Galapagos Details

Photos courtesy of Mr. G Busby

Hammerheads
Eagle Ray
Whale Shark
Knew I would forget something - Penguin - also saw lots of dolphin
Huge shoal
Sea lion and salema

So for anyone interested in the more mundane side of the visit the trip started with a flight from Quito to Quayaquil then to San Cristobel Galapagos. All fruits, veg, nuts, produce etc. had to be disposed of before boarding the plane, the bus driver was very happy when I handed over my string of oranges, and the aircraft is sprayed for bugs before landing in San Cristobel. A lot of changes have happened over the last few years within the Galapagos National Park and boat trips have been changed and diverted to try and stop over visiting certain areas, however it sounds like the number of boats have actually increased a lot but what they offer has changed - diving now is limited in certain areas and to certain times for particular boats. For now the park fee is still set at $100, though how long it will remain at this I do not know. I dived the Aggressor II, Albatros, one of the few dive boats that is allowed to travel to the north Islands - Darwin and Wolf - which are the best places to get a chance to see the whale shark. This is also where you get to see the schooling hammerheads, though we did see hammerheads at other dive sites, just not in huge numbers. The liveaboard dive boat was layed out great with a spacious lounge area, a big and well spaced out dive deck, good for the 14 divers the boat takes, the cabins were nicely layed out, with big showers, there was a sun deck, hammocks and the all important hot tub. When you combine this with 3 good meals a day and snacks between dives you have a great floating dive hotel - the best way to dive. Dives varied from 1 to 4 per day, depending on where we were and what other land activities were happening, the water temperature ranged from 65f (brrrrrrrrrr!) to 78, and there is no night diving in Galapagos - too many feeding sharks! The land tours were onSeymour Island, Batolome Islands, Isla Platas, Santa Cruz and San Cristobel. The terrain varied from dry shrub land for the nesting frigates and boobies, to volcanic with nothing living on it, to beach with nesting turtles, sea lions, birds, and crabs to rocky shore lines with the sea lions and marine iguanas and then the islands with that very strange creature, the human. A very varied and intersting trip with divemasters acting as naturilst guides for the land trips and the odd evening, when we could stay up past 9pm, watching dvds and learning more about this marvellous and unique place on earth.