Galapagos Islands: South

On the 11th December we were waiting for our new guide, as unfortunately our guide Victor was taking the holiday period off. To cut a long story short, we got a terrible replacement guide called David Waldemar, who was a complete twat. My review of him is on tripadvisor, so other people can hopefully avoid him in future. We succeeded in getting the Captain and owner of the boat to chuck him off the boat, and he was eventually replaced.

During that time, we visited some new areas of Santa Cruz Island we had not seen before. Las Bachas beach, named after two mispronounced barges (locals can’t say that word) left on the beaches after World War II by the Americans. Before we disembarked however, we saw a huge mass of Sea Turtles apparently trying to mate with one female – there must have been at least half a dozen or more. Poor female!

Bachas was a great place to see the Sea Turtle nests, and we also found American Oystercatchers and American Flamingoes there. It was great to see the Flamingo shake it’s legs whilst it was wading – it looked like a little dance, and it served to loosen up any food. Like the Marine Iguanas of the Galapagos, their food source is saturated in salt, and they have a salt gland which emits excess salt near their nose.

As we were leaving to go back to the boat, I got a picture with a Lava Gull, Great Blue Heron and a Brown Pelican in it. Wildlife everywhere!

Even though this was a tour of the South Islands, we proceeded to go to North Seymour Island the next day, the 12th December. This island is further North than Baltra Island, which we had visited on the North Island trip, but as long as we weren’t duplicating our visits, we were happy.

The island is named for Lord Hugh Seymour, a British Vice-Admiral. The island is known for it’s large nesting site of Magnificent Frigatebirds, and it was these that we really wanted to see. Why? The birds are not pretty – they have hooked beaks and look like huge bats when they fly. These dark birds are not true seabirds, however, as they have no oil glands to prevent them getting water logged like seabirds do. If they land in the water accidentally, they drown.

The chicks did look quite cute, however, all white in their downy feathers. The males have a scarlet throat pouch which they inflate to attract mates – this is what we really wanted to see, and we were not disappointed. The Magnificent Frigatebird is distinguished from their relatives the Great Frigatebird (which also abound on Galapagos), by a purple sheen on their scapular feathers (shoulders), whereas the Greats have a green iridescence.

The Frigates are named for the pirate ships which used to plunder other ships – they steal food from other birds by attacking them until they drop the food, and then they swipe it out of the sea. They also force Boobies out of their nests and steal these for their own! They even force other birds to regurgitate their food, a technique called kleptoparasitism.

The other big draw on North Seymour is the large Land Iguanas. These beasts’ taxonomy name is Greek for ‘spiny crest’, referring to the spines on it’s back. There are several different subspecies of this Iguana on several different islands. Darwin was not impressed, saying that they had:

“a singularly stupid appearance”

I thought that they looked great, with their greenish bodies and yellow faces. The usually feed on the prickly pear cacti that were all around, but have also been known to eat insects and even carrion. Most of them were basking while we were there, and some of them were almost a meter and a half long! All of the Land Iguanas stemmed from Baltra Island, when a US Captain introduced them in the 1930s as the air force base had put the ones there at such risk. It was lucky he did that, because the Baltra population died out completely, but since have been repatriated using the ‘stock’ from North Seymour. They are reportedly quite successful on both islands now! Hurrah for Captain Hancock.

We saw plenty of nesting Blue Footed Boobies, Galapagos Sealions, Darwin's Finches and even a Galapagos Dove or two, which was brilliant. The Land Iguanas were a new animal for us, so we really enjoyed North Seymour. The island was actually caused by an upwell of land, rather than volcanic activity, which occurred over a million year period.

When we returned by dinghy to the boat, after some food, we noticed a large number of Black Tipped Reef Sharks all around the boat! These were not small either – easily almost two meters long! So what did we do? Went snorkeling of course!

Whilst in the water we saw Eagle Rays, about a meter wingspan. We also saw several fairly large White Tipped Reef Sharks, but our camera washed out quite badly, so we did not get much footage. The sharks were cool, and after awhile you got used to them. They left us alone, and definitely vice versa! They are extremely important for the health of the coral reefs, as they keep the ecosystem in check with their feeding habits. The world desperately needs to introduce more conservation measures, particularly regarding fishing, so these animals don’t disappear.

Our next stop was traveling down the West side of Santa Cruz – we would not cross the Equator again in the boat, but we worked out we had done so four times on the North Island tour. This time we stopped at Cerro Dragon in the North West of the island, so called for all of the Land Iguanas that were repatriated here. Initially the introduced and foreign dogs that were in the area were a huge problem, as they killed many of the Iguanas. Fences and a thorough eradication program ensued, and now the number of Land Iguanas is bouncing back. In the case of the dogs on the island, they even kill Marine Iguanas, and when you see that the two species are forced to share the same space in places of human habitation, it is important to question the validity of a local human presence at all. The park authorities still have their work cut out, as not only did we see wild donkey scat, but the local human residents are tirelessly campaigning to increase their area of agriculture, which will encroach on the animals’ environments if the authorities once again give in to their often times violent demands.

The Cerro Dragon trail had some huge cacti on it, which had evolved to stop the Iguanas that were originally in the area from eating them when they were young plants. Now the Iguanas eat anything! Although our guide David had no information to give us, it was not difficult to see that the Land Iguanas here were a different subspecies to the ones we had seen on North Seymour. They were a much brighter yellow color. In fact, this island had some of the most colorful yellows and red vegetation we had seen, making for a very beautiful sight (and site).

The next day saw our guide (David Waldemar) at his worst, when he refused to give information, lied, threatened, and even abandoned the group (on more than one occasion), before we got the boat company to get rid of him and replace his sorry ass. Unfortunately, although the Galapagos executive advises that they take all complaints about their naturalist guides seriously, reality proved to be very different. Their emails did not work, and a written and signed complaint, provided to them was never followed up on, as far as I know. David’s name remains on the list of certified guides, so I pity the next group of paying clients who end up with that idiot. Enough said.

We spent the night of the 12th December at Puerto Ayora, anchored out in the bay with many other ships. We had been extremely lucky that our timetable never coincided with a large number of other tourists from bigger ships, so we mostly felt the peace and non-rushed tranquility of the islands, enhancing to the feeling of walking through a place that very slowly evolved over millions of years.

In the morning we visited the famous Darwin Research Station, known for being the home of Lonesome George – the last Giant Tortoise of the Pinta Island subspecies, whose food source was completely destroyed by introduced goats. Efforts had been made to get him to mate with another subspecies (from Isabela Island’s Wolf Volcano), and the females even produced eggs, but they never hatched. Now George is a symbol of conservation efforts worldwide.

Much of the Research Center is taken up by the Fausto Llerena Breeding Center – named for Lonesome George’s caretaker (of 40 years!). Information boards and a little research shows that there is currently a dispute amongst the Quito administration and the Galapagos authorities about where Lonesome George’s body should reside. He was preserved by taxidermy in the US, and hopefully he will be sent to Galapagos, as the symbolism for conservation that goes with him should be exposed upon all the residents that live there. One info board advised that over 5.7 million barrels of oil are sent to Galapagos each year. The center is trying to change this over to a self-sufficiency on solar power. As the islands are cloudy much of the time, I’m not sure of this ideas efficacy, but after another oil spill last year, it might be a good idea to try something.

We saw loads of the Tortoises, and they were all doing very nicely. Some of them had really raised shells at the front to allow them to feed a little higher by stretching their necks. It was these Tortoises that gave their name to the island due to the saddle shape of their shells, which is the word for a certain type of saddle popular when the Spanish first landed.

It was Bishop Tomás de Berlanga who arrived (by accident) when his ship floated on the natural currents to Galapagos in 1535. It was his famous description of the animals he found that led to an environmental disaster (humans) for the islands:

“…many sea lions, turtles, iguanas, tortoises, many birds like those from Spain, but so silly that they didn’t know how to flee, and many were caught by hand…”

It was not the Tortoises that I liked though, but the birds. There were a bewildering array of Darwin’s Finches, and we even saw an American Yellow Warbler.

In the information center there was some excellent information, including a selection of non-native seeds that were found on Galapagos beaches, washed up from South America. These seeds prove how life came to the islands. Introduced species feature heavily too, but the eradication programs are now in full swing to protect the natural wildlife that was here before we intervened. An estimate of over 250,000 Giant Tortoises has been given for when Bishop Berlanga landed, but now the number is only 10% of that.

We walked back to town, passing a statue of Darwin sitting in a bar drinking, on Darwin Street. It was funny and irritating to see a church on the same street, with many locals in it – they live in the birthplace of evolution, and yet still go to church. This land is really wasted on these people!

Talking of which, we also passed by a fish market – there we saw loads of Sealions, Pelicans and Herons lining up just waiting for their food! One Pelican even had had the top part of it’s beak broken off, which was sad to see. We did see a school of Rays pass us by too.

We got back to the boat for lunch, then, ditching our guide and group, Francesca and I went to Los Gemeloes, which are essentially two large sinkholes on the top of Santa Cruz Island. They were pretty, but we did not see many birds there, and it was a little like Southern Chile’s rainforest.

We made it back to the boat, and that is when our guide was replaced. In the morning we were all relieved to see a new guide called Milton Ulloa who turned out to be one of the greatest guides of all time. His knowledge, but especially his enthusiasm were second to none, and he even said he felt like he was on holiday himself!

We had traveled far, overnight, to get to a far flung island in the South of the Galapagos chain. We were now anchored off of Cormorant Point on Floreana Island – our boat’s namesake. Named after the first president of Ecuador who first took possession of the islands in 1832, it used to be called Charles after the English king, and Santa Maria before that. A favorite spot for whalers because of the freshwater found there, the island was burnt down by one of them for a laugh in 1819, and some species are thought to have become extinct as a result.

Further encroachment by humans took the form of settling the island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is now thought that this caused the direct extinction of the Floreana Giant Tortoise and the Floreana Mockingbird. In fact, we would come to learn that this island held a mystery which to this day remains unsolved (but more about that later).

The trail at Cormorant Point led us to a fine sand beach which had been made from coral. This fine sand was a favorite for some Stingrays, which were so close to the beach we could touch them. The idea is not to do that of course, and when walking in the surf we were told to shuffle our feet to scare any Rays away, because if you step on one, that would be the end of your holiday! We also saw a new crab called a Painted Ghost Crab. Also called Sand Crabs, these things burrow themselves into the sand in the day, and come out to play at night. The one we saw had not quite got the hang of hiding properly yet, with his long eyestalks sticking out of the hole he was in.

On our way to the beach, we had seen a nice lagoon in which were loads of American Flamingoes. We also saw a Ruddy Turnstone which is a migratory wading bird, and lots of Frigate Birds and Blue Footed Boobies. Sea Turtle tracks and Sealions rounded off a great morning.

Our next activity was snorkeling around an underwater volcanic cone called Devil’s Crown, so-called because of the circular formation of the rocks that jutted out of the sea. This place was challenging snorkeling, with strong currents, but our guide Milton was an expert diver and guided us around safely. Huge school of fish were everywhere, and we snorkeled with Sealions and even some medium sized White Tipped Reef Sharks. There was an underwater opening into the middle of the volcano that some brave people dove down and under, including Francesca! I decided to stick to filming it – much safer!

In the afternoon we made our way to Post Office Bay, which is named for the Post Box located there. 200 years ago, whalers put a barrel on the beach here so that passing ships could take mail home, or drop it off (Post Office Bay is first found on a map from 1793). It was used by the families who settled on Floreana, but nowadays is a tourist attraction, where you can drop off postcards home, and pick up any mail from other tourists that you then have to hand deliver. We picked up some mail for Florida and London, after our group really got into the spirit of things and sifted through every letter or postcard that there was. Some people had written to themselves, hoping to return some day to these wonderful islands.

More snorkeling off Floreana that afternoon saw a large Tiger Snake Eel, which was not poisonous, but had dark spots on a yellow skin to mimic other poisonous eels to deter predators.

We got to swim with loads of Sea Turtles this time, and a very curious Sealion who had huge bulging eyes!

The next day, the 15th December, we woke to find we had traveled to one of the most far flung of the Galapagos Islands, and the oldest at 3.3 million years! Also called Hood Island, Española Island is the most Southerly, and furthest from the Galapagos hotspot. As the Earth’s crust has moved away from the hotspot, so has Española. We landed at Suarez Point where we saw basaltic rock covering the land. There is a high level of endemism on this island, due to it’s remoteness, and some of the animals have developed unique characteristics, such as the Marine Iguana, which has a bight red and green hue to it not really seen on other islands.

On arrival a bloody trail from a Sealion mother indicated she had just given birth to the pup sleeping beside her. Disgustingly, Sally Lightfoot Crabs were picking apart the placenta. Gross!

We saw so many different birds on Española, including the Española Mockingbird, which has evolved a much longer and more curved beak than the Mockingbirds on the central islands. Even the Lava Lizards here were the largest we had seen out of all of the islands.

We saw Nazca Boobies, Swallow Tailed Gulls, Red-billed Tropicbirds and Darwin’s Finches of many varieties. The real draw though was the Waved Albatross, a critically endangered bird that nests primarily on this one island. When they are not mating or nesting, the birds fly up to one thousand kilometers away to the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, and can remain on the wing for days at a time. Their name comes from a wave-like pattern on the adults’ plumage, and they are easily identifiable with their huge wingspan and bright yellow hooked beaks.

Breeding season was from March to January, so we were lucky to see some of the few remaining parents and unfledged chicks. We even saw some of the chicks preparing to leave the nest by flapping their wings, and eventually jumping off the nearby cliffs to begin their lives at sea.

On the walk back from the Albatross nesting sites we had a surprise as we spotted two Galapagos Snakes! The first one was pretty big and was trying it’s best to hunt a Lava Lizard. The Lizard was on the ball that day though and managed to escape, otherwise it would have been lunch!

In the afternoon we made our way to the other trails on Española at Gardener Bay. This wet landing was essentially just a really long white sand beach – extremely beautiful with no-one else around. There were at least three groups of Sealions lounging around on the sand, and we walked up past them enjoying the peace and quiet. We found some really cool seashells and also a large dead Whale that was already decomposing nicely.

We snorkeled straight off the beach and saw some lovely fish and some large Spotted Eagle Rays. We saw Sea Turtles, Stingrays and lots of Starfish, and we even saw some large Reef Cornetfish, camouflaging themselves by hanging out in a large school of similarly colored fish.

The next day saw us at San Cristobal Island, named after the patron saint of seafarers. It has the oldest settlement of any of the Galapagos Islands, and even served as a penal colony from the 1880’s. Nowadays it is the second most inhabited island after Santa Cruz, and has the only other airport – a distinction which sees many tourists visiting this island as their base, rather than flying into Baltra.

We landed at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno which is the capital of the whole archipelago – and we saw our first Octopus! It was a little tiddler, and it changed color from green to match the black rock it had landed on, before swimming away again - exciting!

The town is named after Moreno, who was the first Ecuadorian president to actually visit the islands, but there is now a lot more to do since he came. We visited the town’s interpretation center first, and got a great overview of the islands’ history, geology and economy.

The Galapagos hotspot is an immobile pit of molten lava that burns at 3000C, spewing lava up above sea level to create the islands. The islands form a chain because they reside on the Nazca tectonic plate which moves about 3 centimeters per year towards South America. This plate is the one pushing into the South American plate causing the Andes to rise up every year. That explains the mountains and earthquakes we had seen on the mainland, and why the oldest of the Galapagos Islands were in the East, and the youngest islands (with the still active volcanoes) to the West.

Once the islands are released from the heat of the hotspot they are subject to normal natural forces like any other landmass. Erosion from wind and water breaks down the volcanic matter into minerals which in turn provide sustenance for life. This also explains why San Cristobel (the most Eastern of the islands, and therefore on of the oldest) has the most fertile soils.

We learnt about the Floreana mystery at the museum – one where a German couple had settled on the island to create a utopia fuelled by a Nietzian hatred for mankind. Their letters back to Germany (from the Post Office Bay) were published in national newspapers leading others to follow them. Another family turned up, followed by a crazy lady who called herself a Baroness. She had two male lovers with her, but after a few years of feuding and fighting, the Baroness and one of her lovers disappeared. Many locals, including our guide, believe they know who killed the pair, but the truth will probably never be known as all searches for their bodies have turned up empty. The only living witness died years ago, and the other lover, on leaving the islands with a Norwegian whaler, turned up shipwrecked, having died of thirst.

The interpretation center was excellent, as was our guides introduction to it. We left feeling well informed, and took the walk up to the point where it is believed Darwin first set foot on Galapagos. Cerro Tijeretas, or Frigate Bird Hill, now has a huge statue of Darwin standing next to a Sealion. His Theory of Evolution is now known to science to be true, and has helped advance our understanding of our place in the natural order. Today, there are still morons who believe in another kind of book and refuse to believe the evidence in front of their own eyes – or more likely refuse to look at the evidence. Our trip in the Galapagos has certainly shown us the irrefutable proof of natural selection and evolution.

We got back onboard and headed about an hour to Isla Lobos or Sealion Island. We did in fact see lots of Sealions on the island, but it was a Blue Footed Booby nest that really captured the imagination. A female Booby was standing over it’s nest protecting two eggs from the sunshine with her body. We learnt that the two chicks hatch, and the stronger one will always throw the weaker on out of the nest. This gives more change that one will survive hatching, and also shows how ‘survival of the fittest’ is a real natural law in the animal kingdom.

When we snorkeled from the beach we saw lots of new fish we had not seen before, and many colorful ones we had. The highlight was seeing a Moray Eel which was wedged between rocks waiting for food to come by. They mostly eat crustaceans, but because of their narrow heads they cannot use pressure to bring prey into their mouths. Instead they use a second jaw from inside their throats to grab onto their prey, a little like the creature from The Alien.

We got to spend some time in the evening at the port and the funniest thing was the cactus trees decorated as Christmas trees! Actually, the funniest thing was a grumpy cat who could not get the seat it wanted because a Sealion had gotten there first.

The next day and we headed onto Santa Fe Island, where we found lots of lizards. Land Iguanas, Lava Lizards and another Galapagos Snake! However, my favorite animal was the male Yellow Warbler we saw, because of the beautiful red and yellow colors of it’s feathers.

That afternoon we managed to film a Land Iguana cannibalizing another Iguana’s skin that was being shed.

This was South Plaza Island, and one of the most beautiful. Located just off of the coast of Santa Cruz Island, it is one of the more accessible islands too. The place is full of Sealions, Swallow Tailed Gull nests, Land Iguanas, and Marine Iguanas. We didn’t see any because they are extremely rare, but the Marine and Land Iguanas sometimes mate creating a hybrid offspring. Milton, our guide, sent us a picture of some of these. He also showed us a photo of a bug he discovered, which could potentially be a new species!

The whole island was covered in a blanket of red flowering plants and shrubs, and the trail itself led up to a 25 meter high cliff where many birds were nesting and flying around. Red-billed Tropicbirds were all around, as were Frigatebirds. The Land Iguanas certainly put on a show for us – they were fighting over scraps of prickly pear cactus – even a Marine Iguana and a Lava Lizard joined in the fun! All of these beasts were bobbing their heads like mad in aggressive displays of dominance – making them all seem rather foolish. When they did get a bit of cactus they would then have to drag it around to get rid of the spines! Yummy!

The 18th December was our last day aboard the Floreana. Milton took us out for one last joyride back on Santa Cruz Island. Black Turtle Cove is only accessible by small boat as it is surrounded by different mangroves. It’s named after the black mangroves there, and the abundance of Sea Turtles in the area. They were not the only things in the cove though – red mangroves and Black Tipped Reef Sharks were all over too. We saw plenty of Herons, Brown Pelicans and a few Rays swimming about which was also nice.

We left the Floreana thanking Milton and the boat’s owner who was waiting for the ship for getting rid of David Waldemar who is a complete idiot. Dave, if you are reading this, go back to Guayaquil you twat.

We made our way down by taxi with some of the other people in the group to Puerto Ayora again. There we rested for the evening before heading out on our own to Turtle Bay which was an hour or two’s walk from town. The beaches here were pretty rough and rocky, but there were still some surprises left! We saw an Octopus that had washed up on the shore – we broke park rules and moved it back into the sea, twice! Eventually it managed to get itself back out to sea, poo little bugger. We also saw a Sanderling, which is a small wading bird that runs around at 200kph.

Getting past the first rough beach and you make it to Turtle Bay itself was is an enclosed bay that is great for swimming in. The water was pretty murky with sand when we were there, but you could swim a bit closer to the mangroves and spot Sea Turtles and, if lucky, see a Shark in the water with you.

That evening we ate dinner and Francesca had Octopus – so much for all the hard work saving that poor little guy, haha! We flew back to the mainland the next day. Galapagos was one of the stand-out things either of us have ever done, and if you are thinking of doing it, do it now!