Galapagos – Part 1

After a good sleep it was another early start to get the airport. Breakfast was included at our hotel. My gcse Spanish was seriously rusty and the lady serving breakfast didn’t speak English. Luckily there was only one option to have so no conversation was required. We were soon in a taxi back to the airport AGAIN. After flying all day the previous day we were slightly fed up of being on the move but we we heading somewhere for the trip of a lifetime – the Galapagos!

After getting our luggage checked by the pest control people we were given the all clear and our bags were sent on their way. Whilst Guayaquil arrivals had been chaotic the departure lounge was the total opposite. I even had strong enough WiFi to skype Barclays as I’d essentially been locked out of my accounts. A bit of a pain! With access to money restored we were soon on our 2 hour flight to the Archipelagos.

Heading west, the islands suddenly appeared below us, surrounded by sky blue sea. As soon as we got off the plane I made Alex take pictures as I wanted to capture everything! The security check was fairly extraordinary. All of our bags were lined up on a conveyor belt and a very old Labrador walked around and on all of our bags, sniffing to check for contraband. Once that task was done we were free to collect our stuff and jump on the bus. We had arrived on baltra island and we had to get to Santa Cruz Island. This involved a ten minute bus to a ferry and a 1 minute ferry crossing. It was literally a dollar a minute per person. Our luggage was thrown onto the roof and so our first half an hour on the islands was already an experience.

Walking onto the jetty the far side we nearly stepped on a sealion which was lying right in the way! It was fast asleep and literally couldn’t care less that people we walking over it. We soon noticed more around the harbour. All snoozing away. We found 2 passengers to share a taxi with and we were soon flying along the road holding onto our seats. Speed limits don’t seem to apply here or be followed by the taxi drivers. We reached the highland part of the island and there was suddenly loads of giant tortoises around. In fields, gardens and even in the road. It was incredible.

We got to our hostel and were told that we had a special room as we were staying for so long. If we had a special room we dreaded to think what the other rooms were like. It was very basic but fine. We dropped our kit off and went in search of some lunch. I had read about the special lunch menus which is soup and a main meal for a few dollars. Soon enough we came across a whole street of restaurants offering this menu. This was going to be our favourite street during our stay. After prawn soup and some fish for main for a bargain $5 each we tried to check in with our dive school. We forgot that most people take a siesta in the early afternoon so we were told to come back. To pass the time we were advised to check out the Charles darwin centre which is where we could see the Galapagos tortoises up close. They really are huge. They also look a lot like E.T.

Walking along the waterfront of Puerto Ayora was like being on an episode of blue planet. Everything I had seen on David Attenborough’s programmes and also google images became a reality. The area by the port where the fisherman brought their fish was the best scene. There were sea lions waiting to be fed. Pelicans hoping for scraps and also the odd frigate bird. Lazing about were marine iguanas. It was unbelievable. The sea lions are like Labradors. They beg for food and even nudge the people selling the fish! It pays off though as they do get some.

We’d only been on the island for a couple of hours and already loved it. It was also seriously hot. Being almost on the equator the sun is insane. We went back to the dive centre and we hit our first hurdle. As we we on the islands in low season the dive boat needed a minimum of 4 divers before it would go. Not something that had been explained to us before we paid our $100 deposit a couple of weeks ago. We were told that we would either need to change our dive schedule and delay diving by a day or the company would try and find another company for us to go with. We went with the latter. Whilst we didn’t like this idea we soon realised that this is the norm amongst the dive schools and it happens all the time during the low season.

The next morning, after a dreadful night sleep as cockerels were right outside our room crowing from 2am, we were picked up at 0700 to go to the dive boat. It was back to where we got the ferry so a 35 minute journey. It was a very odd drive as you leave Puerto Ayora in maybe a bit of mist. You then head into the highlands where it is normally raining and very foggy. Then you come out the other side and it’s sunshine. All in the space of 30 minutes. The company we were going to be diving with had a yacht rather than a speed boat which is unusual for diving. Their claim to fame is that David Attenborough filmed one of his programmes on it. They obvs play this clip on repeat in their dive shop!

The first dive was not a good experience for Alex and I. The current was very strong and despite being used to diving in currents the norm is to drift dive with the current, not swim against it. We had to do the latter and after 10 minutes we were exhausted. Alex wanted to come up and I was also struggling. After holding onto the rocks and calming down we managed to finish the rest of the dive. We saw a massive eagle ray which took our mind of things.

The first dive had really knocked our confidence. So much so that when we got in the water for the second dive at a different site I panicked. The water was quite choppy and my brain was asking why the hell was I going diving in v cold water! After taking a few deep breaths to calm down I decided to try again and I was ok. The water was freezing and the visibility not that great. We did see more rays though which was cool.

To be continued!