Good times in the Galapagos (Galapagos Islands)

Member Name: raveydavy

Product:	Galapagos Islands
Date:	04/06/01 (264 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wildlife, uniqueness, relaxing

Disadvantages: expensive, other side of the world, need to be quite agile

The Galapagos archipelago is simply a stunning place to visit. Sometimes stunning because of the pure ugliness of some of the volcanic formations, and sometime stunning because of the beauty and diversity of the wildlife.

It is also one of those destinations which I'm torn on recommending. Certainly I would want people to have seen and experienced all that it has to offer, but I'm also aware of the fragility that humans have brought to its ecological balance.

The economic situation further complicates matters because, quite frankly, Ecuador is a poor county which needs the tourist dollars, and the Galapagos islands themselves have to pay the conservation and research work needed to protect them. A difficult choice.

Politics aside though, the islands are a must see. There are a large number of them, on which various species of animal - many of which found their way there by accident - have evolved in splendid isolation from the rest of the world. Not only has this impacted on scientific thought ever since Darwin's visit there caused him to complete his "Theory of Evolution", but also it means that the amazing wildlife all behaves as if it were tame. In fact most creatures there have not been tamed - more they never developed an instinctive fear of people whilst they evolved detached from the destructive ways of humankind.

So overall then, you have a collection of islands situated on the equator in the Pacific 600 miles off the coast of (and owned by) Ecuador. They are most easily accessed by plane, from either Quito or Guayaquil. I landed on Baltra island where the "airport" is functional and there is nothing on the island except the airport. In fact most of the Galapagos is uninhabited, and there are only three human settlements. The rest of the island group (and surrounding waters) is part of the national park, with very strict rules concerning visiting times and so on.

The vast majority o
f visitors are going on the organised cruises, and so arrival at the airport once you have paid the $100 park tax (yes, one hundred US dollars in crisp bills), you enter the baggage hall maelstrom of tour groups trying to find their guides and vice-versa. In this process people are put on busses which either take you to the nearby dock to get on a "cruise ship", or over to the ferry to Santa Cruz island which is home to the largest town, Puerto Ayora (which again is a bus ride away from the ferry). The three towns (Puerto Moreno and Puerto Villamil are the other two) are not large, given that the total population of the entire archipelago is around 10,000. Puerto Ayora is the largest and it is here that you are likely to stay if you don't simply hop on and off a cruise. As well as being home to the Darwin Research Station, it is also home to numerous dive clubs, tour operators, etc. There are many day trips and so on that you can organise from here.

I won't go into the orientation of the islands in this review, other than to say that Puerto Ayora is roughly in the middle so many sights can be achieved from here with day-trips, though the only way to see some of the more remote bits is via a longer cruise. Confusion can arise since many islands have been given different names by different groups over the years. However, for tourists the use of the Spanish names seems most common. The waters are quite calm within the island group, though on some legs of your journey you may encounter rougher seas. Given that you can always see land, it is easy to forget that you are over 600 miles out to sea.

Visiting the islands (other than the towns) must be done between 6:00am and 6:00pm, and you must be accompanied by a guide. Official guides are qualified, speak generally good English and are both helpful and useful. Unofficial guides should be avoided, and in general unofficial tourism is heavily frowned upon because of the environmental harm
it does. Inadvertently treading on a nest of iguana eggs because your guide does not know they are there kills the next generation of someone's family! The cruises, then, not only take you to the islands, but also form your sleeping quarters as well as providing you with all meals.

Cruises range from cheaper, cramped and basic boats with 4-5 crew and 8-10 passengers, to large cruise ships with over 100 "guests". The main differences will be increased comfort and larger cabins, air conditioning, and more "fussing" at mealtimes. It is worth noting that all the food comes from the same place - so big does not guarantee better in terms of food. In all cases getting to and from the boat to the islands is done via smaller boats with an outboard, and you should choose your tour wisely if you do not want to test your agility leaping from boats onto rocks and vice-versa. Some of the more "luxury" cruises have better hand rails and so on on their little boats and so are more appealing to more elderly passengers. However, I think that a lot of the so called luxury is illusory, and the benefits of being in a small group (more intimate, access to more places and the chance to actually hear the guide) vastly outweigh the presence of air-conditioning. On the smaller boats most cabins will have two beds, so you could find yourself sharing.

Most cruises follow similar routes, and ours did a figure of eight, crossing at the airport to provide flexibility for people to do a 3, 4 or 7 night tour. However long your cruise you will keep spotting the same ships alongside when you come to moor up for the night. Everything is provided, except for additional drinks (coke and beer) which will be available for a price not dissimilar to what you'd pay at home. On our boat these drinks operated on a trust system, so we kept a tally and paid at the end of the week. The money from this went to the crew. The chef on our boat was a genius: thou
gh not about to win any Haute Cuisine awards, given the limited facilities and lack of shops he worked miracles in the galley to provide varied and edible food - with no obvious food poisoning being suffered by any passenger. Also on the ship were adequate showering facilities, one on the back of the boat for a rinse after swimming and one in the cabin for (brief) hot showers at a pre-prescribed time of day.

So, once off the aeroplane and $100 lighter, and hooked up with the guide who subsequently hooked us up with our boat, we were put in our cabins and given life jackets and a 10 minute introduction to etiquette on board. Just in time for tea! Having had something to eat, the boat set off for it's mooring point for the evening whilst the guide briefed us as to what we would see the next day. And this set up the routine for the whole trip: breakfast followed by a trip to an island; an hour or two on the island at a very gentle pace with the guide pointing out and explaining the wildlife, then back to the boat to move on. Do a bit of sitting around and sunbathing/chatting whilst the boat chugs along, then at the next stop it's back onto the little boat to visit a different island with different wildlife. Either take the little boat or swim back to the main boat for lunch. After lunch you can siesta whilst the ship moves on, then maybe one more island visit before having an evening swim off the back of the boat and tea. The boat may choose to move on again early the next day before breakfast.

The visits are virtually indescribable, and it is all fascinating even for someone like me with no prior knowledge or particular passion for studying animals. Furthermore, a week of it left me wanting more, not getting bored. Be it looking at the one hour old sea lion cubs, or spotting the turtle nests, the experiences will live with you for ever. All the wildlife is approachable, and snorkelling with a school of eagle-ray is something the thought of wh
ich still makes me feel gooey inside. Suffice is to say that you will see iguanas, penguins, blue footed boobies, giant tortoises, ray, turtles, frigates, pelicans, puffer fish, lizards, crabs, etc, etc, etc.

The boats have elementary snorkelling equipment, though one of our number was somewhat put off by an encounter with a White Tipped Shark. However, we were assured that it was all perfectly safe - and the water babies amongst you may wish to take your own mask and snorkel, and an underwater camera as well. I think that one of the pleasure of the week is that it is not only informative, but relaxing. Though the fauna (and flora) is the main event, a week of lounging around on boats with the occasional swim or snorkel would provide a pleasant diversion in its own right.

At the end of this most incredible week (which will also include a trip to the Darwin centre, and Puerto Ayora), you get dumped back at the airport for your flight back to the mainland weighed down only by the vast number of experiences you hope never to forget. My highlight was snorkelling down to about 5m and patting a giant green sea-turtle on the head: he didn't seem to mind!

Of course if you so desire you can head to Puerto Ayora for a couple of days (more) R&R, and maybe some diving. I alas had to leave and can't dive - though I understand that the diving is spectacular.

Here's my tip: the cruise trips are a must do, but are expensive (check out, for example www.galasam.com.ec). It is more expensive to book them up in the UK in advance than it can be to do it there - though you do have the advantage of a certain place. However, if you are not pushed for time, you can hang around in Quito or Guayaquil, and try to get a late bargain. If there is an empty space on a boat then you should get it at a considerable discount. Though our agent (www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk) insisted that everything would be fully booked, we encountered many people who
were able to get last minute places relatively easily. My other tip is take lots of suntan lotion and a hat. You will spend a lot of time out in the open in the sun on the equator! Lastly, though Ecuador is not particularly problematic at the time of writing, for trips to more "unusual" destinations I would always recommend a pre-visit to www.fco.gov.uk for up-to-date travel advice.

So, do it, do it, do it. But when you are there, be mindful of the potential damage you could be doing, and treat the environment there (as everywhere!) with the respect it deserves.

Summary: