Galápagos Islands: Part 2

A precursor to this blog post: for anyone planning to visit the Galápagos at some point, please take this bit of advice. Be extremely cautious when choosing your travel agency/cruise. Do your homework, check TripAdvisor and Facebook reviews, know exactly what you’re paying for, and have the company document every little detail…especially if you wait until you arrive on the islands to book something. The Galápagos are unfortunately notorious for having many unprofessional agencies, cheap cruises with undereducated guides, and greedy businesses looking to rip off every gringo who strolls into town. Despite having read a bit about this, my excitement trumped my diligence and I ended up choosing a travel agent who at first seemed extremely knowledgeable and honest but turned out to be a complete scammer, squeezing every last penny out of me and under-delivering on nearly every task that I was paying him to perform. Constantly fighting and bickering with my travel agent about issues took some time that I could have spent out seeing and enjoying the magical place. That being said, my trip to the Galápagos was an unforgettable experience and I hope I can share a bit more of that with you here.

“The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention.” -Darwin 

My two day excursion to Isabela Island was a bit of a chaotic mess filled with adventure, amazing wildlife, and other-worldly vistas. Aiden and I arrived late in the afternoon and, because I had booked an all-inclusive package with my agent, I assumed there would be someone to collect me from the ferry and take me to my hotel. When there wasn’t, I asked around for help and a taxi driver was kind enough to call the agency for me and find out where my hotel was. While waiting to hear back, I hung out with the marine iguanas and sea lions scattered around the beach. There was a group of sea lions all cuddled up together in the sun and every few minutes one of them would get up and run into the water. Watching these animals waddle across the sand on their flippers is simply adorable. I went for a dip at Concha de Perla, a shallow bay just around the corner, and snorkeled with schools of tropical fish. When the taxi driver finally got ahold of the agency, he drove me to Hotel Tintoreras, a lovely hotel in the center of town where I would supposedly be spending the night. Unfortunately, the woman at the hotel informed me that they were completely full and my agent had made a mistake. She made some phone calls and I was soon thrown into another taxi to take me to a different hotel down by the beach. Luckily they had a room available, but I would be sharing with a guy from Wales who I happened to have met on my excursion to Bartolomé a few days earlier. I dropped off my bag and walked over to the beach to watch the sunset and try out the slack line outside of the local beach bar. 

The next morning, my roommate Rob and I went for a walk to the giant tortoise preserve and breeding center. We witnessed tortoises mating and saw hundreds of newborns. Afterwards we walked to a laguna where a group of flamingos were gathered. Looking over the green laguna filled with bright pink flamingos, I was once again awestruck. The vast array of exotic species on the Galápagos never ceased to amaze me. After our walk, we headed back to the hotel because we were both scheduled for a tour to Los Túneles, a series of unique geological rock arcs and tunnels above and beneath the water formed by a series of lava flows. No surprise, the woman working at the hotel had no idea if we would be picked up for the tour or if we needed to meet up with our tour group somewhere in town. After a series of phone calls, she informed us that we would be picked up at 11 AM. I began panicking when no one showed up to pick us up by 11:15, but soon enough a truck rolled up. We drove around town picking up the other tour members and then made our way to the pier. The rest of the day was absolutely amazing. On the boat ride up to Los Túneles we were told to keep our eyes peeled for whales…a family of orcas had been spotted a few days ago just off the coast. One of the tour members shouted that he saw something in the water and when the boat came to a halt, a giant manta ray came leaping out of the ocean beside our boat. I had to pick my jaw off the floor after witnessing the enormous beast emerge from the water. I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes…we had a front row seat to the type of performance you only ever expect to witness on one of David Attenborough’s programs.

Our guide first took us to a place with great snorkeling close to Los Túneles. Within minutes I spotted a giant Green Sea Turtle! It was my first time ever swimming beside a sea turtle and I couldn’t have been more excited. The turtle was swimming fast and luckily I was wearing fins that day so I swam behind the beautiful fella for a good ten minutes. When I popped my head up, I realized I had swam very far away from my group. One of the crew members back on the boat was waving his arms at me to see if I was ok. I told him I was swimming with a turtle and he jumped in the water to join me. Afterward, he led me back to the rest of the group who were gathered in a shallow area full of sea turtles feeding on algae. The guide led us under a rock tunnel below the water and I caught the back of my leg on part of the rock while I was swimming through. The sharp volcanic rocks in the Galápagos are very unforgiving and I knew the cut was going to bleed but I’d wait until I was out of the water to deal with it. Our guide found a cave under the water with a family of White Tip Sharks and encouraged us to check it out. By this point I had somehow managed to swallow up my fear of sharks and I eagerly swam over to the cave. I took a deep breath and down I went. First I saw a big lobster and then, right in front of my face, a family of four white tips. The largest one must have been over two meters long, by far the biggest shark I’ve ever swam so close to. The journey back to the boat was tough. The water was very choppy and waves were carrying us closer and closer to the dangerously sharp rocks. I kicked as hard as I could and tried not to swallow the whole sea. I saw more sea turtles and was again mesmerized by their gracefully swift movements. Following them, I eventually made it back to the boat, completely exhausted.

After a very quick breather, we arrived at Los Túneles. Our guide had informed us there was very little wildlife to be found in the water but it was a nice, tranquil place for a swim. I jumped out of the boat and swam toward the rock formations. The land around me looked like completely different planet. The dark volcanic rock was sprawling with nothing but large cacti. The contrast of the tall, bright green plants on the black rock and crystal blue surrounding waters was magnificent. I enjoyed going off on my own and swimming through the tunnels, both above the surface and then finding underwater ones to dive down through. Soon enough, the guide was calling me back to the boat. We drove to the shore for a dry landing to scope out the Blue-Footed Boobies scattered all over the rocks. The beautiful birds and their bright blue feet are a delight to behold. The blue feet indicate that the bird is healthy and therefore, during the courtship process, the males flaunt their blue feet in front of the female.

Upon returning to our hotel, Rob and I were informed that we were being moved, yet again, to another hotel because the agency had only booked us for one night. We returned to Hotel Tintoreras which luckily now had a vacant room for us. The next morning, pretty much all of the guests at the hotel gathered for a quick breakfast and then hopped on the ranchero (open air bus with wooden benches) which would take us up to the highlands. We would be hiking Sierra Negra, one of the most active volcanoes on the Galápagos with the last eruption occurring in October 2005. Despite the ranchero being nearly full after everyone from our hotel piled in, we continued to stop and pick up more and more people on our way out of town. By the time we were finally on our way up to the volcano, we were packed in like sardines. The hike up the volcano was pretty neat. It started off cool and misty which was very pleasant. We reached the crater within a couple hours and I was dumbfounded by the sheer vastness of it. A diameter of six miles, the crater is the second largest in the world. When we arrived at the summit, the 360-degree vistas were out of this world. The expansive, desolate crater surrounded by lush green forest to one side and smaller volcanic peaks and craters backdropped by the big blue Pacific on the other. We enjoyed the views and took some photos before beginning the long and unbearably hot descent. 

We hopped back into the ranchero and rode back to the hotel to grab our bags before catching the afternoon ferry. When Rob and I arrived at the dock, we asked around for where the group for our boat was gathered. When we finally located the man who was organizing our ferry back, he asked for our names and then checked his list, only to inform us that we were not on it. The agency had once again screwed up. They had not actually booked us a return ferry. At this point the two of us were thoroughly frustrated. If I didn’t make it back to Santa Cruz that evening I would miss my cruise that left the following day. I asked the ferry organizer to call the agency for us but he refused. Eventually, I found two police officers at the pier and explained to them what was going on. They kindly offered to call the agency for us and, within a few minutes, we were told we could get on the boat. To top off the madness, the boat ride back to Santa Cruz took four hours instead of two. The sea was really rough and we were all being tossed around the back of the boat. Every few minutes, the boat would hit a massive wave launching us into the air. The passengers at the very rear were completely soaked. And yet, somehow through all the chaos, I managed to pass out halfway through the journey. I woke up to Rob clenching his life jacket beside me, knuckles white as snow. 

Another wild adventure for the books.

MGG