NEWS # 005
Hi everyone!
The Galapagos Islands ... part 2
one of the locals
After a few days of doing very little except surf and get a tan, was up
before dawn at 6.00 am on Sunday, so as to catch the bus back to the airport
to meet the boat captain. I had been told by the tour operator that I must
be at the airport early so I could get the bus to the docks at the north of
the island.
Well, I got to the airport at 8.15 am expecting to be met by the captain so
we could go to the boat. It didn't happen quite as described! By 9.45 am I
was getting a little concerned and was then approached by a young girl who
enquired if I was on the Cormorant. I must have looked lost as this was
indeed the name of the boat I was supposed to meet! She confirmed my details
and suggested that I sat in the airport café to wait until both of today's
planes had arrived before we left, a wait of another two hours.
On the first plane come a young German couple, Christian and Kirsty from
Frankfurt, who sit playing cards as we wait for the second plane. They
decide to stop playing cards as we watch the first plane leave for the
mainland, a good thing as the plane spins on its axis and points its
engines straight at us as it moves off to taxi down the runway. Imagine the
scene, there we are in the café (which has no walls,
only a roof) overlooking the runway, in line with the engines. We are treated to a hurricane of hot
dusty air as the plane moves off!!!
Two hours later the second planes deposits some more crew mates, Astrid and
Ruud, from the Hague in Holland and Susanna from Bavaria, who now lives in
Berlin. We catch the next bus to the docks, five minutes away to meet our
dinghy, or panga as they are called over here, for the boat.
We stand waiting and notice that all the rich people, on the expensive boats
have a posh dinghy and nice shiny new matching lifejackets!!! Their dinghies
move off towards two magnificent looking three-masted schooners moored in
the bay. The slightly less rich have worn life jackets and attractive
motorcruisers to board. By the time it gets to us, we barely have enough
life jackets and none of them appear to work, not that it matters!!! We
could have probably swum to the boat if we had to and some of the people
from the other boats had difficulty walking from the bus stop to the dock, a
distance of about twenty metres, even with someone else carrying their
luggage!
Our dinghy took us the what without doubt was the tattiest boat in the fleet
resplendent in a coat of fading green paint, which made it stand out somewhat ... all the other boats were white.
On boarding the boat, we meet the remainder of the passengers, Alain and
Anique, a couple, sharing one of the front cabins and Philippe with whom I
am sharing the other front cabin. All are from France.
Philippe has the top bunk and I have the bottom one. The cabin appears very
cramped but there is room to sleep which is all that is important. The boat
appears to have seen better days but the crew seem friendly.
There are two cabins amidships and one next to the saloon which lucky
Susanna has to herself. This cabin has a huge window through which she can
watch the ocean whilst we have only a tiny porthole in ours. The crew appear
to have no cabin and sleep all over the boat (we later find out that they
have two small cabins behind the wheelhouse).
Once we are settled in, in about ten minutes, lunch is served. Fresh fish,
salad and fried plantain (a type of banana) chips followed by fresh pineapple
and very good it is too.
We have lunched in Baltra bay and set off towards the island of Santa Cruz
in search of the turtle nesting grounds. Dolphins play in our bow wave as we
motor along, the loud engine and generator being the only slight
distractions.
We land on a beach which has obviously been used by nesting turtles the
night before as there are the signs of many trails up and down the beach and
depressions where eggs have been laid. We see a lagoon, supposedly famous
for its flamingoes but there is only one bird and we reckon that it is tied
to the lagoon bottom to stop it flying away! We also see lots of brightly-coloured Sally Lightfoot crabs and a selection of marine iguanas which look
like very close relatives of the dinosaurs.
After some snorkelling, it's back to the boat for a short trip to the strait
of water separating Baltra from Santa Cruz, the one I had to cross to go to
Puerto Ayora, where we stop for dinner of beef stew, mashed spuds and salad,
followed by flambéd bananas. Thankfully the generator and engine are turned
off and silence prevails.
The chef prepares a peach cocktail and we are introduced to the rest of the
crew. Our guide is Juan Carlos, the captain Prospero, Eugine the chef,
Roberto the Chef and our panga driver whose name I've forgotten.
Am exhausted by 9.00 pm and fall into bed.
Seeya,
Halesy
