Travel Planning: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

http://www.quora.com/South-America/What-are-some-cool-places-to-go-in-South-America

My favorite island was Isabella–it’s isolated and is constructed of 5 volcanos. It is easy to see incredible sea life with just a pair of flippers and some goggles and you are surrounded by unique land creatures.

Facts

• The highest mountain amongst the islands is Volcán Wolf on Isla Isabela, 1707 m (5600ft) high.
• hot/rainy season, from December to June, when humidity is high and average temperatures are in the 80s F (26°-30° C)
• Peak season for naturalist tours is typically December through May when the seas are the calmest and the weather the warmest.

Getting There

• May be cheaper to fly in from Guayaquil instead of Quito.
• The Baltra airport is a short bus ride, to a quick ferry trip, to another 45 minute bus ride to get to Puerto Ayora. It is not expensive, the full trip costs $2.30 per person ($.50 for the ferry & $1.80 for the bus), but it can be a bit inconvienent.

Flights

• $373 roundtrip from GYE <-> GPS Jan 7 - 15
• $349 roundtrip from GYE <-> GPS Jan 10 - 17
• $350 roundtrip from UIO <-> GPS Jan 9 - 16

Use momondo to book flights from/to SCY, which is not found on chipmunk.

hipmunk queries

Do

• Many notes are from gadling.

SCUBA

• Tours scubagalapagos.com.
• Red Mangrove Dive Center. Blog entry.
• Red Mangrove.

San Cristobal

• Playa Mann- One of the more popular beaches due to its central location, the waters are decently calm and there are many sea lions that play here.
• El Junto- Here you’ll view a crater lake inside an active volcano. It’s fun to hike around the rim of the volcano and explore some of the forest trails.
• Puerto Chino- Although a bit far out of town, this white sand beach offers calm, clear waters and the chance to see a lot of wild life and unique rock formations. Climb to the top of the big, black volcanic rock formation for aerial views of the clear water and marine life. When I was here, I actually witnessed a shark jumping out of the water.
• Jacinto Gordillo Breeding Center of Giant Tortoises- Here you’ll see the giant tortoises that the Galapagos Islands are so famous for. You’ll also see baby tortoises, walk through an informational museum and possibly see the tortoises in the mating process.
• Diving at Kicker Rock is awesome.

Santa Cruz

• Darwin Research Center- An easy (15 minute) walk from the center of town, here you’ll find a giant tortoise and iguana breeding center.
• Ship Ports At Night- Visit the ship ports at night for some shark viewing. The animals are attracted to the lights given off by the docks. You may have to wait a bit, but if you’re patient, there’s a good chance you’ll see some. When I was there I saw baby sharks, manta rays, sea lions and many tropical fish.
• El Chato Tortoise Reserve- Located in the highlands of the island, you’ll be able to observe giant tortoises and an array of bird life like Darwin Finches, Short-eared Owls, Vermillion Flycatchers and Paint-billed Crakes. Here, you’ll also have the option to visit El Chato Lagoon.
• Hike to Media Luna Hill- Media Luna means “half moon” in English, and the hill is named after the shape of this ancient volcanic crater. It’s about a two-hour uphill hike from Bellavista.
• Taxi boat to beach isla Las Alemana - beautiful beach.
• Taxi boat to isla Las Rietas - jumping cliff.

Isabela

• Volcan Sierra Negra- This picturesque hike will allow you to see great views of northern Isabela.
• National Park Tortoise Reserve- Here, you’ll be able to see a species of tortoise that isn’t found anywhere else in the world.
• Laguna Concha Perla- This is a prime snorkel spot where there are manta rays, sea lions, fish, penguins, sea turtles and more.

Getting Between Islands

Isabella -> Santa Cruz at 6am is $25.

Cruises

• Last minute tours.

Does not include

• $10 “visa” fee
• $100 entrance upon arrival in cash

Sleep

Casa Mabell on AirBnb

Once you arrive in GPS, you will take a bus, then cross the canal, then take another bus that will bring you to the port/pier where the boats are, you can buy your tickets there. You basically follow the crowd (Galapagos style). Yeah, the room you were inquiring about got taken today. But we have this one available https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2051589 (spacious one bedroom apartment) it’s only $10 more than the other one, but it’s twice as big. with new tile. You will have Free wi fi, cable tv, private bathroom with hot shower, ample closet space. We are located one block and a half away from the pier where you will be arriving from Santa Cruz.

Twin Suites Galapagos

• email
• 100% on tripadvisor
• Is apparently 5-10 minute cab from Puerto Ayora.
• Looks to be about $115.90/night. booking.com.

3.5 X 6 meters with bed Quen Zize private bathroom hot water, hammocks in the corridor against nature attached photo for your approval the price is $ 115.90 dollars includes tax, breakfast daily in the restaurant, WIFI

Hostal Leon Dormido

• hosteltrail

The hostal is a short 9 minute walk from the airport and a 2 minute stroll from the main municipal dock if you are arriving in San Cristobal by boat. The pavements and streets are well maintained if you are rolling your luggage instead of carrying it. Another option is to take a taxi that should cost you no more than $1.00.

If you are coming from the airport follow the only road the leads out of the facility. Turn left when you reach Jose de Villamil (Barrio Los Cactus Parque is on the right hand side). Hostal Leon Dormido is two blocks down on the left hand side, right before the waterfront.

To reach the hostal from the municipal dock, take a right when stepping off the dock and walk 2 minutes along the waterfront, turning left on Jose de Villamil. It will be on your right hand side.

El Castillo

• email
• expedia

La Fortaleza

• website

Hotel Fiesta

• Availability starting on the 7th.

Blue House Suite

• website
• $50/night

Posada del caminante

Isla Isabella

Flying from Quito to the Galapagos Islands

So excited to head to the Galapagos Islands!

Geocaching

Found one!

Darwin was an ass

I started reading Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle, specifically the part about the Galapagos. There are some pretty hilarious quotes.

Talking about aquatic lizards:

A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to it, thinking thus to kill it directly; but when, an hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite active.

More comments on said lizards and the fact that they prefer staying on land when threatened, even though they can swim fine:

I threw one several times as far as I could, into a deep pool left by the retiring tide; but it invariably returned in a direct line to the spot where I stood.

About the land-based lizards digging their burrows:

I watched one for a long time, till half its body was buried; I then walked up and pulled it by the tail; at this it was greatly astonished, and soon shuffled up to see what was the matter; and then stared me in the face, as much to say, “What made you pull my tail?”

On creating lizard fight clubs:

If two are placed on the ground and held together, they will fight, and bite each other till blood is drawn.

Diving the Galapagos

We took our first two dives in the Galapagos today at a site called Gordon Rocks, also known as “the washing machine”. From our research online the night before we learned quite quickly that two people had died there in 2012 and that you need at least 30 dives before being allowed in the water near the rocks. We had four.

We didn’t die, but it was definitely an adventure. To get to Gordon Rocks we had to ride in a pickup 45 minutes back to the canal on the northern end of the island. From there we transferred to the dive boat and rode an hour out to our check dive location.

Gordon Rocks

After we’d finished our check dive we moved on to Gordon Rocks. These rocks are an epic sight towering over the sea. We were pretty excited at this point to get to the dive spot and maybe see some hammerhead sharks!

The water at this point was incredibly choppy and people who felt seasickness were starting to not do well. We geared up though and prepped to dive, all the while thoughts racing through my head of the two people who had died diving here only two years past.

A 1-2-3-go! and splash! We were in.

The waves at the surface were probably 2-3 feet tall so we had to have our regulators on even while we were surfaced, or drink periodic mouthfuls of seawater. Once we’d all collected our instructor gave the down signal and we all deflated our BCDs.

The descent was fairly straightforward, but once we got down to the rocks we quickly learned why this place was called the washing machine. The currents were strong enough to move you quite a distance and they would oscillate back and forth so that, over the course of a full cycle, you’d move back and forth 5-10 meters. We had to grip on to the rocks at the bottom with all our fingertips’ might just to stay still. We weren’t given gloves for any of our dives which was a bit weird we thought - there were tons of sea urchins and one of the other divers cut his hand on one of the rocks. As a result it was incredibly difficult to hold on - think rock climbing but with buckets of water being poured on your head.

After a few moments of clinging to the rocks our instructor told us to move along, so we began a slow crawl of hand-over-hand movement along the rocks. More than a few times my body got twisted by the currents as we swam and I spun around my anchor point, my fins hitting the rocks (and other divers). It sounds worse than it was because everything was moving in relative slow motion, but it definitely wasn’t easy.

An Underwater Surprise

We swam along and saw some turtles and manta rays and a few schools of fish which was definitely cool, but sadly never saw a hammerhead shark. What we did see, however, was apparently much more rare (and cool, in my opinion): the “Mola”, or Ocean Sunfish. This was quite easily one of the strangest looking animals I’d ever seen both on land and sea.

We captured a video of it, but it hardly begins to do justice to the magnificence of this fish. It was easily 7 feet tall and equally long, but its width was barely a few inches. It’s like a fish that evolved in a two-dimensional reality and somehow breached into our own for a brief moment. The picture of it here is from the wikipedia article.

So while we didn’t get to see any hammerheads I was thankful to have gotten to witness such a rare fish. Other divers with far more experience than us (150+ dives) had never seen a Mola in any one of their dives, so it’s definitely a rare occurrence.

Hotel Silbestein

We had an awesome dinner at Hotel Silbestein with two friends we made while diving Gordon Rocks. The food was delicious and reasonably priced and we spent hours cracking jokes about everything from internet cats to our newly acquired “citation needed” fun from New Years.

I had a coco chicken plate which was served with plantains and rice. I completely devoured it after a day of diving. We ended the dinner with a lava cake and ice cream and were completely satisfied.

Diving in Mosquera

After we finished our dive at North Seymour we did a super fast skill dive to practice using a compass to swim in a square. It was not much of a challenge and we were a little sad to have had to ascend after only having been in the water for 10 minutes. We wanted to see more fishes!

So off we went to Mosquera just around the corner. This diving spot featured a large reef wall that we swam along and saw a few white-tipped sharks and a floor composed of what looked like seaweed, but upon closer inspection turned out to be hundreds of snakes poking out of the ground!

After we ascended we climbed back in to the boat and passed the hell out. We slept on and off all the way back to the dive shop, where we waited to receive our certification. The instructor was nowhere to be found though after half an hour of waiting, so we decided to come back later that night.

At about 7PM we officially became advanced open water divers!

Restaurant Sol y Luna

Not as good as Sol y Mar for dinner.

Taxi Boat from Isla Santa Cruz to Isla Isabella