Week 9 in the Galapagos!

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July 31, 3006
Margaret Novak

The Galápagos

This past week was one of the most awesome experiences of my life!! I spent the past 7 days in the Galapagos. It was the most beautiful, biodiverse place that I have ever seen. I feel so lucky to have been able to visit one of the world’s most precious sites.

My cousin Ellen and I set out July 24th. We got to the Quito airport around 7:00 am, and left Quito around 9:30. We had to make a quick stop in Quayaquil, so we landed on the island of Baltra around 1:00 pm (it is an hour later in the Galapagos). The airport is the only thing on the island of Baltra; nobody lives there. It was used as a US military base during the Second World War. The airport was a small building made of wood, with tarps for walls. We saw two land iguanas when we got off the plane, which was a awesome; they had green lips!! We had to wait for about 2 hours for a bus to come, which then took us to a dock on the other side of the island. From there, we took a small boat to San Cristobol. The boat was smaller than the ocean swells, and for the first time in my life, I got sea sick! It was awful!! I would definitely recommend Dramamine for anybody taking that boat ride! Once we got to San Cristobol, though, everything was wonderful. We met my cousin’s friend Renee (who is living on the island doing work with the Peace Corps) and set ourselves up in a hostal for 8$/ night. We went out to a nice restaurant on the beach that night and ate wonderful ceviche and fish. Later, we went to the bar owned by Renee’s roommate, Marco. The locals were having a pool tournament, which was quite fun to watch.

The next day, we woke up and walked to a little beach about 20 minutes away. It was a beautiful place, with blue-green waters and baby sea lions every where!! We went snorkeling and the sea lions swam right up to us; it was a tiny bit scary when they were bigger than me, but they were sure cute!! I was able to get pretty close and snap some great pictures!! After the beach, we walked through town and ate some more ceviche at a local restaurant, and then of course attended the local pool tournament. At this point, I had decided that I wouldn’t mind living on the island of San Cristobol for an extended period of time. Everyone was so friendly, and everything was so safe. You could leave your purse sitting around and be completely sure that no one would even touch it.

The next day, we woke up really early and took a trip to Leon Dormida. The boat took us out to a little island off the coast of San Cristobol that looked like a sleeping lion, hence the name. We had on wet suits and snorkel gear, so when we got to the island, we just jumped right into the water (there was no beach, it was simply a large rock protruding out of the water). Immediately, I saw a hammerhead shark, which was awesome!! I was a little bit scared of all the Galapagos sharks swimming below me because they were huge, but they were docile creatures and after a while I got used to it. We saw all sorts of awesome sea life including sea turtles!! We snorkeled for about 2 hours in rather deep water (but the wet suits kept us warm), so after a while we got a little bit tired. We got back in the boat, and then headed over to La Loberia, which is an island that is famous for baby sea lions. The water was gorgeous there; it was crystal clear and a beautiful turquoise color. We were able to see many sea lions as well as marine iguanas, crabs, and various birds. When we got back onto the mainland, we went over to the San Cristobol Information and Interpretation Center. It was a really interesting place, with all sorts of information about the history of the islands, the formation of the islands, and the ecology of the islands. It was great to read about all of these things and to walk around the center as we (Ecotrackers) will be creating a similar center on the island of Santa Cruz. Once again, that night we ate delicious sea food.

The next morning, my cousin and I woke up, bid farewell to Renee, and took a boat back to Santa Cruz. (This time I had Dramamine!) We arrived early in the morning, and found a nice hostal to stay in for only $8.00/night. We decided to check out the Charles Darwin Center. It was awesome!!! They breed Galapagos turtles at the Center, and you are able to walk right up to the giant ones!! I wouldn’t mind working with the Charles Darwin Center in the near future!! We got to meet Lonesome George, the last of his race. It was quite sad really, but he is only 70 years old and has another good 150 years in him, so hopefully they will be able to figure out a way to save the Pinta Galapagos Turtles before it’s too late. They also had land iguanas at the center, which we quite big. It was amazing to learn so much about these rare species, and it makes me so happy to see that many of them coming back from the brink of extinction. We then went on further down the path to the Charles Darwin Beach. Here, we saw some marine iguanas and a bunch of little Darwin finches! They are so cute!! We shopped around a little for some souvenirs (I had to get a Lonesome George t-shirt), and then we ate some more seafood (its soo good!!) at Hernan´s Restaurant.

The next morning, we decided to check out all of the local beaches. We rented snorkel gear (for only $5.00) and then hiked on over to Tortuga Bay. The hike was wonderful; it was a little brick path that led through the dry tropical forest and we were able to see tons of lizards and birds. Then, we reached the ocean and hiked just a little further along the beach until we reached the bay. It was so beautiful!! The water was that gorgeous tortoise color again!! We were able to see tons of marine iguanas, and blue footed boobies. The marine iguanas were awesome, there were about 100 of them all piled on top of each other, and some of them were really big! I learned that if you try to take a close-up picture of them, they will spit at you!! After this, we hiked on over to Nymph Bay, which was also quite pretty. Then it was on to Las Grietas, which is a grotto where fresh water and salt water mix together. We had to take a small water taxi (only 50 cents) over to the other side of the marina, and then we hiked over salt flats, volcanic rocks, and a beach until we reached the grotto. The water was a little cold, but it was really clear and we were able to see some awesome fish. Then we headed back into town for another meal of seafood!

The next day was our last day, so we woke up and headed for the lava tubes. We got there and met Sra. Soila and Don Jose, the two people that own the land with the lava tubes. They are friends of Max´s, and we are going to start up a new project with them there. The tubes were awesome!! The first one was about a mile long, and parts of it were as high as 30 feet! It was completely dark though, so it was a good thing we had flashlights!! The rock formations were quite interesting though, and it was really fun to walk through. There are 3 tubes in all, one short one and two longer ones. Don Jose is working on making another tube accessible as well. After we walked through the tubes, we talked with Don Jose about the upcoming project. He has a nice outdoor center that he is working on, setting up information and various dioramas. He was a really nice man, and I think that any volunteer would be lucky to work in such a beautiful place! I took a look at the apartments as well, and they are quite nice. After talking with them about the project, we walked back into town and then took one last quick trip to the Charles Darwin Beach and the Center, so we could say goodbye to Lonesome George. We had one last night of seafood, and then in the morning, we returned to Quito.

All in all, I think that my experience in the Galapagos was well worth the expense! I was able to see so many rare species, such as George, and I also learned much about the Galapagos that I didn’t previously know. I even got to swim with sharks!! I think that our new project on Santa Cruz will be quite successful, and I am looking forward to seeing what the volunteers can do!