YD Does Galapagos 2007!!!!!

[SCUBA Chick]

My apologies for the delay in posting this report. For a start it took a while after our trip to get back into the normal swing of things. And then we have had other things to contend with including the heartbreaking loss of our cat...

Anyway I also realise that this report is going to replicate alot of what was already said in Jules trip report...if that happens then it is so...we were on the same trip afterall

Here goes:


After waiting nearly 2 years and after problems with an enforced £200+ per person gratuity and then upheavals with the Galapagos National Park boat permits just before we were due to depart I didn't quite believe that at long last we were actually going. This is my story...



On 28.09.07 Gary and I met up with several other YD'ers at Manchester airport, Jules, Jenny, Ken, Jane, Fiona, Terry and James. Some of us even 'bumped' into Mark Davies who was on duty at the airport and came to wish us well on our trip. It seemed only fitting that after the last few weeks of of stress where we didn't know if the trip was going to go ahead that we should start the trip with a visit to the bar A couple of pints later and we were on first leg , going through to discover that Jason's flight from Leeds had been cancelled and he wouldn't be able to join us until the next day....OH NO!!!!!!


After KLM flights that seemed to go forever, with a change of aircraft at Amsterdam where we met up with Rick, Kev, Lou and Caroline, and then stops at Bonaire & Guayaquil we eventually arrive at Quito on 29.09.07 at around 8am. A total travel time from leaving home of around 24 hours...phew!!!!


Super introduces herself to some of us on the plane between Bonaire and Guayaquil after admitting that she was too scared to introduce herself to us when she recognised me from my avatar at Amsterdam airport. I never realised I was THAT scary


In order to try and beat the jet lag we stayed up and had a trip up in the cable cars to 4100 metres where we all felt a bit spaced out and drunk because of the altitude. A quick nap, shower and then we go out for a mexican to find out that they can't serve us alcohol due to Equadorian elections that are happening. A YD night out and a table full of soft drinks...what a travesty!!!!!!

30.09.07

Jason and John, our last Gos trip members arrive in the morning and join us on a Quito day trip that was arranged by Fiona. It was an interesting tour taking in Quito old town, a volcano crater (where there was a restaurant for us to have our lunch at and where we were able to have a beer...result!!!!) and the Equator museum. A thai restaurant for dinner and an early night!!!!




A hummingbird at the Equator Museum...

[SCUBA Chick]

01.10.07 – The Galapagos Adventure

A morning flight to Baltra via Guayaguil for an arrival at Baltra at around 1.30pm. We were tranferred to the ‘Deep Blue’ liveaboard by panga for our 10 night stay. We receive good news about our itinerary as Jeff, one of the guides, advises us that we are going to be spending a total of 5 days diving at Wolf and Darwin, with 2 days at Darwin and 3 days at Wolf. This is the news we have been waiting for as we were concerned before we went whether they were going to be on the itinerary at all with all the controversy surrounding permits.


We haven’t been on the boat long before we have to assemble our kit and get ourselves sorted for our check out dive. I thought it was a bit strange as although we’d had an intro to the boat and the crew none of our qualification cards were checked. Also, neither of the dive guides accompanied us on the check dive. Maybe they expected all divers on the boat to have the pre-requisite experience, I don’t know, but this was the first liveaboard I have been on where qualifications weren’t checked and you weren’t observed on the check dive.



Check Dive – Canal Norte (Baltra)

As I was wearing a full 5mm, a 5mm shortie and a fourth element long sleeved thermocline, gloves and hood and this was my first time diving in all of these layers I had no idea how much weight I needed! In the end 11kgs/24lbs did the trick. But boy was the cold water a shock to the system! Being a bit of a wuss with water temperatures, finding it to be only 17 degrees was a shock to the system. This ended up being the worst dive of the holiday for me as I felt ill and thought I was going to be sick on the dive. I ended up going to bed with a banging head straight afterwards. I think the travelling, jetlag and excitement had caught up with me! I do remember the dive site being absolutely teaming with blue vibrant nudibranchs of all sizes but not alot else.



02.10.07 – 3 Dives at Marshall Cape

Up at around 5.30am after a restless night to find we are moored nearby to a misty Isabela at Marshall Cape with turtles and seals popping up all around the boat. To reiterate Jules in her report, several people commented on this morning that we could almost be back in the UK in the Scottish islands or similar. We did 3 dives at Marshall Cape and although the visability wasn’t fantastic and the water was cold (on the 3rd dive I got 16 degrees registered), I really enjoyed these dives as it was literally like diving in an aquarium, with eagle rays, shoals of yellowtail surgeonfish, barracuda, diamond stingrays, pacific sierras, turtles etc. I really started to notice how tha currents behave here on these dives and how they change from one minute to the next.

[SCUBA Chick]

03.10.07 – 07.10.07 Our Wolf/Darwin Extravaganza!

We spent the days between 03.10.07 and 07.10.07 diving at Wolf and Darwin in warmer water that was 20-22 degrees. This meant that I was able to shed a layer and so ditched the fourth element top. It had been dictated by the Galapagos National Park that we alternate our time between the two islands, spending a day diving at one and then the other, starting with Wolf. Now this is where the diving really started to get interesting. I’m not going to dress it up as the diving is a challenge and is certainly the most challenging diving we have done to date. I did feel that the minimum 50 dives recommended by tour operators is quite optimistic as I know that I wouldn’t have felt confident enough to cope with this kind of diving after my first 50 sea dives.

Alot of our previous experience with currents has been when we have dived the maldives but the currents here are something else. They are so strong that at times it is impossible to keep a hold onto the volcanic rocks. You just had to hope that it wasn’t going to throw you into another valcanic boulder . Some members of the group decided at an early point during these dives that they were going to leave their cameras behind as it was quite difficult to get decent shot in these conditions. Also, you did become concerned that your camera might get damaged.


At Wolf we started to realise why this site is considered to be one of the best action packed dive sites in the world. Wherever you looked there was something happening, Galapagos sharks cruising past, followed by single and schools of hammerheads, the sleeker silkies getting over friendly especially on the safety stops, turtles on every dive, eagle rays cruising in the current, dolphins hunting and gliding past with their calves as you did your ascent. At times it felt your senses were being overloaded with all the life down there...



The underwater wildlife was friendly

[SCUBA Chick]

After Wolf it was difficult to envisage that it could get any better. But again the Galapagos didn’t disappoint. We had a 4am sail up to Darwin for a 6am wake up on 04.10.07. Our first dive gave us 6 whaleshark sightings with our first only 2 minutes into the dive...unbelieveable! And boy are they big out there! We have been lucky to have seen whalesharks previously, both in the maldives and the red sea but the whalesharks in the Galapagos make them look small in comparison. They are absolutely huge out there and even more beautiful and majestic than I had remembered.



I couldn’t quite believe the amount of encounters we had over the 6 dives we did at Darwin, a total of 31 sightings for our group which was fantastic as many hadn’t seen a whaleshark before. Unfortunately, I was a bit crap at spotting them out in the blue unless they were close but Gary and others seemed to develop a knack of spotting their shadow in the murky water so when or they started to fin like a mad one I was away too! It got to the stage where you didn’t have to rely on one of the guides identifying them for you anymore. We employed 2 tactics for our ‘encounters’ with the whalesharks. Some of the time we sat on the ledge at Darwin and then finned out into the blue when we spotted a whaleshark and then finned back to the ledge to watch for other beasties and more whalesharks. Other times we finned after the whaleshark and then stayed out in the blue, with the swarms of ‘gringo’ fish who parted majestically as another whaleshark cruised through.




It felt such a privilege to be in the water with these animals and I do doubt that I will ever have such a wonderful underwater experience again. It is very hard to put into words how you feel as they glide effortlessly as you fin hard against the current in a feeble attempt to keep up with them.

[SCUBA Chick]

All too soon we were saying goodbye to these 2 wonderful dive sites for our long journey back to the islands in the south.

08.10.07 & 09.10.07
Further dives were completed at Cousins Rock on 08.10.07 and Gordons Rock on 09.10.07. I thought we were back in murky UK waters at Cousins until a manta flew overhead! And the cold water is a shock to the system after Wolf/Darwin so back on with the fourth element top!


The seahorses were rather big around these parts...

On 08.10.07 we also did a land visit to the island of Santiago to Sullivan Bay where we had a look at the stunning lava formations and took some pics of the posing sealion in the shallows! Then we were taken on a panga ride to have a look at the penguins ( the only equatorial peguins) who live near the pinnacle rock of Bartoleme.


The posing Sealion!


Marine Iguana & his mate the Lava Lizard!


Pinnacle Rock and Volcano Crater...

We also had some problems on the boat on 08.10.07 as we ran out of soft drinks with another 2 ½ days to go of our trip. Fiona was soon on the case as understandably we were all peeved about this. Fi had a word with Luis, the guide, and after some consultation with the captain we found out that we were able to obtain some from a couple of other boats. Goodness knows what we would have done if we’d have run out when we were up at the isoated islands of Wolf/Darwin. Much discussion ensued about how we could have ran out and that this was not what was expected on a ‘high end’ price liveaboard. It couldn’t haver helped either that during meal times bottles of coke were seen to disappear into the serving hatch of the kitchen. Funnily enough though we didn’t run out of beer during the trip...but then we have to pay extra for that...call me cynical???!!!

[SCUBA Chick]

On 09.10.07 as well as a cold dive at Gordons Rock we did some snorkelling on this day of the trip. We were hoping to see the marine iguanas in action feeding on the algae. It wans’t to be our day however as the weather was quite dull and it wasn’t warm enough for the iguanas to get their body temeratures up for their in water feeding. Instead we had some sealion action with them frolicking and the bull sealions getting a bit close for comfort! A land trip followed the snorkelling where we were able to observe the sealion colonies, some of them with babies, and the marine and land iguanas.



You looking at me????


Anyone got a tissue???


Land iguana

[SCUBA Chick]

10.10.07


Our last full day on board ‘Deep Blue’ and we wake to find we are moored nearby to San Cristobal overlooking Bahia De Hobbs ready for a lengthy land visit. We are transferred via the pangas for a wet landing on the pristine beach. It was a bit of a trek onto San Cristobal to see the giant tortoises in their natural environment but I did prefer to see them here rather than in a contrived environment. I’m not sure what I was expecting in terms of size but they were a little bit smaller than I expected them to be but it lovely to have the chance to see them.



The afternoon saw us hitting San Cristobal town for a few beers and some retail therapy. Gary and I bought 5 t-shirts between the 2 of us for bargain prices...excellent quality too! Then we were back on the boat to watch the DVD’s of the trip and then back onto San Cristobal for an evenings entertainment. At this point of the holiday I found out that I am not a natural at the game of pool!!!!

All too soon it was time to leave the boat. Even as we left the Galapagos wildlife didn’t disappoint. We had commented that we hadn’t had much opportunity to try and get a decent shot of a blue footed booby. So we are transferred from the boat by panga to where the bus is going to take us to the airport and there are the blue footed boobies on the rocks!!!!

And just to prove to the doubters we were actually there here's your proof





Team pic with Darwins Arch in the background (Back row L-R , Caroline, Terry, Jules, John, James,, Jenny, Rick, Fiona, Kev, Middle Row L-R Jason, Super, Kathy, Lou, Front Row L-R Ken, Jane, Gary)

After all of the excitement of that trip Gary and I ( not without some trauma ) travelled onwards to Peru to continue with our trip and this is where we ended up :



But that is a whole different trip report


Kathy xx

[w650peter]

WOW!! Fantastic photos as well

[Fiona]

Lovely photos Kathy and Gary, especially love the Machu Picchu one.

Sorry to here about Bailey

[triplefin]

Lovely report Kathy! I know from experience it must have taken you ages to do with all the pics in the right place and what super pics they are. Excellent whale shark pics........the one with the 2 divers is great Gary must be very pleased. Love the iguana pics, I adore lizards. Well done have a