The Galapagos adventure
One week ago now, 12 of us got on a plane from Quito to the Galapagos islands. It was with excitement, giggles and high expectations that we arrived at San Cristobal island - one of three islands we were to visit out of the eleven islands that belong to Galapagos. No wonder the expectations were high seeing that it was after a visit to the Galapagos that Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution in the 1830s. 6 adventure packed days were waiting us to see and experience as much as possible of these islands!
Day 1: kayaking San Cristobal
We arrived to the capital of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and headed straight down to the harbour front, the first thing we say was sealions as far as the eye could reach.
Together with our guide we set off on kayaks around the coast of San Cristobal, past white sandy beaches filled with sealions that were playing and jumping around.
Past volcanic rocks with birds and pelicans flying close by us before reaching the top of the rocks, and amazing cactus trees rising up in an otherwise bare forest on top of the volcanic rocks.
We continued until we reached Darwin's Bay before returning back, fighting against the current but laughing all the way, perhaps it was just the excitement of being here or the fact that it was the perfect start of our Galapagos adventure.
Day 2: Kicker Rock
Today was the day that many of us had waited for with great excitement - the day we were to explore the waters of Galapagos and all the amazing marine life there.
As we rolled over the railing of the boat the first thing that reached us was the cold water of 17 degrees sipping its way through our long wetsuits. The cold was worst in the beginning as we started to desend but then as a sealion joined in on the fun and started swimming between us the cold seemed not to matter anymore. Then the beautiful, huge turtles graciously swam past us and the highlight of the two dives was without a doubt the sharks swimming above us, underneath us and right next to us! Two beautiful dives but unfortunately my camera decided to give upon life during the first dive so the beautiful creatures we spotted will be stored in my mind until I get a chance to try and save the camera and its memory.
After the dives we set off to Playa Mangelito,a picture perfect beach were we first had lunch on the boat before heading to shore.
Three of us decided to add on an extra night dive which turned out to be the best decision ever however we had some serious doubts before got back in. After sunset and in the pitched black night we geared up in the harbour before heading out on a little tiny dive boat into the dark waters. We reached our dive spot, dressed in black, with an almost starfree sky above us as we were about to roll back into the dark unknown beneath us. To saw that it was pure excitement and no feeling of hesitation or fear would be one of the biggest lies I would tell! But off we went, back into the cold waters of the night. But the dive was the most amazing dive and we spotted so much marine life! The highlight being without a doubt the bullerhead shark which is rare to spot even in the Galapagos as there have only been 75 different sharks of this type registered in the world! The night dives are so different then any other dives, as you are surrounded by so much unknown all around you in the darkness and only able to see the spot to which your, and your dive buddies lights reach. Before going back on the boat we switched off our flashlights and layon the surface playing around with the mareels that filled the water as we splashed around. Probably one of the best days during the week!
Day 3: Tortuga
We set off from San Cristobal and headed of to our next island of Santa Cruz. After a quick emponadas we set off towards Tortuga bay. We walked the first 3km through a beautiful Cactus forest.
We reached Playa Brava, a magnificent beach filled with beautiful iguanas walking around, happily posing for our photos.
As the waters were too rough we continued along the beach through another small cactus forest until we reached our final destination of Playa Mansa. A perfectly protected cove filled with iguanas and perfect for us to swim in.
We spent a couple of hours there, how could we not? As we soon realised that this might just be paradise. A stunning Ecuadorian woman with Pochahontas hair brought out a ukuleke and started playing and singing Somewhere over the rainbow as wild iguanas walked past us and the Galapagos birds tried to steal snacks from our bags. Did I say this afternoon was like perfection itself?
Day 4: North Seymour
We set of to the north part of the island in the morning and completed two dives in North Seymour. We had our hopes set for a hammerhead shark but ended up spotting just a tiny regular shark and some stingrays. Even though we didn't see the big sharks we had hoped for it was stilla beautiful dive site and great day at the sea.
In the afternoon we added a litte trip to the Highlands to see the giant land tortoises.
It was a beautiful afternoon with plenty of tortoises around, on their way to the pond for the night.
Our guide was great and introduced us to some Ecuadorian history. The islands of Galapagos were first discovered in the 1500's but were inhabited and used only by pirates to hunt tortoises until the 1920. The Ecuadorian government decided that the Galapagos islands needed to be inhabited and therefore gave away land for free to anyone willing to migrate and settle here. This initiative was going on until 1959 when the Galapagos islands were declared a national park the conservation projects started. It was a great afternoon which ended with an amazing lobster meal at the street food stalls of Santa Cruz.
Day 5: Isla Isabela
We headed off to our third and final island of our Galapagos stay. In the afternoon we set off on a bicycle trip which started along a beautiful stretch of beach.
We continued to Playa del Amour - the beach of love named after it being the mating ground of the iguanas.
We continued along our 10km route past beautiful mangroves and lagoons spotting iguanas and tortoises.
We reached our final stop which was the Wall of Tears. It was a purposeless wall build by the prisoners of this island between 1946-1959 during which time the island of Isabela was used as a prison colony. The wall was built simply to keep the prisoners busy and too tired to escape the island.
It made me realised that in almost every country there is a dark piece of history - stories of mistreatment, torture and misery - created by humans to other humans.
Day 6: Hiking Sierra Negra
Today was our last full day in the Galapagos. As the rest of the group headed off on a snorkel adventure, two of us set off on an early start for a 16km hike around Sierra Negra - the second largesr crater in the world with a diameter of 10km and circumference of 32km.
We walked to the edge if the crater but it was still too much of the early morning mist to see over the edge. We continued along the crater for 3km before heading down a path to lots of other little volcanos - volcano chicos.
It was amazing to see how the landscape, colours and vegetation changed as we reached the younger volcanos. From the brown red sand with lots of vegetation towards more red rock foundation with primarily cactus growing there.
But the most impressive change was that of the black volcano lava which enptied from one of the smallest volcanos in 1979.
We walked along the craters and as we reached the top we had panoramic views over the island and all the different colours of the volcanos surronding us - quite spectacular.
As we returned the clouds had lifted and as we reached Sierra Negra again, there it was - the most impressive crater! The landscaoe around us even looked different as the mist and clouds had dispersed. We arrived back happy and satisfied but exhausted with very tired legs.
With that the Galapagos adventure has come to an end and we are setting off back to the mainland of Ecuador after an unbelievable and amazing experience island hopping on these unique islands.
Day 1: kayaking San Cristobal
We arrived to the capital of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno and headed straight down to the harbour front, the first thing we say was sealions as far as the eye could reach.
Together with our guide we set off on kayaks around the coast of San Cristobal, past white sandy beaches filled with sealions that were playing and jumping around.
Past volcanic rocks with birds and pelicans flying close by us before reaching the top of the rocks, and amazing cactus trees rising up in an otherwise bare forest on top of the volcanic rocks.
We continued until we reached Darwin's Bay before returning back, fighting against the current but laughing all the way, perhaps it was just the excitement of being here or the fact that it was the perfect start of our Galapagos adventure.
Day 2: Kicker Rock
Today was the day that many of us had waited for with great excitement - the day we were to explore the waters of Galapagos and all the amazing marine life there.
As we rolled over the railing of the boat the first thing that reached us was the cold water of 17 degrees sipping its way through our long wetsuits. The cold was worst in the beginning as we started to desend but then as a sealion joined in on the fun and started swimming between us the cold seemed not to matter anymore. Then the beautiful, huge turtles graciously swam past us and the highlight of the two dives was without a doubt the sharks swimming above us, underneath us and right next to us! Two beautiful dives but unfortunately my camera decided to give upon life during the first dive so the beautiful creatures we spotted will be stored in my mind until I get a chance to try and save the camera and its memory.
After the dives we set off to Playa Mangelito,a picture perfect beach were we first had lunch on the boat before heading to shore.
Three of us decided to add on an extra night dive which turned out to be the best decision ever however we had some serious doubts before got back in. After sunset and in the pitched black night we geared up in the harbour before heading out on a little tiny dive boat into the dark waters. We reached our dive spot, dressed in black, with an almost starfree sky above us as we were about to roll back into the dark unknown beneath us. To saw that it was pure excitement and no feeling of hesitation or fear would be one of the biggest lies I would tell! But off we went, back into the cold waters of the night. But the dive was the most amazing dive and we spotted so much marine life! The highlight being without a doubt the bullerhead shark which is rare to spot even in the Galapagos as there have only been 75 different sharks of this type registered in the world! The night dives are so different then any other dives, as you are surrounded by so much unknown all around you in the darkness and only able to see the spot to which your, and your dive buddies lights reach. Before going back on the boat we switched off our flashlights and layon the surface playing around with the mareels that filled the water as we splashed around. Probably one of the best days during the week!
Day 3: Tortuga
We set off from San Cristobal and headed of to our next island of Santa Cruz. After a quick emponadas we set off towards Tortuga bay. We walked the first 3km through a beautiful Cactus forest.
We reached Playa Brava, a magnificent beach filled with beautiful iguanas walking around, happily posing for our photos.
As the waters were too rough we continued along the beach through another small cactus forest until we reached our final destination of Playa Mansa. A perfectly protected cove filled with iguanas and perfect for us to swim in.
We spent a couple of hours there, how could we not? As we soon realised that this might just be paradise. A stunning Ecuadorian woman with Pochahontas hair brought out a ukuleke and started playing and singing Somewhere over the rainbow as wild iguanas walked past us and the Galapagos birds tried to steal snacks from our bags. Did I say this afternoon was like perfection itself?
Day 4: North Seymour
We set of to the north part of the island in the morning and completed two dives in North Seymour. We had our hopes set for a hammerhead shark but ended up spotting just a tiny regular shark and some stingrays. Even though we didn't see the big sharks we had hoped for it was stilla beautiful dive site and great day at the sea.
In the afternoon we added a litte trip to the Highlands to see the giant land tortoises.
It was a beautiful afternoon with plenty of tortoises around, on their way to the pond for the night.
Our guide was great and introduced us to some Ecuadorian history. The islands of Galapagos were first discovered in the 1500's but were inhabited and used only by pirates to hunt tortoises until the 1920. The Ecuadorian government decided that the Galapagos islands needed to be inhabited and therefore gave away land for free to anyone willing to migrate and settle here. This initiative was going on until 1959 when the Galapagos islands were declared a national park the conservation projects started. It was a great afternoon which ended with an amazing lobster meal at the street food stalls of Santa Cruz.
Day 5: Isla Isabela
We headed off to our third and final island of our Galapagos stay. In the afternoon we set off on a bicycle trip which started along a beautiful stretch of beach.
We continued to Playa del Amour - the beach of love named after it being the mating ground of the iguanas.
We continued along our 10km route past beautiful mangroves and lagoons spotting iguanas and tortoises.
We reached our final stop which was the Wall of Tears. It was a purposeless wall build by the prisoners of this island between 1946-1959 during which time the island of Isabela was used as a prison colony. The wall was built simply to keep the prisoners busy and too tired to escape the island.
It made me realised that in almost every country there is a dark piece of history - stories of mistreatment, torture and misery - created by humans to other humans.
Day 6: Hiking Sierra Negra
Today was our last full day in the Galapagos. As the rest of the group headed off on a snorkel adventure, two of us set off on an early start for a 16km hike around Sierra Negra - the second largesr crater in the world with a diameter of 10km and circumference of 32km.
We walked to the edge if the crater but it was still too much of the early morning mist to see over the edge. We continued along the crater for 3km before heading down a path to lots of other little volcanos - volcano chicos.
It was amazing to see how the landscape, colours and vegetation changed as we reached the younger volcanos. From the brown red sand with lots of vegetation towards more red rock foundation with primarily cactus growing there.
But the most impressive change was that of the black volcano lava which enptied from one of the smallest volcanos in 1979.
We walked along the craters and as we reached the top we had panoramic views over the island and all the different colours of the volcanos surronding us - quite spectacular.
As we returned the clouds had lifted and as we reached Sierra Negra again, there it was - the most impressive crater! The landscaoe around us even looked different as the mist and clouds had dispersed. We arrived back happy and satisfied but exhausted with very tired legs.
With that the Galapagos adventure has come to an end and we are setting off back to the mainland of Ecuador after an unbelievable and amazing experience island hopping on these unique islands.
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