Galapagos

Grazing in the Galapagos

~ donquioaty ~ 1 Comment

There are plenty of good watering holes and eateries in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz, where DonQui has based himself on the Galapagos. The food is good (especially seafood) but prices are very high. This is unsurprising given that almost everything, including water, has to be imported. Fish, coconut, bananas, plantain, and some chicken is local but vegetables are in very short supply. 

Quite a few places brew their own craft beer and it is rather good, although it costs around $10 a pint (Ecuador uses the US dollar).

One of DonQui’s favourite watering holes is The Rock brew-pub. It has some excellent beers and the food is also very good. In the evening local musicians play outside.

Restaurante Almar is a great place for a sundowner and it has excellent seafood. 

On his last day on Santa Cruz island DonQui takes a water taxi across the harbour.

There he treats himself to a bit of luxury at the Finch Bay Hotel. The bay is home to many species of Darwin finches — the birds famous for inspiring Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species.

For supper DonQui opts for the tasting menu with paired wines. Although expensive it is not unduly so by Galapagos standards.  Although DonQui associates lemongrass with Thai food, it is grown in Ecuador and often used in many Ecuadorian dishes. The coconut shrimp and lemongrass soup is an absolute delight.

Each dish is superb, especially the fish and seafood.

To finish is a delightful (and most appropriate) chocolate lava cake celebrating Charles’ Darwin’s birthday (12 February).

Now DonQui is at the airport on Baltra island for a flight back to the mainland. There is a pleasant VIP lounge which DonQui can access thanks to the ‘Dragon Pass’ which comes with his bank account. Apparently real dragons have free access to come and go as they please!

Island hopping

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The Galapagos is an archipelago of barren volcanic islands. The equatorial sun burns down on them and there is very little shade.

With no fresh water the islands are not well suited to habitation by either donkeys or humans.

Most of them are uninhabited refuges for a remarkable array of wildlife with unique species that helped to form Charles Darwin’s conclusions about evolution.

To explore a few of the islands and to meet some of the remarkable native inhabitants DonQui needs to get on a boat. There are a wide choice of day trips available from Puerto Ayora and all require an early morning start. This takes some effort on DonQui’s part as he is not naturally an early riser.

A dingy or water taxi takes DonQui to his waiting vessel on each of his three day-excursions to Pinzón, Isabella and North Seymour. The boats are quite comfortable — especially the catamaran which takes him to North Seymour. The groups on board are very small, usually about 10-12 passengers — the number of visitors being strictly limited to avoid overcrowding and too much disturbance to the wildlife.

A dingy is towed along behind to assist with beach landings and to get to good snorkelling spots.

On his way to Pinzón DonQui is lucky to encounter some Dolphins who decided to playfully swim around the boat for several minutes.

… and on the way back from North Seymour a huge Tiger Shark escorts DonQui out of the shark’s territorial waters. DonQui thinks it best not to argue.

The various snorkelling stops are the best part of all the trips. The water is crystal clear so DonQui is able to observe a huge array of tropical fish. Off Pinzón a family of sea lions swim alongside. One comes right up to DonQui and nosily presses its snout at DonQui’s mask. Off North Seymour DonQui suddenly finds himself in the middle of a huge school of whitetip sharks — hundreds of them swimming all around him. It was quite breathtaking.

Whilst snorkelling he aslo encounters marine iguanas, sea turtles, barracuda and several species of rays. 

DonQui also meets many fascinating species of birds such as these iconic blue footed boobies. Nearby DonQui sees a Galapagos penguin swimming and diving for fish.

One of these male frigate birds is puffing up his red throat sack in the hope of attracting a mate. The other looks as if he couldn’t be bothered.

DonQui sees land iguanas everywhere.

And he also comes across a pair of giant tortoises doing their best to ensure the continuation of their species.

Six days on the Galapagos with three spent on the inhabited Santa Cruz and three day-excursions to other islands is just about enough. DonQui thinks it might have been an idea to have spent a bit longer so he could have gone to San Cristobal to spent a night there. However, he has seen more wildlife close up than he could possibly have hoped for. So he is just about ready for his next adventure

Galloping to Galapagos

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When researching his ‘round the world’ trip DonQui learned that most people wishing to visit the Galapagos Islands take a cruise ship from the Ecuadorian coast. The prices are eye-watering and the thought of being stuck on a boat for several days with a bunch of strangers does not appeal. Then he discovers that there are plentiful inexpensive flights from Quito, taking only a couple of hours instead of three days. This seems like a much better proposition.

So he wings his way over the Pacific to land at Baltra airport — formally a US Naval base.

He passes several checks to fill in forms, pay various fees and to ensure he is not bringing in any organic material which would harm the wildlife. Then he takes the bus to the ferry which will transport him over the straight to Santa Cruz island. 

The ‘ferry’ crossing on a small boat is quite quick and has an atmospheric air of adventure to it. On landing he could then have waited for a bus but, being a creature who likes his comforts, DonQui opts for a taxi for the 40 minute drive through the barren landscape to Puerto Ayora where he will be basing himself.

Puerto Ayora is a pleasant low-rise, laid back, small tourist town. 

The locals seem very friendly.

DonQui comes across a couple of the locals enjoying a late afternoon beach snooze just on the edge of town.

The lovely Morning Glory ‘boutique hostel’ is DonQui’s base for the next five days and he is more than happy with his choice. His hostess Ruth is very helpful in suggesting day excursions for DonQui to explore these unique islands and to come close to its wildlife.

Tomorrow he will begin exploring.