Ecuador

After months of dreaming and planning, Lucila, Paulo, Ben and Patricia finally accomplished a life-long dream: exploring the underwater world (and so much more!) in the Galapagos. Here is the story...

We arrived in Galapagos after a long journey that involved flying, driving and boating our way from Canada. The adventure started with a 6-hour layover in Miami, where we walked, ate, and had our last Starbucks (of course!) before catching the plane to Guayaquil, Ecuador. 

We arrived in the largest city in Ecuador at 11:30pm, and were greeted by our friendly representative for our excellent tour company, Southern Explorations. We arrived in the hotel exhausted, and with only a 5 hour sleep before having to get up to return to the airport to catch the flight that would take us the 600 miles west over the Pacific Ocean to the chain of islands of the Galapagos. 

When we finally stepped off the plane on Baltra Island, the heat and humidity was a welcome change from the cold weather we had left back home.  The sun was shining, and as we passed customs the friendly airport staff were a good omen of the warm hospitality we were to experience throughout our trip.

Our plan was to spend four days on the island of Santa Cruz before starting the 5 day cruise around the islands, so the adventure continued as we made our way by bus (free), ferry (80 cents) and taxi (18$) from the airport to the town of Santa Cruz. 

We arrived at Hotel Mainao, which was a lovely Gaudi-inspired building full of interesting nooks, crannies and gorgeous mosaics.

We had booked the rooms with a balcony and a view, from where we enjoyed a few cold beers while relaxing at the end of our full days on the island. 

Another bonus was breakfast included, which we took full advantage of every morning!

Santa Cruz is a cute little town with well-paved roads and good-looking storefronts, clearly geared towards tourists.  

Our first stop was at a cute restaurant down the road from our hotel for a tasty lunch consisting of the local favorite dishes of ceviche and fresh fish.

After a cappuccino we felt revived, and our next stop was to check in with the Iguana Dive shop. Paulo and Ben were booked for three days of scuba diving, with Patricia joining on the last day for a dive and Lucila for a snorkel. The shop had excellent service and equipment, and we knew we would be in good hands.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Darwin Centre, where we saw the large, land-based Galapagos turtles in various stages of growth, all the way from newborns to a few specimens that were over 100 years of age.

Every night we would venture out on the town, eating at a different restaurant each time to explore the local cuisine.  The food was fresh and delicious, and we enjoyed catching up on each other’s adventures over a glass (or two ;) of wine.

The next day Paulo and Ben went to the Scuba Iguana shop bright and early. They met the crew and tourists with whom they would be spending the next few days diving, and immediately hit it off. The service was impeccable, and the people extremely friendly.  Each day they saw amazing sea life, with schools of fish so large it was like a living wall that one could get lost in...

Majestic hammerhead sharks and sleek white finned sharks. Thankfully they weren’t too interested in making a human meal as they come to the shallows full from their hunting in the depths, for a good clean by the tiny fish living along the shoals.

The sea lions were bold and curious, seeming to enjoy the company of humans, hanging around like underwater dogs with their whiskered noses and trusting big brown eyes.

After the end of every dive the crew would return to the dive shop and enjoy a slide show of the underwater pictures and videos taken that day, reminiscing about the fantastic sights.

Lucila and Patricia took full advantage of a day without concrete plans to sleep in, waking up just in time to have breakfast in the hotel.  They spent the morning wandering through the town, and booked a snorkeling trip for the following day. Lunch was at a breezy restaurant, welcome in the heat of the day, located on the main plaza of the town. After stopping at a small grocery store to buy some supplies, they undertook the 1-hour walk to Tortuga Bay, reached through a well-maintained trail that wound through the desert-like vegetation under the strong Ecuadorian sun. 

The heat of the day was worth braving, as the final prize was a pristine white beach with clear blue waters.  

Since the first beach had strong currents more ideal for surfing, they continued on towards the second beach, which was said to have more calm waters for swimming. Right away, Patricia almost stepped on a giant iguana sunning in the sand!  

On closer inspection, what looked like various pieces of dark seaweed strewn along the beach were actually numerous iguanas. They were so ugly they were cute. Very slow and gentle, they made interesting companions on the walk along the beach, with many grouped together underneath the mangrove trees. Lucila and Patricia finally arrived at the next beach, which was more like a bay protected from the waves by islands of volcanic rock covered with cacti. They immediately went into the refreshing water for a long soak, and rested in the shade of the mangrove trees lining the beach.

After an afternoon of leisure, they headed back to town, where they caught up with Paulo and Ben over a couple of beers at the local restaurant, sharing the experiences of the day.

The next day we all had to get up early and had breakfast together, with Paulo and Ben going for another scuba adventure, and Lucila and Patricia heading out for a day of snorkeling.

Lucila and Patricia were picked up at the local pier with 7 other travellers for a boat ride out to the island of Santa Fe. They had their first experience snorkeling with seal lions, and the water was surprisingly warm – no wetsuit needed!

After a lunch on board, the next stop was a secluded beach where they were able to perfect their sunburns, which thankfully turned into a pleasing tan before long. Again we all met up back at the hotel, and exchanged stories on the balcony enjoying fresh papaya and cold beers, followed by dinner out on the town… so relaxing!

The next day was the last scuba diving day, and Patricia was really excited to see the marine life that Paulo and Ben had been raving about over the last two days. We met with the group for the day, and took cars across the island to the harbor near the airport for a short boat ride to the dive site.

That day we saw the most incredible array of animals – playful sea lions, majestic sea turtles and graceful stingrays floating through the water.  The highlight was a pod of white tipped sharks, as many as 20 in one small area, swimming in relatively shallow water for their “cleaning” session by small fish. We felt surprisingly safe, as the sharks spend most of their time hunting in deeper waters. It was an amazing experience, and we felt extremely privileged to be able to witness the diversity of the Galapagos underwater world.

We arrived back on the island relatively early for a leisurely walk around town with some shopping and a lovely dinner before heading back to the hotel for our last sleep on the island before starting our 5 day cruise with Galacruises on converted catamaran, Archipell I.  Very exciting!

The next day Ben took advantage of the morning by renting a surfboard and heading out to Tortuga Bay to catch some waves. Paulo, Lucila and Patricia wandered around to enjoying the view from the pier and the local sea lions that loved to chill out on the decks, occasionally jumping into the water to cool off.

We met our cruise group on the pier at noon, and were boated out to the Archipell, a beautiful catamaran. The accommodations were surprisingly luxurious, and the crew friendly.  

We also had our very own naturalist tour guide, Jairo.  Always smiling and very knowledgeable, he helped make our experience in the Galapagos unforgettable - and saved us from eating poisonous foods along the way ;)

The next few days were a flurry of activity. Every day we started with a call to breakfast, where we had our own omelet chef – that’s the life!

Then we would all get into the smaller boats to go on an adventure for the morning, followed by lunch back on the catamaran.

Afterwards we would get a chance to relax on the upper decks, soak in the sun, and enjoy a brewski or two.

Then there would be another afternoon adventure, followed by a hot shower and a delicious dinner.

In the evenings we would relax in the lounge and watch installments of the Galapagos show by the BBC, with David Attenborough. Overnight the boat would motor to our next destination, so every day brought a new exciting view from the deck.

The first day of our tour we stayed in the Santa Cruz harbor and went to see the turtles in the Santa Cruz highlands…

The following day we were on Isabella Island, where we walked over “ai ai” lava, covered with a multitude of iguanas…

…followed by snorkeling with sea turtles, sea lions, and a plethora of beautiful multicolored fish and colourful crabs. 

After lunch, we boated over to a small town of ~2800 people on Isabella Island. In the harbor the sea lions were hanging out on the benches, unconcerned with the locals and tourists milling around.

We saw the wall of tears, built many years ago by prisoners that used to be kept on the island….

…walked through mangroves and by lagoons with their flamboyantly pink flamingos…

… and hung out in a small town where we got to play volleyball and have a relaxing beer at the bar on the beach.

The next morning we walked under the hot, hot sun over another island made of lava, dotted with lagoons and flamingos.  This was a perfect opportunity for a group picture. Our companions were a fun bunch, and we had a great time, sharing the Galapagos experience with them.

This was followed by another snorkel; this time the water was a bit colder, but we saw magnificent sea turtles, which made it worth the dip.

In the afternoon we boated into the mangroves, where we saw beautiful sights including a flock of golden rays floating majestically through the water in tight formation, many turtles and even penguins. These little birds were stranded a long time ago in the warmer waters of the Galapagos, likely due to water currents sweeping them out to sea from their usual cold habitats, and have adapted to their environment to the point where there is now little resemblance to their larger ancestors.

The next morning we woke up in a beautiful bay, and we stood out on the deck to watch the sun rise over the island.

That morning we took the boats out to walk along an old volcanic crater rim to the top for a stunning view.

The Galapagos are essentially a group of islands arising out of volcanic activity, with some more recent volcanoes still active, and old burnt out volcanoes and their lava producing the land mass for animal life. Some of the volcanic islands are so old that vegetation is lush and plentiful, while the newer ones are sparsely populated and still desert like.  There are few species of plants and animals that ended up on the Galapagos Islands, drifting or swimming over the many miles of water, but those that made and were able to adapt to the unique conditions continue to thrive with little competition. This accounts for the Galapagos cormorants that have almost lost their wings, as there is little need to fly away from predators.

The iguanas have learned how to desalinate the ocean water for drinking, an amazing evolutionary difference from the rest of the iguanas around the world.

We then went for a boat ride along beautiful rock formations...

where after wards we went for a snorkel and spent time with a playful sea lion, crazy cormorants, and the shy penguins. The sea lion was a real treat – no older than a toddler, small and agile, he would brush right up against us and execute graceful pirouettes around our bodies, never tiring of our company.

In the afternoon we went for a walk on another island beach, where we saw an incredible number of iguanas stacked one on top of the other along the path.

Ben and Chris made a good attempt at replicating the typical iguana pose...

There were the cutest baby sea lions hanging out beside colorful crabs, with their sleek fur from popping into and out of the water.

Old whale bones were bleached white on the sand, hinting at the magnificent creature that used to swim in the ocean depths.

On our last snorkel we saw lots of sea turtles, eating their underwater greenery, large flippers distinguishing them from their on land counterparts.  

That night we had a goodbye from the crew, and we thanked them for their amazing hospitality on the boat, followed by tasty evening cocktails.

That evening the sun set in a splendor of colors, pink and red and gold melting into the placid water. This made from some beautiful photo opportunities, and we sighed in contentment as the evening gave way to a multitude of stars in the night sky.

On our last day we had an early wakeup to a beautiful sunrise walk on the beach, where we saw nesting areas for the sea turtles, littered with broken shells from previous hatchings. The neon pink flamingos were doing their Michael Jackson walk along the lagoons.

We boated over to our last stop on Baltra Island, where the sea lions were hanging out in the bus stop for a last goodbye.

Fortunately we had made the right choice when connecting with the tour agency Southern Explorations, as we were well taken care of with excellent transportation and services throughout our stay in Galapagos.

We were picked up by bus to the airport, where Ben and Patricia were to catch a plane to Quito for a further seven days of adventure on mainland Ecuador; Paulo and Lucila spent an afternoon in Guayaquil before heading back home.  It was a lovely trip, so many beautiful memories that will stay with us for a lifetime, made all the more special with the company of loved ones.