I landed on Santa Cruz, the main tourist island at the Galapagos, five days early to get some extra scuba diving done (even though our cruise boat also had diving). So, I went diving for three days (6 dives) with "Scuba Iguana" -- saw schools of White Tip and Galapagos Sharks, Marble Rays, Puffer Fish and Moray Eels! My only regret is that we didnīt see any Hammerhead Sharks, which are common in this area. (And, Sorry no scuba diving camera yet.)
Here's a group shot of the team. In each outing, there was an instructor (Carlos, far left), dive masters (the two on the far right; Rodrigo - far right - was also my diving buddy). This group is professional, fun and friendly! We went to Enderby / Floreana (Easy), North Seymour (Medium Current), Gordon Rocks (Advanced Current).
Here is our cruise boat, the Guantanamera (like the popular Cuban song of the same name -- don't worry, we didn't know it either!). This was a 16 person boat (perfect size, especially for touring the islands) with lots of space on deck to relax.
Everynight, Valerio, our guide, gave us the itinerary for the next day, for dry landing (shoes didn't get wet) or wet landings(better take off your shoes!), for snorkeling or diving, and especially for the wake up time (usually, we needed to be ready for breakfast at 7am).
We saw our boat's Dive Master, William, with his kids in the main port town on our last day. I went on three dives with William and other divers on the boat (Rabida, Espanola Night Dive, Devil's Crown) -- My favourite was the night dive where I was the only one who went with William. We went in during dusk and by the end of the dive it was dark (a less frightening way to dive at night actually). We saw tiny shrimps, the back of a lobster (rare here!), 2 diamond back stingrays, tons of ugly but unique batfish, 3 octopus, an ornate fireworm (looked like an underwater caterpillar), a garden eel, and glowing green phosphorescent life. All in one dive!!
Our cruise boat team (one captain, an asst captain, an engineer, a chef, and a barman/waiter)... welcoming us and wishing us goodbye with strong drinks at no additional costs (both parties took place twice because new passengers came on board midway through our tour, as usual). The group was friendly and professional. (Sorry for the dark picture)
Unfortunately another dark (in the sun) shot of our group on one of the beaches. Our 16 people were from the U.S. (Catherine, Davis), Britain (Jed, Sarah), New Zealand (Amanda), Holland (Marrieta, Gwen, Jaab, Natasha), Denmark (Lars), Israel (Osnat), Spain (Maria) and others as well from Canada (Rhiannon and her mom!)!!
Our room in the cruise boat. The size was perfect for us on this Tourist Superior boat (not as expensive as First Class or Luxury, but also not as cheap as Economy or Tourist). And we had private baths (with warm showers in the evening).
The common eating area was great and the tables of 5-6 each gave us lots of opportunity to mingle with the other passengers on the boat. The food was also great - a mix of international and local.
A close-up (and different view) of the dining area... with Dave looking quite content with his cup of tea.
And...um.. the bar! Need I say more?? (Fyi - She's holding up a baby, if anyone's wondering)
Here is the common area on the 2nd floor of the boat. We also hung our wet towels, etc, here... and prayed that we fastened them tight enough so that the strong wind wouldn't steal our clothes!
We had an abundant supply of bananas on board for snackers.
At the front of the boat is the unofficial "tanning deck"!!
Dave and I on a cliff's edge on one of the islands.
A sunny picture of Dave in front of the famous Pinnacle Rock.
After a 5-10 min climb to a look out point on Floreana Island, we take a break to enjoy the cool breeze.
While many of our tours were walking tours on the islands, we also took on occasion dhinghy boat tours, where we looked for sea lions and fur seals resting on the rocks, Sally Lightfoot crabs, and a variety of birds. I cringed though when I saw all the gas fumes coming out of the boat's motor -- while this is an eco tour, I sometimes wonder about the harm that so much air and water pollution creates to fuel these vehicles.
Our favourite beach... Espanola Island with very fine white sand beach, albeit the dark storm clouds up ahead (but then that's Ecuador, lots of clouds, little rain!). In the horizon, you can also see the other boats docked in the area.
Another picture of the beach, with speckles of sea lions and black rock around the edge.
"Post Office Bay"... where an ancient form of sending letters across the seas has been maintained for tourism purposes -- pirates and other sea men used to use this medium frequently.
HOW IT WORKS: When a tour group arrives at the post office, they look at what mail is inside, then anyone who lives relatively near one of the addresses in the postcards would take it home with them and deliver it to the addressee.
Then, in turn, the tour group adds whatever mail they want to send out. (this method is supposed to be often faster than snail mail)
