January 8, 2016 - Arrival in Baltra, Explored Santa Cruz
Undeniably each member of our trip woke up with the excitement of going to the Galapagos Islands today! We traveled on a 50 minute flight from Guayaquil to Baltra airport located on the Baltra island. Although I have to admit that flying to international countries that I have never been to before makes me nervous. What if I fill out the customs sheet wrong? What if I pulled a Harley and forgot or lost my passport? What if I have something in my luggage that I didn't realize was illegal to bring? What if I was just too brown for security? Too many questions with answers that no body seems to have.
When we got off the plane I immediately noticed the only three wind turbines in all of the Galapagos Islands that Sydne and Sarah pointed out in their presentation. These three wind turbines generate power for the entire island! I'm glad Baltra was more barren than I expected because it set my expectations even higher for the islands we saw from an aerial view. We took a short ferry ride from Baltra to Santa Cruz to begin our explorations. By the way... I've noticed that Ecuadorians are not as uptight or concerned as we are... We watched the ferry workers literally throw our bags on the roof of a small boat that by the looks of it seemed as if it could not handle the weight of the luggage and passengers. I was mainly concerned for Steve's luggage bag since the workers placed his bag on its wheels, making it susceptible to rolling off with a simple wind gust or turn of the boat. Safe to say that after our luggage made it safely to the other side, I had no problem trusting the weight of the boat or the workers again.
Many of us slept on the bus ride from the port at Santa Cruz to Puerto Ayoro where our catamaran Nemo I awaited our arrival. I had never been on a catamaran before and it was amazing, awesome, cool, and any other synonymous you can think of. We received our room assignments, I roomed with Sarah even though I never slept in the room (I'll get to that part later), dropped off our luggage, and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Center where we learned about the rescued turtles and iguanas. To be completely honest, the walk to the Darwin Center was more interesting than the Center itself. We saw male and female turtles, which is cool but they don't really do much ya know? Which I guess is the key to living a long life of at least 100 years old. The breeding center for these turtles was actually closed, but I did learn an interesting fact that the Darwin Center can genetically alter the sex of a baby turtle before it is born by way of in vitro fertilization. The iguanas were huge and colorful even though they were shedding. Similar to Beta fish, they had to remain in their individual corridors otherwise we would have seen a fight to the death iguana style. I'm glad we didn't spend too much of our time at the Darwin Center since certain exhibits were closed anyway, which gave us the ability to have our first beach day, and in the Galapagos Islands nonetheless! I guess Ecuadorians don't really wear bathing suits either? I observed many adults in the water wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts. After the fun dip in exceptionally beautiful water surrounded by indescribable views, we walked around town and ventured in and out of the souvenir shops.
Back on the boat we met our two remaining boat-mates, a lovely and intellectual couple from Tasmania, not far off from Australia. Steve admitted that Dominick was his man crush (sorry Steve, but hey who could blame you?) Tait warned us multiple times that there is always a lack of food on catamarans and students tend to go to bed hungry, but man was he wrong! Our first meal was fantastic. Unfortunately I am prone to motion sickness so sleeping in a confined space with bunk beds and rocking boat was a definite no-no. Lucky enough the top of the catamaran had a lounge area with sofas that I claimed as my bed for the rest of the trip.
When we got off the plane I immediately noticed the only three wind turbines in all of the Galapagos Islands that Sydne and Sarah pointed out in their presentation. These three wind turbines generate power for the entire island! I'm glad Baltra was more barren than I expected because it set my expectations even higher for the islands we saw from an aerial view. We took a short ferry ride from Baltra to Santa Cruz to begin our explorations. By the way... I've noticed that Ecuadorians are not as uptight or concerned as we are... We watched the ferry workers literally throw our bags on the roof of a small boat that by the looks of it seemed as if it could not handle the weight of the luggage and passengers. I was mainly concerned for Steve's luggage bag since the workers placed his bag on its wheels, making it susceptible to rolling off with a simple wind gust or turn of the boat. Safe to say that after our luggage made it safely to the other side, I had no problem trusting the weight of the boat or the workers again.
Many of us slept on the bus ride from the port at Santa Cruz to Puerto Ayoro where our catamaran Nemo I awaited our arrival. I had never been on a catamaran before and it was amazing, awesome, cool, and any other synonymous you can think of. We received our room assignments, I roomed with Sarah even though I never slept in the room (I'll get to that part later), dropped off our luggage, and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Center where we learned about the rescued turtles and iguanas. To be completely honest, the walk to the Darwin Center was more interesting than the Center itself. We saw male and female turtles, which is cool but they don't really do much ya know? Which I guess is the key to living a long life of at least 100 years old. The breeding center for these turtles was actually closed, but I did learn an interesting fact that the Darwin Center can genetically alter the sex of a baby turtle before it is born by way of in vitro fertilization. The iguanas were huge and colorful even though they were shedding. Similar to Beta fish, they had to remain in their individual corridors otherwise we would have seen a fight to the death iguana style. I'm glad we didn't spend too much of our time at the Darwin Center since certain exhibits were closed anyway, which gave us the ability to have our first beach day, and in the Galapagos Islands nonetheless! I guess Ecuadorians don't really wear bathing suits either? I observed many adults in the water wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts. After the fun dip in exceptionally beautiful water surrounded by indescribable views, we walked around town and ventured in and out of the souvenir shops.
Back on the boat we met our two remaining boat-mates, a lovely and intellectual couple from Tasmania, not far off from Australia. Steve admitted that Dominick was his man crush (sorry Steve, but hey who could blame you?) Tait warned us multiple times that there is always a lack of food on catamarans and students tend to go to bed hungry, but man was he wrong! Our first meal was fantastic. Unfortunately I am prone to motion sickness so sleeping in a confined space with bunk beds and rocking boat was a definite no-no. Lucky enough the top of the catamaran had a lounge area with sofas that I claimed as my bed for the rest of the trip.
January 9, 2016 - San Cristobal
For the first half of the trip I set a million alarms since I am known to ALWAYS be late, but for my mornings on the catamaran I naturally woke up to a sun rise and a beautiful breeze. If I had those views and that weather on a daily basis, I would have no problem being an early riser. It was absolutely one of my favorite ways to wake up.
We all enjoyed breakfast together and then began our morning off early hiking on an area called Punta Pitt on the island of San Cristobal. Just upon arriving to San Cristobal we were greeted by red rock crabs, sea lions, lava lizards, marine iguanas, and various birds like the red footed boobies. Throughout our hike we saw many different types of vegetation such as cacti and also discussed how quickly the vegetation can change due to the island's geographical location. Our guide was extremely educated on the Galapagos Islands and even told us about how the horizontal lines on the rocks were actually lines of erosion. I believe this was the hike when our guide informed us of the high mortality rates of birds with multiple siblings. The mother often flies away to find enough food for just one baby, or flies away and does not survive the flight, amongst various other factors contributing to the sad fact of hungry baby birds. Along the way we surprisingly came across goats, which was unexpected because of the eradication process all the goats went through on the Galapagos islands. Although there no takers on the offer of catching the goat and earning $20.
Afterwards we all went snorkeling, my first time! Little did I know until the next day that the valve in my snorkel was broken so I couldn't breath underwater my whole first experience. I also wore a life jacket because better safe than sorry (I am not a strong swimmer). For the few seconds I could hold my breath underwater I wanted to stay down there as long as I could. Fish are one of my favorite pets and I dream to have a massive aquarium in my future house. Alongside the fish we were swimming with some playful sea lions! Tait missed out...
After our incredible snorkeling experience we were taken to another beach nearby named Cerro Brujo where we watched the sea lions for what seemed to be forever, but it was probably only 10 or 15 minutes, although the beach was packed with them. It was like people watching but with sea lions because their actions were so funny and I love the way they move. I kind of wish to be a sea lion in another life... you just veg out all day on the beach. After we finally broke apart from the sea lion congregation we continued our little adventure and had the opportunity to go swimming at one of the most amazing beaches I will ever have the opportunity of enjoying. The sand was softer than anything imaginable, the color and temperature of the water was more than perfection, and the waves were coming in smooth. Along the beach there were plenty more sea lion and iguanas just veggin out. Because Cerro Brujo is more beachy whereas Punta Pitt is hilly and rocky, Cerro Brujo seemed much more open and green with cacti and other tall green vegetations.
After an exhausting day being out in the brutal Ecuador sun, we all relaxed on the nets in front of the catamaran as the boat circled around Leon Dormido, a large rock formation that symbolizes a sleeping lion. After being so close to Leon Dormido, it was much taller than I expected. I guess our tickets included whale watching too because we were able to catch a couple of Humpback Whales swimming around us.
Whales and Goats in one day?! Expect the unexpected I suppose.
We all enjoyed breakfast together and then began our morning off early hiking on an area called Punta Pitt on the island of San Cristobal. Just upon arriving to San Cristobal we were greeted by red rock crabs, sea lions, lava lizards, marine iguanas, and various birds like the red footed boobies. Throughout our hike we saw many different types of vegetation such as cacti and also discussed how quickly the vegetation can change due to the island's geographical location. Our guide was extremely educated on the Galapagos Islands and even told us about how the horizontal lines on the rocks were actually lines of erosion. I believe this was the hike when our guide informed us of the high mortality rates of birds with multiple siblings. The mother often flies away to find enough food for just one baby, or flies away and does not survive the flight, amongst various other factors contributing to the sad fact of hungry baby birds. Along the way we surprisingly came across goats, which was unexpected because of the eradication process all the goats went through on the Galapagos islands. Although there no takers on the offer of catching the goat and earning $20.
Afterwards we all went snorkeling, my first time! Little did I know until the next day that the valve in my snorkel was broken so I couldn't breath underwater my whole first experience. I also wore a life jacket because better safe than sorry (I am not a strong swimmer). For the few seconds I could hold my breath underwater I wanted to stay down there as long as I could. Fish are one of my favorite pets and I dream to have a massive aquarium in my future house. Alongside the fish we were swimming with some playful sea lions! Tait missed out...
After our incredible snorkeling experience we were taken to another beach nearby named Cerro Brujo where we watched the sea lions for what seemed to be forever, but it was probably only 10 or 15 minutes, although the beach was packed with them. It was like people watching but with sea lions because their actions were so funny and I love the way they move. I kind of wish to be a sea lion in another life... you just veg out all day on the beach. After we finally broke apart from the sea lion congregation we continued our little adventure and had the opportunity to go swimming at one of the most amazing beaches I will ever have the opportunity of enjoying. The sand was softer than anything imaginable, the color and temperature of the water was more than perfection, and the waves were coming in smooth. Along the beach there were plenty more sea lion and iguanas just veggin out. Because Cerro Brujo is more beachy whereas Punta Pitt is hilly and rocky, Cerro Brujo seemed much more open and green with cacti and other tall green vegetations.
After an exhausting day being out in the brutal Ecuador sun, we all relaxed on the nets in front of the catamaran as the boat circled around Leon Dormido, a large rock formation that symbolizes a sleeping lion. After being so close to Leon Dormido, it was much taller than I expected. I guess our tickets included whale watching too because we were able to catch a couple of Humpback Whales swimming around us.
Whales and Goats in one day?! Expect the unexpected I suppose.
January 10, 2016 - Santa Fe
Waking up to a cool breeze and a sun rise is one of the most refreshing ways to wake up. A similar day like yesterday, we had a great breakfast and ventured out for a hike up a very narrow and rocky hill. For once I could not talk myself out of my fear of slipping on a rock so halfway through I panicked and lovely Donna walked back down with me.
After the rest of the group finished their hike a few of us decided to go snorkeling again, and I am thankful that I decided to go again because I finally got a working snorkel and could breathe underwater with the fishies! The variety of fish in the lagoon were incredible and I wish I could take them home with me and begin my aquarium. We also saw a sea turtle at the bottom of the ocean which was pretty cool.
After snorkeling our guide took us to the South Plaza Islet where we saw many land iguanas residing on that island surrounded by the ocean on all sides as far as your eyes could sea (Get it? haha). On the South Plaza 65% of land iguanas survive because there are rarely any predators, which is a pretty good percentage compared to the poor birds on Punta Pitt. Iguanas on the South Plaza also do not change their colors! Apparently El Niño is actually good for land iguanas because their cold blooded nature needs the warmth. During a rainy season iguanas do not come out of their holes (homes) being able to last up to 45 days without food. On the South Plaza Iguanas do eat the dead Sea lions (intestines and skin), although interesting enough there were iguana skeletons completely intact that we encountered on our walk. In addition to the land iguanas, there were a variety of birds such as the Galapagos Gulls, Red Footed Boobies, Frigates, and tropical birds from New Zealand! On one part of south plaza there are no cacti because iguanas eat baby cacti so the baby cacti are now fenced as a way to preserve them.
We all enjoyed a relaxing evening on the boat on our Cruise back to Santa Cruz (get it? haha). Another amazing dinner where I had octopus for the first time! After dinner Dominick was kind enough to give us a presentation on Australia and Tasmania, mainly focusing on the Bass Straight and hydroelectricity. I wish I knew as much about hydroelectricity prior to his presentation as I do now so I could have been more engaging. All in all his presentation was excellent and we were lucky to have traveled with a couple that were social and engaging enough to enjoy speaking to a bunch of college students.
Fun fact: Galapagos gulls are the only birds that when they become a couple they stay a couple. Also their enemies are owls.
After the rest of the group finished their hike a few of us decided to go snorkeling again, and I am thankful that I decided to go again because I finally got a working snorkel and could breathe underwater with the fishies! The variety of fish in the lagoon were incredible and I wish I could take them home with me and begin my aquarium. We also saw a sea turtle at the bottom of the ocean which was pretty cool.
After snorkeling our guide took us to the South Plaza Islet where we saw many land iguanas residing on that island surrounded by the ocean on all sides as far as your eyes could sea (Get it? haha). On the South Plaza 65% of land iguanas survive because there are rarely any predators, which is a pretty good percentage compared to the poor birds on Punta Pitt. Iguanas on the South Plaza also do not change their colors! Apparently El Niño is actually good for land iguanas because their cold blooded nature needs the warmth. During a rainy season iguanas do not come out of their holes (homes) being able to last up to 45 days without food. On the South Plaza Iguanas do eat the dead Sea lions (intestines and skin), although interesting enough there were iguana skeletons completely intact that we encountered on our walk. In addition to the land iguanas, there were a variety of birds such as the Galapagos Gulls, Red Footed Boobies, Frigates, and tropical birds from New Zealand! On one part of south plaza there are no cacti because iguanas eat baby cacti so the baby cacti are now fenced as a way to preserve them.
We all enjoyed a relaxing evening on the boat on our Cruise back to Santa Cruz (get it? haha). Another amazing dinner where I had octopus for the first time! After dinner Dominick was kind enough to give us a presentation on Australia and Tasmania, mainly focusing on the Bass Straight and hydroelectricity. I wish I knew as much about hydroelectricity prior to his presentation as I do now so I could have been more engaging. All in all his presentation was excellent and we were lucky to have traveled with a couple that were social and engaging enough to enjoy speaking to a bunch of college students.
Fun fact: Galapagos gulls are the only birds that when they become a couple they stay a couple. Also their enemies are owls.
January 11, 2016 - The Day I fought a Shark
Today was the last day I could wake up to the most peaceful and refreshing mornings. We started our morning very early in order to catch the sun rise as we took a dingy boat ride to the turtle cove. We circled around a marshy area keeping a look out for green pacific turtles, awkwardly catching them mating. In addition to seeing a few turtles, we got to see galapagos gulls, a great frigate bird, and a baby galapagos shark! (It was probably the shark I fought the later in the day). This morning the tide was very low, so we could see the difference of colors along the middle of the trees from when the high tide constantly hits.
After the dingy boat ride and watching turtles mate, we packed our bags and left Nemo I to spend our last day in the Galapagos at a hotel back in Santa Cruz. Before we reached The North Seymour Hotel, we made a pitstop at El Chato Ranch, home to some of the largest tortoises I've ever seen! After a relaxing excursion for once, a few of us opted to go snorkeling one last time. For some reason I was more scared to jump off of this boat than I was the previous days of snorkeling. I should have trusted my gut feeling of waiting until our second stop to test the waters with my life jacket. Even after I went against my gut and stood up to climb over the side of the boat I immediately fell backwards because I didn't have anything to grab on to. Attempt number two of going against my gut - *began humming the jaws theme song to the best of your ability* -
AHHHHHHHH! It's the baby galapagos shark returning for revenge for waking him up at 6:45 am with our dingy boat! My ripped bikini bottoms are proof of how close the shark was from eating my flesh right off. I turned around and began throwing punches, and eventually the shark swam away. In complete shock I climbed up the side of the boat to put on some shorts and immediately recognized a nasty bruise along my entire bicep. In such a rage fighting the shark, I must have not even noticed the sudden impact. As I sit back down to catch my breath I look down and scream in horror that my middle finger, ring finger, and pinky on my right hand was nearly off the bone! - Just kidding, but the inner knuckles were severely cut and with the combination of the nasty bruised bicep, I was in tears. Safe to say I haven't snorkeled since.
Orrrrr.... the injuries could have just been a result of my bikini bottoms catching onto to something causing them to rip and the entire right side of my body to crash against the side of the boat. I think the first story is more believable.
The next time any of you decide to swim with the sharks, watch this video as a reminder that not all sharks are friends.
After the dingy boat ride and watching turtles mate, we packed our bags and left Nemo I to spend our last day in the Galapagos at a hotel back in Santa Cruz. Before we reached The North Seymour Hotel, we made a pitstop at El Chato Ranch, home to some of the largest tortoises I've ever seen! After a relaxing excursion for once, a few of us opted to go snorkeling one last time. For some reason I was more scared to jump off of this boat than I was the previous days of snorkeling. I should have trusted my gut feeling of waiting until our second stop to test the waters with my life jacket. Even after I went against my gut and stood up to climb over the side of the boat I immediately fell backwards because I didn't have anything to grab on to. Attempt number two of going against my gut - *began humming the jaws theme song to the best of your ability* -
AHHHHHHHH! It's the baby galapagos shark returning for revenge for waking him up at 6:45 am with our dingy boat! My ripped bikini bottoms are proof of how close the shark was from eating my flesh right off. I turned around and began throwing punches, and eventually the shark swam away. In complete shock I climbed up the side of the boat to put on some shorts and immediately recognized a nasty bruise along my entire bicep. In such a rage fighting the shark, I must have not even noticed the sudden impact. As I sit back down to catch my breath I look down and scream in horror that my middle finger, ring finger, and pinky on my right hand was nearly off the bone! - Just kidding, but the inner knuckles were severely cut and with the combination of the nasty bruised bicep, I was in tears. Safe to say I haven't snorkeled since.
Orrrrr.... the injuries could have just been a result of my bikini bottoms catching onto to something causing them to rip and the entire right side of my body to crash against the side of the boat. I think the first story is more believable.
The next time any of you decide to swim with the sharks, watch this video as a reminder that not all sharks are friends.
https://youtu.be/fo_Q82lzGBg