WOW! What an experience that was. For most of us the Galapagos is the destination of a lifetime and the islands did not disappoint.
We arrived in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Christobal, captital of the Galapagos Province after days of travelling. Our first walk along the water front reminded us that we were somewhere truly unique and special.
With sealions on the beach just outside our hotel, numerous species of birds including herons, pelicans and the infamous Blue Footed Boobies. We also saw marine iguanas and the brightly coloured Sally Lightfoot Crabs.
Not wanting to waste an opportunity to fully explore the island we headed out the following morning along one of the many walk ways to a beautiful lookout with even more birds including warblers, mocking birds, frigate birds and of course Darwin’s Finches. We could even see turtles and selions in the waters below.
That afternoon we headed out to the Galapaguera, a breeding program for the San Christobal Tortoise. You are able to wander around the paths and see these Giant Tortoises in a semi-captive environment with no fences to be seen. As you can imagine tortoises are not the most active animals around but we did see two fight for access to a pond as well as several eating dinner. They also have lots of juveniles who are enclosed for their own protection. Apparently their shells are not strong enough to protect them from introduced predators such as pigs, cats and rats until they are ~7 years old.
A visit to the beach was next on our to do list with a walk through some amazing scenery and an odd combination of cacti and accacia trees. The sealions are everywhere, often hidden amongst the rocks so you need to keep your eyes open!
This is even more true as you walk around town after dark. Public benches and walkways seem to be favourite hangouts for these guys.
Our last full day on San Christobel was actually spent on a boat doing a 360° Tour of the island. We should have thought this through because of course one side of the island will always be hit bu waves and we were unable to visit our first beach destination. Undeterred we continued around the island watching a variety of sea birds fly around us, seeing the volcanoes that make up the islands and eventually stopping for a snorkel or two.
& then finally it was time to board the Galapagos Master – home for the next 8 days and the base for some incredible adventures….
