It was a year ago but often it feels like it was yesterday. Visiting Galapagos was a highlight of the trip and a lifetime experience in many ways.
Brown soil, just little vegetation and crystal-clear water were waiting for us when we arrived on Santa Cruz. In Puerto Ayora we were warmly welcomed by sealions on park benches, marine iguanas in the streets and lobster, the size of an arm (on plates).
Then I realized, I would spend this week with only the clothes I was wearing. We had mixed up bags and brought mum’s winter clothes instead of mine. Upsiii.
At the Darwin Center we visited lonesome George, the last of his kind (Pinta Island tortoise) and his living friends. He had died in 2012.
Just recently died also some thousands of sharks by the hands of humans. In the protected waters around Galapagos a Chinese ship had been caught with approximately 300 t of sharks without fins. On the first day we joined a protest march against the Chinese and shark hunting. Off the coast of Isla de San Cristóbal we could see the Chinese ship – it’s still twisting my guts just to think about it.
I was very grateful that they had left at least some sharks in the water for the Galapagos dive at the Gordon Rocks. With the advanced divers license and 25 logged dives http://www.scubaiguana.com allowed me to go. I can highly recommend this dive school.
For the first time in my diving career we have done the pre-checks (weights, buddy check,..) at another site than the actual dive spot. The currents at the rock are too strong.
In comparison to the warm water in the Caribbean Sea, the water was freezing – even with an extra thick swim suit. It’s also possible that I’m a little princess sometimes.
Anyway, descending was one more time diving into a different world. We dove face to face with turtles, hundreds of eagle rays, all kinds of different sharks and FINALLY some hammerhead sharks, hunting sea lions, millions of fish and even a rare mola mola (ocean sunfish). The currents were pushing and pulling me around, so I stuck to the fins of our guide, always worried about getting torn away.
This were two fascinating dives. The animals I saw were extraordinary and the special circumstances had been a challenge. After that, diving at Island Wolf and Island Darwin made it to the tops ten of my bucket list. One day..
From one island to another we made it by boat. It’s was always a fun ride, at least 1/3 of the passengers had their noses in a brown paper bag.
On Isla Isabela we rented bikes for a ride to the wall of tears – an ancient site built from prisoners. On the way giant tortoises crossed the path. Welcome to the tortoise highway! Looking a little bit closer at the black rocks we passed, we also saw hundreds of marine iguanas perfectly camouflaged. Often their sounds of spitting salt and strange smell revealed their location long before seeing them.
The interesting endemic vegetation had also the side effect of ruining tires and I spent the next three hours pushing my bike back to town. Honestly, I had no reason to complain, there are worse places on earth to have a flat tire.
Even visiting Galapagos mainly by DIY, there is no way to get around the tours to see more of the islands. We chose two of the cheaper ones to the volcano Sierra Negra and to the Tintoreras.
The trail to the volcano led us through kilometers of invasive guava trees, which were brought there years ago from the mainland. Now they were taking over the island. Endemic plants can’t compete with them and the tortoise get diabetes from the fruits, what causes infertility. The National Park has strict rules about fruits and seeds, which can be brought to the island nowadays, but for this island it’s probably too late.
For thousands of years the volcano has moved a few centimeters every year and has been creating a giant crater. The scenery is stunning! It erupted a few years ago (*and this year, June 2018 again) and the cold lava could be seen on the other side. We crossed the lava fields, like a walk on the moon (as I imagine it).
Just a short boat ride from the docks was our second destination Los Tintoreras, small volcanic islands. Uncountable iguanas of all sizes were all over the island, young sea lions were hunting white tip nurse sharks in a calm water channel and we swam with huge turtles and observed the marine iguanas in the water.
Last and my favorite stop was the Isla San Cristobal, the island with the sea lions. They were at every beach, either sleeping or playing in the water. A couple times a young ones joined me and played “hide and seek” or “chasing around” – my all-time favorite of the Galapagos time. So adorable.
However, at some point first mummy and then daddy showed up to play but hanging out with a fully-grown male sea lion was a little too much for my comfort zone. Ooh I got out of the water VERY quickly.
To see some more of the island, we shared a taxi with a couple I met diving. We got a good view of the crater lake El Junco with various birds, saw blue footed boobies and more giant tortoises, and almost moved in the treehouse of the crown of El Ceibo, a giant tree.
8 days have rarely passed so quickly. One day I’ll be back to explore more of Galapagos under water world, but this may have to wait until I’m grown up. Until then I hope that Ecuador can protect this unique place from big investment projects, too many tourist, Chinese fishing boats, invasive species and other threats. It’s an amazing place (so I could not not write about it, even a little delayed).
Sincerely, Antonia
Ps.: We did not book anything in advance and chose to visit the islands on our own. It is still a very expansive place but by DIY it is at least somehow affordable. You’ll have a different experience than with a Life-on-board-trip. Nevertheless, it’s a unique experience with all the animals around. If you have any questions, regarding a DIY visit of the islands don’t hesitate to ask me.
