Galapagos Islands: North

The flight into Santa Cruz was enjoyable. We had got the cheapest tickets we could find, which are from Guayaquil, the closest city to the islands. It was a lovely day, sunny, and the Pacific Ocean below us was a deep blue, with perfect white clouds dotting the landscape all around the plane.

Now, you don’t actually land on Santa Cruz, which has the largest urban population of people of all the Galapagos Islands. Rather, you land on Baltra, or South Seymour Island, which now holds the main commercial airport (of two) since the Americans made it an Air Force base during World War II. From there, an airline bus carries passengers to the short Itabaca Canal, which separates the two aforementioned islands. From here it is a ferry ride, and then another bus journey right through the middle of Santa Cruz, down to the main port of Puerto Ayora.

Santa Cruz is the second largest of the Galapagos Islands, and the bus journey takes you up and through the cloud forests, which are formed from the precipitation coming in off of the ocean at the islands highest points. Even from the bus we immediately saw the famous Giant Tortoise sitting like large rocks in fields, where agriculture has cut a large mark into the previously forested areas.

Arriving at the port, it is easy to find relatively cheap accommodation, food, tours, or anything else you would expect in a tourist town. We had one night to enjoy the port, which we did whilst trying to sort out the payment for our tours and trying to source an underwater camera for the snorkeling activities we would be doing.

You can pay quite a lot for a tour, but we managed to get the best deal we heard of whilst we were there – about $1500 per person for a seven day tour, to either the North Islands, or the South Islands. We booked both tours, because you only live once. We did not book onto a diving tour, as we did not have the necessary skills (Galapagos has some of the world’s toughest diving) – so we stuck with a hiking and snorkeling tour.

The first night, we started to wonder if we even needed a tour – just from the pier we saw Darwin’s Finches, Brown Pelicans, Marine Iguanas, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, a Locust, a Lava Heron, and then, out of nowhere, a whole school of young Blacktip Reef Sharks! They seemed to be chasing around some small fish, but there was a large a strangely colored fish that they would not go near! And all this just from the two piers they have right in the town (one has lights which attract insects, which attract fish, which attract all of the above).

It was hard not to be impressed by the abundance of wildlife that we saw on the first evening. The port was kept pretty clean, but we could definitely see the effects of the local population on the environment pretty immediately – cigarette butts, plastic bottles – all the usual suspects were strewn around. We had some food in a local restaurant and went to bed.

The next day we had the morning to ourselves, and so we took another look at the pier. This time, many of the prime spots had already been taken – by large Galapagos Sealions! These animals breed exclusively in Ecuadorian waters, and are relatives of Californian Sealions, from where they would have come, following the ocean currents. Some vagrant populations have been found further North, but they are considered only native to Galapagos.

Francesca had a keen eye when she saw a Spotted Eagle Ray swimming into the harbor. We tried to keep tack of it, but it was large, and swam (or rather flew) very fast in the water. Not even 24 hours and we had seen many of the animals we were looking forward to seeing!

In the afternoon we were due to rendezvous with our yacht back up North at the Itabaca Canal. We jumped in a taxi and sped off (we would end up doing this journey several times).

The Floreana Yacht was refurbished in 2003, and it shows. It was comfortable, had hot water showers, an observation deck, and they provided all food and gear that we would need for our island hikes and snorkeling trips. We boarded and got a cabin below decks at the back, as we heard this was the best place to avoid too much seasickness. It must have worked, as we felt pretty OK the whole voyage, even though we did get really lucky with the weather.

We had to wait around for the other passengers who were flying in that day, and that gave us a great opportunity to get organized and to look out for more animals. We could see some huge birds that reminded us of large bats circling around – these were the ubiquitous Frigate Birds, which we discovered were everywhere, much like the Sealions were.

Once the rest of the group arrived, we were joined also by our awesome guide Victor Hugo Mendia, who immediately won our confidence by explaining our itinerary to us all, and expertly answering questions. With two years worth of bad guides who speak little or no English, this was no small thing for us – a guide can make or break your whole experience.

Our first trip started that very day, and we all headed back to the port, and back into Santa Cruz Island! We were due to go to see Los Gemeloes, or The Twins. These two large holes are a reminder of Santa Cruz’s volcanic origins – the whole of Galapagos is born from a volcano. These were not volcanic craters, but rather underground magma chambers that eventually collapsed due to erosion and water damage. However, due to bad weather, we ended up going to the Tortoise Ranch Primicias, located further south, instead.

This was a great start to the tour, as we were introduced to each other, our guide and the Giant Tortoise’s at the same time. We learnt that these giants can grow to over 250kg, and could live well over 100 years old. Surprisingly, these Tortoises roamed all over the Earth millions of years ago, and not much has changed in their genetic make-up. They exist on another island in the Indian Ocean, but they are more famous at Galapagos, which in fact is the Spanish word for Tortoise.

There are several subspecies of Giant Tortoise on Galapagos, with varying shell shapes, dependent on diet, mostly. Many of the animals were killed by sailors during the early colonization of Galapagos, and some lineages even became extinct. The differences persisted though, and their discovery contributed to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

The ranch had several trails through grass and woodlands. Dotted about everywhere you could see Tortoises, or their giant pellets which were gross. We saw them eating, very slowly, and we kept a safe distance – it was a relief to see our group comprised of intelligent well-disciplined people.

After awhile we entered a lava tunnel that cut it’s way underground from some eruption millions of years ago. The rock was sharp, and the tunnel was not long, but it was cool to see the different shapes it had made. It is strange to think that all life on Galapagos derives from the volcanic soil which over millions of years has dissolved down to nutrients and minerals on which the plants can grow.

After admiring a large muddy pond that the Tortoises were wallowing in, like pigs, we headed back to the boat. The ranch had some huge Tortoise shells from times past, not to mention some cool leg bones and such like. We even saw some White Cheeked Pintail Ducks and Common Egrets, which looked great.

We all high-tailed it back to the boat, and we discovered that the chef could really cook! Tasty and healthy food. That night we set sail for the most difficult and far flung crossing, North across the Equator to Genovesa Island. We crossed at about 10pm, but we did not really mark the occasion, which I thought was a shame, but the crossing was a little rough so at the time we did not really care that much.

The next morning some people reported being very sick – one couple were so sick they remained in their cabins for two days! Pity. Most captains choose not to make this crossing for this reason, and to save fuel, I guess.

Also known as Bird, or Tower Island, Genovesa is a horse-shoe shaped island whose maximum elevation is only 64 meters. This island is an excellent place to see all manner of iconic birds from the Galapagos, and it is where we got our first good look at the Swallow Tailed Gulls, with their scary red eyes.

There are many nests all over the place, in the bushes of the island, occupied by the Red Footed Boobies. These birds are not bothered by humans at all, and just sit and gawp at you when you approach. They share their living space with the Frigate Birds, who were also nesting at the time – Frigate Birds have been known to push Boobies out of their nests to steal the home of the poor smaller birds.

We also saw a really cool looking Yellow Crowned Night Heron, which, as a nocturnal bird, was just sitting in the shade of a rock pool resting.

We saw many Finches on this island, and we also saw the Galapagos Mockingbird, which is the most brazen of all of the Galapagos birds, coming right up to you, cheeping loudly!

Sealions and Marine Iguanas were everywhere, of course – it is quite a thing to be surrounded by so many wild animals that just do not care you are there. They simply never evolved the wariness of humans, because they were never exposed to us. They just sit there wondering what we are and what we are doing.

This landing was at Darwin Bay which was formed thousands of years ago when the caldera walls of the island collapsed. It was one of my favorite places we have visited. The trails were well delineated but led over some tricky rocky pathways. We looped around and returned to boat.

We went snorkeling twice that day, which set the tone for the whole trip – two hikes, and two snorkeling activities. It was exhausting but made the whole trip totally worth it and very rewarding.

Our underwater camera was pretty cheap but it seemed to hold it’s own. We saw Stingrays on the bottom, feeding with their mouth, which is located underneath their round bodies. We saw all manner of fish and coral, too numerous to name, but including Razor Surgeonfish, Moorish Idols, Puffers, King Angelfish, Mexican Hogfish and Sergeant Majors (so named for the three stripes on their body). We spotted these colorful tropical fish all around the different snorkeling spots we visited, and swam very close with them many times.

We also got our first chance to snorkel with Galapagos Sealions – they are every bit as inquisitive and playful as we had heard, and one swam right up to Francesca and I. They are like little dogs that can swim.

That afternoon our walk to us to the South side of the bay, to a place called El Barranco. This was entered by climbing some steep steps called Prince Philip’s Steps. There was a welcoming committee of Sealions waiting on the steps to greet us, but they had to be shooed out of the way so we could pass – poor buggers.

The lava here was very brittle, and formed many natural holes in a slight slope running down to the water. These holes were used by birds that were in turn preyed upon by Short Eared Owls. We were all looking out for this well-hidden animals when Francesca spotted two in a row, and I spotted another one! The one I saw only had one eye, and looked pretty terrifying.

We also saw our first Nazca Boobies, which are the aggressive ones of the bunch, and a Galapagos Dove. This Dove is endemic to the islands, and is easily identifiable by it’s blue ring around it’s eye.

Back on board and we had a scare that night – the anchor broke was being pulled up and got stuck on something. However, the machine pulling the anchor up would not turn off, and so started pulling the boat under. One of the crew cut the anchor off, and we shot up out of the water and started drifting. I was laying in bed and could see another large boat anchored off to our left, and it kept coming straight towards us! Or more like, we went towards them, and we hit them right where our cabin window was. Scary stuff!

Luckily no damage was caused, and we continued on our way. Difficulties beset the rest of the trip, but the yacht managed to get us through by the skin of it’s teeth.

The next day we arrived early at Santiago Island, also known as San Salvador Island, or as James Island. Everything has many names in the Galapagos because of the many different nations who tried settling there. As the boat went in we saw Galapagos Penguins and the famous Blue Footed Booby!

We did a dry landing (on rocks, where you don’t get wet), and walked on the newly formed part of the island. This pahoehoe lava flow was formed in 1897 – maps show that this new area did not exist before this time. There are actually two overlapping volcanoes on the island, and we walked across a huge tract of lava to see both of them. One of the most interesting things was seeing tree trunk molds left in the lava from when they were swept up in the lava, and burnt – leaving only the shape behind when the lava cooled.

We also saw the amazing Lava Cactus which is a pioneer plant endemic to Galapagos. It is often the only plant you can see growing on the lava, with it’s yellow and brown soft stems. It stores water in those, and uses spines to protect itself much like other cacti.

As we were leaving in the boat we saw a Marine Iguana swimming. This is a unique characteristic of this animal – no other lizards are known to swim, let alone forage for food at depths of up to 9 meters! Our guide told us a story about a sailor who experimented with the Marine Iguana. The sailor held the Iguana under the water for five minutes, trying to drown it, but when he bought it up it was still alive. He tried again, this time for ten minutes – no dice! Still alive! The times kept increasing until the mean sailor held the hapless Iguana under water for over an hour. It lived, and the exasperated sailor let it go…

Darwin apparently did not like the appearance:

“The black Lava rocks on the beach are frequented by large (2–3 feet [60–90 cm]), disgusting clumsy Lizards. They are as black as the porous rocks over which they crawl & seek their prey from the Sea. I call them 'imps of darkness'.”

Whatever Darwin thought of these lizards, they did pretty well to get where they are. DNA testing has shown that they have a common ancestor from South America with other Land Iguanas. This means that these lizards must have floated over the ocean to the Galapagos (probably on the Panamic Current from the North). When they arrived they must have populated different islands, as now we have different subspecies on each one all of which have different coloration dependent on their environment.

Some Iguanas learnt how to swim, probably because of an El Nino event which meant less food for the Land Iguanas. They had to evolve to swim and now feed on the algae on rocks. They have a huge salt intake in this case and so have developed exocrine glands which expel the excess salt making them look like they have white faces. Most of the time, they just sit around trying to warm up.

We had some really nice snorkeling that day – we were even visited by a Galapagos Penguin who swam circles around Francesca and I – literally! Check out the little guy – penguins are one of my nephew Daniel’s favorites!

That afternoon we moved the boat to the nearby Bartolomé Island, named after a lieutenant stationed aboard Darwin’s boat, The Beagle. The rocks on Bartolomé were really beautiful, all manner of different colors – red, orange and greens. It also has a lovely landmark called The Pinnacle – a huge jutting rock caused by the collapse of the rocks around it. This spire is a Galapagos postcard, and we got to swim around it!

The snorkeling here was just as fantastic as Sullivan Bay (named after the same lieutenant – Sir Bartholomew James Sullivan) where we had swum that morning. This time, though, there were sharks in the water with us! Check out this awesome video Francesca got of a Galapagos Penguin, Galapagos Sealion and a White Tipped Reef Shark!

The White Tipped Reef Shark is a relatively small shark, growing up to about one and a half meters long. Doesn’t sound big, but it sure looks big in the water! We had only swum with baby Lemon Sharks before – so seeing these Reef Sharks in the water was a bit of a shock at first. Luckily, the first one we saw was resting under a coral. It was just lying there motionless, proving that some sharks can pump water over their gills without having to move, allowing them to breathe – most sharks really do have to move to breathe.

Unfortunately there have been some attacks on humans from the White Tips, but not many, and mostly due to their innate confidence when they have tried to steal fish from spear fishermen. They were not too interested in us, thankfully, so we could just see them fairly up close and personal and not be too worried. We saw about 4 or 5 in total in this area – they feed on fish, crustaceans and octopus.

Once we were out of the water safely, we visited Bartolomé itself. The walk up to the point pasts by several lazy groups of Penguins and Sealions, and has some amazing views of lava flows, and small craters. The top afforded a beautiful view of the ocean and the lava flows of Santiago we had walked on that morning. What a great day!

On Sunday the 7th December, we did not move the boat very far, anchoring off of the South side of Santiago at an island called Chinese Hat, due to it’s resemblance the conical Asian hat.

The walk on Chinese Hat was very nice and very short, and we even saw some Hermit Crabs. Climbing to the top of the cone is prohibited because the lava is so fragile. One of the other abundant animals we saw were Lava Lizards and Sally Lightfoot Crabs. Victor, our guide, showed us a Sally Lightfoot outer skin – it had not died and been eaten, but rather shed it’s skin, including the film over the eyes! They do this when they grow, much like lizards or snakes do. Apparently, they are exceedingly difficult to catch, are inedible, and, when caught, are used as bait (except on Galapagos where they are protected by park regulations).

That afternoon we headed back down to Santa Cruz Island, where we had started, and visited Whale Bay. This place is only visited with a guide, and we landed on the beach (a wet landing, cause you get wet!), where we had to be careful not to step on the Bluebottle Jellyfish, who could give you a nasty sting as they had been washed ashore.

Immediately we saw pieces of pottery on the sand. Our guide told us that these were left over from previous settlements dating back to the mid 19th Century. This trail was longer and was great exercise, punctuated by seeing Giant Tortoises that had been bought here by whalers from another island. More evidence of human intervention came when we saw some wild goats on the island. They were the only animals we saw the whole time on Galapagos that were scared of us!

It was the responsibility of the guide to write up this incident and report it to the authorities, as they are trying to get rid of these introduced pests which eat all of the food the Tortoises usually eat, stripping the trees bare at a rapid rate. We saw only the two goats, but we heard several groups, and we saw their spore everywhere.

This important site is also a haven for Sea Turtles, and we saw their nesting sites on the beach. It looked like they had already hatched, or maybe had been eaten as we saw several egg shells left behind.

That afternoon we had more amazing close encounters with a lizard and a large mammal, and we even saw three White Tipped Reef Sharks all resting under the same rock.

The next day we found ourselves at the largest of the islands, Isabela. This island was formed only 1 million years ago, making it one of the youngest islands. It is a merger of six volcanoes, some of which are still highly active, with two sitting directly on the Equator, and being the highest elevation in Galapagos at over 1700 meters.

The relative young age of this island has meant that the lava has not had time to break down through natural erosive processes yet. This in turn means that there is not much vegetation on some parts of it, limiting other forms of life seen elsewhere on Galapagos.

We saw plenty of animals around the Southern edge of the island though. This is where Puerto Villamil is located, home to most of the residents of the island. Founded in 1893, the small port was home to agriculturalists and fishermen. Exports also included sulfur from mines which were set up at fumaroles, and lime made from coral. The people often hunted Giant Tortoise for their meat and for use as oil. Goats were also introduced here, but have since been successfully eradicated.

In 2000, Sea Cucumber fishermen on Isabela kidnapped baby Giant Tortoises and held them for ransom to force the government to extend their fishing licenses. Unfortunately, they were not deported and thrown in jail as should have happened; instead, the government capitulated to their demands. It seems the local population is unwilling and unable to turn away from hunting and fishing towards tourist activities. As the Galapagos is so fragile, maybe they should be forced to leave and make a living somewhere else.

Our first visit was a hike around a trail called Las Tintoreras, which means The Sharks (more or less) in Spanish. This was a great walk were we saw lots of animals, including a Lava Heron and Whimbrel, which is a wading bird with a long curved beak. Most of the trail here was over lava which past through mangroves, and it was completely full of Marine Iguanas everywhere. There is a lava tunnel exposed to the ocean here where White Tip Sharks often are seen sleeping under rocks during the day from the trail itself, but we were not lucky. However, we did see a Sea Turtle hanging around in the lake leading up to the lave tunnel.

The snorkeling that day was really nice because that is where we swam with the Sea Turtles for the first time in Galapagos. We even saw two mating underwater for ages – not sure they enjoyed our voyeurism though…

We walked back and took the boat to the port itself where we saw loads of animals chilling out in the heat of the Equatorial sun.

Another trail led through The Wetlands which is a series of trails through some lakes and waterways. Here we saw some American Flamingoes, which we thought were much pinker than the three different types we had seen in Chile. We also saw an American Oystercatcher, which is a white bird, with a black head. It’s legs are thick and strong as it is a wading bird, and it’s beak is hard, long and orange, which it uses to prise open mollusks for food. We also saw Moorhens, Ducks and Black and White Stilts, which are also wading birds, but have really long legs.

Our next stop was one of the Tortoise breeding centers called Arnaldo Tupiza Breeding Center. The Tortoises were pretty vulnerable to introduced species such as cats which is why they are kept under nets until they grow a bit bigger. Information boards were pretty good here, and explained how the males had longer tails than the females, and they also have a more concave shell to help with mating. One of the main conservation efforts was to bring 18 adult Tortoises from the Cerro Azul volcano when it erupted. This successful project save an entire subspecies which has produced over 200 babies since the rescue.

We hung around in the town itself and bought some supplies, and had a beer. When it was time to leave, we went to the boat, and on the way we even saw a large Ray in the water.

Onto the 9th December and we had made our way around the South side of Isabela to Fernandina Island, also known as Narborough Island after a famous English captain of the 17th Century. Located West of Isabela over the Galapagos hotspot, Fernandina is the youngest island of the Galapagos. Most of it’s surface is rocky as the volcano has been blowing as recently as 2009.

We found a lot of dead things on this island – a Marine Iguana was belly up in the sea. We saw dead Sealions, dead Sea Turtles and even a dead Whale which had washed up. However, we also saw many living animals, especially the famous Flightless Cormorant, which is alive and well, even if it is placed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

We landed at Espinoza Point and hiked around before seeing a group of the now flightless birds. They had no need for flight since they landed on the island and there are no natural predators. Our guides said that out of the Penguin and the Cormorant it was the Cormorant that was a better bird in the water as it was more agile and maneuverable.

An El Nino event in 1983 reduced the numbers of these birds to just 400, which shows how fragile this ecosystem really is. There numbers are recovering however, and a count in 1999 showed them back to over 900 birds. They are endemic, and only exist on this island and the Western edge of Isabela, so I hope they make it. They sure look silly with their tiny and semi-useless wings, but they are beautiful nonetheless. It is this spot which I think is most fragile and vulnerable in Galapagos, and if there was an oil spill in this area, it would be a terminal disaster for these rare birds, which helped in our understanding of who we are, by inspiring Darwin in his Theory of Evolution. They deserve our respect and protection.

Another bird which is extremely beautiful is the Galapagos Hawk. We saw one and it’s plumage and size were awesome. They don’t eat other birds, luckily for the cormorants, rather restricting their diet to Lava Lizards, snakes, rodents and insects. They do not seem to be scared of us either, which is really great for our camera. Our as Darwin put it:

“A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk out of the branch of a tree.”

Darwin must have broken several park regulations when he was there, including riding a Giant Tortoise, but we were more respectful – although I doubt our visit will push forward the boundaries of science – or will it?

Our snorkeling that morning was very nice, with dozens of Sea Turtles to be found feeding on algae all around us. Our camera fogged up a little – top tip: put cotton wool in with your camera, and no more fogging!

That afternoon we had returned to Isabela, this time to the Western point to visit a cove called Tagus Cove (named for a British warship that visited). For centuries boats have used the cove, which sits between two volcanoes, as a mooring point. Graffiti covers the cove walls everywhere you look, with the oldest one that we saw going back to 1836, although there are reports of even older samples.

The dusty trail heads up past a gravesite to a wonderful view of the cove itself, and a saltwater lagoon. One of the interesting things here were the large number of Palo Santo (Holy Wood) trees, not to be confused with the Palo Santo species of the Chaco area in Paraguay. The tree is well known in Galapagos as having a lovely scent, marking it’s use for exportation as incense to keep mosquitos at bay, and in churches.

We did some more snorkeling that afternoon, where we saw more Sea Turtles. It was good to see so many thriving in the protection of the marine park. We also saw more Penguins ‘flying’ under the water. Very graceful.

The next day and we headed back around the North side of Isabela, completing our circumnavigation of the island. We stopped at Santiago again, at Egas Port. We saw all manner of animals here, including seeing some Marine Iguanas go head to head in a fight. They bob their heads aggressively and try to push each other off of the rocks. We also saw Galapagos Fur Sealions for the first time. These colonies also suffered hugely in the El Nino of ‘83 – but like the cormorants, they seem to be doing much better now.

This trail is well known for it’s blowholes, where the sea rushes up through the rocks and is pushed so hard it gushes upwards like a geyser into the air.

Our last stop that day was at Rábida Island, also known as Jervis. Rábida has a reddish color, thanks to the break down of the volcanic cones on the island made of porous basalt called scoria. It was quite a thing to see the Sealions hanging around on red beaches.

That night we had a farewell dinner, as everyone else was leaving the boat the next day. Chocolate cake was even on the menu – which was a very welcome surprise!

Our last journey on this leg of the trip was to sail around Daphne Major a few times, looking at the huge number of marine birds that nest there. That was when I discovered one of my favorite birds, the Red-billed Tropicbird. The island itself was just a crater with little vegetation on it.

We arrived back at Baltra Island where some people had flights that day, and others would head onto the Galapagos for a little while longer. Francesca and I had signed up for the South Islands tour, and so we stayed on the boat. It was a great experience, with an excellent guide and an excellent group of friends. Highly recommended!