The Galapagos are several thousand miles behind us, but I never did get any posts up about our time there. Will try to make up for that. Our first port of call was Isabela. After the clearance formalities (which involved about 10 people including a diver who inspected the bottom of our boat), we were off to shore where we were greeted by some of the locals.
The sea lions own the place – and get indignant when disturbed.
Most of the venues in the Galapagos are closed to visitors unless accompanied by a guide, so most of our exploring was done on tours. We were not permitted to move the boat without clearing in and out of each port and we were very restricted as to what places we could visit. We were only permitted to use our dinghy to travel from the boat to the shore and, since there really were no safe places to leave the dink, we generally ended up using water taxis instead. That actually proved to be pretty convenient. You hailed them on the VHF and the cost was $1 per person.
Our first explore was a walk around the town. While Isabela is the largest of the Galapagos Islands, the population is only around 2000 people so it doesn’t take long to see the town.
The Galapagos Islands have two seasons – hot and dry as in 100 degrees F – and cool and rainy – as in very little rain but misty and cloudy mornings with highs in the 70’s. Glad we were there during the cool and rainy season. Even so, the sun is very hot given the proximity to the equator, so walking about does work up a thirst.
This fellow was harvesting the coconuts – and yes – those electric wires are live. Could make for a very short career.
Our first tour was a walking and snorkeling tour around a small remote island.
It featured many of the indigenous critters like the iguanas.
Sea turtles.
Crabss
Other lizards.
Various birds.
Sharks
And very harsh terrain.
Unfortunately, the water was quite cloudy so the shots I took while snorkeling did not turn out well.
Our second tour the following day was land based in a somewhat uniques vehicle.
From the following pictures, you can really get a sense of how volcanic, harsh and barren these islands are. The history of the Galapagos is replete with tales of failed commercial ventures. Not even the pirates did well here. I found myself asking “What were they thinking”.
The tour also included a walking tour as well.
This is a form of wild cotton called not surprisingly Darwin cotton.
There are also poisonous plants – among them little apples that the turtles eat but deadly to us.
And surprisingly, pink flamingos.
After a long day of sight seeing, there was nothing like a little R and R back aboard.
Mixed with a little work cleaning the bottom of the boat. (Yes – we put guests to work)
More next time.
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