The Galapagos Islands

As two biologists who both studied evolutionary biology, the Galapagos Islands are an iconic destination and one that we had every intention of doing thoroughly! Indeed, when we were in the early planning stages for our South American adventure, even before we had thought about what sort of vehicle we would get, we had a line in our budget for our visit to the islands. On the 6th March 2016, after about 40,000km of driving round South America, we finally touched down. Our time there was spent mostly on two boat tours – a diving trip to the excellent diving locations around the remote northern islands of Wolf and Darwin, followed by a more traditional naturalist cruise round the western islands.

Our routes around the Galapagos Islands: The dive boat trip out to the distant northern islands is in blue and the cruise boat tour around the western islands is in green. As we mostly travelled overnight, the stars mark where we were when we woke up each morning.

Geologically speaking, the Galapagos Islands are young and will be short-lived. They are formed by volcanic action and, as the earth’s constantly moving crust carries them away from where they were formed, they are relatively quickly eroded. This means that the islands in the west are much younger than the more heavily eroded islands to the east.

The islands are of interest to biologists because of the interesting pattern of colonisation by animals and plants. They sit at a meeting point of Pacific ocean currents and, as they have never been attached to or even close to other land masses, the only life on the islands is that which has arrived by chance, presumably carried by these currents or by the wind. Once some chance colonisers (the giant tortoises, for example) arrived on one island, further colonisations allowed them to spread to the other islands, but each island population then lived in isolation of the others and they evolved separately. A veritable laboratory of speciation and evolution.

Charle Darwin – the man behind the theory of evolution by natural selection, though he was only 26 when he visited the Galapagos Islands

It was his visit to the Galapagos, at the end of his long voyage on the Beagle, which seeded the ideas that became the theory of evolution in Charles Darwin’s mind. However, this didn’t happen straightaway. In fact, tired and ill at the end of his long journey, Darwin didn’t recognise the significance of the different islands and didn’t label his collection of finches properly, mixing up samples from the different islands. It was back in London that a bird expert helped him sort them out and then the significance registered of the passing comment made to him by a resident of the islands that, if he was landed blindfold on any of the islands, he could tell which one he was on by the shape of the shell of the tortoise on that island. The rest, as they say, is history…

Bruce cools down out of the sun with the young Darwin at the Darwin research centre near Puerto Ayora

Given how important our visit to the islands was going to be for us, arguably, we left it a little late to start planning. As we travelled up the coast of Peru in February, the notion formed that we could wait out the rainy season in the mountains before returning to the Peruvian Andes by visiting the Galapagos and the Amazon. The trip to the Amazon in early April fell into place first (more about this in a forthcoming blog post), which left us with a Galapagos visit sized window in March, which, we had also heard, was also a good time of year to visit the islands.

Thanks to the richness of the ocean currents and the resulting sea life, the Islands are one of the global destinations for scuba diving and we wanted to do some diving while we were there. “Liveaboard” dive boats (diving cruise trips) book up 9 months to a year in advance, but March is outside of popular holiday periods, so we looked at a last minute diving holiday website and were fortunate to have a choice of two or three one week liveaboard trips in March. With the diving booked, we booked our flights from Guayaquil on the southern coast of the Ecuadorian mainland, giving ourselves a further week or so on the islands after the driving trip to see the islands proper.

Driving through Ecuador’s enormous expanse of banana plantations

Guayaquil is Ecuador’s second city, but it’s biggest commercial centre. It’s a day’s drive north across the border from where we finished our journey up the coast of Peru, mostly through many, many banana and cocoa plantations. We left the van parked in the car park of the hotel we stayed in before going to the airport to catch our flights to the Galapagos.

The city was where two South American independence heros, San Martin (from Argentinan and Chilean independence fight) and Bolivar (from Colombia and Venezuela) met, both arriving in Ecuador to help finish its independence fight

The city is on the wide estuary of the river Guayas

We left the Yellow Van in the hotel car park

We landed in Baltra airport in the morning of 6th March and had an afternoon in the main town, Puerto Ayora, to walk around the many tour agencies there to see if we could find a last minute deal for a nature cruise for our second week on the islands (more about this below), before we were due to meet up with our dive boat the next day.

Darwin Island, with the Darwin Arch, its renowned diving location

Cruise 1: The Humboldt Explorer – seeing the Galapagos’ underwater life

Early the next morning we caught the speedboat to the island of San Cristobal where we joined our dive boat, The Humboldt Explorer. There were 15 divers on the boat and we had, fortuitously, timed our trip to be one that coincided with the Hammerhead shark season. After a short visit to Seymour North Island to see some island life, we quickly made our way north to the remote islands of Darwin and Wolf, where the currents are strong and the sea-life spectacular. This was where we did most of our diving that week, often diving the same location repeatedly in one day, it was that good!

We were glad we had taken the advice to add diving gloves to our kit collection, because each dive was mostly spent clinging on to a rock against the strong currents while we watched the shark show (with the odd turtle or group of Eagle Rays) go by

A group of Silky sharks hanging out behind the boat

One lunchtime we found a group of Silky sharks hanging in the current underneath the boat – something they like to do apparently. So that afternoon’s diving involved being dropped off by a tender 100m or so in front of the boat, dropping down a few metres as the current swept us under the boat, trying to grab a weighted rope hanging off the back of the boat (not everyone managed this, given the strength of current), clinging on to it for as long as possible and hanging out with the sharks. The current made us feel like we were travelling at 60 miles an hour, when we were actually hanging behind a stationary anchored boat, while the sharks made hanging around in the current look so easy – it was a short but breathtaking dive!

Here are some more images of life on board and below the Humboldt Explorer (the underwater images above and in the gallery below are screen grabs taken from the trip video produced by our guides diving with Go Pro cameras):

As soon as we were on board, we gathered on the dive deck at the back for a safety drill

Contemplating an early morning dive

Each dive at the northern islands, we dropped straight down into a school of Hammerhead sharks

They were often joined by the odd Silky or Galapagos shark

A lovely turtle elegantly glides through

Bruce surfacing after another satisfying dive

The guys in the tenders are very experienced and always seemed to be right there waiting each time we surfaced after a dive

And this smile was a very welcome greeting each time!

Wolf Island

Although we couldn’t go on land on Darwin or Wolf Islands, we could still appreciate the rich bird life in the air above them

Occasionally some of the birds dropped in for a visit – this is a juvenile Swallow Tailed gull

This juvenile Red Footed booby made a strategic error when it landed on deck, as it needs a run-off to take off again, so found itself trapped. In the end, Bruce used a towel to wrap it and pick it up to throw it up into the air again, allowing it to fly off happily!

One of the tenders being put away at the end of a good day’s diving

With the divers relaxing on the sundeck

Our first day’s diving at the Darwin Arch

Marked by a celebratory cake at dinner that night

Sharks gathering next to and behind the boat

It seems it is an initiation rite for any new members of the crew to jump in with the sharks – later we hung out with them under the boat for our afternoon dive

Exhausting this scuba diving lark! Bruce catches a quick snooze below deck between dives

Leaving the Arch behind us after a couple of days of fantastic diving

It was my birthday while on board and I celebrated by recuperating from a full day of 4 challenging dives at Wolf Island with a nice glass of wine on deck at sunset

And I wasn’t allowed to escape another boat tradition – pushing the unsuspecting birthday girl’s head into her cake!

The tenders coming back to the boat after a dive at Cousins Rocks

Life on board – the dive deck crew

The all important bar!

One of the typical fruit bowl creations

Heading back towards Santa Cruz Island after an action packed week

Between cruises: A few days on land

Sea birds and fishing boats in Puerto Ayora

After our last dive, we all went on an afternoon trip to one of the haciendas on the main island of Santa Cruz to see some of the giant tortoises that the Galapagos are famous for. Then, after a final dinner with the rest of our companions in Puerto Ayora, we left the boat and stayed in town.

A Galapagos Penguin warms itself after a swim with its back to the sun

Our plan for the next week had been to see if we could find a last minute deal on a naturalist cruise to visit some of the islands, or, if that wasn’t possible, we would do a little island hopping and day trips. Our dream was to find a cruise around the western islands, as it is on the far side of Isla Isabella that you find the Flightless Cormorants (Bruce had done his PhD. on cormorants, so was keen to see these funny birds) and the Galapagos Penguins (our last species of South American penguin). Here, where the Humboldt current meets the Galapagos, the water is cooler, which is why penguins can be found so close to the equator.

The Santa Cruz II – originally built for working the infamously rough waters of the Drake Passage around Cape Horn, so we figured it should be a smooth ride out here!

That first afternoon, after going back and forth to some agents, we had been pleasantly surprised to be offered a choice of two cruises going around the western islands that week: a “tourist class” small motor yacht with 10 passengers, with a small discount for last minute booking, or a half price deal on the last available cabin on one of the few large luxury cruise boats. Normally, the small trip would be much more our thing, but we knew we would already have spent a tiring week on a small boat (with an expected constant need for sea sickness medication), so this time, we snapped up the offer of the cheap deal on the luxury cruise and paid a deposit.

The fish market in Puerto Ayora, where a sealion waits for the off-cuts

The challenge we left ourselves was that these little agents do not take credit cards, so we were going to have to find a way to pay the balance of thousands of dollars in cash when we got back to town after our diving trip. Had we known, we would have brought a good supply of dollars cash with us (Ecuador uses the US dollar), but we hadn’t and unfortunately, you can no longer just walk into a bank with a credit card an effectively “buy” money – these days they tell you to make an ATM withdrawal, with the associated relatively low daily limit. So, before paying the deposit, we did some calculations to check that, if we used every bank and credit card we had with us to the maximum each day on the few days between the two trips, we could just cover it – and it was worth the risk to try!

A Lava Heron gets fed up waiting to be fed and catches a little one for itself

So, on our return to Puerto Ayora, we had a stressful few days making daily visits to the one cash machine on the edge of town that had a higher daily withdrawal limit than all the others, keeping our fingers crossed that we didn’t have a problem with any of the cards on any of the critical days. In the end, thanks to the suggestion of one of our fellow divers, we made up the last bit of remaining balance by sending money to ourselves via Western Union and getting it over the counter in the big hardware shop in town that is also a Western Union agent. It was with quite some relief that we went to the agent’s office the afternoon before the trip was due to depart and handed over our cash!

The Santa Cruz II moored off Isabella island

Cruise 2: The Santa Cruz II – life on land

In front of the salt water filled crater above Tagus Cove, with the Santa Cruz II at anchor in the cove behind

In our cabin on board the Santa Cruz II

The next morning, we took a bus and ferry back to the airport on Baltra to meet up with the Santa Cruz II as they met passengers at the airport. It wasn’t until we were actually on board, a few hours later, that we could confirm that our names were actually on the passenger list and we could be quite certain that our rather loose cash arrangement with the agent in town was real! Once in our assigned cabin (the last cabin on board), we breathed a huge sigh of relief and relaxed into luxury holiday cruise mode.

One of our favourites – the funky Marine Iguana

Our 6 days on board were filled with short walks on land on different spots on the islands, interspersed with some snorkeling and kayaking. We started with a return visit to North Seymour Island (giving us a chance to see how the mating season had progressed since our visit 10 days before) and, later on, had a second chance to see some giant tortoises at another hacienda on Santa Cruz Island. We were on board with a large group on an alumni trip from Colorado College, which made for some interesting dinner table conversation and we were treated to a couple of lectures from a member of the college staff.

Highlights of the cruise included: the Blue Footed Boobies dancing (to show off their blue feet); male frigatebirds in full, bright red display; finding ourselves next to a couple of swimming Marine Iguanas  when snorkeling, then having a sealion come over to check us out; seeing the Flightless Cormorants spread their rather pathetic wings; having some sealion cubs come over and sniff us to see if we might be mum returning with food; sharing a patch of shade on the beach with a salt sneezing Marine Iguana; and seeing some turtles hatch on the beach after a short rain storm and cheering them on as they made their dash for the sea.

Here is a wildlife filled gallery with pictures from both the cruises:

Both cruises started with a visit to North Seymour Island, which we were quite happy to see twice

Our first encounter with a Marine Iguana

These creatures are believed to have evolved from a land based relative and have adapted to feed on seaweeds

They get rid of an excess of salt from their seaweed diet by sneezing out a salt filled solution

Some sealion pups come to check us out

And an adult rests after a foray to find food

Getting close to the frigatebirds

A male frigatebird in full mating display

They all sit showing off their red pouches to attract the females

“I’m over here!”… “No, I’m over here…”

A female makes her choice

This one celebrates getting a female

And, of course, this demanding thing is the result!

A chick being fed

The other delight on North Seymour Island are the Blue Footed Boobies

They do a call and an dance to show off their blue feet and attract a mate

“Look at my lovely blue feet!”

A Lava Lizard

A relaxed looking Land Iguana

Despite their being 90 people on our luxury cruise, we were divided into small groups for each of the land visits and we only occasionally felt the crowds

A Marine Iguana contemplating the sunset

A pair of frigatebirds settling down for the night

Marine Iguana at sea

Sooty Terns roosting in the cliffs of north Isabella island

Some Flightless cormorants hiding from the hot sun

They have stubby wings only used to help them swim

A particular treat was to find ourselves next to a couple of Marine Iguanas in the water while we were snorkeling

Happy snorkeler!

The tenders being hoisted onto the top deck for the night

The rocks covered in colourful Sally Lightfoot Crabs

Another Marine Iguana in the water

A Lava Heron

Flightless Cormorant

Before we arrived on the Galapagos, we heard a BBC radio piece on the “From our own correspondent” podcast about the potential impact of El Niño on the island wildlife. The El Niño brings a change in the important cold water currents, which causes a die off in the sea weed that the Marine Iguanas eat.

It was too early to tell if it was going to be a bad year of the iguanas, but there were still lots of them when we were there – although we did see quite a few dead ones as well.

A Lava Lizard peers over the scales on the back of a Marine guana

A snake weaves a way over and through the iguanas

Enjoying the warm sun

A Marine Iguana catching a wave

A view over the desolate island of Fernandina. This young island is still only sparsely vegetated with mangroves and cacti.

A turtle amongst the mangroves

And another in the shallows

An Eagle Ray, which we saw several small groups of while diving, also exploring the shallow pools

A Galapagos Hawk with a small Marine iguana

Young sealion pups are left on their own while their mothers go out fishing – they can be left waiting for up to two weeks before their mothers bring them food

In a bad El Niño, their mothers can take so long to find sufficient food that the pups die waiting – but there was no evidence of that happening yet this year, while we were there

Meanwhile, they are very inquisitive and often check out visitors

Maybe they are having a smell to check its not actuallly their mothers returned

Are you my mother?

Becca getting checked out too!

Back into the pool to wash the sand off…

The tenders going away after another wildlife filled day

Moored in Targus Bay (otherwise known as Pirates Bay)

Grafitti in Targus Bay – this sheltered bay has been used by pirates, bucaneers and all sorts of seafarers for centuries

The salt-water filled crater above Targus Bay

A female flycatcher

A trip out in the kayaks

A Flightless Cormorant with a Galapagos penguin in the background

Two Galapagos Penguins preen after a dip in the cool waters of the Humboldt current

The distinctive trail of an iguana – it obviously can’t read the sign!

Despite their importance in informing Darwin’s ideas, the finches are rather boring looking!

A lone Blue Footed Booby preening

A pelican coming in to land

The so-called “highlands” of Santa Cruz island

Where there is a large population of giant tortoises

You aren’t supposed to go too close to the animals (unless they come up to you, of course), but Go Pro sticks seem to get around that rule!

There are networks of lava tunnels under the island

Sharing a spot in the shade with a Marine Iguana

Going back to town along the beach at sunset

Before modern communications, early settlers on the islands had a mail box that worked by passing ships stopping to pick up the mail and, if someone on board could deliver the letter when they got home, they took it with them and hand delivered it

The system has been resurrected for tourists – we posted a couple of cards home

And this, in theory, is how they will be delivered – by someone else turning up who lives near by our addressees! They might be waiting awhile…

A sealion comes over to the tender to check us out

Eliot’s Storm Petrels can’t get their feathres wet, so do this amazing dance where they dip their feet into the surface of the water, like a delicate dance

Moored near Santa Maria island

Santa Maris island

Caribbean Flamingos

A dark cloud menaced above us and soon we had a short, hard rain storm

The sudden darkness was enough to trigger a small clutch of turtle eggs to hatch and 5 tiny baby turtles emerged

They struggled around, going in circles for a little while

And we had to stand back and watch as nature had its way and a frigatebird picked one off

But the others soon sorted themselves out and started to make their dash for the sea

Cheered on by a group of delighted tourists!

Unfortunately, we saw another one get picked off by another frigatebird from the waves as it saw out to sea – but 3 out of 5 making it that far was pretty good!

Sunset over Santa Maria

Returning to the boat after our last day on the islands

Next morning, we disembarked and were escorted back to the airport with a few hours to wait until our return flight to Guayaquil