Day 1: Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
Day 1 -
After a short flight from Quito to Guayaquil and a slightly longer flight from Guayaquil, we landed in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. We were met at the airport by our tour guides from Ecoventura, Cecibel and Adrian, and once the other passengers (16 in total for this particular cruise) and luggage were collected, we were off to the harbor where we donned life jackets took our first of many panga rides to our boat, the M/V Letty.
Our days on the boat would roughly follow this pattern:
7:00 - Wake-up call
7:30 - Buffet Breakfast
8:30 - Panga ride to first excursion of day (hike, swim, etc on the island we visited that day)
10:30-ish - Panga ride back to the boat
12:00 - Buffet Lunch
Afternoon siesta
15:30 - Panga ride to second excursion of day (hike, swim, beach, on second location, usually on the same island)
18:00 - Back to boat
19:00 - Seated Dinner
And repeat. cynic51 likened it to summer camp, where we were just told what to bring and what time to show up. It's a fairly accurate comparison.
Our first day's excursion was to a beach adjacent to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. This was our first introduction to the wildlife of the islands. As we were visiting on the shoulder between the "cold/dry" and the "hot/wet" seasons, much of the vegetation was dormant and just starting to turn green and lush. On the beach, there were many sea lions sunning themselves. The male sea lions were swimming in the water, protecting the females (usually moms) and babies lying on the beach. Some of the babies were VERY new - our guide indicated that they had been born within the last few days, if not that day. Baby sea lions find their moms first by calling, then matching the familiar call by scent. A female sea lion will not nurse a baby who is not her own - they apparently take the mother/child bond very seriously. Sea lions would lie either right on the sand or further up the beach under bushes and other vegetation.
Other fun things seen on this beach were marine iguanas sunning themselves on rocks, the first of many frigate birds in flight, the yellow warbler and a plant whose name escapes me but our tour guides called the "galapagos carpet." This particular plant can be found up the entire pacific coast - indeed, that's how I recognized it, as ES and I have pictures of a very similar plant from our trip to Northern California earlier in 2013.
After a pleasant afternoon hike along the beach, we went back to the boat for our Day 2 briefing and dinner. Bon Voyage!
Photos for the trip can be found HERE.
Previous Posts:
1 - Galapagos: Introduction
After a short flight from Quito to Guayaquil and a slightly longer flight from Guayaquil, we landed in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. We were met at the airport by our tour guides from Ecoventura, Cecibel and Adrian, and once the other passengers (16 in total for this particular cruise) and luggage were collected, we were off to the harbor where we donned life jackets took our first of many panga rides to our boat, the M/V Letty.
Our days on the boat would roughly follow this pattern:
7:00 - Wake-up call
7:30 - Buffet Breakfast
8:30 - Panga ride to first excursion of day (hike, swim, etc on the island we visited that day)
10:30-ish - Panga ride back to the boat
12:00 - Buffet Lunch
Afternoon siesta
15:30 - Panga ride to second excursion of day (hike, swim, beach, on second location, usually on the same island)
18:00 - Back to boat
19:00 - Seated Dinner
And repeat. cynic51 likened it to summer camp, where we were just told what to bring and what time to show up. It's a fairly accurate comparison.
Our first day's excursion was to a beach adjacent to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. This was our first introduction to the wildlife of the islands. As we were visiting on the shoulder between the "cold/dry" and the "hot/wet" seasons, much of the vegetation was dormant and just starting to turn green and lush. On the beach, there were many sea lions sunning themselves. The male sea lions were swimming in the water, protecting the females (usually moms) and babies lying on the beach. Some of the babies were VERY new - our guide indicated that they had been born within the last few days, if not that day. Baby sea lions find their moms first by calling, then matching the familiar call by scent. A female sea lion will not nurse a baby who is not her own - they apparently take the mother/child bond very seriously. Sea lions would lie either right on the sand or further up the beach under bushes and other vegetation.
Other fun things seen on this beach were marine iguanas sunning themselves on rocks, the first of many frigate birds in flight, the yellow warbler and a plant whose name escapes me but our tour guides called the "galapagos carpet." This particular plant can be found up the entire pacific coast - indeed, that's how I recognized it, as ES and I have pictures of a very similar plant from our trip to Northern California earlier in 2013.
After a pleasant afternoon hike along the beach, we went back to the boat for our Day 2 briefing and dinner. Bon Voyage!
Photos for the trip can be found HERE.
Previous Posts:
1 - Galapagos: Introduction