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GALAPAGOS! |
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Trip Log—Galapagos |
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Day 1 We’ve just come from a week in the Jungle and Quito, and are ready to start our “Galapagos” portion of our trip… this is the main event! Our TAME (pronounced Tommy) flight left Quito in the morning, and stopped in Guayaquil to pick up passengers before heading out to Baltra, a tiny island off Santa Cruz Island. (Baltra is basically: an airport.) As we load up in Guayaquil, we see people we know getting on the front of the plane, (we’re in the back). Most of these people have been in Ecuador for only a few hours. We recognize some of them... Herb, Steve and some other familiar faces we should be diving with soon. The plane takes off…. Will the water be cold? What is the boat like? Are the currents as strong as our friends in the jungle described? Will we see… sharks?? We are filled with anticipation, excitement and a tinge of anxiety.
We arrive in Baltra and are met by Kathleen and her daughter Shannon, who started their stay on the islands 3 or 4 days earlier. They seem very happy. This is a good sign.
A short bus ride to the dock, the road is good, the terrain around us is arid and rocky, some scattered cacti. We see the Lammer Law tri-maran for the first time. She’s as pretty as the pictures we’ve seen of her. We are introduced to some people and how to climb in and out of the ‘pangas’ which are the little zodiacs that will take us to and from the boat. We get into the panga and are zipped to the Lammer Law.
Room numbers are called out and it’s time to settle in quick before we prep for our first dive, (our check out dive). The rooms are nice, with 2 beds, (we pushed together) our own bathroom with shower, everything you need for a bathroom in a 4 ft X5 ft space. We slipped into suits, and had a lovely lunch of Wahoo Ceviche (and popcorn) and went out for the scramble for weights. How much weight? Well, how cold is the water? How…wha... Just get the weights and try it out. We both dress in all we had, we both need 2 more pounds… let’s get the tanks set up and ready to dive! Whew! |
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Dive 1 — Mozquera Island, 77 ft. for 34 minutes.
Sandy bottom where we did some basic skills showing we knew how to dive. Saw lots of rays, sharks everywhere you looked there was activity! Sharks and turtles and diamond sting rays and lots of fish. Water wasn’t so cold… and was clear. Our gear seemed to work ok… it was a good dive to start us off.
Land 1 — North Seymour As soon as we set afoot (dry landing from the Panga), the Blue footed boobies were everywhere. Some on eggs, some with small chicks and some with chicks that were as large as mom, (or dad). None seemed afraid of humans! Sea Lions (Galapagos/California Sea Lions) laying all over. You had to be careful not to step on anything! Like stepping on a booby while avoiding to step on a sea lion! Marine Iguanas and sally light-foots crabs were all over the rocks. Sally light-foots are black when young, and become redder as they mature. The very mature ones were very red and quite large, with touches of blue on their front. Really beautiful. The rules of the islands were to stay on the designated paths, and not to wander too far ahead of the guides and no flash when shooting right at the animals. Quite amazing...The light was going, and we had to be off the island by 5 pm… another rule. So off we went, back to the boat on the pangas.
Showered up after getting quite chilly on the land tour of N. Seymour, and had a refreshing banana drink (w/rum) to welcome everyone aboard. Met the crew, had dinner and coffee, and a next day briefing and off to bed…. A long, long, fun filled day. |
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Trip Log |
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Trip Log continued |