Month: March 2023 Page 1 of 3

We breakfast at seven and leave in the tender at 8 o’clock to go ashore on Punta Espinoza,  Fernandina Island. This is one of the youngest volcanic islands in the world. Pitch black lava-flows, a dome-shaped summit and green mangroves dominate the landscape here.

We negotiate the rocky outcrops and motor into the sheltered bay. We step carefully onto the concrete steps which are a little slippery. Hoards of iguanas are sleeping on the path under the trees.

This island has an extremely high marine iguana population and Alexis our guide has told us to watch very carefully where we step. My camera appears to have become very misty. I examine the eyepiece and the end of the lens. They are clear so I cannot quite understand why the images appear to be fogged. I detach the lens and discover the camera end has misted up. I let the wind evaporate the moisture. It is incredibly humid and misting up turns out to be a consistent problem here.

A Galapagos hawk surveys the magnificent landscape.

We walk onto a lava flow where Charles Darwin came ashore. A lizard scuttles past my feet.

There is the skeleton of a juvenile whale which is interesting. Alexis shows us the bones – an intervertebral disc and the top vertebra where the skull rests.

The US are monitoring the movement of the islands and have put down a GPS marker. They have established that the island has moved 6 metres since Darwin first landed here.

We make our way to the beach where hundreds of iguanas are sunning themselves.

An American oyster catcher guards its eggs and brightly coloured crabs feed amongst the rocks.

Lizards sit on some of the iguanas heads as this is a good spot to catch flies.

Some of the iguanas are now warm enough to enter the sea. If you look carefully you can see one caught in the breaking surf below.

It is exceedingly hot despite the fact that it is only 8 o’clock in the morning. It is an interesting walk and we have lots of time for photography.

We head back to the boat for a quick turnaround and deep water snorkel. I decide to wear a wetsuit and this is a good call. I see some pretty cool things:-

An iguana swimming  underwater, a sea lion circling me several times, huge giant turtles which are much too interested and literally swim within inches of my face. It is actually quite disconcerting to have them invading my personal space. There are loads of fish, including bump-head parrotfish, beautiful king angelfish, large shoals of grunt, blennies and lots of small fry. There is a reasonable swell so we need to pay attention as we swim along the rocky coastline.

We motor up to the northern tip of Isabela whilst we eat lunch. Our anchorage is next to impressive towering cliffs at Punta Vicente Rica. The rock strata is amazing and you can really see the different mineral layers.

We then have another deep water snorkel. This time the swell is really extreme, moving us 3-4 metres as the waves surge in. Visibility is poor and in my view being close to the rocks is dangerous. Staying off shore it is deep and hard to see much. Huge turtles join us and at one stage I am sandwiched between two with one actually resting on my back! Insane!!

We head back and are greeted with hot chocolate. This is very welcome. I am cold despite the 28C temperature. The skies are cloudy today and it has rained lightly. The humidity keeps everything damp all the time so when the sun is not shining it can feel cool. 

We have a panga ride along the shore. I sit in the front footwell in the hope of better photos but it is hard. The swell creates a lot of movement and I need to be very fast focussing. There are sea lions, flightless cormorants, blue-footed boobies, brown noddys, pelicans, iguanas and the ever present turtles. Marine iguanas cling to any available ledge.

There is a cave that we motor into. Boobies and noddys nest on the edges. We feel like we are in the target area and, as I take photos, someone splashes me with water and says ‘Oh no! That’s lucky” I don’t re-act but am relieved to find out that it was just water on my head!

As we return to the boat a vicious fight breaks out between the noddys.

We set sail for a long journey around the northern tip of Isabela. This involves crossing the equator. We stand on the bridge so we can film 0.00.00 on the instruments. Andreas – a guest’s son, is allowed to take the helm and his sister sounds the horn. I video to capture the exact moment but the screen goes from .001S straight to .002N.

We are given pirate hats, rum and have a celebratory dance to placate Neptune, together with a certificate to prove our passage.

We then watch a gorgeous sunset over the equator.

Overnight we travel to the south-western coast of Isabela. We anchor at Moreno Point and go ashore for, we are told, a dry landing. Well it is dry if you get it right, but there is no dock. The pangas carefully manoeuvre up to the rocky shoreline and we carefully disembark onto the sharp and uneven lava flow. I am very glad I decided to wear my walking boots. The terrain is uneven, with jagged lava and loose cracked plates. It looks like a lunar landscape. Unlike anywhere I have ever been before. Occasional cactus, grasses and scrubby trees have somehow managed to take root in places.

We see some Darwin Cactus Finches….

…. and are given a geology lesson on volcanoes. On the way back we see flightless cormorants and penguins.

Turtles abound as do sea lions which are continually popping up around the panga.

We go back to the boat and have 20 minutes to change before going snorkelling. I decide to not wear a wetsuit but get a shock when I slide off the side into the water.

It is way colder than yesterday. There are thermoclines and the water close to shore is much warmer. I am filming a large shoal of fish when a sea lion photobombs the footage (extract photo from video below)

How cool. I am thrilled. It was only a brief encounter but it is excellent footage. There are loads of turtles. The weather is clear and I have good video of them too. The sea life is abundant and wonderful to experience.

Lunch is huge and consists of an Ecuadorian speciality of tuna in a spicy sort of soup. It was pretty filling and yet there is more to follow. It turns out this was the starter and the main course was a choice of fish or tiger prawns, rice and salad. We are certainly not going to starve on this trip. Whilst we eat lunch, the boat weighs anchor and we motor up the coastline to Tagus Cove. Somebody shouts dolphins and we rush outside, but in fact it is sea lions, behaving exactly like dolphins and swimming in formation and jumping out of the water as they swim. We are also treated to frigate birds taking advantage of the air currents above the bow. They hover and soar above our heads on the top deck.

Initially there is only one bird but shortly it is joined by several others. They squabble in mid-flight and soar back and forth above our heads literally feet away. They probably stay with us for at least an hour and it is just a completely astonishing experience.

We set anchor at Tagus Cove and again go snorkelling. Jane has decided to try and snorkel again this afternoon. I gave her a lesson a couple of days ago in the shallow water and hope that will enable her to be more confident in the deep water. She is wearing a wetsuit so that will aid buoyancy. Fingers crossed. I also decide to wear a wetsuit, as I believe the water will be cold. In fact, it was a reasonable temperature, but as we are close to the rocks and there is a strong swell , the suit offers a little protection from potential grazes. We slip off the side of the boat. There is a strong swell which washes us several feet towards the rocky shoreline before pushing us back to where we started. There are masses of turtles they come very close to us and equally are pushed to and fro in the strong currents. There are eight of us in our tender and we swim largely as a group along the shoreline. There are lots of fish of all sizes and varieties and a chocolate chip starfish.

Then something shoots past me. Wow! It’s a penguin chasing fish. I cannot believe it. I really did not think this would be something that I would see, though I very much hoped I would. A second penguin appears, a large turtle swims  directly beneath me and then a large white tip shark nonchalantly cruises past my right shoulder – pretty much within touching distance. My camera has steamed up so no photos but AMAZING. Just AMAZING!!!!!

After the best part of an hour we return to our boat and are welcomed with hot chocolate and biscuits. The heat has built up and a heavy rain shower looks like it is coming our way.

We have a quick change before setting out again in the panga to cruise along the coastline in the hope of seeing penguins and blue-footed boobies.

We are not disappointed and also see pelicans nesting with young chicks, flightless cormorants, sea lions and noddys. Iguanas rest on the ledges and sally lightfoot crabs scavenge on the wet rocks.

Sea lions again join us, manta rays make enormous jumps in the distance and then a most amazing rainbow appears above the sea.

Could this day get any better? Dinner is sushi which is very good. We then go on deck to see a sea lion asleep on the stern decking. I have no idea how it managed to get aboard. It was not at all bothered by us watching it.

We have breakfast at 6.30 and then leave for a dry landing and walk. It is a beautiful morning and we climb into the pangas and drive across the bay to Islote Tintereros.

Here there are nesting marine iguanas. Two are sitting by a seat on the pier as we disembark but we see few others.

We have to keep strictly to the path and walk in single file as we do not want to tread on the nesting sites. Lizards dart between the lava and bask in the sunshine.

There is an unpleasant smell which turns out to be sea lion poo. We make an effort not to stand on it. The scenery is barren with occasional scruffy plants around the edges. We round a corner and spot sea lions on the beach ahead. The sun is in the wrong direction for particularly good photographs however I do manage to capture one or two.

We finally arrive at a beautiful little cove with a sandy beach where we watch sea lions playing in the water and just chilling. They are totally unperturbed by our presence and it is refreshing and surprising to be able to be so close and yet the animals completely ignore you. A huge change from the Amazon experience. Indeed everything here could not be further removed from the lush paradise that we have just left. This environment is as harsh as it is hot and yet life abounds.

We make our way back to the panga. There is a channel that is frequented by sharks and seals and we had hoped to see them swimming through and be able to take good photographs. Sadly today we are not in luck. I do see three sharks in the bay and I suspect that in half an hours time they will indeed be swimming through the channel.

We return to Solaris and need to be ready to leave again at 10:30 as we are to go snorkelling. As it turns out the chosen beach is not a good choice and we go to an alternative spot which involves a short walk along a boardwalk through the mangrove swamps to a sheltered pool. We have to watch our footing. Iguanas are sunbathing and make no effort to move.

Entry is via wide steps. The water is much clearer than yesterday and I can see a variety of fish. I see an absolutely enormous turtle and a sea lion also pops his head up just yards away. Annoyingly my mask keeps steaming up. I changed the one I had yesterday as it was too small and I have a brand-new one. I need to take it back to my room and rub toothpaste on it to remove the manufacturing film. I think this will solve my problem.

As we walk back to the boat it is amazing to see sea lions on the other side of the road lazing about outside a café and lying directly underneath a hammock.

Lunch is good with soup, teriyaki pork chops and fish in a garlic sauce with salad followed by caramelised pineapple and ice cream. There is no way I am going to lose weight on this trip. After lunch we go to the tortoise breeding centre where we are told all about the program. They have bred approximately 12,000 tortoises for release into the wild. The carapaces are different shapes depending on their habitat. Some have domed openings above their heads, whilst others are flat because they are ground grazers. At one time there were probably 3 million tortoises here.  Numbers had fallen to just 300 in the 70s and have now recovered to about 35,000 thanks to the breeding program eradicate alien species like goats, donkeys and rats.

We then walk from the breeding centre along a path over a lava flow, along walkways through the mangroves and down to the beach. Along the route we see marine iguanas, a red-legged stilt, a pink flamingo and some ducks.

We are told not to touch the overhanging trees that are covered with little green fruit. These are poison apples and even the tree sap is caustic. We are shown a non-native creeping plant which is clematis like and scrambles over other vegetation choking it out. This is a real problem for the islands and there is a continual program to try and eliminate non-native species.

We walk through the little of town of Tintereros where we can purchase souvenirs, ice creams and beers. Jane and I find cornettos. Very welcome in the heat.

Dinner is pasta with a choice of sauces. It has been a long day and bed is calling.

Our flight to the Galapagos will make one stop at Guayaquil for 35 minutes and then we continue on the 600km flight to Baltra in the Galapagos. When we land it is extremely hot and arid. Very different from the lush vegetation of the Amazon. Clearing customs is fairly straightforward. We have to declare any items that may be made from plant material or if we have any camping equipment, hiking boots etc. No search is carried out but there is definitely an effort to control the introduction of any non-endemic species…. and steep fines for non-declaration.

We have to wait about half an hour for a bus to take us on the five minute drive to the port. We are handed lifejackets and board zodiacs (they call them pangas) for the short journey across the harbour to our boat ‘Solaris’.

We have chosen a small boat, which carries a maximum 16 passengers. The view back to shore is lovely with blue water and fluffy clouds. Frigates and pelicans soar in the sky and periodically plunge into the sea to catch a fish.

We are given an orientation and shown to our cabins. Mine is far better than expected. Not a single but a double so pretty good space for a small boat and one person.

We then have lunch which is most acceptable. A huge red snapper, moist and delicious with simple salad, rice and creamy beef. Dessert was fruit salad.

Afterwards we are issued with fins, masks and wetsuits. The team have a great way to put wetsuits on. They put thin plastic bags on your feet and hands, which then slide into the suit effortlessly. It’s taken me twenty years to discover that trick!

We go ashore to snorkel and test out our equipment. My mask is too small and I will change it tomorrow. The water is warm so I may not bother wearing the wetsuit in future. I give Jane a snorkelling lesson. The wetsuit gives her extra buoyancy and she is definitely getting the hang of it. It is all about confidence.

There is a small amount of wildlife on the beach. Three flamingos wade in a salt pond, there are turtle nests, two marine iguanas and lots of sally lightfoot crabs.

Somebody saw a seal in the water but the visibility was terrible and my mask was fogging and leaking. I don’t quite know how anyone could see anything. I wish I’d taken my big camera as there was more wildlife to photograph than I was led to believe. I only took the Olympus Tough for photographs. It not up to the job as you can see above. I shall take the DSLR and phone in future.

There is no Wi-Fi on the boat and so I think posting up the blog may not happen until I get back to the UK, but I’m dictating notes now in the hope that I may have signal and be able to pull something together quickly.

Before dinner we are given our schedule for tomorrow. It’s another horrible early start!