September 18, 2007
Day 720
Galapagos Cruise Day 4.1

This morning, Wilmer led us on a tour of the Charles Darwin Research Center, which is the main place on the Galapagos for the rehabilitation of the giant land tortoises from which the islands received their name. We were in a major hurry because some people had to get to the airport, and when we got to see the tortoises for the first time, I thought they were just fake models that had been enlarged to show us more details. However, when I saw one of the tortoises move very slowly, I realized that they were, in fact, real.

We also learned about all of the horrible things people did to decimate the tortoise population on the islands. Sailors used to take the huge reptiles away in their ships by the hundreds because they were capable of surviving without food or water for up to a year, providing fresh meat long after the ships had set sail. Later, people colonized the islands and brought with them non-native animals like cats, dogs, pigs, and goats, which killed tortoises either directly by eating their eggs, or indirectly by eating all of their food. Finally, when populations got really low, teams of scientists came to the islands to remove the "last members" of the species for research, only to have more scientists do the same thing a few years later. People only began serious efforts to preserve the nature of the Galapagos within the last fifty years.

After learning about how endangered some species of tortoise were, we were introduced to Lonesome George. For years, everyone thought the Pinta Island species of tortoise was extinct, but then one male was found in the early 1970's and was brought to the Charles Darwin Research Center. George is now the only member of his species, and while efforts have been made to cross-breed him with a closely-related species, he has refused to mate. He's believed to be between seventy and one hundred years old, and could still live another hundred years.

Seeing Lonesome George was the most disturbing part of my Galapagos visit. When a species is extinct, we can blame it on our ancestors and move on with our lives. When there are only ten members of a species remaining, as happened with another species of Galapagos tortoise, there still is hope for survival. But when there's only one member left, there is no hope, and we have to live with the reminder of what we've done. George will probably outlive us all, and will continue to show people the chilling result of our exploitation for generations to come.

The cruise ended abruptly after the CDRC visit. The Friend Ship will pick up some new passengers and continue her trip around the Galapagos for a few more days, but Daniela and I were left in the road to walk back to town. We could have easily visited the CDRC on our own, so it wasn't really a "five-day" cruise, but most of the tours I looked at were structured that way, so we didn't have much of a choice. Still, the cruise was an amazing experience, and worth every penny.

The travel agent we got our cruise from included a free kayak rental, and Daniela and I took advantage this afternoon. We paddled around the bay of Puerto Ayora, through the huge, crashing waves of the open sea, and into another harbor. We also took advantage of our snorkeling gear one last time. It was pretty scary at times being in such a small vessel paddling through such huge waves, but somehow we made it back to Puerto Ayora alive.

The photo album for this entry is here.

September 17, 2007
Day 719
Galapagos Cruise Day 4

We got to Floreana Island early in the morning once again, and our first stop was to a place called Puerto Cormorant. We had another guided walk around the shore, and we learned that this island was quite swampy compared with the others. The main animals we saw were flamingos, but there were only a few searching for fish in the murky waters. We walked to the beach on the other side of the island, and Wilmer pointed out a dead puffer fish that had washed ashore. We also got to see the tracks left last night by a sea turtle as it dragged its way onto the beach and buried its eggs in the sand, a lucky sighting considering how quickly sand erodes.

Next we made the short trip to the Devil's Crown, a circle of rocks jutting out of the ocean near the main island, for our best day of snorkeling yet. Visibility was so great, I could see all the way to the coral bottom, even when it was fifteen meters below the surface. Massive fish were constantly circling me, there were starfish laying all over the place, and huge stingrays floated past me every few minutes.

But the best part of the Devil's Crown was a tunnel that went through the coral rocks two meters down. The sun's rays were hitting the tunnel so brilliantly, it acted like a beacon, begging me to swim through it. Just as a I grabbed a breath of air for my attempt, a sea lion torpedoed right past me and through the tunnel, as if to lead the way. Soon, I joined her on the other side, and we barked our congratulations to each other. I felt like the boy version of Little Mermaid.

Or final stop of the day was in Post Office Bay, on the other side of the island. Back in the days when the Galapagos were used as a whaling station, a barrel was set up there for mailing letters. When the sailors went to the bay, they left letters addressed to their friends, and took letters addressed to places they were soon going. The barrel has been replaced many times over the years, but the concept still exists. When we opened the barrel, we found postcards for people all over the world. Zoe, a Kiwi girl on our boat, found a card addressed for only a few blocks from where she grew up. Wilmer claims that so many tourists visit the place, the system actually works better than the regular mail. We'll see about that. In any case, it's an interesting concept that I think should be implemented at tourist destinations all over the world.

After leaving Floreana, we steamed all afternoon back to Puerto Ayora. Once we parked in the bay, we were free to check out the town for some Galapagos nightlife. A lot of the people on the boat hadn't been to Puerto Ayora yet, having arrived in the Galapagos on the first day of the cruise. We hadn't had much of a chance to socialize so far because of our action-packed days, but the group turned out to be a fun one tonight at the Pongo Bar.

The photo album for this entry is here.

September 16, 2007
Day 718
Galapagos Cruise Day 3

We made it to Espanola Island at about 5:00 AM, and finally the engines were cut off and we stopped rocking so violently. I managed to get a couple hours of good sleep before our wakeup call for breakfast. Most of the other passengers were very hungry after not being able to hold down their dinner last night, and breakfast was wolfed down at record speed today.

We rode the small boat to Gardner Bay, which was the nicest looking beach we had been to yet. As we walked along the white sandy shore, we were greeted by lots of sea lions, some mockingbirds, and a few iguanas. One of the mockingbirds thought Daniela's hair would make a tasty meal and proceeded to chomp it down to Daniela's surprise and disgust.

Next we had another opportunity to go snorkeling. There weren't quite as many animals as yesterday, but I did get to swim with some fish and a stingray. The water was cold again, and even with the wet suit, I could only snorkel for a short time before freezing. It wasn't how I expected the equatorial waters to be.

This afternoon we took the Friend Ship to Punta Suarez on the other side of the island. As soon as we set foot on shore, we walked directly into a deadly fight between two male sea iguanas who were competing for a mate. We stood in a circle and cheered on this act of animal barbarism like we were on the set of Mad Max. The lizards put their heads together, stared into each other's eyes, and pushed themselves all around the sand. Sometimes, they wrestled until one bit the other so hard he drew blood. We watched this fight in amazement for about twenty minutes, when Wilmer made us leave because we still had so much more to see.

As we continued walking, we ran into hordes of nesting blue foot boobies. We learned how the males have smaller pupils than their female counterparts, and how they have different calls to attract one another. We also saw lots of masked boobies, who shared much of the same territory with their blue footed cousins.

Next we headed to a large cliff with water constantly spraying all over the rocks below. It reminded me a lot of West Point Island on the Falkland Islands, except this time instead of seeing black browed albatrosses, we saw the waved species native to the Galapagos. There were constantly birds of several different species flying directly over us.

The real treat of the day was when we got to see the albatrosses do their mating dance. They clicked their beaks together, bounced their heads up and down, and flapped their wings in a perfect display of mirroring. Every now and then a third albatross would join in and their would be a party of sorts. The noise of their beaks rapidly smacking each other was hypnotic, and we had a hard time walking away despite Wilmer's insistence that we had to go. I've been so amazed at what I've seen every day of this cruise, I didn't think it possibly could get any better. Yet every day has, in fact, been better than the last.

We had another long night of steaming through rough waters toward Floreana Island, and once again, we left right after eating supper. However, tonight Daniela and I had a secret weapon. Being the good doctor that she was, Daniela came fully equipped with a first aid kit, including seasickness pills. The boat was even rockier than last night, but Daniela and I were able to enjoy the ride while everyone else looked green with envy.

The photo album for this entry is here.

September 15, 2007
Day 717
Galapagos Cruise Day 2

Luckily for us, we didn't have to go very far to reach our first stopping point today, so we remained anchored in the calm bay most of the night. At 5:00 AM, however, the noisy engine started up, we started rocking our way toward the Plaza Islands, and that was the end of my good night's sleep. At least our cabin wasn't in the back of the ship, where some of the other passengers complained that the fumes were so bad, they couldn't sleep at all. That's strange, I would think the fumes would help one sleep much better than normal.

Our guide Wilmer took us for a walk around one of the Plaza Islands on what seemed like a lightning-fast tour this morning. When we first landed, we were greeted by about half a dozen sea lions. They didn't seem to mind having us nearby as long as we didn't get within two meters or so of them. But whenever someone got too close, they really got aggressive and started chasing after them. Well, they chased people as fast as an animal with fins instead of feet can move on terra firma

As we began walking along the designated path, we witnessed a dry colorful landscape consisting of lots of cacti and red vegetation mixed with the volcanic rock. We also passed dozens of land and sea iguanas sitting in the sun. Just like most of the other animals I had seen so far, I was able to walk right up to them and they never even flinched. The coolest part of the visit happened when one iguana scurried past us carrying a delicious piece of cactus, only to have it swiped away by a bigger and stronger iguana, demonstrating survival of the fittest in dramatic firsthand fashion.

Toward the end of our path was a high cliff with waves crashing against the crab-laden shore below. Lots of birds made their nests in the area, and they were constantly flying in and out in search of food. At that point, we saw a few baby sea lions nursing on their mothers. We even came across the mummified remains of a sea lion and a lizard. The nature we saw there was incredible.

After we made our way back to the ship, we steamed to Santa Fe Island for some snorkeling. The water was much colder today, so Daniela and I rented wet suits. When I asked if I should go naked underneath my wet suit, everyone started laughing. Hey, I had never worn one before, so it was a serious question. I didn't realize I was on a cruise with a bunch of Jacques Cousteau disciples, I thought as I proceeded to put my suit on backwards.

Anyway, from the moment I jumped in the water, I was amazed at what I saw. A sea lion had been sitting on the rocks close to our boat, but when he saw me in the water, he swam right up to me. Sea lions are smelly, loud, and kind of ugly on land. They constantly bark, burp, cough, and poop everywhere, giving them a striking resemblance to big, fat couch potatoes, sitting around watching football all day. But in the water, they are fast and graceful like massive ballerinas. My sea lion friend darted at me so fast there was nothing I could do but watch him and hope he didn't knock me out and drown me. But at the last second, he took a sharp turn downward, swam underneath me, and came up for air on the other side of me, barking out his approval. From that point on, I was hooked on snorkeling.

There were also a lot more animals in the bay than sea lions today. At first, there were just a bunch of ubiquitous huge tropical fish moving back and forth everywhere around me, but then I looked down and saw a massive sea turtle right underneath me. I took a huge breath and swam down to it, using my fins to propel myself along with it, contemplating grabbing onto its shell and seeing where it would take me. But then I remembered that I couldn't hold my breath for thirty minutes like a sea turtle, and had to come back up for air.

I climbed back into the ship for a short break, and one of the crew members informed me that he was about to take some people to the other side of the bay in the small boat. I went along with him, and within a few minutes, we were looking at about fifty eagle rays that were bigger than me. They swam slowly in perfect formation directly under our boat. Then we saw a bunch of sharks with white-tipped fins thrashing around near us. Suddenly, the boat driver yelled "OK, jump in!" and everyone just looked at each other like he was crazy. Surely he couldn't have intended for us to go snorkeling with thousands of deadly animals near us. I contemplated this for a few minutes and decided that the crew of the Friend Ship wouldn't risk our lives so cavalierly. On the other hand, this was a "budget cruise," so maybe lightening the load a bit would be good for the ship's bottom line. Eventually I threw caution to the wind and jumped in. The water was surprisingly quiet at first, but as soon as a massive stingray swam right under me and I looked up just in time to see a shark pass me, I freaked out and made a beeline for the safety of the boat.

When we had gotten our fix of snorkeling, we landed and made a tour of the island. The main animal we were looking for was the endemic land iguana, which existed nowhere else in the world. It took a lot of searching because it was so well adapted to its environment, but eventually we spotted one. It made a little smirky smile at us as if to acknowledge that it had lost its game of hide-and-go-seek. We also saw some doves and a bunch more sea lions. Wilmer assured us that the thick, dry brush that seemed so typical of the Galapagos Islands was not dead and would in fact regain its brilliant color during the rainy season. We still had some time left in our long day, so we lay on the beach with the sea lions and watched the sunset.

Our destination for tomorrow would be Espanola Island, which was so far away that we had to start steaming as soon as we finished dinner tonight. Our food hadn't yet settled in our stomachs, and consequently I saw a lot of flushed out faces around the ship as we started rocking heavily in the huge swells of the open sea. Soon I started to feel sick myself and went outside to stare at the horizon, only to realize that it was a moonless night, and the horizon was not visible. I sat on top of the ship, where the Israelis were smoking cigars, drinking beer, and telling loud, animated stories to each other in Hebrew. I admired their iron stomachs for a minute, but then the smell of the cigar smoke pushed me over the edge. I ran down to my cabin just in time to vomit and noticed that Daniela had preceded me in her purging. I lay down, closed my eyes, and waited the night out, which was about all I could do to keep from getting sick again.

The photo album for this entry is here.

September 14, 2007
Day 716
Galapagos Cruise Day 1

To begin our cruise, Daniela and I had to go yet again back to the airport in Baltra. The itineraries for the cruises are laid out with the assumption that passengers will fly in, do their cruise, and fly out without doing anything independently. Of course, since we had gotten the last-minute deal, we had a little more work in store for us.

The Friend Ship was a small, tourist class boat holding just sixteen passengers and a crew of seven. As we were waiting to board the ship, we met the other passengers. Most of them were Dutch, German, and Israelis, and all were young, fun, backpacker types. We also met our guide, an Ecuadorian named Wilmer, who sounded Chinese when he spoke Spanish. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood, so it was a fun atmosphere as we boarded the ship.

The Friend Ship wasn't as nice as the Marco Polo, but she certainly was adequate for cruising around the islands. The showers weren't very hot and there was a lot of engine noise in the cabins, but at least there was air conditioning (almost a necessity at the bottom of the ship near the engine room), and we had all the coffee, tea, and drinking water we could drink for the duration of the cruise. This was called a "budget cruise," but it actually cost more on a per-day basis than my cruise to Antarctica. I had ridden on much worse boats, but they generally cost around $10 per day, whereas this trip was much more expensive. However, I just reminded myself that I was there to see the islands, not to ride in a luxurious boat, and the cost/quality thing never affected me.

The first place we landed was Bachas, a beach on the northern part of Santa Cruz island. I was amazed as soon as we landed. The water was crystal-clear, the sand was white, and the only other creatures lurking in the area were not human in origin. Besides the masses of crabs, pelicans, frigates, and small birds, there were blue foot boobies constantly diving into the water looking for fish right in front of us. We walked around a bit and also found a lagoon with some flamingos. It took a long time to let the atmosphere of this paradise sink in.

Bachas also gave us our first chance to try out our snorkeling gear. I heard the water of the Galapagos was normally cold, but it was warm enough for me to swim in today without a wet suit. I was blown away by all the stuff swimming around me. Right away I saw thousands of fish, some tiny and swimming in huge schools, others huge and solitary, but always colorful. As I swam around some more, I caught glimpses of a few sting rays, some starfish, and even a lobster, along with the constant barrage of algae-covered coral. I had no idea the ocean was so filled with life. It was like watching a nature documentary happening right in front of me.

Later, we boarded the ship and headed to another bay where we watched a beautiful sunset. While we were steaming, the chef was preparing tonight's supper by cutting up fish and throwing their guts overboard. This caused quite a commotion as at least thirty birds fought over which one got to eat the delicious free meal. The birds flew with us for over an hour and constantly came close enough for us to reach out and touch. It was like being in a Hitchcock film, minus the whole being pecked to death thing.

The first day of the cruise was amazing for Daniela and I. Another one of the passengers told us that according to his guidebook, the Friend Ship had received a lot of complaints about the staff and amenities, but apparently it had changed ownership recently and everything went great. I can't wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow.

The photo albums for this entry are here and here.