Proper Galapagos Trip report part 1 of several

[Jules]

Well after 2 years of planning and several fraught weeks of “are we going or aren’t we?” I found myself packing my bags for Galapagos. It was only at the last minute that it seemed real and I suddenly got excited.

I met up with a gang of people at Manchester, met more people at Amsterdam and only located my "room and dive" buddy when we stopped at Bonaire. Finally most of us made to the hotel after what seemed like a lot of take-offs, landings and airport waits.

We arrived at the hotel all exhausted. So did we go and lie down for a few hours??? Did we hell. Quito is already at altitude (3000m) and we were sleep deprived and light headed so we took a fleet of Taxis to the Teleferico
http://www.in-quito.com/teleferico-quito-ecuador/teleferico.htm and ascended another 1000m to the top of the mountain overlooking Quito.



The views were stunning and we had a nice walk and failed to pull any of the locals. Top marks to Super for trying to chat up a group of soldiers with sub machine gun though. We had a meal and then returned to a more sensible altitude since most of felt a bit wobbly. After returning to the hotel Super and I decided to go on a walking tour of Quito, so armed with a map we set off looking for the parliament building that was a bit dull once we found it. We also walked through a park and saw some sculpture.

On the way back to the hotel we located a supermarket and tried to buy some booze. For some reason they wouldn’t serve us. This was a bit of a disappointment but we got chocolate instead. Altitude is weird when you aren’t use to it. I had a thumping headache and felt lousy.

That evening we went out for a Mexican meal and discovered the reason why we couldn’t buy alcohol. It was election weekend and the country is dry for the duration, so that evening 14 of us went out for a meal and no booze. I think this must be a first for a YD gig.
By 9pm we were shattered and I retired back to the hotel and bed.

8 hours sleep is a wonderful thing! I awoke at 5am feeling great. And after a leisurely breakfast we set off on a site seeing tour of Quito. The old town, lots of churches, and lots of places were you can see the huge statue of the BVM on the hillside (Blessed Virgin Mary) and then a bizarre equator museum, which was cheesy to say the least. The guide was a fit young lady so most of the blokes managed to stay awake. Everyone delighted in showing Caroline the tank with a pickled Anaconda in. It was huge. We returned late afternoon. Exhausted I had a bowl of hen soup and rice in the hotel before crashing into bed.

Monday dawned and we all got quite excited realising that we were actually going to Galapagos TODAY! Long wait for transfer bus, long wait for plane, although we were pleased that all our luggage was checked in by the guide and no-one had to pay excess baggage.

We flew into Baltra Airport and were met by our guides Jeff and Luis. Another bus ride and were at the jetty. All the benches were occupied however.




By sea lions. And although they look cute, some of them can be aggressive and they stink!

We were taken by Panga to Deep blue, which was to be our home for the next 10 days.

Having unpacked a little and set up our dive gear we cruised a little way to the other side of Baltra island to do a weight check dive.

I had a 5mm longy, 5mm shorty and 4th element thermo-cline base layer stuff and no idea how much weight I needed. We also took in our housings to check they were still water tight after the flight.
28lbs later I sunk…

The dive site itself was a rocky slope covered in huge pincushion starfish and there were tiny turquoise blue nudibranchs everywhere. The viz was “murky” 15m or so but there was plenty to see in a gentle drift. We saw some juvenile puffer fish and a huge snail with a purple foot before ascending for our safety stop. Although it wasn’t really required I deployed my SMB and was immediately joined by 3 sea lions want to play with the blob on the surface and intent on chewing my luminous yellow line. They buzzed us for about 10 minutes just showing off and stayed with us till we surfaced. The beauty of SMB deployment is the way that a panga is next to you when you appear on the surface so we crawled into it and rejoined everyone else on the boat. Not bad for a checkout dive at all!

That evening we discussed the itinerary. Jeff explained that we could only do the trips at the times permitted by the national park but most of the itinerary he had submitted had been approved and that we would be spending 5 days at Darwin and Wolf.

We moored overnight at Isabella island and had breakfast overlooking Cape Marshall. Jeff then gave us an extensive briefing on the diving practices. Including “No solo diving or you’ll get attacked by silky sharks”. We all quickly got into the routine of kitting up and stepping onto the panga minus fins and having fins and camera passed to you. Then it was the usual check for mask, fins, computer, weights, air on, camera. And on arriving at the dive site negative entry and regroup on the bottom. No touching the animals! (of course!). The rocks are sharp with Barnacles which get broken by divers and are then really sharp. The bastard yellow fish will then try and eat the barnacles and always get in the way of the picture you are taking. On no account must you poke the bastard yellow fish or otherwise annoy it ….



2nd October
We woke up early and looked outside. At least 4 people independently observed that outside looked like Scotland. The Sound of Mull in fact! And it did, misty and grey-green rocky shoreline and darkish water, at this point I wondered why I had packed 3 bikinis and peeled on my still damp 4th elements and wetsuits.

We did 3 dives at Marshall cape , seeing Manta and huge shoals of barracuda.



Super also spotted an octopus and instead of using the internationally accepted sign for “octopus “ she did a huge charade on the theme of things with eight legs. I got it eventually but the octopus wasn’t playing out. We saw small eagle rays, marbled rays, guinea fowl puffers and tiny barnacle bill blennies inside the barnacles.



The sun finally came out at lunchtime.

On the third dive we went looking for seahorses in the seagrass. The temperature had been 18 degrees on the earlier dives but as we descended down the slope it dropped dramatically in the thermocline to 15. This was just too cold for me (Super had her dry suit) so I went shallower and had a lovely close encounter with a turtle.

Overnight we sailed to wolf island

To be continued…..

[PeeBee]

Get on with it woman, this is great

[Jules]

Our itinary included 5 days at Darwin and wolf but this was actually on alternate days so wolf then Darwin then wolf then Darwin then wolf. This meant about 2-3 hours sailing between , sometimes in fairly choppy waters.

The site we mostly dived at wolf starts at a place called “The landslide” Always negative entry and straight down, unless your buddy has floaty issues in which case it’s negative entry, grab buddy’s ankle and descend a meter.

At 10 meters you see some huge boulders and quiet on the surface does not mean there won’t be currents at depth. In the 8 dives we did at wolf we had everything from eerily calm to ripping currents that would take your mask off.

The technique you adopt is to get down onto the ledge at 20m find your rock, befriend it and give it a cuddle and then hang on and watch into the blue for the show to start.

Oh My God! What a show it is. It’s sensational diving. Totally mind blowing in fact! There you are in the water hanging onto your rock, the surge changes and you are flung off that one and onto another one but meanwhile a hundred hammerhead sharks breeze over the top of you,



and then a turtle mooches past.

You take a picture of that but then look up and notice a squadron of spotted eagle rays swimming overhead – Backwards! They are swimming forward but the current is so strong that they are actually gliding backwards relative to you and the little rock, that has become your new best friend. So you shoot off a few pictures of the rays, wishing that all the fish would get out of the way because they are spoiling the silhouette effect.


Then you realise that your buddy is screaming into her reg for you to turn around and when you do you squeak because you are being stalked by two silky sharks and they are less than a metre from you. You fight them off (metaphorically) by exhaling and blowing bubbles which go sideways towards them in the current, they turn and go sneak up on someone else. All the while you can hear the distinctive whistling of dolphins, and at least twice in the dive you get buzzed by pod or an individual just checking you out.

At Darwin’s Arch to add to all of this, the frenetic rattling of the guide’s rattle indicates that he has spotted a whaleshark and it’s time to do the 100 metre dash out into the blue to take a look. When you do catch the sight of a whaleshark it’s just breath taking. They are huge. The size of a bus, but in the form of a gentle yet powerful creature, that gracefully, yet deceptively quickly, moves through the water. It’s an experience which leaves you struggling for vocabulary; AWESOME just doesn’t even come close. Everyone should get to see a whaleshark some time in their life! Even the baby we saw was colossal.

Posting a video link here so I hope it works






On every dive here at Darwin and Wolf we saw Galapagos sharks, Hammerheads, Silky Sharks, Turtles, Dolphins, Morays by the hundred (not poking out of holes but free swimming along the rocks). On many we have seen Mobula rays, Spotted eagle rays, Marble rays. You get some overwhelmed by the big stuff that you forget to look at the little stuff but when you do you realise there are so many different fish, and as for the dolphins?? By the truck load! They chase the Ribs back to deep blue and when you are moored up in the evening they are swimming past for hours at a time. The sheer profusion of sea life is simply incredible.

I don’t have time to go through the Darwin and wolf experience dive by dive as to some extent it all merges into one big WOW.

Some memorable moments were…

On day one dive two at Wolf Super and I ended up way behind the crowd because there was the equivalent of the M25’s worth of hammerheads swimming over us and in front of us. We just stayed put in awe and wonder. When gas got low we swam out into the blue for our safety stop and eventually surfaced in a 4 meter swell. At this point we couldn’t see the boat or either of the pangas or anyone else’s SMBs. We were there a while and starting to consider the fact that the current would eventually take us to Australia. We sounded our air horns. 6 long squirts that resounded off the cliffs above us.

Nothing.

We decided to swim out further to get a look round the corner and at this point a panga came around the corner. Disappearing for 20 seconds and appearing for 2 in the swell. I held my SMB above my head and waved it. Relief isn’t the word for it! The rest of the group had travelled with a the current round the corner but we hadn’t. Jason had spotted my SMB and kept it in sight as it disappeared and reappeared in the swell. I love my SMB!

On another dive at Darwin , exhausted from chasing about in the blue after whalesharks we had retreated to the rocks. On these dives when someone points you had better look where they are pointing. I followed Jason’s finger and nearly spat my reg as a huge whaleshark cruised over the top of us. And later on the our safety stop I looked between my fins to see another animal the size of bus cruise below me. :o)

At this point I ought to pay homage to the queen of the Whaleshark Chasers Jane. On every video clip of whale sharks there she is keeping up with them and being first there.


On our last dive at Wolf, Super and I again lagged behind the group due to be entranced by all the action around us. As usually we drifted out into the blue and deployed my SMB hanging at 6 m we were surrounded by a baitball of hundreds of swirling fish being circled by about 7 silkies. At this point my memory of being told not to ascend on your own because of the silkies was recalled but to be honest I wasn’t scared, enthralled, I think is the word. But so much adrenaline flowed through me that I didn’t even think to turn my camera on and record it. I just hang there soaking up the image of being circled by these powerful and beautiful animals.

To be continued

[Andy the Coastie]

Jules ....


Excellent report and photo's (( Apart from the first one , you could have brushed your hair ))

[purple vonny]

OMG I'm soooo impressed! That whale shark video is amazing, I love how the diver in front of you is so discombobulated as the shark swims away that they almost crash to the sea bed!! I would have used all my air in 5 minutes with all that excitement.

It was all so worth the wait and anticipation wasn't it? Come on, let's have some more.....

[Jules]

Originally Posted by purple vonny

OMG I'm soooo impressed! That whale shark video is amazing, I love how the diver in front of you is so discombobulated as the shark swims away that they almost crash to the sea bed!! I would have used all my air in 5 minutes with all that excitement.

It was all so worth the wait and anticipation wasn't it? Come on, let's have some more.....

Yes it was and it's coming...

[Jules]

Trip report part 3

Out at Wolf and Darwin you can get complacent about the sheer volume of sharks you see and it’s possible to think that people are exaggerating. Believe me, they aren’t



By the way these video clips are fairly low resolution as taken on my faithful Olympus 5050 camera. They do however give some impression of what we saw.

In the five days we had so many superb shark encounters, it’s hard to do it justice in a short report.

We had a long and very choppy journey back from our last dives at wolf to get to Cousins rock for the next day . A lot of people felt unwell and whilst I wasn’t sea sick I did find the long journey very tiring and I put my camera together whilst tired and not really with it. The next morning we were woken at 6 to dive at 6:20 at cousins rock. I wasn’t really with it at all. Forgot a few things and was generally what I would refer to as clusterf***. 3 minutes into the dive my camera stopped working as the housing gradually filled with water.
Doing something stupid and drowning your camera is annoying, doing it twice in the same mode of failure is just plain daft so the fact that I had again trapped the little string across the o ring is still irritating me now. Oh how they laughed at me when I said I was bringing 4 cameras. How many did I end up using? All four!

The first dive at Cousins rock then was a bit of a mooch in poorish viz. We were looking for sea horses and didn’t find any. We saw a very amusing sight of a group of divers arm in arm finning very quickly along. I can only think it was people doing a try dive as their behaviour was most bizarre.!

Second dive we did see sea horses and Luis showed me a frog fish. The first one he has spotted in about 5 years here.

After showers and lunch we had a land visit to Santiago looking at the lava formations was fascinating. We also saw Marine Iguanas and lava lizards.


Marine iguana


Lava lizard


Super with Curley Wurley


Jason looking like an elf

The lava formations were just odd



After the land visit we went for a short Panga ride to try to see some penguins



This might have been the first day that any of us managed to stay up past the 9pm watershed. Right at the beginning Gary I think it was tried to instigate a rule that you had to stay up past nine but many of those that did were caught resting with their eyes shut . It was just so tiring getting up at 6 and doing all that diving.

To be continued…

[Jules]

Tuesday 9th October

This was the first day that we got a lie in and we did land visits to north and south plaza with some snorkelling. The object of the snorkelling was to try to see Marine iguanas underwater. AS it turned out it was an overcast day and the iguanas were not all basked up and ready to go!

At the first snorkelling site it was very swelly, and hard to keep your self from being smashed onto the rocks. We didn’t see much to be honest.

So we returned to the panga and the driver dropped us at a different point. This was calmer and there were lots of sea lions on the rocks. We were warned to keep away from the three large males who would prefer you not to invade their territory.

I took Phil’s Sea and Sea camera in as the video mode on it is quite good and we were rewarded with some excellent sea lion action. You can see how playful they are by how they are playing tag with this piece of lettuce.



The snorkelling was followed by lunch and land visits. Seeing marine Iguanas and sea lions again but also seeing land iguana one of which decided to stalk Fiona





We also saw birds of various kinds (you can tell I am not a twitcher can’t you?)



Later we watched a young sea lions pup searching for it’s mother teat, we cheered when it found it and it gave you a strong sense of the similarity between creatures.

On Tuesday afternoon the national park had allocated us Gorden’s rock as a dive site where we had planned two dives. It was really cold and the viz was crap (5m). The rock formations were interesting as it was lots of little bubbles in the rock but to be honest I was freezing and I couldn’t really concentrate on anything other than your teeth chattering. As we were about to call it a day we saw a ray and a sea lion but compared to the dives we had experienced earlier this felt a bit rubbish really.

The group ha the option of a second dive or a second snorkel but the maojority voted for hot showers and kit rinsing.

The diving part of our trip was over.
To be further continued

[w650peter]

Fantastic report, I so want to go there!

Peter

[triplefin]

Lovely Jules - really enjoying the pics of all the lizards as well - iguanas being one of my favourites after gekos