Flights to the Galapagos Islands now go into San Cristobal instead of Baltra. We were told that this is because the airstrip on Baltra was being resurfaced; however, it seems to be taking an inordinately long amount of time to finish the job. Last spring it was to take one month. When we were there it was up to six months and the word was that planes would continue to arrive on San Cristobal through next year.

• Getting Started
• Lovable sea lions, silly birds and blushing iguanas
• New people, new sights, new challenges
• Good-bye to the Galapagos
• A couple days in Quito
• Ecuador Mainland
• Travel tips
• Galapagos Journal, text only
• Ecuador bird photos

The airport at San Cristobal is an open air affair with roof, restrooms, a few souvenir stalls and the immigration desks where you also pay your $100 National Park fee before being allowed to claim your luggage. It appeared to be planned chaos.

We finally got our bags and joined a group heading for the Yacht Fragata (shown above, left). We were met by the National Park guide assigned to the Fragata, Ivan Valencia, who was shouting directions back and forth. He piled us onto a bus after the bags were thrown into the back of a pickup truck and we were off to the pier where we took small boats (pangas) to get to the Fragata. We were an international group with the U.S., Germany, and the Netherlands being represented. The five young people from Germany actually live and work in China.

No sooner had we stepped onto the Fragata than we were sent to eat lunch. Already there were three delightful people from England – Dominic, his wife Amanda and his sister Francesca. They had been on the boat since Friday. The rest of us were joining on Monday. The schedule is set up so that you can spend three nights, five nights or eight nights on board. We were staying eight so we would not get off until the next Monday. Others were only staying five. Dominic was a wealth of information as he, Amanda and Francesca already knew the score. Many were the times we were thankful for his knowledge because our guide, unfortunately, did not always tell us what we needed to know. We have been royally spoiled having Charlie Gomez as our guide and friend! No one will ever come close to the standard he sets.

As soon as we sat down to lunch, the boat was underway for a four-hour run to get to Santa Fe Island before sundown in order to see the land iguanas. After lunch Jim and I sat on the fantail for a while in the breeze but then decided we should try to rest so went below to our cabin. There was a goodly amount of motion and I was concerned for Jim because he has Meniere’s Disease which, in his case, causes severe motion sickness. I had searched the web when we began to plan the trip looking for something that might help. None of the oral medications or the scopalamine patches are of much use to him so I was extremely concerned that these eight days might be very difficult.

Fortunately, in my search, I came across something called a Relief Band which was first developed for pilots to combat air sickness, but had been found to counteract sea sickness as well. We decided to take the chance and order one of these bands for Jim to wear during the time we were on the boat. It was the very BEST decision we could have made as wearing this band kept him from throwing up and allowed him to eat something at every meal. He still felt a little unstable at times, but both of us were amazed at how well he was able to function using the Relief Band. We highly recommend that anyone with a tendency toward motion sickness invest in this device. We are not paid by the company to say this. We are simply satisfied customers. (See TIPS for more information on the Relief Band.)

Normally I do not suffer from seasickness but this morning I awoke in Quito reacting to a “bug” or possibly a problem from something I had eaten so I was the one who was somewhat under the weather and prone to nausea this day.

Click thumbnails for larger versions

A Galapagos coastline

Mature and young turtles at Darwin Research Center.

One of the many Darwin's finches. (M. Dodge)

Managing to sleep a little, we were awakened by knocking on our door and a voice shouting, “Wet landing in five minutes” several times over. Groggily we pulled on our hiking boots, grabbed the day pack, water bottles, my hiking staff, hats and the video camera. By the time we made it to the fantail of the boat to put on our life vests, I was beginning to wake up. Into the pangas we piled, and thankfully Dominic was there to instruct us about wet landings: Off with the boots and socks, up with the pant legs, slide forward, throw your legs over the side of the panga and get wet. By then I was definitely awake! I also realized that Jim and I were by far the oldest participants on the boat. We may have to work hard to keep up with this group!

The main reason for visiting Santa Fe Island was to see the land iguanas. According to our guide, Ivan, they are not plentiful, and we were fortunate to see five of them. The beach had a fair complement of sea lions, which were fascinating. Little did we know that soon it would become “old hat” to have beaches covered with sea lions! Pelicans were fishing and a breeze was blowing. Besides all that, I was standing on “terra firma” so my queasiness was abating.

Back on board we had a two-hour steam to make it to Santa Cruz where we will go ashore tomorrow morning. Sitting in the lounge seemed to be the most comfortable for this passage. After anchoring, there was dinner but I ate very little. We were in bed by 9:30 that evening and I managed to sleep soundly until 3:30 a.m. After that I dozed off and on until 5:30 a.m. when we got up, got dressed and went up to the lounge for a cup of tea.

Oct. 4: Santa Cruz. Grateful for the solid six hours of sleep I got, I watched the sun rise from the fantail. Breakfast at 7 a.m. found me still drinking hot tea instead of instant coffee. I adore good coffee, but instant does not fall into that category.

At 8 a.m. the pangas took us into town where we had a dry landing at the dock and walked the two miles to the Charles Darwin Research Station. (http://www.darwinfoundation.org/ )

Our visit was most enlightening and we saw Lonesome George, the huge tortoise that is the last of his subspecies. Efforts have been made over the years to pair him with similar species for breeding purposes but no progeny have resulted so when he dies, his subspecies will be extinct. There is a very active breeding program for those species that are still viable and we saw various stages and ages of young tortoises, each with a number painted on their back. Land iguanas from several islands were also in breeding captivity at the research station. Once these animals reach a certain age or size they are introduced back to the wild. Of course, there were wonderful birds all around as well: Galapagos Mockingbird, Small Ground Finch, Medium Ground Finch, Yellow Warbler, Great Blue Heron and a Lava Heron.

After our visit we had an hour free to walk back to the docks so people meandered along stopping at various shops to buy what all tourists seem to buy – postcards and T-shirts. Marine iguanas and Sally Lightfoot Crabs entertained us as we waited for the pangas.

Back on the boat, lunch was beef stew, rice and salad with delicious watermelon for dessert. We were given time for a short rest and then were back into the pangas and back to the docks.

This afternoon we went by bus to an area on the island call The Twins, which are two craters formed thousands of years ago. We had hardly stepped off the bus when a Vermillion Flycatcher appeared. He sat very still while myriads of shutters snapped and Jim videoed. Later on our hike, we saw two more. We were also entertained by Medium Ground Finches and Galapagos Doves which have the most beautiful red legs!

The next part of the afternoon took us to a lava tube which was very large. The path down into the tube was rather precarious, and it was very dark so I decided to stay at the entrance with several others while Ivan led the rest down into the “hole.”

After dinner, we enjoyed a cup of tea and conversation with Karel and Froucke Nieuwenhais, who are from the Netherlands. They are delightful and have planned a trekking holiday on the Ecuadorian mainland after the Galapagos trip.

Last updated November 23, 2008 01:56 PM