Mar 13, 2013 - Galapagos

On Wednesday March 6, Pierrette and I got an early start to catch our 8:45 am flight to Baltra airport (in the Galapagos). It takes at least an hour to get to the new Quito Airport by taxi, so it was still dark when we left the hotel. As it turns out, the flight was delayed by a couple of hours due to flooding at the Guayaquil airport where we had to make a stopover. During the wait, we ended up meeting two couples who were on our cruise, as well as our guide, Juan, who was flying out of Quito as well. In Guayaquil, a couple I knew from...

Feb 6, 2013 - Giant Tortoises

Wednesday, Feb. 6 We were up at 5, packed, had breakfast and on the bus for the airport at 6 am. We were issued boarding passes and mine said 11 k. which I thought was strange. Perhaps it's a very large plane? Nope. My seat didn't exist. There were 3 of us in the same position. Interesting. So we waited at the back of the plane till everyone was seated and found an empty one. At Guayaquil some got off and I parked myself in an emergency exit seat. It was worth a try. No such luck. I was ousted again. This time the stewardess had a list and...

Nov 7, 2012 - Galapagos - Baltra/Santa Cruz

Having briefly met my fellow shipmates the night before (3 Brits, 2 US, and 1 Canadian) we departed the Hilton Quito suitably early at 06.00 for the airport and the flight to Baltra Island (via Guyaquil), utterly painless check in and flight with 40 minute stop over before we landed up at Baltra airport, essentially an aircraft hangar where your luggage is taken off the flight, deposited in a large pile and suitably bun fight ensues. Paid our $100 Galapagos entry fee and were collected by the G Adventures rep, bundled onto a bus, off bus...

Dec 29, 2011 - December 21-28: onboard The Cachalote

Sailing around the islands... Each night after dinner our guide would give us a briefing of the following day’s planned activities. Breakfast was served every morning at 7:00. (The food was great!) After breakfast we usually went for a hike on an island then snorkeled, and after lunch it was usually the same. Hiking we would see giant Galapagos tortoises, black marine iguanas and yellow land iguanas (found nowhere else in the world), sea lions, sea birds such as frigate birds, boobies, lava gulls, a variety of herons, flightless cormorant,...

Dec 21, 2011 - December 21st: Galapagos Islands

Flew to the Galapagos Archipelago... At the airport we met up with the 12 people we would be spending the next 8 days with. After leaving the airport on Baltra we crossed the Itabaca Channel by ferry to the island of Santa Cruz. There in the highlands we hiked a trail, seeing many giant tortoises and a variety of land-birds along the way. We went into Puerto Ayora and all had lunch “plato del dia” style. (That’s when everybody gets the same thing - first a soup, a main dish, then dessert. We walked across town to the Charles Darwin Research...

Nov 17, 2011 - Galapagos Islands

WOW - What an amazing place.We have seen so much wildlife! I just love the frigate birds with their big inflatable red chests - we saw heaps of them on one of our walks. In general boat life is like this.......up early and breakfast on board, then we get into little 'panga' inflatable boats to go ashore to an island. On the morning trip we usually go snorkelling. This morning we saw turtles, sea lions and sting rays in the water. The we go back to the boat for lunch and in the afternoon go in the pangas to another place for a walk of some...

Mar 2, 2011 - North Seymour

North Seymour North Seymour 27 Feb 2011 – 0900 in Galapagos This is just a place marker until I can get the proper update written. For a précis of what we did between 26th Feb and 3rd Mar, including today, please read the entry titled CATCH UP. Until the next update, Happy Trails! Ray

Nov 12, 2010 - Last Full Day

Tom: After another lecture last night by our onboard UC Berkeley Professor, the wakeup call at 6 AM came fairly quickly. It announced the imminent departure of the Zodiak fleet for a dry landing at Bartolome Island, next to which we’d spent the night at anchor. Those of us with knees in good shape (your humble correspondent not included) did a pre-breakfast hike to the top of the steep rock just on shore. Not a long distance, but a 45 degree angle with 343 steps up (and reportedly the same number back down). It’s hardly a surprise that the...

Nov 6, 2010 - Settling In

Tom: The logistics of getting to and aboard the National Geographic “Endeavour” turn out to be an interesting part of the adventure. After a very late arrival in Guayaquil, our 5:45 AM wake-up call had already been placed for all of those planning to depart Guayaquil for the 1 1/2 hour flight the next morning out to join our ship in the Islands. Most of our fellow travelers were catching up on lost sleep during our 625 mile flight to Baltra, on North Seymour Island. Flying in we could see a number of scattered islands, most of which...

Jul 13, 2010 - Galapagos

We are just back from an unforgettable cruise in the Galapagos. We were 12 people on the boat with an amazing guide. We went to 2 islands each day and saw different things in each place. We went snorkelling 4 times in beautiful clear water. Seas were calm. The food was great. We saw lots of sea lions, furseals and sea turtles which were incredible to swim with. We saw blue footed boobies, frigate birds, penguins, sharks, spouting whale, rays, crabs, etc, etc. The weather was good, warm in the day and cool at night. We haven't had any rain...

May 30, 2010 - Baltra, Galapagos

Did not expect a meal but got one on plane. Sangay had told us our $10 airport tax was paid, failed to give us a recpt. so we had to pay it again to get into Galapagos...several other irregularities which were upsetting require me to NOT recommend Sangay as a tour agent for any who wish to book tours to Galapagos! Luckily, the Eden tour guide, Edwardo, was there and able to explain everything, calm us down, and get us onward. Once in the hands of this fine crew aboard Eden we enjoyed the trip tremendously. The group aboard (14 and then 12)...

Mar 7, 2010 - almost the end

Galapagos Blog # 10 Fri Mar 5, 2010 Floreana Island This is Diane’s Island as she had read the most on the human history and scandal that happened here. The first trip of the day was to Post Office Bay. This Post Office was set up by sailors on an honor system back as far as 1793, in the hopes of receiving and sending mail that would be picked up by other passing ships. The idea is that you can place postcards or letters in the barrel, free of charge, but you must sort through the mail already there and if there was mail for someone from...