February 9

Day 2:  February 9

Take an early flight to the Galapagos Islands.  Head to Bachas Beach (Santa Cruz Island) to see Sally Lightfoot crabs, flamingos, and marine iguanas.  You will generally arrive at the boat in time for lunch before the afternoon activity.  

Bachas Beach.  2-3 hours.  Afternoon.  Head to Bachas Beach where the sand is made of decomposed coral, making it soft and white, and a favourite site for nesting sea turtles.  Spot abundant Sally Lightfoot crabs on the lava rocks along the water's edge - these crabs will eat anything they can get their claws on!  Trek to see a wide range of wildlife, including flamingos, hermit crabs, black necked stilts, and marine iguanas.  

First - a bit of background on the Galapagos Islands (from a Moon guidebook).  "The Galapagos's landscapes are as diverse and otherworldly as the wildlife that inhabits them:  lush highland forests, pristine white-sand beaches, steaming volcanic peaks, and blackened lava trails strewn with cacti.  The 13 volcanic islands and 16 tiny islets scattered over 60,000 square kilometres in the eastern Pacific Ocean have 8,000 square kilometres of land, including 1,350 kilometres of coastline.  The islands are actually the tips of underwater volcanoes, which become younger and higher to the west.  Espanola, the oldest island in the archipelago, is nearly 3.5 million years old.  Evidence of volcanic heritage is everywhere.  Many lava flows have hardened into rocky trails, the most accessible being in Sullivan Bay on Santiago.  In the highlands on Santa Cruz you find collapsed calderas and lava tunnels, while Isabela offers the best close-up view of an active volcano, with trails leading past the second-largest carter in the world at Sierra Negra and into its pungent sulfur mines.  By comparison, Fernandina is less than one million years old; a mere infant in geologic terms.  (Google tells me that the most recent eruption in the Galapagos was on Fernandina in March 2024).  Isabela, the largest island of the group at 4,275 square kilometres, has six volcanic peaks, and one of these Cerro Azul, is the highest point on the islands at 1,689 metres.  Some 97 percent of the landmass is in the national park and uninhabited, and only the remaining 3 percent is inhabited.  The latest (2018) estimated population of the archipelago is 30,000, of whom 7,000 are temporary residents.  The biggest population area is Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, followed by the capital, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal, then Puerto Villamil on Isabela, and tiny Puerto Velasco Ibarra on Floreana.  The islands' unique ecosystem has been created by teh interaction of several ocean currents.  The most famous and most powerful is the Hunboldt Current, which brings cold water from the south along the coast of Chile and Peru.  The warmer Panama Current flows down from Central America, and every few years it brings devastating warm El Nino conditions, most recently in 1998.  A third current is the Equatorial Counter Current (also called the Cromwell Current), which flows deep below the surface and is deflected upward when it encounters the islands, bringing cold water, which is vital to the archipelago's ecosystem  Algae thrive on the nutrients; fish and marine invertebrates feed off the algae; and whales, dolphins, sea lions, and birds eat these fish.  The unusually cold waters found around the Galapagos ensure the survival of many species usually only found in colder waters, in particular the Galapagos penguin.  The biggest climatic problem in the archipelago is a lack of freshwater.  The comparative lack of rain and the volcanic landscapes mean that there are few sources of water in the islands.  Annual rainfall in the lower elevations is a mere 6-10 cm.  This is the reason lizards, which require comparatively little water, thrive, and mammals do not."

As I start to work on this blog, several weeks after returning, I find that I still don't know the names of the islands.  As a reminder.........  here's a map.  The particular map has several names for each island.  The name that we used on this tour is the upper name.  

OK - let's start the tour..................

A very early start to the day!  Up at 4am and to the lobby by 4:30.  In a van to the airport by 4:32, boxed breakfast in hand.  We drove through a few sketchy parts of town on the way to the airport and once again I feel very grateful to live where I do, and I felt somewhat like the privileged elite to vacation here.  (After the Galapagos when we were touring the mainland, I asked our guide if he had ever been to the islands.  No, it is too expensive for pretty much all Ecuadorians.)

The morning seemed rather long.  We were at the airport by about 5:20.  Our flight was at 7:45.  The G rep handled getting our proper documentation and getting us to the proper area to ensure our bags were checked prior to boarding.  A short flight to Guayaquil (the most dangerous city in Ecuador due to drug cartels), where we stayed on the plane for about a 45 minute refueling stop.  

We had a smooth flight of almost 2 hours to Baltra Island where we met our CEO (Chief Experience Officer), Oswaldo.  We transferred by bus to the pier where we would load the dinghies to take us to the boat.  We turned the clock back an hour and arrived on the Yolita around noon.

The wildlife encounters started early today – a land ignuana on the walk from the plane to the terminal, then blue-footed boobies, a marine iguana, another land iguana, and sea lions on the pier to catch our dinghy. 

To the boat for a briefing session and then lunch.  This will NOT be a weight-loss trip!  Three buffet meals a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - plus up to 4 snacks a day - one after each hiking or snorkeling activity.

From the Moon Guidebook - Bachas Beach is at the northern end of Santa Cruz Island.  The beach is named for the remains of US military barges wrecked during WWII.  The remains are usually buried, though sometimes after a very high tide the rusty metal parts are visible jutting out of the sand.  See the second last picture immediately below.  The white-sand beach is often covered in Sally Lightfoot crabs and is also a sea turtle nesting site, while the lagoons behind the beach are home to flamingos.  

The afternoon did not disappoint – Sally Lightfoot crabs, marine iguanas, flamingoes, sea turtles, a fleeting shark, sandpipers, pelicans, frigate birds, and more.

We had our first snorkel outing of the trip.  Nothing too exciting today and the lighting wasn’t great, but good for everyone (including me!) to get comfortable in the water.  I was also trying something new today – underwater photography – with an old iPhone in a waterproof case.  A bit finnicky, but I managed to get a few shots.

This is supposed to be the month for the calmest waters on average.  Today/tonight is not helping that average!  It’s pretty rocky.  I popped a Gravol before dinner and I’ll take one of their tablets (that I bought at the pier) before lights out.

After dinner we were out on the deck with a powerful flashlight looking for critters in the water.  Didn’t see any big critters, but did watch a pelican perched on the back of the boat for a while.  I think he appreciated the light source for finding fish for a midnight snack.

Great first day.  Looking forward to a full day of fun tomorrow!

An added bonus - a few of Oswaldo's pictures..............