Glorious GALAPAGOS
There comes a point where you change from tourist to traveller and now I discovered a new one, or the next level, world traveller. I’m not sure if it is reaching the sixth continent, the sheer extent of the travel I’ve done, or the Galapagos Islands.
The Galapagos Islands are off the coast of Ecuador in South America. I’m quite amazed at the number of people who don’t know the significance of the Galapagos – Charles Darwin’s study point for the theory of evolution.
I flew in to Quito from Miami in the US. The first thing I noticed flying in was the mountainous nature of the city, the lights of the buildings like fingers reaching up the mountains. The second thing I noticed, when the plane depressurised was altitude. My ears popping incessantly, this subsided after about twenty seconds.
The plane journey was eventful, the couple sitting next to me had been to the Galapagos on a previous trip and were pleased to pull out a laptop and show me their photos – high quality photos and a delight to see. This whet my appetite and with the exception of a minor concern with the customs form, passed the time quickly. Be sure and read the customs form – have you got any commercial goods? Not usually but I checked the fine print – 10 rolls of film or more. 10 rolls! I don’t think I’ve ever had less than ten rolls of film. I answered truthfully, I was down to my last twenty four rolls of film, not photos, rolls, and was quite prepared to pay the duty, just so long as customs didn’t take the film off me.
But, customs was kind and I moved into the melee of a South American airport. An arranged travel agent met me and transferred me to my hotel. Already at high altitude, I had a lovely suite on the 11th floor and a bed that was about three feet off the floor. This is the first time I’ve actually wanted to sleep on the floor or ask for a lower room. I only suffered mild altitude sickness, wake up in the middle of the night unable to breathe or walking during the day suddenly realised I’d missed a breath. Mild exercise helps and this subsided over several days as I toured Quito.
Flying next to the Galapagos, the flight collects passengers in Guayaquil and then lands at Baltra airport, a small island in the Galapagos. Baltra is bare and barren, nothing like I expected. Dry, dusty and could have been an island anywhere. A short bus trip, onto a ferry to Santa Cruz, hour long drive in a ute (taxi) and then to Puerto Ayora, a small town on Santa Cruz and home to the Charles Darwin Research Centre.
The Charles Darwin Research Centre includes a nursery for the giant tortoises, Galapago, Spanish for turtle although turtles live in the water and tortoises on land. The Charles Darwin Research Centre is home to Lonesome George, the last of his species and baby giant tortoise nurseries.
From Puerto Ayora I joined the tour boat by Zodiac, a small inflatable boat. The tour boat took of the order of twelve passengers and almost equal number of crew. The great thing about the tour group was all had travelled the world and all were very interested in the Galapagos. Several people spoke fluent Spanish, which was great as apart from the tour guide who was bilingual most of the crew only spoke Spanish. I got by with my ten lesson WEA course, a Spanish- English picture dictionary, a smile and some great sign language. I would recommend studying more Spanish though, same applies to all countries, study the language so you have a much richer time.
The tour generally involved arrival at an island during the night, a hike, swim or snorkel in the morning, back to the boat for lunch and then another hike or activity in the afternoon. By early evening everyone was ready for bed and small boats can be noisy and rock. I don’t suffer seasickness but many people came prepared. Important things were to take a refillable water bottle, apart from the first day, I didn’t see civilisation until the again end of the tour. Tiring, but, fantastic.
In total over five days, I saw five different islands. I learned how the flora vary/evolve based on the fauna of the islands. I fell in love with the Iguanas, they come close, generally look like they are smiling and as much as I wanted to see the giant tortoises, these are now my favourites.
The islands are volcanic and I learned that new islands are forming and old ones disappearing. The sands on the different islands vary, from white to gold to red, iron ore. Sealions are everywhere and waking up with one on the end of the boat was typical. Penguins too would circle the boat at times and frigate birds circle gracefully overhead as you came near an island.
The bird life is amazing, boobies, albatross, Darwin finches, my favourites are the frigate birds – giant swallows and circling like clouds in the sky.
The islands vary in size and age, from Isla San Salvador (also known as Santiago or James island) with long lava flows at Sullivan Bay, and the beautiful Isla Bartolome, to the brilliant blue lagoon of Santa Fe and then the windswept South Plaza, covered in what reminded me of the concept of the red weed in Orson Wells, War of the Worlds.
The Galapagos are truly a remarkable place, well worth the visit and while five days on tour might sound short, the physical activity and the culture shock of South America mean you really should go prepared:
- Take several cameras - people lost cameras when the Zodiac capsized and you have both wet and dry landings, dry landings often more dangerous than wet landings;
- Get a dry bag to protect your camera from salt water when getting onto and off islands;
- Take lots of small denomination notes, changing a $USD20 is near impossible in Quito;
- Take your own water bottles and if necessary dehydration tablets or jelly beans as I used;
- If you suffer sea-sickness, learn how to deal with this – get some fresh air, watch the horizon, eat simple foods and if necessary, take tablets;
- Be prepared for altitude sickness, acclimatise before and after the Galapagos;
- And most of all, respect the place, enjoy the diversity, the history, the beauty and the significance, dance the salsa on a boat in the middle of the Galapagos and have a ball.
Dr Derek Rogers is an experienced traveller and capable photographer. He held an exhibition of travel photography raising money for charity in 2005/2006 and in 2007 will journey to the active volcano island of Mt Tanna in Vanuatu before Antarctica and continent number seven at the end of the year. As part of this trip he also travelled the US and the Caribbean islands of St Martins, Barbados and Martinique.
