Stacey’s 30th Birthday Extravaganza

One of the gemelas…large sinkhole

The first 24 hours in the Galapagos Islands were interesting and relaxing at the same time but of course, it wouldn’t be a trip without a little mishap.  After dinner in the evening of Day 2, my English roommate Claire:

and I were just starting to think about heading to our cabin for the night as the seas were rough and we had a 5 to 6 hour journey ahead of us as Nemo II was headed toward the distant Isabela Island.  Claire and I were sitting in the dining area with several other passengers and our tour guide Juan Carlos when a huge wall of water splashes over all of us coming from the direction of my and Claire’s cabin.  For a few seconds, we were all paralyzed wondering what happened (and I was having flashbacks to the movie Titanic) when the second wall of water struck and Juan Carlos sprung into action…shouting to the capitan to slow down.  As it turns out, there is a port hole/hatch-type windown underneath the steps leading into our cabin that looks like this (picture taken at night so the water looks dark):

It seems that the last time it was closed it was not closed properly and the strength of the waves on the choppy seas blew out the window and thus soaking us and everything on our beds in the cabin.  Fortunately for me I had nothing on my bed but clothes and other dryeable items but poor Claire had her brand new SLR camera without its case sitting on the bed.  I’ll bet you can imagine where I’m going with this.  So…two weeks, two roommates, two cameras ruined by water.  I must be some sort of jinx.

The crew tried valiantly but the window could not be sufficiently fixed to proceed on to Isabela so we had to change our itinerary a bit and slowly proceeded back to the nearest island of Santa Cruz where a temporary fix would be made for the window until Nemo II returns to dry dock.  A little excitement for us but a big bummer for Claire…the good news is that the boat owner agreed to reimburse her for the cost of the camera so hopefully by now she’s purchased a replacement.  Fortunately there were lots of people on board with really nice cameras and great pictures so Claire was able to burn a CD with pictures from the days her camera was kaput…and all was well in the end.

Galapagos Giant Tortoises

OK, so plans changed a little but I didn’t mind as we ended up seeing a part of the islands not originally scheduled which was very interesting.  On Day 3 we boarded a bus and headed into the highlands where things were greener and lusher…more like what one pictures in a deserted tropical island.  We first headed to Los Gemelas (The Twins) which are two gigantic sinkholes…one is pictured at the top though it was so huge I could only get a portion of it in the picture.  Next we headed to a local farm that doubles as a sanctuary for the local population of giant tortoises.  It used to be that the farmers would shoot the tortoises as they competed with their cattle for vegetation.  Fortunately someone had the foresight to convince the farmers that they could earn as much or more money charging tour groups to tour their farms looking for tortoises as they could raising cattle so now most farmers in the area do both…with no loss of

Me with tortoise at Charles Darwin Station

The only cactus in the world to grow in a tree format

income for the farmers.  After an amazing lunch in a beautiful restaurant situated on a local farm we headed to Puerto Ayora (the largest city in the Galapagos) to tour the Charles Darwin Research Station and interpretive center.  The CDRS is responsible for much of the research and conservation that goes on in the Galapagos and also serves as a breeding location for baby tortoises and other endangered island species.

Cactus growing from lava rock on Floreana

On Day 4 we headed to the small island of Floreana where we kicked things off with a panga (small motorized boat used for ferrying us from the catamaran to the islands) ride and a couple of hours at a lovely white sand beach and the famous Post Office Bay (pictured below).  Post office bay is interesting in that it started as a post office for the whalers and other seafarers hundreds of years ago.  People would leave their letters and other mail for others to pick up as they passed the island.  The post office is still functional with tourists leaving their postcards for others to pick up and deliver for them.  The way it works…you leave the postcards you’re interested in sending while simultaneously looking through the bunch to see if there are any from your hometown that you could deliver by hand.  I found two for Madison so will be delivering those sometime in March…perhaps later than the writer intended but that makes it all the more fun to me. 

Post Office Bay with our tour guide Juan Carlos

In the afternoon we did another snorkel but it was rough water and I didn’t take my camera so no pictures from that. Afterwards we did a late afternoon hike on the island of Floreana where we saw lots of flamingos in a salt water lagoon as well as mating sea turtles and stingrays on a soft, white sand beach.  Various pictures are included…enjoy.

Sea lions…the little one is trying to nurse but is confused.  The big one is a male.

Floreana

Flamingo in saltwater lagoon on Floreana

Sunset through the clouds

Name: Happy Gringo Travel Agency

Location: Quito, Ecuador

Address:
Happy Gringo Travel
Lizardo Garcia E7-11 y Reina Victoria
La Mariscal, Quito
Ecuador

E-mail: eva@happygringo.com

Website: www.happygringo.com/EN/

Review: There is lots of advice going around the travel circuit about the best way to book your Galapagos tours. It’s generally accepted that the cheapest way to do so is to wait until you arrive in Ecuador and book a last minute special. This works better if you’re traveling alone and willing to share a cabin with a member of the opposite sex. Of course, waiting until the last minute limits the available boats and if you’re going to spend a large amount of money for a once-in-a-lifetime-experience do you really want to get stuck with what you get stuck with? I opted for the second best option…using a travel agency based in Ecuador (rather than an agency based in North America or Europe) and can very happily recommend the Happy Gringo agency in Quito.

From the very start, Eva at HG was extremely efficient and helpful. It was a bit unnerving to send large sums of money via wire transfer to a faceless person in a foreign country but Eva and HG made it very easy by providing all of the required information and even having a U.S. bank to wire the money to. This simplified the transaction considerably (and the transfer was cheaper to a domestic bank). Eva kept in constant contact regarding the status of my tickets, a change in flight itinerary and was generally very helpful. I can highly recommend this agency for your Galapagos booking (and I’m sure they do a great job with their other tours as well).

I booked the Nemo II catamaran in large part because it is one of the few boats with a complete 8 day itinerary rather than two 4 day itineraries pieced together. The boat was very comfortable with a spacious dining area, private bathrooms in the cabin and they arranged a female roommate for me as I was traveling alone. The food was fabulous and our guide, Juan Carlos, was very enthusiastic about the islands and conservation as well as speaking excellent English. The itinerary was also good and when we had a minor mechanical problem with the boat the crew was able to quickly adapt and make sure we got to see all of the promised species (in particular the giant tortoises).

The boat has 7 double cabins for a capacity of 14 but two people on our tour had single cabins so we only had 12 people. This was a great size group as you get to be comfortable and close over the week and it’s easy to get around with a small group. I definitely recommend a catamaran for people who may be prone to sea sickness as it is less “wobbly” than some of the other yacht-type boats in rough seas. There are ample places to sit and enjoy the scenery, both shaded and unshaded, and the crew of 7 (including guide) go out of their way to make sure you have a good time.

The only slight downside to this boat is that since its considered one of the nicer boats in the islands, it tends to draw an older crowd (I was the youngest on board at the old age of 30). This was fine for me as we had a great group of folks but for someone looking to travel with a more active and younger group I would probably book in the tourist or tourist-superior category. Otherwise, Nemo II is highly recommended.

Would I book with them again: Yes, definitely

Santa Cruz Island

Hola chicos! Well, I'm off the boat and have tons of photos, etc. to get organized from the Galapagos so please bear with me as I try to get updated this week. ... [Continue reading this entry]