Galápagos - Day 1

We were up at 5am, checked our cases with the concierge and then had a quick breakfast in Cafe Colon at the hotel. By 7am we were down in the lobby with our one hold bag and our back packs. 16 of us transferred to the airport then we all had considerable palaver getting Galapagos transit cards ($20 each) and having all our bags scanned for ecological risks before we could check in and get through security. Stephanie from G Adventures smoothed things along. We found a lounge and chilled there until flight time.  The flight dropped down at Guayaquil to refuel with us staying on the plane so the whole journey took a couple of hours. We needed enough fuel from there to get to the Galapagos and back.  We arrived on San Cristabel island at 12.15pm, local time 11.15am. We went through immigration and paid out $100 Galapagos fee each. We were picked up by Oswaldo and Jonathan our two CEOS'S for the trip, actually our guides but G Adventures calls them Chief Experience Officers.

A desperate band!

We drove through Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to the harbour, boarded Zodiacs and were taken to our boat, the Montserrat.

Sea Lions everywhere

 

 

Putting away the stores - heaps of food. 18 passengers, 10 crew, 2 guides

 Our cabin is on the lower deck of the ship towards the bow. It’s quite spacious but only small high up portholes. The cabins on the upper deck, although only twin bedded have much more natural light and a door to the deck (a tip for anyone else that does this trip). After settling in we had a briefing from Oswaldo on the day's activities, had lunch (which was good) and then headed off to Isla Lobo to snorkel off the Zodiacs in crystal clear water. There were a few sea lions swimming with us and we saw turtles and a grouper as well as lots of lovely fish. (We never found an underwater camera so sadly no pictures, just memories!)

Our plan for the afternoon

Then back to the boat for a quick change to walk on Isla Losbos (Sea Lion Island). It was a dry landing so we could keep our shoes on. We saw lots of sea lions, frigate birds, including males with their red chest inflated, blue footed boobies, lava lizards, pelicans, yellow warblers, marine iguanas and some Darwin's finches. Isla Losbos (sea lion island) marine iguana, blue footed boobies, lava lizards, frigate birds, including male with red chest inflated, pelicans, a lava heron, Darwin finches, yellow warbler, turnstones, and sally go lightly crabs, everywhere. We were really impressed with Jonathan's knowledge and passion.

 

The blue footed booby

      

Marine iguana  

Male frigate bird       

Female frigate bird      

Back to the boat for drinks and snacks, a shower,  sundowner beers (at a very reasonable $4) on the upper deck, a briefing about the next day's activities (including meeting the captain crew) and then dinner which was again good food.

We chilled on the upper deck under the stars and then headed to an early bed.