Category: Ecuador

Genovesa Island is a shield volcano in the east of Galapagos. Part of the wall of the main caldera has collapsed so that it is now possible to sail into the caldera. There are very few caldera like this. By an odd coincidence, one of the others is at Deception Island off the Antarctic peninsula. We had been there at the beginning of November. The only other navigable caldera in the world, that I know of, is Santorini in Greece.

What makes Genovesa unique is the concentration of birdlife there. Frigatebirds, red-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, storm petrels, tropicbirds, Darwin’s finches, and Galápagos mockingbirds. Thousands of them. Great clouds of birds in the air and the ground seems to be covered in birds either resting or nesting.

Access is very tightly controlled here. Especially since a recent outbreak of bird flu. Only a few people are allowed to land at any one time and you are only allowed a short time, two hours I think, ashore. We started off with a RHIB cruise along the cliff edges of the caldera. There are no historical records of volcanic activity at Genovesa but the are some young lava flows. The cliffs were full of nesting birds. In enjoyed watching the rather exotic looking, red-billed tropicbirds popping in and out of holes in the rock. There were also herons, pelicans and a few sea lions.

To get onto the island, there is a very steep wooden staircase running up inside a crack of the caldera wall. It is not dangerous, but definitely an interesting way of getting onto the island. I spent a while at the top of the steps photographing the tropicbirds. These are normally solitary creatures but I think it must be that time of year when they stop being solitary for a while. Pairs and small groups were creating a terrific display swooping around in formation.

The steps led to a rocky plateau with many bushes and more birds than I have ever seen in one place. Great flocks of terns were flying along the shore interspersed with a few larger birds. The bushes seemed to be full of birds. Mostly boobies. Red and blue footed plus a few Nazca boobies. Some of them were nesting and we spotted a few chicks and youngsters.

In carefully shepherded small groups we walked across the plateau towards the far shore. We could not get anywhere close to where the terns were fishing. A short walk parallel to the shore and then back to the steps via a slightly different route. Everywhere there were birds and more birds. In the air, on the floor, in bushes and sat on rocks. None of them seemed especially nervous of humans although we were under strict instructions not to approach them. In places they were sat on the marked track so we had to carefully step around them.

Back at the steps, we clambered into the RHIB and were taken to a small beach area. We could walk around a little here. People were also allowed to snorkel and swim if they had the inclination. We stayed out of the water but did explore inland a little. More boobies, herons and sea lions.

I took an awful lot of photographs. Possibly my personal record for number of pictures in one day. Less than a thousand, but not by much. They are not all here. What you get here is the result of several hours inspecting and deleting. Then comes cropping and occasionally a bit of colour manipulation. Mostly I just stick to changing the exposure on some or all of the image. Back in the days of celluloid film we used to do this using carboard shapes on a stick to mask part of the final print while it was being exposed under the enlarger. A technique called dodging and burning. These days it is just messing on the computer.

This was the last day of our Galapagos trip. Quite a spectacular day to end with. Overall, the trip has been terrific. The Galapagos is a fascinating place with a completely unique population of flora and fauna. The Hx vessel, the Santa Cruz II, was nice as well. Life there was a little regimented but the crew were friendly and the food was excellent. Next morning we were up early for the flight to Guayaquil.

Rabida has an unusual red beach. The lava that originally built the island was rich in iron. This oxidises to form rust as it is being ground into sand by the sea and hence a rusty red beach. While not unique it is one of only a handful worldwide. Rabida also has flamingos. They are pink. Nothing to do with the rust but because they metabolise the carotenoids found in the algae and brine shrimp. Carotenoids are a natural pigment found in many plants. They make carrots, and occasionally my baby sister, orange. They also make tomatoes red and salmon pink. We had seen some pink flamingos earlier but I had yet to get any worthwhile photographs of them. I was on a bit of a mission. The beach traps a small brackish lake which is where the flamingos hang out munching on the shrimp. They took almost no notice of me at all so the photographs were easy.

There is a nice little circular walk on the island. Takes you up on top of some cliffs overlooking the beach. Past many prickly pear cactus plants. I tried eating a prickly pear once. Many years ago, when I was still young and daft. Carefully peeled the skin off with a knife while wearing a pair of gloves. Still ended up with my tongue covered in prickles. Nasty short thin prickles that break off in your skin and then stick out a tiny amount. Really, really annoying for days. Given them a wide berth ever since.

There are nine different species of Darwin’s finches on Rabida. I saw a few but only managed to photograph one. We also saw a mockingbird, a dove, a pelican and handful of young ducks on the pond that google claims to be white-cheeked pintail.

In afternoon we visited Bartolomé Island. This is one of the younger islands in the archipelago and its volcanic heritage is very clear. A wooden walkway has been built up to the summit where there are some excellent views. First problem was getting past the fur seal on the path. I tried a hard stare, Padding Bear style, and that seemed to help. The path makes crossing the rough lava much easier. It leads you past a couple of smaller cones before turning up towards the top of the main cone. Diane counted exactly how many steps there were to the top. She likes doing things like that. Sadly, she has now forgotten how many steps there were – but it was quite a few. On the way back down, I watched several blue footed boobies fishing. They would typically start their dive from 30 m up. How they can spot a fish from up there is beyond me. The dive was always an all-in, total commitment thing so they hit the water like little missiles.

We got back into the RHIB and had a short cruise. There were rumours of a Galapagos penguin colony but we just found an individual bird. Plenty of fur seals though.

Post Office Bay on the north side of Floreana Island hosts an unusual post office. There is no building, no workers and no stamps. Instead, there is a barrel on a post. None the less this is a real post office and post does get delivered worldwide. The post office was set up at the end of the 18^th century by whalers who often spent years away from home. The principle is that anyone can leave post there and no stamp is required. But you also need to check through all the other post that has been left in case you can deliver it. If for example, your ship was soon to head back to London then you would take mail addressed to London with you. Often the mail would finally be hand delivered. It was a slow system. Might take years. But it worked and it still works now. We left a few cards that may turn up one day. Some of the other travellers that were heading home soon took cards with them.

In the afternoon we went out on a glass bottomed boat. Really, if you want to look at the sub-sea life, you should dive or snorkel. Diane has never done snorkelling and was not too keen on learning on her own. My legs were not up swimming. So, we took to the glass bottomed boat. It seems like a promising idea. Unfortunately, all I can really report is that it is better than nothing. You can see a little of what is going on in the ocean. But not very much. I soon got a sore neck. In fact, I ended up spending more time looking at the birds around us than the fish underneath.

Next day, we were much further south. Like most of the Galapagos islands, Santiago Island also has many other names. These include James Island, San Marcos Island and Duke of York Island. Our first visit was a RHIB cruise in a bay at the north of the island. When we arrived, there was another tour boat there. This happened quite a few times. The tour operators work hard to try and stay apart so usually you get to feel like you have the place to yourself. We got close to a pelican that was fishing. It used the big sack of skin under its beak like a net. There were blue footed boobies dotted along the shore. They mostly just looked as us in that slightly enigmatic way. We also saw quite a lot of swallow-tailed gulls. Some of these appeared to be pairing up.

We were settling into life on board the Santa Cruz II. Up in the morning for breakfast of fresh fruit, nuts and yoghurt. One of the cooks made omelettes to order which I really liked. Then off for a landing of some sort. The weather was the same every day. Warm but not too hot. Cloudy with sunny intervals. Occasional rain. Light clothes and a raincoat were all we ever needed. Lunch was a buffet of salads with a few hot dishes. I tried to stick to the salads but often there would be something very tasty looking that would lead me astray. At lunch we got to choose what we wanted for dinner. The menu was generally very good. I often had pasta but there were usually some other interesting dishes. Then came the afternoon landing after which I would retire to the cabin to take all the photographs off my cameras. Sometimes I would have time to process a handful that we could show to some of the other guests. Pre-dinner drinks on the back deck. If we were lucky this would include the sunset. Each evening there was a presentation at the bar about what was going to happen the next day. Then came the evening meal which would often end with us chatting for a while with whoever we shared a table. Early to bed ready to repeat the next day.

In the afternoon we had a wet landing at a beach to the west. Wet landing means that you will get your feet wet. Some people have shoes that are fine in the water. We tended to land in bare feet and then put shoes on once we were ashore. The shoreline was packed with marine iguanas and fur seals (sea lions). As usual, there were brightly coloured sally lightfoot crabs running around and I also spotted some sort of curlew. Google claims it to be a eurasian whimbrela, but I really have no idea. The big excitement of the afternoon was a pod of Orca swimming past. I managed to get a photograph of one of them. On the way back to the RHIB, I spotted another land iguana.

Darwin’s finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. I just learnt the word passerine. It sounds impressive but just means that they perch. This includes nearly half of all bird species. The thing about the finches is that Darwin noticed there were distinct species on different islands. In particular, there was a lot of variation in beak size. This is a classic example of adaptive radiation, which is the rapid evolutionary diversification of a species that occurs when its members occupy different habitats. The birds are thought to have evolved from a single finch species that came to the islands more than a million years ago. I tried to photograph a few of them.

Santa Cruz Island hosts the largest settlement in the Galapagos archipelago. Puerto Ayora, population 18,000. We spent the whole day on the island visiting various sites. First of these was the Charles Darwin Research Station. This is an interesting place that principally conducts scientific research and environmental education for conservation. The Station has a team of over a hundred scientists, educators, volunteers, research students, and support staff from all over the world. We skipped past much of this stuff and were taken straight to the tortoise sanctuary.

In the sanctuary, in fenced off areas, were baby tortoises, adolescent tortoises and great big tortoises. They can live to be well over 100 years old and weigh over 400 kg. They are the largest terrestrial cold-blooded animal. Like the finches, they have diversified across the islands. Darwin’s observation of the differences was another contribution to the development of his theories. The tortoise nearly went extinct in the 20^th century as a combination of habitat clearance and exploitation. In particular, they were very useful on the ships of old. Before refrigeration it was difficult to keep food fresh on long voyages. Live animals were often taken but these still had the problem that they needed to be fed and watered. A tortoise, however, can survive for up to a year on its stored fat. The sailors of old would collect a rack of giant tortoises. They were not difficult to catch. Then each week they could crack open another tortoise for fresh meat. From an estimated 250,000 in the 16^th century, they were down to 15,000 in the 1970s. Elsewhere, giant tortoises, that were common in prehistoric times, have all gone extinct.

These days, the tortoises are doing much better. The introduction of goats was particularly bad for the tortoises because the goats ate all the vegetation. There are now very few goats in Galapagos but this did require some rather drastic action including the use of helicopters to hunt and shoot them. On Isabella island this accounted for some 150,000 goats by 2006.

A tortoise was spotted on Pinta island in 1971 that turned out to be the last remaining individual of a subspecies. They called him Lonesome George. For decades he was known as the rarest creature in the world. George serves as an important symbol for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Islands and throughout the world. He was relocated the sanctuary and a worldwide search was put in place to find him a mate. It never worked and in 2012 he died of natural causes. He was frozen, shipped to the USA, stuffed and, eventually, sent back again. We were shown the result of the taxidermy in a special room at the sanctuary. It is a big stuffed tortoise. I was not impressed but then I have always found taxidermy a bit revolting.

Sanctuary done, we went to a sugar cane farm. In quick succession we were shown how to press sugar cane. How to boil the resulting liquid down to molasses. How to ferment the molasses and how to make moonshine in a homemade still. This was all fairly interesting but the highlight was to try some of their hooch. The farm also grew cocoa beans. I spotted some pods growing on trees which is the first time I had actually seen cocoa pods growing. We also spotted an owl in the roof above the still. He seemed to be quite content keeping an eye on proceedings.

Final event of the day was the wild tortoises. Galápagos tortoises occur in different subspecies on the several of the Galapagos islands. We went to see an area where the Santa Cruz tortoises run around. Apparently they were all coming up from the coast because it was the mating season. When I say “run around”, it is kind of a relative term. Some of the tortoises did move but it would appear that you do not get to live to 177 by rushing around. Most of the day they eat grass. In the morning, they will stand up and move about half a metre forward. Then, after settling down again, they eat all the grass they can reach with their long necks in a semi-circle in front of them. After a short rest, they stand up and the process is repeated. Watching wild tortoises is interesting rather than exciting.

At the north side of Isla Fernandina is Espinoza Point. This is where we found ourselves the next day. Landing sites in Galapagos are limited. You cannot just rock up anywhere you want and go ashore. You need a permit. You need to follow the rules. You need an official guide and you need to be off before 6pm. This is one of many reasons why, if you want to see the Galapagos, you need to sign up for an official tour. You will see the same things that everyone else does. You will visit the same places and be herded around in the same way. I think groups are coordinated so that only a few people get to visit each location at a time. Even so, if often did not feel at all like exploration but more like a park visit.

Fernandina is the youngest of the islands and last erupted in 2005. Our landing point was a narrow stretch of land famous for the hundreds of marine iguanas that hang out on the black lava rocks. There were a remarkable number of iguanas there. Ugly lizards that rarely seem to move. To help deal with the sea water they secrete concentrated salter water through their heads, so they often appear to have white heads. We also saw some flightless cormorants. Another species endemic to the Galapagos and the only species of cormorant to have become flightless. In the water were some sea lions. Or possibly Galapagos fur seals. By the time we left I had yet to work out the difference. The fur seals are not like the Antarctic fur seals but are actually a type of sea lion – which to me looked just like the other sea lions. Whatever, there were many young sea lions around playing in the water and generally being very cute.

We cut across a relatively young lava flow which was interesting for the cactus that had grown on it. In Iceland, a relatively new lava flow is indicated by grasses that are the first plants to take hold. Here, in a much warmer climate, it is a specialised type of cactus. There were a few blue footed boobies and brown pelicans. I also spotted a single yellow warbler in a bush. We also got shown the back bone of a whale that someone had carefully laid out on the rock. Not really sure what this was about.

This turned out to be a typical day in the Galapagos. Sail somewhere new. Go ashore. Look at animals. Back on board by 6pm. It was relaxing and fun. Also, in contrast to the other Hurtigruten vessels we had been on, the food was great. Proper tasty vegetarian food. Made us feel very happy.

An early morning start for the flight to Galapagos. The plane went via Guayaquil and we arrived at the Galapagos just after lunch. Short ride in a bus and then onto a RHIB to take us to our home for the next few days, the MS Santa Cruz II. This is one of the smaller vessels in the Hurtigruten fleet. A maximum of 90 passengers. Our cabin was small but comfortable. First thing I did was to flop onto the bed and think about having an afternoon nap. No chance. As soon as the new passengers were on board, the ship up anchored and sailed up to Punte Vincente at the north of Isla Isabella. As soon as we had finished lunch, the obligatory introduction to the ship and safety procedures we were off on a RHIB cruise.

The Galapagos is an archipelago of volcanic islands about 1,000 km off the coast of Ecuador. The islands are famous for their large number of endemic species. These were studied by Charles Darwin in the 1830s and inspired his theory of evolution. Ecuador won its independence from Spain in 1822 and formally claimed the islands ten years later. This was essentially unchallenged because nobody else really had any interest in the islands where it was reported that there were just some ugly animals. Today, Galapagos is primarily a tourist spot with about 300,000 visitors a year. Tourism is heavily controlled so as to preserve the ecology. Independent travel is difficult. Most tourists will join organised tours that are usually based on a ship. There are only 116 visitor sites in the Galápagos: 54 land sites and 62 scuba-diving or snorkeling sites. Small groups are allowed to visit in 2- to 4-hour shifts only, to limit impact on the area. All groups are accompanied by licensed guides.

The short cruise was followed by a landing and a walk. On the cruise we saw a remarkable variety of animals and birds. Now we saw even more including pink flamingos and several other birds that I completely failed to photograph. First thing I noticed as we approached the coast were the marine iguanas. Hundreds of them hanging out on the rocks with some very colourful crabs. The iguanas are cold blooded so they like to sit in the sunshine to keep themselves warm. Onshore we found a land iguana. Big brother to the marine type. He was easily a metre long. There are a lot of birds. Possibly most famous are the boobies. Blue footed boobies look faintly ridiculous especially when they do their mating dance. The routine is essentially about showing off their feet. We also saw a couple of Nazca boobies with their chicks. There was a solitary Galapagos penguin. This seemed very odd to me. It was clearly a penguin not too different from the Humbolt penguins we saw on the way to Antarctic. But this was the equator. What is a penguin doing here? I felt like telling it to go south back to the ice and snow. In fact, they live quite happily here. They are the only equatorial penguins and the only ones to ever be in the northern hemisphere. The equator passes through Galapagos so occasionally these little birds can wander, briefly, into the north.