Our bags were screened for plant, seeds and animal material via a machine known as a SICGAL filter. Once screened, zap straps were put through the checked bag locks to indicate you passed the specialized screening and so you couldn't open them again.
We were asked to wear an ID sticker to designate us part of the Gogalopagos tour group. The plane trip went without a hitch. We had a stopover in Guayaquil, a port city in Equador to pick up additional passengers and to refuel. While we were on the ground, the stewardess came by and asked me to turn off my iPad as we were refuelling. I wasn't sure why this was a requirement since all the lights were on in the cabin, fans were on and so was all the individual passenger screens for at least 200 passengers. Later she came by and advised that my seat belt needed to be unbuckled. These safety precautions made me think that if refueling was this dangerous, I would rather fully deplane while the refueling was going on.
We land in Baltra Airport. Baltra is one of the islands in the Galápagos and the airport is the only thing located on it. It's not really an island as it's connected by land to a larger one. We are processed so that we can pay the $100 US park entrance fee. Judith tells me that there are about 200,000 tourists each year. That's about $20 Million in park fees.
Prior to disembarking we fill out another immigration form about bringing plants and animal material into the islands. I have to answer yes to two of the questions:
1. Have you brought any plants or seeds cooked or un cooked. (yes, it have granola bars)
2. Do I have any camping gear such as sleeping bags, tents, shoes. (Yup! I did I did bring shoes...)
Judith also answered yes to the question about recently visiting a farm where there was a concentration of animals. We put different answers to that question because the farm we did visit in the Amazon had very few animals. But she says that episodes of Boarder Patrol have scared her into disclosing everything and letting the boarder patrol decide whether it's an issue or not.
The screener let us both pass without further detailed inspection (we did pass through at separate times). Everyone had to send their carry on bag through a SICGAL filter before they could exit. Our carryon bags both passed and we went out to meet the guides. They loaded our bags onto buses and we hopped on board. We then were driven to a pier to put on life rafts and get loaded into zodiacs to get to the MV Galápagos Legend, our ship for the next 4 days.
The starboard door that you see is where we get loaded on and off the ship for shore excursions. Our cabin is two of the square windows #3 and #4 midship to the right of the starboard door. We arrive at the ship, step off the zodiac and assemble in the main lounge area to get registered. It goes smoothly and we have access to our room and quickly check it out:
It's small, but very functional. We learn that there's about 72 passengers on board and about 35 staff. Five of the staff are Galápagos guides who are paid by the Park. We go and check out our boat:
Starboard side.
Open bar in front of the pool.
There are a couple of screens in the main landing areas where you can easily check the day's activity. This is today's activities:
We came into the dining room for lunch and were seated at a table of 4. Our other table mates were John and Norma from Melbourne. A lovely couple; I'm sure we will have some great conversations over the next few days.
We next get organized into five separate groups for our excursions. Judith and I are assigned to the Dolphin group. We then run through a emergency drill, grabbing our life vests and appearing at our muster station.
After the administration detail is over, we're ready for our first excursion. Galápagos Tortoises. Our Dolphin group of 14 is called to assemble at the boarding deck where we don life jackets before being assisted to get into the zodiacs. We step on and sit down on the gunnels of he zodiac. Once were on, we're off. The Dolphin group on board the zodiac with our guide, Alex, in the blue cap.
On our way to the tortoises, we pass by an area by the shore known for wildlife. These are blue footed boobies. It's a great name. The colour of their feet is unreal.
A brown pelican. Unlike their white cousins who just scoop up fish from a sitting position, these brown pelicans dive down into the water from a height of 10-15 feet to catch their fish.
The birds don't fear people or boats. They let us get really close to them and didn't flinch.
After this viewing, we motored over to a pier on Santa Cruz Island and disembarked and boarded a bus. It's a 45 minute uphill ride to a farmers field near the town of Puerto Ayora. The Galápagos tortoises are snow moving behemoths. We saw a few from the bus, but once we arrived and disembarked, were treated to seeing about 25 of them. We listened to a lecture about them from our guide before we were free to wander the grounds. Here's a few pictures:
These can be big animals weighing up to 300kg. This place has lots of them. They take about 40 years before they can reproduce. No one really knows how long they live, but the guess is around 100 to 200 years.
I was about 10 feet away from this guy and he was one of the smaller ones. We were required to keep a distance of 7 feet.
And for those that want to know about tortoise scat:
It was quite amazing to see these animals up close and how indifferent they are to people. They're not tame; just not afraid of people because none of the animals on the Galapagoes have ever been hunted.
Then back to the boat for dinner, introduction to the ship staff and sleep. Blue footed boobies and Galápagos Tortoises. It's been a grand day.
Vicky! The pictures!!! Priceless!
ReplyDeleteNancy F