Ecuador - Galapagos Islands & Otavalo

Sat, 28/06/2014 - 12:00

It is a reasonably early start as we have heard that it can take up to an hour to clear customs and organise the paperwork which is necessary for entry to the Galapagos. Fortunately we are checked in and through in no time. We head for the nearest cafe for a bad coffee and a good breakfast, then have about an hours wait. The flight to Guayaquil takes about 40 minutes, nearly everyone gets off before new passengers get on. Forty five minutes later we are on our way to Baltra on Santa Cruz Island.

We land at Baltra, The Galapagos Islands

After being stamped in and paying another $100.00 each for entry to the Galapagos we are met by our guide, Angel, who shepherds our group onto a bus. It is a very short journey to Punta Carrion where we hop in a dinghy and are ferried out to meet our boat. Now what can we say about King of the Sea, she is a really old, dodgy boat, that has definitely seen better days but we seem to be with a great group of young people, 4 Swiss, 3 Germans, 2 Canadians and 3 Aussies including us. Once assigned our minuscule cabin, it is time for an absolutely huge, delicious lunch then an hours snorkelling before a 2 hour boat ride to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz.

We arrive at the harbour

The giant frigate birds following the boat on the way to Puerto Ayora

Sunset on board

Once in port we set about getting to know each other over a few drinks, before another huge dinner, a briefing from our guide and more socialising. We hit the hay quite late and sleep well until 2 am when we have a huge down pour of rain which unfortunately comes flooding through the roof of our cabin and our bunk matresses get very soggy. We can't find any of the crew anywhere so we grab some bowls from the kitchen and use our towels to mop up the mess. Skill stands his mattress up in the hallway before sleeping on the seats in the lounge area for the rest of the night. Next morning there is water everywhere and the clean up begins. Understandably I am not a happy camper and the crew tip toe around me with half hearted promises to fix everything. Hmmm, I am not hopeful.

Soggy cabin

After an amazing breakfast it is into the dinghy where we head to the Charles Darwin Research Station to check out the giant tortoises. The research station has recently been renamed in honour of the man that looked after the tortoise Lonesome George for 30 years. Lonesome George was the last of his species, the rest having been wiped out by sailors for food, he died a couple of years ago.

Giant Tortoises

Baby Tortoises at the breeding centre

It soon becomes obvious to us that our guide is a little less than enthusiastic about his job and he delivers his speech in an uninterested dull monotone, then just walks off leaving us to our own devices. However the group more than make up for his shortcomings with their rhetoric.

From there we have some free time in Santa Cruz. We choose to visit the fish market where the sea lions fight with the pelicans, trying desperately to steal the fish. It is a brief visit to Tortuga Bay, after a long walk and a short snorkel we meet back at the agreed time of 1.00 pm.

Mine, mine, mine

Heron

A bird of some indiscriminate species

Then it is back on board for a killer lunch then a bus ride to visit the highlands to see the Turtles in their natural??? state - apparently.

Lan with the Giant Tortoises

Giant Tortoises

On our return to Santa Cruz we hit the supermarket for a few supplies before joining a New Zealand couple from another boat for a few beers at a harbour side cafe and then it is back to our boat. Once back on board we find that our room has been put back together, although our beds are still noticeably damp, but we do have dry towels. However when we turn the lights in the cabin on they blow in dramatic fashion one by one. I give up and go out on deck to scoff down two vodkas before getting an attack of the giggles. Rebecca (a lovely Aussie/German girl) joins me with a bottle of wine and we enjoy the sunset.

Before dinner Angel (our dour guide) gives us a briefing for next day before mysteriously disappearing. Dinner is a noisy affair as we chat over the days events and look forward to what is to come next. Skill and I go to bed preying that there will be no rain tonight.

An early morning transit finds us in the South Plaza Islands, where we get to breakfast with an amazing array of fish and sharks and Hooray no rain overnight. After breakfast we land on the island where we get to visit with the land iguanas who possessively protect the area underneath each cactus waiting patiently for cactus fruit and leaves to drop as this is their primary diet.

Breakfast with the fish and sharks

The beautiful South Plaza Islands

Land Iguanas

Our travelling companions in action

Gulls

Sealion

Sally Lightfoot Crab

More Sea lions with the salubrious "King of the Sea" in the background

Back on board and it is a 3 hour transit to Santa Fe Island. We take the opportunity to catch a nap, which also wards off most of the seasickness. On arrival we get to snorkel in a quiet bay. It is amazing. We see all manner of fish, some turtles and we also get to play with our first sea lions. It is also here we see our first blue footed boobies.

Snorkelling

Lan Snorkelling

Skill Snorkelling

Snorkelling with our favourite creature

Snorkelling with the Sealions

Snorkelling with the turtles

Our first blue footed boobies

It is then onto dry land to hunt for a different species of land iguana before we get to watch the antics of the sea lions and these amazing Sally Lightfoot crabs.

Land Iguanas

Sealions

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Eventually it is back on board for a briefing, shower and dinner. I am very excited as we now have lights in our room but my excitement is short lived as once again the lights pop and crackle and die one by one and our cabin is now in darkness. Oh well time for a beer. We all know it will be a fairly sleepless night as it is 9 hour transit to Isla Punta Pitt near San Cristobal Island. While the boat doesn't miss a beat mechanically the diesel engine is very loud, the noise and vibrations feels like it is underneath your pillow, a fairly long night.

Next morning we are safely at our destination and it is time to visit the Island of Punta Pitt, this is an old extinct volcano, our boat is moored in the remains of its crater.

Island Punta Pitt

It is also here we get to see the Red footed booby and some chicks.

Red footed booby

Red footed booby chicks

Just chilling back

Back on board to gather snorkelling gear and off we go again. It is an underwater paradise.

More Snorkelling

After lunch we are in transit mode to Leon Dormido. We all assume a resting position on deck after a pretty sleepless night, However once moored we are all gobsmacked by the beauty of this huge rock monolith. We get in an afternoons worth of snorkelling through the channel in the huge rock. Snorkelling with sharks and giant manta ray is definitely an experience

Leon Dormido

Snorkelling at Leon Dormido

After a couple of hours snorkelling it is onto Puerto Baquerizo Moreno the capital of San Cristobal Island, later that evening we all head out on the dinghy to town for an evening of beers and cocktails, amazingly we run into Hubert, our fantastic host from Casa Helbling in Quito. Very small world.

A great nights sleep as we are in the sheltered harbour, but we have an early morning transit to Lobos Island where we are back on land to see more sea lions, blue footed boobies mating rituals and the amazing frigate birds. It's then another hour of snorkelling. Sometimes you wonder, can it get any better than this???

Blue footed Boobie courting dance

Yet another Land Iguana

Frigate Bird

It is then a fairly rough overnight transit to Isla Espanola where we moor in Gardner Bay and get to swim, snorkel and visit the beautiful white sandy beaches, it is paradise.

Prisitine Beaches - Gardner Bay

Lan leaving nothing but footprints

Later in the afternoon we move onto Punta Suarez, where we get to visit the most amazing island, despite the weather it is breathtakingly beautiful, blowholes, Red Iguanas and amazing Albatrosses doing elaborate mating dances.

Nazca Boobie

Yet another species of Iguana

Swimming Iguanas

Blow Hole

Albatross mating rituals

Albatross

More Albatross mating rituals

Lizard

Sally Lightfoot Crab

After another sumptuous dinner and a quick briefing it is another overnight transit to Floriana Island. Unfortunately we were not forewarned how rough this crossing was to be, 9 hours of rocking and rolling, I was not game to look out the window and I definitely knew where our life jackets were, I even considered wearing one to bed, it was not a good night, I will even confess to being a little frightened. In the morning we are a weary, bedraggled looking lot of travellers.

The poor old crew look worse than us and they talk of the rough night they had endured. When Angel finally put in an appearance he told us I had no idea it would be such a rough crossing, I have worked as a guide for sixteen years and that is my worst crossing ever, a few times I was very scared. NOT what we wanted to hear. We all sat down to a hearty breakfast, quite thankful that we hadn't sunk and unbelievably none of us were sea sick.

We were all pleased to be on land and visited Post Office Bay with it's quirky post office barrel, a tradition started by the pirates, a modern twist has now been instituted whereby you write and address a postcard and leave it at the barrel where you hope someone will collect it and deliver it for you. We then sort through the postcards and take one (our closest one was Sydney) which we will hand deliver once back at home.

Post Office Bay

From the bay we walk up to one of the many lava tubes for a quick visit before another snorkel. Later in the morning we transit to Cormorant Point where we get to see a beautiful array of amazing flamingoes and yet more white pristine beaches.

Beautiful Pink Flamingos on Floreana Island

Pink Flamingoes in flight

Stunning beaches Floreana Island

However after lunch we have the highlight of the trip (well for us anyway), we get to spend two hours snorkelling with a creche of baby seals in a beautiful protected cove. These amazing inquisitive creatures are just delightful, when we arrive they are having a game of catch with a cactus fruit as the ball, once we are moored and in the water with them, they try in vain to undo our anchor rope. At one point we are back in the dinghy for a breather and the babies are surfacing close to the boat, Skill starts to splash one with his hand cupped with water, the baby is quite surprised and after Skill does it to him a number of times, he turns, looks and splashes Skill with a flipper full of water, we could not believe it.

Swimming with the babies

Ray

Eagle Ray

Snorkelling

This is the most magical place. We are loathe to leave this paradise but it is back onto the boat and we motor back to Puerto Ayora. A celebratory night on board with a few ales, and a good nights sleep.

The night is young, but we do get into party mood later on

Next morning we all get packed up, onto our transfer bus and then out to the Gemelos Craters before it is a quick group photo, hugs goodbye, and then onto the ferry and bus back to the airport.

What a great group of people.

We have a bit of a wait before a reasonable flight back to Guayaquil and then Quito. A pretty easy day before another Quito taxi ride and we arrive tired but so happy back at our second home, Casa Helbling. What a week.

Next day is a day of consolidating our belongings, culling some unwanted items and getting some much needed washing done. Finally after over two weeks in Quito we pack the bike and say very fond farewells to the staff of Casa Helbling and we are on our way towards Otavalo, it is a great day and we are pleased to be back on the bike if only for a short time. Otavalo is famous for its amazing Saturday handicraft market although there are markets there all the time. We check into the very friendly Hostal Rincon del Viajero where we enjoy the rooftop restaurant with glorious views. We enjoy four nights here, taking a day ride out to the stunning Laguna Cuicocha, a 3 km wide extinct volcano crater lake. It is on our ride out to the lake we have our first police check in Ecuador, they weren't really that interested in our paperwork, they are more interested in the bike, us and our blue tooth intercom. We are waved off with a friendly Buen Viaje.

Roof top dining area at our hostal

Our first Ecuadorian Police Checkpoint

Laguna Cuicocha

Later in the afternoon we visit the Parque Condor, a Swiss funded park which rehabilitates owls, eagles and condors. An absolutely beautiful place where we get to see all manner of birds of prey. We also enjoy a spectacular flight exhibition. We will let the photos do the talking.....

Solitary Eagle

Harpee Eagle

Condor

Falcon

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle - what a magnificent animal

The following day is Saturday and we get to enjoy the madness of the giant market which takes over the centre of the town, we spend hours just wandering, it is a fabulous spectacle,

The Otavalo Markets

For some reason we are loathe to leave Ecuador, we came here with no expectations and expected to skip through quickly, this was not to be, we have absolutely loved this country and we do not want to leave, so we stay one more day. Tomorrow is Monday 2nd June, we really will have to leave.......................................... another new country, I wonder what tomorrow will bring.