Ecuador Day 6 - Galapagos Baltra and Santa Cruz

After our 7 AM departure from the Quito hotel and a flight with a layover in Guayaquil, we landed at the airport on Baltra. Galapagos takes its commitment to preservation and ecology seriously. We all had to sign declarations agreeing with restrictions about bringing food, seeds, animals, etc into the country.  Just before landing, the crew ran a rapid little assembly line down the overhead baggage compartments. The first flight attendant opened the compartment, the second sprayed a disinfectant over the contents and the third slammed the bin shut. Then they proceeded back on the other side of the plane. 

The Baltra airport is the arrival and jumping off spot for tourism in the Galapagos. The airfield was was established during the Second World War as a base for the U.S. Air Force. The island remains under the control of the Ecuadorean military.  Unless you’re on an expedition that departs from Baltra (as we are), you take a shuttle bus to the harbor, from which you board boats taking you to Santa Cruz across a narrow channel. We, however, were picked up by buses, taken to a dock and ferried in zodiacs to the National Geographic Endeavour II, which will be our home for the next 7 nights. 

We all assembled in the lounge for an intro program with our expedition leader, Socrates. There are 89 passengers on board, including 16 children. The ship can hold 96 guests, so we’re almost full. Socrates reviewed the layout of the ship, introduced some of the staff, and explained some of the policies on board. One weird thing - the ship is keyless. We do not have room keys, though we can lock the room from the inside. 

The Galapagos are located at the confluence of major oceanic currents. The volcanic islands are over 600 miles from South America, and were never attached to the continent. This combination makes the Galapagos one of the most isolated and diverse places on earth. It’s also the “sharkiest” place on the planet, with more sharks per square mile than anywhere else. I’m hoping to see some Galapagos sharks while snorkeling. The environment provides plenty of food for sharks; no need for people to be on the menu. 

97% of the total land area of the Galapagos is protected by the National Park. They determine timing of visits and the order of activities for visitors. National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions has a license to operate here, and receives updates daily as to what is allowed for the following day. There are strict restrictions as to the number of people allowed in a group, how many people may visit a given area, etc. Everything is planned to minimize stress on the natural habitat, fauna and flora. Our on-board naturalists are on National Park rangers. 

After all the luggage arrived, we sailed a short distance to Las Bâchas Beach on Santa Cruz where we were offered the opportunity to go ashore. I was game, but Greg decided to stay on the ship. It was  a “wet landing” (slide off the side of the zodiac into very shallow water and wade ashore). We did this in Antarctica, but in tall insulated rubber boots instead of sandals or barefoot. This was much less intimidating.

Las Bachas are two small lovely white sand beaches. Everyone was immediately captivated by the sally lightfoot crabs eating their way along the wave-washed lava. They daintily picked up algae on the rocks and put it in their mouths.They can jump from rock to rock, but we only saw them moving more purposely across the lava.  

Having a bite

These scavengers are thought to have been named, for their agility, after a Caribbean dancer. 

This chap was trying his best to blend in. Marine iguanas can hold a pose for quite a while. They are the only true marine lizard in the world. They can grow to nearly 5 feet long, and weigh up to 28 pounds. They are excellent swimmers and can dive over 30 feet to reach algae, hanging onto rocks while they graze underwater.  They are mostly vegetarian, but may also feed on animal matter, such as sea lion placenta. 

Our naturalist said that Santa Cruz is a middle-aged island, by Galapagos standards. It’s between 1 and 1.5 million years old. All of the other islands we’ll be visiting are younger. It’s also the greenest island, and the most populated. About half of the Galapagos’s population of 25,000 live on Santa Cruz.  

There are 16 islands in the Galapagos, five of which are inhabited by humans. The archipelago is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the distinction (as was the colonial area of Quito) of being in the 1978 inaugural dozen sites.. (There are now over 1,000 World Heritage Sites, often campaigned for carefully over several years.)

I have no idea when I’ll be able to post this and other blogs this week. Wifi is free, but extremely limited. So there may be a flurry of postings that show up only after we disembark and fly to Guayaquil.