Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands

December 23-29, 2016

After a week climbing volcanoes in Ecuador, we were headed for the Galapagos Islands.  Neither one of us knew much about the islands; the destination was chosen kind of as a fluke only a month before.  And with our busy schedule, we hadn’t done any research or made any plans in advance. 

 

Even on the bus ride from the airport into town, we could start to get the gist of the island.  We had to stop two or three times for giant tortoises in the road.  When we got off the bus, we had only taken a few steps before a giant marine iguana came wandering across the road.  We watched in awe as the slow creature made its way through traffic right across the main street without the least concern for people or cars.  As we continued down the street, we realized we had to watch where we were stepping as the iguanas were everywhere! 

The Galapagos really is about the animals.  During our visit, we went to Santa Cruz Island, Isabela Island and San Cristobal Island.  Each island had it's own unique feel.  We snorkeled, hiked, kayaked and relaxed. 

We went to the Charles Darwin Research Station where we saw the skeleton of a giant whale. 

We went to El Chato Ranch where many of the giant tortoises reside.  We also hiked in the lava tubes there.  On Christmas day, we hiked about 6 miles over to Tortuga bay where we had a lovely picnic on the beach, rented some kayaks and snorkeled.  Even on the beaches, you were surrounded by marine iguanas and birds.

  

We took a boat tour of the harbor and hiked to Las Grietas and the Channel of Love.  The islands are not green and lush, but rather dry with giant cactus forests.  The cacti there look and grow more like trees and were different than any cacti I had seen before.

On Isabella Island, we snorkeled at Islote Las Tintoreras, where the sea turtles were friendly and would get very close to us.  After some work (due to the busy time of year and having not prearranged anything), we finally found someone to take us to Los Tuneles, which is an extensive network of lava tunnels that have been flooded by the ocean and broken down to a giant maze.  The boat captain knew exactly where to go, but it was narrow and shallow in some places.  We saw sharks, penguins, blue footed boobies, pelicans, flamingos, giant rays, crabs as well as many other varieties of birds. 

We relaxed a lot and walked along the beaches and up to the tortoise breeding center, which has tortoises in every stage of development.  Isabella is definitely the most quiet and serene of the islands we went to.  Things were completely laid back and it was nice to just kick back and enjoy the quiet beauty around you. 

 

Since there are no boats that go directly from Isabella to San Cristobal, we took an early morning boat back to Santa Cruz, then an afternoon boat on to San Cristobal. 

San Cristobal is the place to go if you love sea lions.  They were almost overwhelming and had completely taken over most of the beaches.  In a few places they had put up fences to keep them out of beachside restaurants and out of the streets.  People just worked around them.  I loved seeing the little, tiny babies play with each other.

Despite only having one day on San Cristobal Island, we made the most of it.  We went to the Interpretation Center and hiked the entire loop up Tijeretas Hill as well as several miles along the coast. 

        It was truly an incredible experience and one we will never forget.