November 16th 2014
I wake up early at Galapagos best home stay, my bags already packed, ready for my cruise. 6 of us pile into a taxi pick up truck and head to Baltra airport, Phil, Sabine and I as well as a few people heading for another boat. The taxi gets us to the bus terminal just in time to be the last passengers piling onto the 8 am bus (2USD) to the airport. Frustratingly the last bus leaves at either 8 or 8:30, and we’re not due to meet our Naturalist guide until 10:30.
We complete the ferry crossing and catch the bus to the airport waiting outside as our group slowly swells as more and more Guatanamera passengers find each other. Eventually our Guide Johan shows up and introduces himself before telling us that we won’t be able to go to the boat until about 11 and because of one passengers delayed flight we won’t be setting sail (figure of speech) until at least 12:30. At least this gives us ample time to get to know each other at the airport It’s a good and surprisingly young group, almost everyone in their twenties and thirties. In fact our oldest member Jenn might be the youngest at heart. She’s an Australian woman who’s been travelling non stop for the past 4 years, her bag colourfully decorated with countless patches of countries she’s been. Something I’ve often thought about doing, but keep putting off.
Eventually we’re taken in another airport bus to where the Guatanemera is waiting, and, after a brief wait we’re climbing onto tiny Zodiac boats and being taken to our home for the next 8 days.
The boat itself is a lot nicer than I expected. While space is certainly at a premium there is a nice upper deck area for lounging, a big enough dining room with a TV and couch of sorts tucked in one corner. We gather on the upper deck to wait for cabin assignments. Immediately it becomes clear, the six lounging chairs at the front of the upper deck are going to be sought after property for the next 8 days.
Before too long I find myself in cabin 5, shared with Thomas who is kind enough to give me the bottom bunk. The cabins are certainly not spacious, but their functional and comfortable and much to my surprise the air conditioning and hot water actually seem reliable. After some quick unpacking one of the crew member walks around the boat ringing a bell, a sound which will tie itself to happiness over the next 8 days. In this particular case it’s a sign that lunch is ready.
Johan the guide seemed very nice at the airport, speaking fluent English and clearly being quite passionate for his islands, the boat is generally comfortable and above expectations, this is the last big test before we set off. How’s the food?
Short answer; it’s good. Very Good. We line up and fill our plates from a buffet line featuring rice, fried plantains, a fresh tuna fish stir fry, various veggies and lots of fresh fruit. Before long I’m in line for seconds, pleased with my boat choice and their decision to cook lots of food.
After lunch we meet the last members of our group and set off leaving behind the crowded mooring ground just off Baltra island, bound for Bachas beach on an isolated part of Santa Cruz.
The sun peeks out a bit just before we attempt our first wet landing, 8 gringos per zodiac driving up close to the beach in knee deep water and hopping out, each one of us clinging to our valuable camera’s staring at the waves with suspicious eyes. Right away life teems around us in the form of crabs and marine iguanas on the black lava rocks, and a pelican or two turning those black rocks white around their nesting areas. We all fan out to explore the beach, following strict instructions to stay only on the sand and to read all signs carefully. The back of the beach is a significant nesting are for sea turtles and so we’re not allowed past a certain point.
After a few minutes were gathered around Johan (born in the Galapagos and named for Johan Cruyff he is the second generation of guide in his family) putting down our snorkelling gear and heading off for a walk around the point. We pass more crabs, tons of pelicans, and even more marine iguanas as we all marvel at the white sand contrasting with the black igneous rock all around us. Even the Aussies seem mildly impressed.
As we walk Johan shares a huge amount of information about the islands and their history before leading us back from the beach long a well defined path to a lagoon in the hopes of seeing flamingos. We get half that wish, a single flamingo, beautiful and bright pink. There’s also marine iguanas and a few smaller birds in the lagoon and we spend a good while learning about the flamingo before us.
The Galapagos flamingos population has dwindled in recent year ever since an El Nino event about 5 years ago killed off a lot of their food supply by raising water temperatures. This in turn killed most of them and since flamingoes have only one chick and are shy breeders, repopulation is a very slow process. The Flamingo seems much pinker than those I’ve seen in Spain and when asked Johan tells us that they pink up their pigment rom the food, so the shrimp their eating must be pinker than your average shrimp.
After maybe twenty minutes of standing there I notice as huge marine iguana just a few feet away from me. Only in the Galapagos Islands.
Eventually we head back to our landing point and don our snorkels and flippers. Betty making sure they had flippers big enough for my monster feet was my one conditioning for booking, and thank goodness I had them, as the waters were really rough. Sadly this also meant low visibility, though I was still amazed and entranced by the strange underwater world.
I of course got to caught up in staring down at the countless tropical fish around me and end up getting swept into some rocks. But what’s snorkelling without a little blood right? (in seriousness I was fine, just a few tiny finger cuts)
Eventually the call comes out that it’s time to return to the beach and by extension the boat. I climb out of the water go pro in hand and recover my bag before climbing back into the Zodiac and returning to Guantanamera where we must quickly resupply before heading North.
As we sail towards Santa Cruz to resupply on food and such I sit on one of the loungers, quickly and smoothly claimed the second we got on board. The sights abound, light breaking through clouds and dazzling the deep blue sea around us. Then on a buoy ahead I see a dark mass, and remembering my first crossing I’m alert to the sea lion and I don’t miss the photo this time around. I find myself chuckling as we all snap shots and the Sea lion seems to revel in the attention, stretching and posing for our eager lenses. It’s pretty clever really, where else could you rest in the middle of the ocean, only sea lions would repurpose our buoys for a nap and poop spot.
The bell rings and we all hurry downstairs to have dinner, which proves equally delicious as Lunch. Yup, definitely picked a good boat.
After dinner we have our nightly briefing and learn that we’re heading for Genovese Island in the far north of the archipelago. Johan tells us that this is his favourite islands and that if we like birds were about to be in paradise. The sailing will also see us cross the equator but this will happen around 1 am so no one but the crew will be awake to witness it. We’re also given sea sickness tablets as rough seas are expected but I foolishly did not check if they interact with warfarin so am forced to go without.
Following briefing were introduced to the entire crew who’ve dressed up in full uniform for the occasion and we snap a few pictures for the memories before I duck away to get myself a lounging chair until I’m ready to sleep.
After a few minutes one of the crew members decides to toss an empty propane tank into the ocean down to the dingy to avoid carrying it across the boat. Almost instantly a big sharp jumps out of the water and I curse myself for ignoring that cardinal rule of the Galapagos. Always have your camera ready, I could only capture the aftermath.
After a few hours spent chatting up on the lounging chairs, rocking with the sea under the unfortunately quite cloudy night sky we all drop off to bed. The waters only get rougher and while I don’t get sea sick I definitely don’t get the best of sleep being tossed around and having to work to stay on my narrow bunk. To this day I don’t know how Thomas managed, much less mass to hold him down and up top with less to hold on to. At any rate, sleep does eventually succeed in finding me and I drift off to dreams knowing I’ll be waking up early at another incredible island.
