Brasileiro Bulgarian (CP 1251) Czech/ceski (CP 1250) Croatian/hrvatski (CP 1250) Danske Deutsch Espanol Finnish Français Greek/Aëëçíéeüo Hungarian/Magyar (CP 1250) Íslenska Italiano Japanese (Shift JIS) Nederlands Norsk Polish/polski (CP 1250) Portuguese Romanian Russian/?ónneeé (CP 1251) Serbian/srpski (Latin) Slovenian/slovenski (CP 1250) Svensk Welsh/'n Cymraeg
click any flag to translate the main page into the selected language - links you click will give more translated pages - nb InterTran charge if you use this a lot

Halesy's Global Adventure - the Surf Trip of a Lifetime - masses of photos from Halesy's travels and reports of good places to stay, surfing beaches and much, much more .....

Surfers! click here for details of all the places visited -
Picture Libraries at the bottom of all pages


Halesy's Global Adventure
- the Surf Trip of a Lifetime




..... Halesy left behind him England, Saunton Sands, Cfer, Wedge and a great many friends, when he flew out to Miami at the start of his Global Adventure at the beginning of 2002     (see index)

He's just arrived home! - the last few trip reports will be on line soon and meanwhile we've added masses of new photos to previous reports - see bottom of page for links to Picture Libraries.


The story continues...............
THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS


NEWS # 004


FIRST IMPRESSIONS ..... [from the first e-mails - the main trip report follows below this] ...

Have definitely found paradise. Got here yesterday and fell in love with the place immediately. It's the most comfortable place I have ever been, if you know what I mean. People very friendly, wildlife amazing, 27 degrees C and the most sensational beaches I've ever seen. Not much surf yet but that may change. I'll definitely be coming back here. Am just settling in for a few days in a small town called Puerto Ayora and will visit the Charles Darwin Research Station later today. Will send more news as I have it.

(later) Am having a fantastic time and will find it very hard to go back to Quito when I have to. Have been to the Charles Darwin Research Centre today and then for a surf amongst the turtles and pelicans. Will give you a full update on Saturday, hopefully.


Hi everyone!

The Galapagos Islands.

What can I say? Got up bright and early on Wednesday a.m. to be at the airport at 0730 for the 0930 flight to the Islands. The cab driver was a bit of a shark and could not fit my board in the car so stuck it out of the boot with my rucksack on the top to stop it falling out on the way! He then charged me double what I had paid on the way from the airport - he was a big chap and I couldn't be bothered to fight. After all it was still only 10 dollars for a very long journey.

Check in for the Islands was very easy though they search everyone's luggage to make sure that they are not carrying anything that could upset the delicate balance of the islands. Took all of five minutes and I was on my way.

The flight goes via a place called Guayaquil where most of the passengers got off so I was left with a great view and three seats to myself for the next few hours.

The Islands appeared out of the cloud and remind me in some way of the Canaries, being volcanic. As you enter the terminal building (a large shed!) you have to walk over a mat rather like those we saw during the Foot and Mouth crisis. I was wearing those rather old deck shoes and had to stand on the mat for some time due to the queue. As a result they filled up with disinfectant and now have a lovely aroma!!!

On leaving the airport, you are besieged by people selling tickets for the bus to the capital, Puerto Ayora. Two buses and a ferry later, at the princely sum of 2 dollars, and you finally arrive at the other side of the Island.

The Galapagos Arch, Puerto Ayora - photo copyright Halesy's Global Adventure Picture Library - click here to reach the PL index with links to all pictures on site

The Galapagos Arch, Puerto Ayora

On getting off the bus I headed to the place where the hotels are and on the way was accosted by a rather large gentleman wearing a pair of spectacles that tilted at about 45 degrees and had definitely seen better days. He managed to convince me that this hotel, the Hotel Elizabeth, would be a great place to stay. He offered me a small room with little view for ten dollars and I succeeded in negotiating for a much larger room with double bed, own bathroom and excellent view for eight dollars!

apart from the corrugated iron, the view was good! - photo copyright Halesy's Global Adventure Picture Library - click here to reach the PL index with links to all pictures on site

apart from the corrugated iron, the view was good!

I settled in nicely and decided to explore the island a bit. The Galapagos Archipelago is made up of several islands but only two have airstrips. I am in Santa Cruz.

I thought I should visit the tourist information centre first to at least have an idea of where I was going. My enquiry of 'Hablas Ingles?'(do you speak English?) was thankfully met with an English accent better than my own! I was given some maps and came away from the centre feeling that I could at least make my way around without getting completely lost.

My first stop was the Charles Darwin Research Station. This place is amazing and has become the major study centre and tortoise breeding centre for the islands. There tortoises from 3 inches long to 3 feet or more! There are also all sorts of programs to study all the various flora and fauna of the islands.

this was the little guys! - photo copyright Halesy's Global Adventure Picture Library - click here to reach the PL index with links to all pictures on site

this was the little guys!



... and after a few years - photo copyright Halesy's Global Adventure Picture Library - click here to reach the PL index with links to all pictures on site

... and after a few years

From there I had to find lunch, which usually consists of fish soup, followed by rice and chicken or similar at the princely sum of 2 dollars. I spent the afternoon at a beach called Tortuga Bay. Imagine Saunton with 29C, and the only company a few turtles and some pelicans. Mind you you have to sign in to the nature reserve to enable you to walk to the beach and you have to sign out again to ensure that you have not expired in the intense heat where the sun is directly overhead and casts no shadow at 1200! Added to this is the 3 km walk to the beach!!!

That evening, had a meal at a little place up the road from the hotel and popular with the locals called Williams. Lobster and rice for seven dollars! Preceded by a couple of beers, I crashed out at about ten.

Since then have just chilled and surfed, though am rather burnt despite Factor 50 suncream and trying not to go out in the midday sun.

Met a crazy surfing instructor called Wladimir (El Pelicano to his friends!) Last night he suggested that I should go to the Club Habana, a top place where there would be live music and a wild crew. Had a great night and it amazed me when people out of the audience would just go up to the band playing and take over playing their instruments! It seemed as if everyone could play.

A few too many beers and I arrived back at my hotel only to find that the gate was bolted and the only way in was to climb over to broken glass embedded on the concrete above the gate! Discretion being the better part of valour, I rang the hotel bell and got the manager's wife out of bed to let me in.

Surfed and chilled again today and am off on a Boat tour of the Islands tomorrow. Will call in when I get back.

Seeya,

Halesy



http://www.surfers.plus.com * [includes index to Halesy's progress round the planet]


INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS
for the index of which news reports refer to which places, just click here * [picture libraries further down]
Itinerary # 001 News # 002 News # 003 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 004 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 005
News # 006 News # 007 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 008 News # 009 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 010
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 011 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 012 News # 013 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 014 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 015
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 016 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 017 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 018 News # 019 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 020
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 021 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 022 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 023 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 024 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 025
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 026 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 027 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 028 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 029 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 030
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 031 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 032 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 033 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 034 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 035
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 036 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 037 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 038 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 039 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 040
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 041 News # 042 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 043 News # 044 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 045
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 046 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 047 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 048 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 049 pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 050
pictures on line! ... click on News #News # 051 News # 052 News # 053 News # 054 News # 055
News # 056 News # 057 News # 058 News # 059 News # 060
News # 061 News # 062 News # 063 News # 064 News # 065
News # 066 News # 067 News # 068 News # 069 News # 070
News # 071 News # 072 News # 073 News # 074 News # 075
News # 076 News # 077 News # 078 News # 079 News # 080
Picture Library 1 Picture Library 2 Picture Library 3 Picture Library 4 Picture Library 5


www.surfers.plus.com visits: e-mail Halesy site design disclaimer