seems to be starting to heal, and I'm gaining some ability to lift it (with the other arm) without pain.  The sling is still on, but hopefully a few more weeks will see it right. 

The primary port cities on each of the 3 large islands are quite different from one another.  Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz is the largest in the Galapagos, with about 12,000 residents.  With a good infrastructure of various stores, dive shops, tour operators, banks, and internet hot spots, it provided a good base to resupply.  We will also stop back there to prepare for our hop across the pacific to French Polynesia in about 1 month. 

Isabela, our current island, is by far the largest of the Galapagos in terms of land area, but Puerto Vilamil, the main city (and our anchorage) only has about 2000 inhabitants.  Supply ships call here just once per month, and the town has a great laid back sleepy ambience.  Whenever it rains, they run a road grader around town to smooth out the mud holes...gotta love it.  Internet and email access is a challenge, but we love it here.  (unable to access our email site...will keep trying!!)  Iguanas and sea lions rule the place.  They swim by the boat all the time (yesterday a baby sea lion got on deck, but quickly dove back in when Cindi surprised him)  We're a bit early for the mass of cruising boats who will be heading here on their way to the South Pacific, so we've been the only cruisers on any of the islands.  Muy tranquillo, we'll probably spend a couple of more weeks here!!!  

Monthly supply day.  Small ship and barges ferry goods from off lying supply freighter (behind the tour boats...Bravo on left, over middle of the blue ferry ship)

Isabela church, religion Galapagos style!!!

Nice stained glass.....iguana, penguin, and booby.   This church has it's priorities straight!!!

 

Sea lion and Adam compare notes on flipper care

Emily gets up close and personal with a favorite iguana.

Iguana tracks everywhere on the beaches

"So these two iguanas walk into a bar....."

Iguana swimming alongside Bravo

Kevin and Emily flew out yesterday to Quito, on their way back to Seattle.  It was terrific to have them join us for the past 2 weeks.  Before leaving, though, we did some great exploring together.  One of our favorite tours was by boat to Los Tuneles, the tunnels.  ($50/pp with Isabela Diving)  An enormous eerie labrynth of volcanic tunnels, bridges, and water pathways, we did some hiking ashore before jumping in the water for some great snorkeling around the area, swimming with white tipped sharks, lots of turtles, rays, and heaps of fish.  It's apparently mating season for the sea turtles, and we were often surrounded by happy couples engaged in their version of the horizontal cha cha for hours of tortugal bliss!  The females will lay their eggs on favorite beaches later in March.

Randy reptiles enjoy their day to play

Blue footed boobies

And their feet are VERY blue.....more so than those we saw in Mexico

Sally Lightfoot crab

Spotted Eagle Ray

Another tour, right next to anchored Bravo, was on the volcanic reef of Tintoreras.  Walking around the islets for a couple of hours we came upon literally heaps of iguanas (the beach is one of their favorite breeding beaches), birds including blue footed boobies, oyster catchers, frigate birds, and sharks and sea turtles.  A perfect way to spend an afternoon ($25/pp)

Oystercatcher

Booby with two Galapagos penguins, the second smallest species in the world

 Sorry if you guys are getting tired of iguana portraits...the guys are just too cool to leave out!!!

 

Big island activity a couple of days ago was watching a crew try to move a wrecked boat up the road to its final resting place several miles away, to be cut into scrap.  There is no trailer big enough here in the Galapagos.  After several hours with 3 earth movers and one road grader it had moved a hundred yards or so.  There it still sits!!  Ahhh....island life, we love it!!

Bravo, out.....

Galapagos delivers the GREAT, the good, and the ugly!!!!!

We spent about 3 days on and around Isla San Cristobal, exploring, diving, and getting our bearings in this beautiful area.  On our 1st day, we hired a taxi for the day.  $80 for a very full day, driving around the island and seeing the sights and critters.  Tortoises, sea lions, iguanas, and lots of birds, it was a terrific orientation.  All of the animals in the Galapagos are protected, so they are not at all shy of humans.  Truly amazing to be able to walk right up to them. 


Visited a sanctuary for the giant tortoises, basically just a large arid forest with tortoises lurking all over the place, grazing and hanging out in the swamps.  They also had a nursery for raising tortoises from eggs to be released as they grow large enough to be protected from natural predators.  Photo ops were great, these 100-150 year old giants don't move all that fast!!  In fact they don't move much at all, except for a slow, steady breathing, very loudly exhaling, and sounding a lot like Darth Vader.  Ya gotta love these guys!!!

 

Our cabbie then took us over to a beach for a snorkel.  Sea lions were lounging all over, many with babies nursing.  Even in this mode, they were totally unafraid of us, with even the males acting mellow and non threatening, very different from the nursing sea lions we've seen elsewhere.

Also on this beach were lots of lounging marine iguanas.  These characters just lay around, not moving too fast, soaking up the hot sun on the rocks before slithering back into the water.  Come to think of it, all of the Galapagos critters we've been spotting, at least those above the surface of the water, are pretty much in slow-mo.

All in all, it was a terrific first day of exploring  in the Galapagos. 

First dive was near the point at the left end of this photo.  Second was through the channel between the 2 rocks.

Through Bolivar, we arranged to hire divemaster Patricio to take us diving the next day at a nearby offshore rock, Lionida Dormida, sleeping lion.  The rock is known for great assortment of fish, both colorful reef fish and larger pelagics, including lots of sharks.  We were assured that the sharks, including hammerheads, NEVER attack people here in the Galapagos, as they have so much better tasting food swimming around.  OK, we're good with that!!

On the way out to the rock, we stopped to check out our gear, including buoyancy checks to be sure we had our weights right, and go for a snorkel with sea lions.  The moms and juveniles, as usual, seemed as curious about us as we were about them.  Fun for all!!!

On arrival at Lionida Dormida, we eagerly got geared up and jumped in the water.  Quickly we dropped down to 100', and Patricio was great at spotting schools of fish all around.  We saw a large school of scalloped hammerheads, then barracudas, and several sea turtles came by to check us out.  Very cool indeed.  A terrific dive, until we were surfacing.  I (Adam) got too close to the rock and got caught in a very strong surge current that swept me against it.  Rolling and tumbling on the rock, things were actually looking pretty grim.  The waves pulled off a fin, the regulator was pulled from my mouth, and my camera also was pulled from my grip, and broke it's tether.  After quite a struggle to get out of the surge, I was able to swim a bit shakily away, and the mate on the boat helped me back aboard.  Very scary business, this was the most challenging dive situation I've been in, and was lucky to escape as well as I did.  The boat driver, also a dive master, told me later that he was afraid when he saw me trapped in the surf that the barnacles would turn me to hamburger!  Not good at all.  Speaking of this guy, the boat driver/dive master.....when he heard I'd lost my camera, he instantly strapped on a tank and jumped in to look for it!  Even when he said he often dives this rock 3-5 times per week, I had absolutely no hope he'd be able to find it, given the surge along the rocks.  But amazingly, after about 20 minutes he surfaced, camera in hand!!!  Said he saw it from about 90 feet down, on the bottom at 150 feet, and was able to get it, no problema!!!  What a stud!  Needless to say, he earned a nice tip!!!

The only lasting bummer about the incident is that my left shoulder got wrenched hard.  It's still, 3 days later, very painful to move.  I've been keeping it in a sling day and night, and I guess will wait for a few more days before deciding if I need to fly back to the mainland Ecuador for further evaluation of the damage with an MRI.  It doesn't sound as though the hospital here is worth the visit, unfortunately.  Especially a bummer to be here in the Galapagos, unable to dive, or even snorkel, after all of this planning for this visit.  Ah well, es la vida.  Our fingers are crossed that it heals soon, so that I can regain use of the arm.  In the meantime, there is plenty to see on shore.

After that dive, Cindi, Emily, and Kevin did another great dive at the rock, again with lots of wildlife.  The next day, 2 days ago, we had a good sail to our next "Galapago", Isla Santa Cruz, about 40 miles away.  Now anchored in Puerto Ayora, the largest city in the Galapagos.  More adventures to follow!!!