Galapagos
Being on an overlanding adventure, I often dismiss island adventures unless there’s a car ferry. And I’ve been avoiding flying unless absolutely necessary – more pride than anything in reaching my destinations with my own vehicle. As such, I never really planned to visit the Galapagos Islands. But at some point, common sense kicked in and I realised that I’m not going to be in Ecuador too often so why let an opportunity like the Galapagos pass me by.
I’d also been told it was also an expensive proposition, but it turned out to not be the case. Maybe true if you’re a backpacker on a shoestring budget or you’re flying your whole family from the other side of the world to get there but it’s actually reasonably accessible. And it’s a truly unique and amazing part of world. I look back and want to slap myself for almost letting these reasons stop me from going.
Fair to say that Galapagos is best done via a cruise. From what I gather, most boats are relatively small and hold an average of about 20 guests each. This means you get to know most people on your cruise and the snorkelling trips and excursions to the islands are manageable via a couple of tenders that hang off the back.
The cruises tend to be about five to seven days long. For me five was plenty of time to make our way around the different islands and see all the different animals and natural wonders. Although I’m certainly glad I saved myself some time at the end for some diving and some fishing.
Our boat, the Xavier III
Our ride to the islands and snorkelling destinations
Getting to Galapagos means flying for a couple hours from Guayaquil in Ecuador. There’s a small airport on Isla Baltra and then a series of buses and ferries to get you to the town of Puerto Ayora where most of the cruises leave from. They do a good job of collecting you from the airport and holding your hand to the boat and then you’re pretty much straight on board for a welcome cocktail and shown to your cabin. As a solo overlander constantly responsible for everything I do, it was certainly a level of service and comfort I wasn’t used to and cherished being taken care of for a change.
Arriving on our boat, I was pleased to learn that it wasn’t all families. There was Belgian couple and two Dutch girls all broadly my age and we would become good friends not only for the cruise but back on the mainland as well (and I’d go on to hand out with the Belgians further in Quito and to travel with the Dutch girls through Peru and later again in Argentina). I couldn’t really have asked for more in terms of some good people to share the experience with.
After a short induction and a little bit of time on the boat, they whisked us off in the tender back to shore, onto a bus and towards the tortoise sanctuary for my first taste of the Galapagos’s weird and wonderful creatures.
Sanne and Latoya (Netherlands)
That night the boat sailed from the main island of Isla Santa Cruz to Rabida and the excursion the next morning was to see the unique red sands of Rabida, attributed to the volcanic sediment of the island. This stop gave us our first taste of sea lions.
As we wandered along the beaches taking photos of the sea lions and using every ounce of self-control we had to keep the required distance from the animals, we came across a heart-breaking situation where an adolescent sea lion had a piece of rubber caught around its neck and was obviously in distress. A couple of us tried to corner the animal and cut it free but he proved too elusive for us and escaped into the water. The rangers were called so they could come out the next day to hopefully find and free the poor animal.
We spent the afternoon underway towards Isla Floreana. Birds of all shapes and sizes kept us company as we cruised through the afternoon and it eventually became evident they were just waiting for the chef to discard the scraps from dinner preparation out behind our boat.
Latoya, Annelien & Gertjan
The next day was Isla Floreana for an island excursion which brought its share of sea lions, birds, crabs and iguanas.
The first time I saw flamingos on the trip. Even though I’ve seen many since, it was a treat to see them flying - they are usually just wading around in the water and rarely put on a show like this
One of the most interesting things about Isla Floreana is that there’s a ‘post office’. Essentially, anyone is able to leave a letter in the barrel (without a stamp) and then looks through the pile to find letters headed to where they are going. It’s then their responsibility to hand deliver a letter they’ve taken charge of to wherever in world it’s addressed to. The system was initially created by 18th century whalers but is now more of a tourist gimmick for sending postcards to friends and family.
Initially reticent to participate, someone handed me a postcard and coerced me to write something. I sent a short note to my parents. Amazingly within the month, someone actually hand delivered my postcard all the way to Perth in Western Australia and it made my parents day.
Very surprised to hear that my parents actually got this. And even better when I explained to them where it had come from and how (update: now significantly more than 18-months to go most likely)
Snorkelling would be a feature of most days. We’d see turtles, giant manta rays, friendly sea lions and sharks. Being equatorial you’d think it would have been a touch warmer but, alas, wetsuits were standard equipment for each outing in the water.
Photo credit: Gertjan - along with all the other underwater photos
My Belgian friends Gertjan and Annelien
The last island would be Espanola before getting dropped off at Isla de San Cristobal with the Belgians to explore and make our own way back to Santa Cruz. By the fifth day or so, the days started to blur into each other with more excursions and countless animals of which we would take countless pictures.
The only two walruses in Galapagos
We sat down at this table for a cheeky morning beer maybe about 10am after finishing up the cruise. We ended up sitting there drinking all day until the cafe closed at 6pm. Pretty sure we even drank them out of most of their beer supply and had to switch brands and bottle sizes a few times. As the day wore on, people started to join us and the group swelled from three to about eight
The highlight of the trip for me would be a day of marlin fishing. For years now, I’ve had my heart set on catching a big marlin and has been firmly at the top of my fishing bucket list. As I travel, I usually keep an eye on the seasons and where there is likely to be good marlin fishing. Turns out the Galapagos is a great spot for them.
When I inquired with a local charter operator, I asked him what my chances were of landing a marlin and he told me that if I didn’t, he would reimburse half the charter cost. I loved the confidence and booked in straight away. I’d done multiple days out by myself in the past at great expense and not even had a bite. And I knew the captain wouldn’t be risking half his day’s payment (and likely all of his days profit) if he didn’t have a pretty good inclination we were going to meet with success.
Annelien and Gertjan, my Belgain friends from the cruise, accompanied me for the day. For them it was something different and a free ride from San Cristobal back to Santa Cruz.
60 minutes off of San Cristobal, we dropped lines which had some of the biggest lures I’d ever seen. I was besides myself with excitement as we started trawling, having a reasonable inclination that today would be the day of my first marlin.
Two hours passed just staring at the lines and then it hit. A ton of commotion and the sound of the reel screaming as the marlin took a lot of line fast. To me there’s no better sound in the world than the zzzzzzzzzzzz of the reel as a big fish is running.
Once the marlin made its initial run and I was in the chair, I started to work it towards the boat. For the most part, I’m used to tuna fishing where you pull the rod up to bring the fish a little closer and then wind down to bring in the line. That technique didn’t work on this fish – it was too big. I just used the chair as leverage, let it run when it wanted to run and grind out turns on the reel when it would let me. My muscles were burning within minutes.
After about 20 minutes, I’d gotten it reasonably close to the boat – maybe 50 metres - and he jumped. Moab, the deck hand, told me it was a striped marlin and probably 3-meters long and maybe 250 pounds.
I worked him a while longer bringing him closer and closer to the boat. Now he was probably 20m and he jumped again. Then I started bring in line quickly, knowing in my heart that he’d spat the hook but not wanting to believe it and continuing to reel in the hope that he had turned and was making a run towards the boat. But he had and I’d lost him – it was over.
So I didn’t quite manage to land the marlin I’d been dreaming about for years but I got a whole lot closer than I ever have before. It’s a dream I haven’t given up on and I’m going to keep trying.
The rest of the day was pleasant. I managed to pull in a decent mahi mahi which I’d never caught before. Not much of a fight but was a great dinner later that evening. I also managed to land a 5-foot white tipped shark and pulled him all the way to the boat before we released him. It was a good fight and I was glad to have a little more action in the day.
After the shark, we called it a day and set a course for Isla Santa Cruz. The Belgians and I drank beers while the boys cranked up the tunes and we drunkenly sung along to Queen, Guns & Roses, Arctic Monkeys and other classics while the boat smashed through the heavy afternoon swell. It was a truly a great day.
Tesoro fishing charters were complete professionals. The guys, Nico & Moab, were absolute legends
These lures were not small
What it’s all about: in the chair with a big fish on
My first mahi mahi and dinner for that evening
This 5-foot white tipped shark was fun to wrestle in. And caused a bit of chaos when we got him up beside the boat trying to release
After the fishing we were dropped on the main island of Santa Cruz. The next day was scuba diving where we swam with big hammerhead sharks, the only Galapagos animal I hadn’t yet seen. I hadn’t been diving for probably 10 years and I briefly questioned if it was a good idea to pretend I knew what I was doing when I couldn’t even remember how the BCD and regulator worked but it all came back to me thankfully.
So after eight days on Galapagos and feeling like I’d seen everything and given it just the right amount of time it was time to fly home. My truck was almost finished it’s upgrades and my 90-day Ecuador import permit was running very low so it was almost time to move on and leave one of my new favourite countries.
It was my first dive since 2009 I think. Was literally Googling ‘how to scuba dive’ the night before trying to remember how it all worked and what the equipment did. Thankfully all came back to me once the equipment was on and just the first dive I went through a bit more oxygen than I should have breathing a little too heavily
Gertjan and I started a mutiny and took control of the ship for a short while. Very quickly relinquished control back to the captain when we decided we didn’t want the responsibility and just wanted to drink a few more beers
Our Galapagos crew
