Category: Galápagos Islands

Look chicos sharks! Big ones!!

And with that, we charge toward the boat, snorkel gear in hand. Galápagos is likely the only place on the planet where I’d willingly and enthusiastically dive into the water knowing there were three big sharks patrolling the shoreline. 

But I’ll back up to the morning and our long walk on Española Island at Punta Suarez. Greeted by sea lions dotting the rocks, we passed quickly into marine iguana land. These are more colourful than their cousins seen on other islands due to the food they eat. They’re sometimes called Christmas tree iguanas, and they are so plentiful that we must pay close attention so as not to walk on them. Nazca boobies, swallow-tailed gulls, lava herons and yes, albatross have started arriving for the mating season. Even spotted one amorous couple “at it”. 

Afternoon walk on beautiful Gardiner Bay beach. Approaching the sandy white sand it looks rocky until we realize that the rocks have heads, tails and flippers. Sea lions! Napping when we arrive but awake and ready to play when we finish our walk. Today, however, we’re in search of something different..Milton has more or less promised me sharks, and Milton always delivers. 

The panga drops us off just beyond a huge outcropping of rock. Rays abound, far below us on the sand. The usual schools of yellow-tailed surgeonfish, lots of king angels, parrotfish. Milton gathers us together and tells us to watch as he dives down to say hello to a friend of his. A white-tipped reef shark. Several actually. Finally, I am in the water with sharks! Several of them are swimming lazily below is, paying little if any attention. They are beautiful. 

On the way back to shore, Milton sends the panga ahead to scout for the three big Galápagos sharks he saw earlier from the beach. As comfortable as he is in these waters, he’s no fool and not about to insert his guests into the midst of a shark feeding. Im good with that. 

Friday, our second to last full day aboard Xavier III. We started with a walk at Punta Cormorant, a green sand beach on Floreana Island. A short walk to an inland salt water lagoon, and we’re greeted by flamingos, including a baby one close to the end of the trail where we were standing.

On the other side of the island, a gorgeous white sand beach where manta rays play near shore. There were so many of them, we are warned about stepping on them, something they don’t take kindly to. They don’t mind being nudged though, and they sometimes nudge back as one of our group discovered. On the panga back to the boat, seven Galápagos penguins stand on the rocks to see us off with a couple of blue-footed boobies roosting just above them. 

The wonder intensifies with the first snorkelling of the day. Swimming with sea lions…first three, then four, then more until more than a dozen are frolicking with us in the surf, coming in close and veering off at the last minute…adults, babies, some barking, others just looking like they were enjoying the adventure as much as we were. I have video but it far exceeds the allowable size for this site; I’ll try to post it to Facebook instead.

After lunch, we motored to Post Office Bay where you can leave a post card and take one to deliver in your own country. I found one addressed to someone in Whycocomaugh, NS and will put postage on it and mail it when I get back to Canadian soil.

For the final snorkel of the day, sea turtles! A big female and a smaller male entertained a small group of us for half an hour, munching on plants, swaying in the surf and surfacing amongst us every six or seven minutes to breathe. They paid us little attention but were certainly aware of our presence. At one point, the smaller one swam directly underneath me, so close I thought I could touch him. But I didn’t. They only way to keep them unafraid is to keep our distance. Small price to pay, since they seem so willing to grace us with their presence.

Giant tortoise sex. It’s not romantic, and certainly not for the faint of heart. The males, many of them weighing in the vicinity of 200 kilos, climb onto the backs of the much-smaller females, biting their necks and bullying them into submission. Love has nothing to do with it. And that’s likely part of the reason why the females then make their way from the highlands where mating occurs down to the ocean, lay their eggs, then leave them. Period. No motherly love here. 

The Charles Darwin Research Centre is about a kilometre outside of Santa Cruz, the largest town in the Galápagos. They obviously do research there, but it’s also centre an important breeding centre for the different varieties of giant tortoises that inhabit these islands. We arrived at feeding time which is likely the only time these marvellous creatures move quickly. We witnessed one of them actually climb over the top of the guy next to him to get to the succulent green elephant ear plants that form part of their diet. 

They keep the babies for about five years, then release them back to the wild in an effort to restore the population. Native people find tortoise meat quite tasty, so lots of them have ended up on dinner plates throughout the ages. And there were other dangers like seafarers and pirates. When they discovered that these animals could survive up to one year without food or water, they collected scores of them, stacked them upside down on board their ships, then slaughtered and ate them throughout the duration of the voyage. Thankfully, they are protected today, although many older Galápagos residents are reported to (illegally) have a feed from time to time. 

In the afternoon, we travelled to a reserve where the tortoises roam freely, munching on vegetation and playing in mud. Their hind legs are exactly like elephant legs (well, a little smaller). Otherwise, they look exactly like ET. Unfortunately I forgot my phone so no pics other than the ones locked in my camera.

It is Day 3 on-board Xavier III. I woke early and stayed in bed til 6:30 before getting dressed, only to find that my iPad is still on Quito time and it was in fact one hour earlier. Which explains the surprised looks from the crew who were up and about getting ready for the day. We are moored off of one of the younger islands, and the landscape is completely different from that of yesterday. The wildlife will be different here too.

Animals that don’t run away when they catch the slightest hint of people…I knew to expect this but had no concept of what that would be like…of having to be careful not to trip over nesting blue-footed boobies sitting in the blazing heat protecting their precious eggs. Of getting close enough to the magnificent frigatebird’s inflated red pouch to touch. Of watching carefully so as not to interfere with sea lions who have the ability to pop up out of nowhere. Most friendly and wanting to play but some – the bull males – ready to fight(and bite) to defend their territory and females.

Milton our guide is a treasure trove of information, Dr. Google on legs. His love for the place of his birth is palpable, shining through with every tidbit of information he shares. He’s 56 and looks 40 despite the relentless Ecuadorean sun. I love how he lays out the green carpet when the panga deposits us on land. It’s the equivalent of a red carpet but this is the Galápagos after all.. 

Yesterday, he took us to a snorkelling spot where there was an opportunity to see “really big sharks”. This after watching two six-foot Galápagos sharks circle our boat for an hour in search of food scraps (which they did not get). I have to say it took effort to leave the panga, but I settled down eventually and was looking forward to the sighting. It didn’t happen for me, but others in our group saw them. They pay no attention to humans; we are not on the menu. 

Yesterday as we were ending our morning walk, we were treated to the spectacle of spotted eagle rays mating in the water, followed by a turtle swimming by, followed by two baby sea lions who hurled themselves onto the flat rocks six feet from us and proceeded to put on a show. 

Amid this wonder and beauty…plastic. Floating in the water, lying on the beaches. Water bottles bobbing on the waves become homes for tiny crustaceans. There are better places for them to take up residence. This must stop.