After finishing with the Colombian exit stamps, we rolled over to the Ecuadorian office. I stayed outside with the bikes while Jeff went inside to find out what needed to be done. We had received messages from other motorcyclists that had flown into Quito that it was very hard to get more than a few days in the country approved. But we also heard that if you crossed into Ecuador from Colombia by land it would be much easier. Jeff came out after about forty five minutes waiting in line to get the passport stamps, grinning. He reported that there was no entry fee for us or the bikes and that a thirty day approval was very easy. We then went to the immigration office for the motorcycles - A tiny little shack with two bemused officers staring blankly at us. They asked a few questions about our trip and said have a good time. "But don't we need stamps, do you want to look at the bikes?" Jeff asked. No it's not necessary, have a nice day. Finally Jeff had them stamp the copies of our titles just for some kind of assurance that we used the proper channels. Now we were ready to take on the Ecuadorian portion of the Pan American highway. It was now about 12:30 and we were trying to figure out if we could make it all the way in to Quito before dark. We estimated that we could and took off. We were immediately greeted by beautiful vistas of the surrounding Andean mountains. I still was taken aback by the sheer volume of clear cutting. The area we were coming through appears to be about 85 percent clear of trees. Anyway, about twenty miles up the road we decided to stop for something to eat. Jeff still wasn't certain that eating was a good idea for him, after losing the contents of his stomach the night before. We opted for some bread and cheese sandwiches and cokes at a gas station market. We paid 10,000 sucres for two sandwiches and two cokes. Less than fifty cents. That seemed awful strange to us. How was it possible? After chatting with the proprietor for awhile about the roads we set out again for the capital. The road was in very average condition, but fine for the bikes. The curves were fairly gentle without significant elevation gains or losses and it was pretty sunny and cool. About fifty miles from the border we came upon a small town in a very dry, hot and desert like area. As we approached, I could see that there were stones carefully laid in a line across the road to block traffic. There were a number of these 'roadblocks' spaced about ten feet apart and I couldn't see where they ended. There also were crowds of people lining the streets and when cars and trucks tried to weave their way through, the people ran up to collect money from them. Some were fairly aggressive, climbing onto the sides of vehicles or pounding on roofs and hoods. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Jeff signaled to slalom on through the roadblocks. I was doing the best I could to get around without hitting the rocks, the people or the cars that were trying to make their way through also. There were atleast 30 of these road blocks. One group went so far as to construct a gate made of a long tree and would only lift it after payment. Fortunately for us, there was just enough room on the side to squeeze through. Just up from there, others had gone one step further. They had a tree gate augmented with what appeared to be a rope to fully reach all the way accross the road. Well, as Jeff proceeded towards the rope, assuming they would drop it at the last second, he found out too late that it was a wire tied off at the other end. He became entangled in it. He started yelling at them and they ran over and lifted their booby trap off him. I took the opportunity to ride through also. We went through a bunch more road blocks and finally got back on the open road. This sure was strange, we'd have to ask about this in Quito.
As we progressed, we went through desert like areas, lush green forested areas, dry heat, windy cold. All kinds of weather conditions. We were all the time gaining in elevation. At 9,350 ft or 2,850 meters Quito is the second highest capital city in the world behind La Paz, Bolivia. The road was becoming more and more twisty. It was a really nice ride and we were having a good time. We took a final break about 50 miles out of town. It was about 3:30. After a quick snack we took off for the final push. Up and up we went, getting a bit more chilly with each passing mile. I was beginning to get tired. Seeing as we haven't been doing a lot of riding lately, I've lost a bit of the "endurance". Finally though, we approached the edge of town. The road flattened out and the Pan American headed directly into the town center. Since we didn't have a map or a guide book, we decided that we would ask directions to the South American Explorers Club. We are members of SAEC, which is a non-profit travel organization providing information, luggage storage and various other services to members. We were looking for a gas station to ask directions but didn't see any. As we neared the center, the traffic came to a standstill. We assumed rush hour traffic. However, as we edged along, we saw black smoke rising from the street up ahead and tons of cops lining the streets, some donning gas masks. What was going on? It appeared the street was closed so we were just about to try to make a turn when the cops waved us through. We were the first ones allowed to pass through. As we rode down the large street a sizeable crowd had gathered. We felt like we were leading the Tire Burning Festival Parade. We rode up to a group of 20 or so police and decided to ask them for directions. Many of them came to check out the bikes while Jeff asked directions. Apparantly we were very close. We made a u-ie and headed off in the direction the cops gave us. We got a bit lost with all the roundabouts and asked a cabbie for directions. He offered to guide us there for 8,000, or about 33 cents. We agreed. We were only minutes away and the taxi got us right there. It was just after five and the clubhouse had just closed. It's in a beautiful old house in a lovely neighborhood. The weather was crisp and cool and we were feeling pretty giddy. We saw numerous "hostals" around so I went over to check out some prices. Ouch! One wanted 33 dollars, one 50. We saw two stragglers coming out of the clubhouse and asked if they knew of any cheaper places. They pointed us down the road to one. We didn't find the one they had mentioned but stumbled onto "Posada Real". It looked expensive to me but Jeff decided to ask anyway. They wanted 192,000, or eight bucks, for a double with exceedingly hot water, cable, the most comforatable bed yet, an awesome breakfast and they had secure parking. We'll take it! We unpacked and locked up the bikes. Wow. This was a great hotel. We couldn't believe the price. After a little rest and a shower we set off the find some dinner.
As we were walking down the street toward the trendy restaurant zone, Jeff noticed a place called Casa Vieja across the street. This looked really fancy. I told him we couldn't go in there dressed like we were. He wanted to inquire anyway so we did. Still the doubting Thomas, I begrudgingly followed. We sheepishly opened the door to a beautiful Spanish style restaurant with fire crackling in the fire place and pianist playing dinner music. I just about turned on my heel to exit when the owner approached and asked if we would like to see a menu. Uh, ok. With great fear, I opend the menu. To my utter surprise, I found the prices to be about two to four dollars an entree. Surely there was a mistake. I lifted my eyes to the proprietor's questioning gaze. Well, is it ok? So we sat down in a daze. We proceeded to enjoy a spectacular dinner, bottle of Chilean wine and two desserts. Food total: $7. Wine: $8. Feeling like we had just robbed a bank, we thanked the staff profusely for our fine dinner and headed home to the land of sweet dreams.
The next morning we had plans for a busy day. We wanted to get e-mail, inquire about Galapagos Island trips, buy a South American guide book, talk to the staff at SAEC and do laundry. When we went into our restaurant cafeteria for breakfast I picked up "Hoy", the Quito newspaper. The headlines read that there had been numerous protests in Quito the day before (thus the burning tires and police in gas masks). I read down further to find out that the people were up in arms about the disastrous inflation rate that Ecuador had been experiencing. In just one day the Sucre devalued from 14,000 sucres to the dollar to 28,000! Some people were calling for the President's resignation. Well, I guess that explained the prices from the day before. A lot of the businesses either hadn't had time or couldn't afford to change the prices they charged for goods or services. We thought we'd inquire at the SAEC for more information. We decided to hit the clubhouse first thing after breakfast. We spent quite a few hours there, reading trip reports from the Galapagos, checking out books and getting information from the staff on the inflation protests. The country had declared itself to be in a national state of emergency but people at the clubhouse saw no potential threat to tourists. There was also talk of "dollarization" - or pegging the sucre to the dollar so that it would follow the dollar's rate of inflation. We were planning to leave for the Galapagos and didn't feel there would be any impact on us. It was Friday and the staff told us that Sundays are the busiest day to fly down there as many of the boat tours start on Sunday afternoon. Also if we wanted to leave our motorcycles and other gear in the Clubhouse's storage shed we'd have to do it by 5 p.m. Friday or wait until Monday since they close on the weekends. Well, that meant we either needed to leave Saturday or wait until Monday. Jeff was really anxious to go as this had been one of the highlights of the trip plan from the very beginning. We decided to head back to the hotel, armed with some travel agent's phone numbers, to start making some calls. One of the guys at SAEC, Rock, has a roommate that works for one of the big Galapagos agencies, Angermeyer. We called Jessica from the hotel. She informed us that there was space available on the Saturday flight. It was now about 3:30. We were planning to leave the bikes and boxes in the warehouse at SAEC. We also would have to pick up our plane tickets and laundry by 6. I thought it was too much of a rush. Jeff likes to rush, so we decided to do it. We hurriedly packed what we needed into two bags and packed the rest into the boxes and had the bikes packed up by 4:25. We got to the clubhouse right on time and got everything stored by 5. We had an hour to pick up our laundry and find the travel agency office. We made it in plenty of time and had the tickets by 5:30. Now, we needed to get some money exchanged and buy some sunscreen and sea sickness medicine.
While at the travel agency, we asked Jessica where we might be able to change some travellers' checks. We wanted to exchange some for US dollars. She told us about an exchange office in the middle of the mall that would be open until 7. Awesome, we figured we could catch a cab, drop off our stuff at the hotel and cruise on over to the mall. So that's what we did. We were also carrying the computer in hopes of finding a place to get e-mail. When we got to the mall it was 5 to 6. Jeff jumped into line. With one person in front of him, they closed. Apparantly they close at 6 and not 7. Rats. That meant we would have to change money in the morning before our 11:30 flight. We saw some internet cafes in the mall and tried to see if they would let us use a phone line. No luck. So we returned to the main drag, Avenida Amazonas. If Cali was the Salsa capital of the world, why then Quito was the internet capital of the world. The numerous internet cafes all charge about 15,000 sucres or .60 cents for an hour of internet use. Incredible. We were able to find a cafe that let us connect and get our e-mail pretty easily. Next we bought some sandwiches and headed back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow. Whew! I can't believe that we were able to pull it off.
First off I just have to say that if you're planning any kind of trip to South America you absolutely have to join the South American Explorer's Club (www.samexplo.org). They have such a wealth of information that you just can't do without. We were able to store our motorcycles in their warehouse, research the Galapagos boat trips and find everything from the location of the cheapest laundrymat to a place that would change travellers' checks into US currency for a half percent commission.
The next morning, after our complimentary breakfast, we took a cab to the Hilton hotel and changed $400 in travelers checks. $300 in US currency and $100 in Sucres. As a general rule of travel we never have more than $200 in cash at any given time. So I felt a little iffy carrying so much cash on me. I felt like one of those money changers hanging out everywhere flashing huge wads of cash. Come to think of it, if it's supposed to be so dangerous down here, how come people can carry insane amounts of cash with them and nobody robs them? I guarantee in any large city in the States, if someone stood on a street corner and flashed money around like they do here, by the end of the day they wouldn't be left with one red cent. Anyway we then caught a cab to the airport, twenty minute ride, $1.20. While Linda waited in the airport I went to the nearby grocery store accross the street and stocked up on wine and spirits for the boat trip. We read in the trip reports that it was OK to bring your own alchol on board the boat. This way you could bypass the exorbitant prices they charge on the boats (beer cost $2 each, wine $15 per bottle). I bought a bottle of Stoly's Vodka and three bottles of Chilean wine for $18. We finally boarded our flight and we were on our way to the Islands!
For as long as I can remember I've always wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands. This was where it all started in Man's understanding of the natural world and his place in it. Over 160 years ago Charles Darwin visited here to put the finishing touches on his, then and now, controversial book, The Origin of Species. To this day Darwin's theories are still creating controversy, albeit most of the ongoing objections to his theories are being fought in the good old US of A. The Galapagos are famous for their diversity of flora that can be found no where else in the world. I can still remember watching Marlin Perkins watch Jim wrestle the giant land turtoises in some swampy bog on TV as a child. Of course now that we are a lot more eco-sensitive we know that wrestling these gentle giants isn't necessary. Still as a 12 year old living in the early 70's it was great TV. We boarded the Tame flight at 11:30 a.m. and after a brief layover in Guayaquil we arrived on the landing strip in Baltra three hours later. Just the cost of the flight, $328 per person round trip, was an indication that we were going to be sweating money for a while. But from what I gathered from other travellers, it is well worth the cost.
After deboarding the plane you have to pass through the infamous Galapagos bill inspectors. These are the people who collect the $100 Island entry fee. God help you if you try to pay in old worn bills. I saw an American couple trying to pay in Sucres, the Ecuadorian currency. The only problem was that the largest bill in Ecuador is the 50,000 Sucre note. Because of the over 200% inflation rate that has devalued the Sucre, it takes fifty 50,000 Sucre bills to pay the park fee. Which means those poor saps who paid in Sucres had the bill inspectors evaluate each and everyone of the bills, seemingly rejecting some and accepting others at will. If you come to the Galapagos, save yourself and everybody else in line the hassle by bringing a nice crisp $100 bill.
From the air the islands look rather plain, mostly volacnic, but I felt like I had already been here after all the nature shows I've watched over the years. We then had to take a very packed bus for the 20 minute ride to the ferry. Another 10 minutes later we boarded yet another bus for the 1 hour 20 minute ride to the main town of Puerto Ayora. We arrived at 4 p.m. and checked into the spacious rooms at Hotel Lobo del Mar for 70,000 Sucres or $2.90. Then it was the time to get serious about finding a boat tour. In Quito most of the first class tourist boats charged about $90 to $110 per day. We had read in the SAEC 'trip reports' that if we went directly to Puerto Ayora we could skip the middleman and buy a 'last minute' fare for around $55 per day. Last minute fares are arranged by travel agents who sell space on boats that haven't fully filled their cabins. The first place we checked was a little too rich for our blood, around $85 per day. We then went to check out the scuba diving possibilities at Sub-Aqua. They told us the price was around $100 for a two tank dive! Ouch. But to make matters worse they wanted to take us out to a dive site in the bay to see if we knew what we were doing. I tried to explain to them that we just finished our advanced certification course in Honduras but they would have none of it. "That's like diving in a swimming pool!...this is the real thing!...the most dangerous diving in the world!"...etc., etc. This is what I call the "dive shop conspiracy". No matter where you go they always want to take you on a "check-out dive" first so that they can ensure at least two days worth of business from each customer and bury it under the guise of 'Safety First'. As far as I'm concerned recreational scuba diving (less than 150 ft) is way down the list of activities that I would rate as dangerous. I suppose an argument could be made that for someone not comfortable in the water it is a very dangerous activity. But we're not included in that category so I'm always pissed off when they want to assess my skills. That's why I got certified as a PADI Advanced diver. Now I find out that the advanced certification doesn't mean squat. Thanks alot P (ut) A (nother) D (ollar) I (n) for nothing. A much more meaniful certification would be the "Get Out of All 'Check-Out Dives' and Go to the Cool Dive Sites Right Away". Now that certification would be worth something. I guess I could just keep my dive log up to date but it's such a pain in the butt...but I digress.
Needless to say we said thanks but no thanks to Sub-Aqua. By now it was approaching 7 p.m. and we had no luck finding a boat. To further complicate matters we found that there is no place to cash travellers' checks on the island. And, oh yeah, nobody takes Visa, only Mastercard. We were now wondering if we would have access to enough money to be able to do anything. Fortunately my Visa card worked in the ATM. The daily withdrawl limit was $100, not nearly enough to do all the things we wanted to do. As we were sulking around the town we happened upon Victor, a local Guide on the tourist boats and an agent for several other boats. He told us that if we wanted we could give him all the cash we had and he could charge the rest on our visa cards or, better yet, he took travellers' checks. If we did this we could be on a first class tourist boat that night - the Darwin. Where do we sign! Before we knew it we grabbed our bags from the hotel and were shuttled out to Baltra to catch our tourist boat at 9:30 p.m. We charged off the hotel room charge ($3) that we paid for that night to luggage storage.
The Darwin was a fine sailing vessel, with 8 two person cabins, complete with private bathroom and suspect air conditioning. It was a little cramped but that's what boats are supposed to be. We came aboard after the boat had already been visiting the Southern Islands for 4 days. When we climbed aboard, most of the other 11 tourists were asleep. I know, I know, a bunch of fuddy duds. I'd have to see if I could change that. The crew seemed really nice and so our first day on the Galapagos Islands came to an end, floating somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, a couple miles from the Equator, 900 miles from the mainland and staring up into the night sky jam-packed with stars.
The next morning we awoke to the gentle rocking of the boat, moored in a beautiful bay. When I looked out the window I noticed something moving on the beach. It was a small colony of sea lions. This was to be our destination, Rabida Island just a little Northwest of Santa Cruz. After an uninspirational breakfast we all climbed aboard the dingy and made for the beach. Raphael was to be our guide. His English was about as good as my Spanish so he wasn't much help in identifying the flora and fauna. That was ok because I felt like I already recognized most of the wildlife. And Linda thought all those hours in front of the TV was for naught! The beach was a wonderful shade of red and was littered with animals. Within the first 20 minutes on the beach we spotted the Galapagos Hawk, marine Iguanas, sea lions, Frigate birds, boobies - the red-footed variety, amongst others. All of these animals had absolutely no fear of humans which made it possible for even the most bumbling of tourists to get a real close up brush with nature. Really an unbelievable experience. Later we went for a walk on the Island noting more special plants and animals. During the nature walk we were able to meet the rest of the passengers. There was Samantha and Niki; geologists from Austrailia, Gerry and Sabrina; attorneys from Washington D.C., Diego from Argentina, Bill and his Forensic Botanist daughter, Sue - also from Austrailia, Jo who is an opthomologist from England and the three Swedes-Michael, Lisa and (because I forgot the other Swede's name I'll call him) Jesper. After the walk it was time to embark on the snorkeling portion of our morning. We donned our snorkeling gear and started out from the boat. The dingy would follow us along the cliff. The water was crystal clear. At first I wasn't too impressed with the underwater topography, mostly just a rock wall with a smattering of ledges. But as we made our way along the lava wall I caught a glimpse of a fin nestled into an underwater cave. It was a 6 to 7 foot white tip shark snoozing the day away. I surfaced and yelled "shark!", and in true Galapagos style everybody excitedly swam over to take a good long look. Just then a smaller white tip came swimming by, along with several very large sting rays and a sea lion. This place was teeming with large underwater animals. I chased the sea lion for a while until it got tired of me and swam off. I was beside myself. In just our first snorkeling excursion it was already better than anything I'd ever done underwater. After snorkeling, we sailed to Santiago Island and more specifically, James Bay, anchored and prepared for lunch. This was to be our first of many "Cesar Expierences". Cesar is the cook. He, along with his apprentice, Carlos, would concoct fabulous culinary treats from the tiny on-board kitchen. We dined on fresh tuna that they had caught the day before. I could tell right away that this was going to be quite a ride.
After lunch we noticed that the crew from some of the larger tourist boats were heading off to play soccer on a small field on the Island. We quickly decided to form Team Darwin and challenge them to a friendly game. Our team was made up of myself, Diego (not related to Diego Maradonna), Raphael, Lisa, Michael, Jesper and Carlos. The first to score 2 goals won the game and would take on the next challenger. The field was comprised of basalt and pumice and was very uneven. It was located on a cliff overlooking the sparkling bay and beautiful beach packed with sea lions - all fighting for a good seat to watch the match. As the game progressed Team Darwin evolved from a hodgepodge smattering of international talent into a formidable squad. Within 30 hard fought minutes we dispatched our foe with skill and daring, reminiscent of World Cup level play. But the victory came at a cost. The equatorial sun was beating down on us, sapping our energy. The next challanger showed up and we quickly put them in the hole with an early goal. But as the game progressed we lost our ability to move with any semblance of urgency. After another 20 minutes or so we allowed the second goal and gratefully headed towards the cool waters of the Pacific. Although we lost the second game, Team Darwin held their heads high as we went for a walk along the sea lion and marine iguana strewn beaches. As with the other beach that we visited, the animals were so nonchallant about our presence that as you walked along the beach you had to take care not to step on them. Once again it was time to go snorkeling. As we were preparing to enter the water Samantha complained that she had a hard time seeing through her mask because it kept fogging up. I told her to just spit in the mask and it would cure the fogging problem. She excitedly tried this new technique but didn't seem convinced that it would work after all, as she so causually stated, "...how are you supposed to see through the mask with all this spit?" When I looked at her mask I could see that she got a little carried away with the procedure as her mask was half full. I told her to use a little less saliva next time. Those crazy Aussies, what will they be doing next? The crew wanted us to stay in the relatively protected bay, so we immediately headed off into the rough waters outside of the bay. We were quickly rewarded with a lava wall brimming with life. There were too many sea turtles to count, numerous sharks, eagle rays and sea lions. Once again I was astounded by the sheer numbers. By the time we made it back to the boat I was speechless. What a day and we hadn't even had dinner yet!
That night we dined on some fabulous seafood and Chilean wine. Carlos had taken the time to bake an unbelievable birthday cake too. Aside from my actual birth-day and the inordinant amount of years, this was easily the best birthday I'd ever had. My head was swimming with the visual imagery of the day as we finally hit the hay, exhausted, around 10 p.m. Now I know why everbody goes to sleep so early around here. It was truly a fantastic day. These kind of days come around only once in a decade and, until Alzheimer's kicks in, one I'll always remember.
During the night we sailed to Bartolome Island and anchored in Sullivan Bay. In the morning we went for a walk on a relatively young lava flow. Because of the age of the flow the lava had not degraded much and seemed to be in the same condition as when it cooled 100 years ago. There were swirls and caves and obsidian tubes - Oh My! It was also quite sharp, one misplaced step could mean numerous cuts and abrasions. After the walk we once again prepared for some snorkeling. I was the first one in the water and immediately felt a burning sensation on my back and arm. As Linda and the others prepared to enter the water I warned them that there were jellyfish in the water and to be careful. As they entered the water I could hear their screams through their snorkles. It was quite a site watching everybody thrash about trying to get back into the boat and away from the stinging jellyfish. Everyone was stung in several places and when we assessed the conditions in more detail we noticed that the place was full of the little monsters. We gave up on snorkling that morning and spent the next couple hours on the boat smearing ourselves with vinegar. We smelled like the world's largest fixing of fish-n-chips. The pain of the stings lasted for hours and was a quick reminder that, oh yeah, the ocean can be a dangerous place. It didn't take long for Cesar to come to the rescue with a lunch of lobster tail, caught the night before, to ease our pain. After lunch we tried our luck with another round of snorkeling in a protected little half moon bay. The thinking was that the jellyfish couldn't swim into the bay. This time we were right. We dawned the gear and I set off in search of the penguins. Within 5 minutes I was following a hungry little fellow chasing a small school of minnows. I thought chasing the sea turtles around was fun. That didn't compare to watching the antics of the penguin "flying" underwater to fetch his lunch. He finally ditched me and I continued down the rock wall and ran smack dab into an octopus who was hiding from the sea lions who were busy chasing around the numerous schools of fish. Oh well, another day of mixing it up with the animals. I was starting to acquire a Dr. Doolittle complex. I was beginning to believe that I was able to talk to the animals, through my snorkle.
A dingy ride later we found ourselves climbing to the peak of Bartolome for some panoramic views of the Island. When we returned to the boat we dined on sushi appetizers before dinner. Earlier in the day 'we' caught a yellowfin tuna and Cesar cut it up for sushi. FYI: it pays to be early to the sushi platter when sharing it with people of Scandinavian descent (e.g. the Swedes) because concern for your fellow man goes out the window when tasty seafood is on the line. Later that night dinner was so good I cried.
After dinner the crew turned on the lights at the back of the boat. This at first attracted enough plankton to change the color of the water red. This then attracted small fish who came to eat the plankton. This attracted a large school of tuna who arrived on the scene to eat the small fish. All the commotion attracted sea lions who would hide in the shadow under the boat and rush out to catch some unwary fish. Then came the sting rays and soon the back of the boat was a cacaphony of activity splashing with life and death. Just then, in the midst of all the commotion, a small black and yellow sea snake swam up towards the back of the boat. Just as I was preparing to catch him with a bucket a sea lion came up from the bottom of the boat and nabbed it for an after dinner mint. I was in heaven.
The previous night we traveled through very rough seas. That combined with the 6:30 wake-up call made for some grumpy passengers. For Linda and I it was a little meloncholy. This was to be our last full day on the boat. Already we were starting to miss our fellow passengers. We wearily walked along the Prince Phillip steps trail on Genovesa, Island. The trail meanders through a sizeable hatchery of Red Footed and Masked boobies, Frigat birds and sparrows. We even saw an Owl. The birds were amazing, you could walk right up to them and they barely give you a casual glance. Even the nesting birds would allow you to walk right up to their nest. It was evident that these birds have never developed a proper fear of humans. Not always a good survival tactic but it seems to work here. We returned to the boat and then prepared for snorkeling along the cliff in search of the only beast we had yet to see, the hammerhead shark. Raphael said that there were a bunch along the north side of the bay near the entrance to the ocean. We put in close to the cliff where it was a little rough - with the waves crashing against the cliff wall. Again I was one of the first ones into the water, when Michael pointed to an 8 foot hammerhead circling below us checking out what all the commotion was about. I lifted my head and yelled "Shark!". Again everyone hurried into the water to catch a glimpse. As I slowly kicked along the cliff wall I caught a glimpse of one, no two, now three and finally five hammerheads swimming all around. When I looked back to see where everyone was I was amused to see everyone swimming side by side, in close physical proximity, not completely unlike the schooling tactics of prey fish. As we swam along the cliff the hammerhead count increased. It was easy to tell when we would see one because the fish would be scattering before us, and then they would appear, first as a grey apparition then as a perfectly designed denison of the deep pursuing its prey (hopefully the schools of fish, not us). We actually witnessed one of the larger ones catch and eat a fish. Not as comforting a sight as one might expect when in such close quarters. After an hour or so of swimming along the cliff we were finally picked up by the dingy and we all excitedly shared our experiences. Seeing the hammerheads capped off three glorious days of snorkeling.
We returned for lunch and then set sail for Mosquera Islet. It would take us around 7 hours to arrive. While in route we again dined on sushi and lobster tail and saw a wonderful sunset. We finally sat down for dinner around 9 p.m. when we arrived at the Islet. You could tell the whole troop was experiencing ambivalent feelings - excitement from all that we experienced in such a short time and sorrow because the next morning everyone would be leaving on the 9:30 a.m. flight back to Quito.
The next morning we had a very early wake-up call at 6:00. Once again we wearily climbed into the dingy and headed to the shore of the tiny islet. It wasn't until we were on the Island that we noticed all the sea lions and their pups. According to Raphael this Islet had a sizeable sea lion population but the El Nino of a couple years ago killed off all the juveniles and pups. From what I remember about El Nino there is from time to time a shift in the global wind patterns that cause a shift in the earth's currents. The Equator is usually ground zero. A few years ago when the water temperature soared to above 80 degrees, all of the plankton died off. This lead to diminished numbers of smaller prey fish. The larger predators, that could, migrated north and south in search of cooler waters. There were reports in Oregon of fisherman catching swordfish and marlins. These fish are very uncommon in waters so far north. Unfortunately for the sea lions they couldn't migrate along with their food source so the mortality rate soared as many starved to death. Only the established males and experienced females survived. So when we toured the Galapagos Islands it was very rare to see any sea lions other than older females and very young pups. Try to imagine human society without any teenagers. I know. The first thought is how peaceful it would be, but in reality it is a very vibrant and important part of any society. Hopefully the sea lion population will return to pre-El Nino populations. What should help is the new law Ecuador just passed two years ago. The law effectively puts a 45 mile protection net around the Islands by outlawing commercial fishing. In the past the law allowed commercial fishing to within 15 miles. The close proximity allowed some unscrupulous fisherman to dart inside the protected area then dart out without being detected.
After an hour or so on the tiny Islet we climbed aboard and headed off to the airport. We sadly said our goodbyes as, one by one, Team Darwin climbed aboard the dingy. Linda and I were to ride the rest of the way around Santa Cruz Island and back to Puerto Ayora. The ocean was especially rough as we made our way back to Puerto Ayora. As we bounced unmercifully in our bunks, we tried to get a little sleep. We were awakened by the characteristic whistling that notified the captain to slow the boat - for we had a Fish On! As we climbed up to the back of the boat we saw a spectacular leap of the large Dorado. Carlos reeled in the 4ft Dorado, its resplendent green skin shining in the sun. It literally left the Ocean and was onto our lunch plates within a half hour. Once again Cesar performed another culinary miracle in that tiny kitchen. We were going to have a hard time adjusting to regular food again. Before we knew it we arrived in Puerto Ayora. We bid the captain and crew a fond farewell and climbed aboard the dingy one last time. Although we hadn't felt very ill on the boat, when we returned to tierra firma Linda noticed that the land was a'rockin. We quickly returned to the Hotel Lobo del Mar and promptly slept for several hours.
When we awoke we were still a little woozy. We set off in search of another dive shop that would take us somewhere other than 'Academy Bay' on our first dive. The shop Raphael recommended didn't have a dive boat but they did have Maria, the overly enthusiastic and helpful coordinator at the Encantada Dive Shop. Encatada has only been operating for 2 years and the owner was arrainging the purchase of a dive boat. They were to be in full operation in about 6 months. But Maria did set us up with the only other full service dive shop in town, aside from Sub-Aqua, Scuba Iguana. Since we were still feeling a little tired we decided to take it easy the next day and dive the following two days. After getting all the diving info we had a mediocre dinner but, in all fairness, after Cesar's cooking anything would taste mediocre. We then hit the hay early. We needed our sleep for tomorrow was Linda's 30th birthday. I remember how stressed out I was when I turned 30 but she seems to be taking it all in stride. As a matter of fact, I'm probably more stressed out about it than she is, I can just hear that biological clock ticking away. Sooner or later I'm gonna have to face the music, but that's a whole 'nother story for a whole 'nother time, for now it's enough that we're on the Galapagos Islands.
The next day we awoke late and napped early as Linda was still trying to get her land legs back. We went to the local gym to work out with weights. The cost to use the gym was 5,000 sucres per person or .20 cents. It felt good to work out again and, once again, it made us miss our exercise routines back home. We then went to visit Maria and pay for tomorrow's dive ($100 for a two tank dive including gear and lunch). She sent us over to Scuba Iguana and we met the owner, Mathias Espinosa. A really interesting and entertaining chap who's father is Ecuadorian and mother is German. We talked in length about all sorts of things and finally left to begin Linda's birthday celebration. We first had dinner at our favorite restaurant, La Panga. We shared a table with an Ecuadorian attorney and talked of travel and all the differences in our culture. Next it was off to the outdoor dance hall, GalapaSon. It turns out that there was a local girl who was celebrating her 30th birthday also and she graciously included Linda in all the Ecuadorian birthday customs including, but not limited to, the old shove the birthday girls' face into the birthday cake routine. We danced the night away to all of our Latin American favorites. We were now starting to even understand the lyrics to some of the songs. Either a breakthrough in our understanding of the Spanish language or a byproduct of repetition. Since we had to be at the dive shop by 7:45 the next morning we called it an early night, by Latin American standards, and headed back to the Hotel around 1 a.m.
As usually is the case, the morning came ushering in with all the subtlety of a bellowing male sea lion. On the way out to Sante Fe, the site of our first dive, we met our fellow divers. There was Kathryn from Switzerland and like all Swiss people, she spoke about 85 languages and made us feel kinda silly as we are trying to just learn a second. Then there was the English couple, Catherine and (because I forgot his name I'll call him) Jeeves, who thankfully only spoke one language and were traveling the continent for a couple months. Santiago was our dive master. As our boat captain and his sidekick checked the current Santiago gave us all the underwater signs we would need. Like the sign for a Hammerhead and white tip shark, sea turtle, eagle ray and idiot. We would need them all. Although the dive site was pretty tame, there was still an abundance of wildlife to be found. It was nice being amongst the animals underwater without having to hold our breath. In between dives Catherine went on her first introductory dive. As Santiago held her hand off she went with eyes as wide open as humanly possible. For her first dive she swam with Hammerheads, white tips, sea turtles and oodles of fish. When she got back on board you could tell that she was hooked. I didn't have the heart to tell her that this is about as good as it gets and all of her subsequent dives may not measure up to this experience. For the moment we just all shared in her excitement. The second dive was in a protected cove and included rousing a slumbering white tip shark from an underwater cave and all the ususal suspects, such as an octopus, very large sting rays, school upon school of Jacks, tuna and other large open ocean fish. After finishing up the second dive we had lunch aboard the boat and headed home for a much needed nap. After a rather tasteless meal we went to bed early in preparation for tomorrow's dive.
This time we woke early enough to have a little breakfast before we met at the dive shop at 7:30. We were going to dive the North Seymour site which is right next to Mosquera Islet. This was an open ocean dive and the currents were supposedly much more treacherous. We descended down a lava wall to around 70 ft and once again we were just another underwater creature to all the sharks and sea lions. I could just hear the sea lions talking amongst themselves back on the beach..."I saw a couple of hammerheads and a Galapagos shark and, oh yeah, some of those clumsy humans making all that noise with those bubbles and stuff. To tell you the truth, they're such bad swimmers I don't even know why they bother." There was a noticeable current but nothing to be overly concerned about. Once again, in between dives Catherine was going on another introductory dive along with another bloke from England, (and because I can't remember his name I'll call him) Smithers. Mathias thought that he looked a lot like Jesus. He had long black hair and a sparse beard. He also had one of the most memorable quotes of the trip. He, like Catherine yesterday, was very nervous prior to his first dive and when he was all suited up and preparing to jump in he said, "Should I go ahead and equalize the pressure now?" We just about fell over-board from laughing. He was concentrating so hard that I don't think he realized what he said. While they were on their dive we grabbed the snorkeling gear and headed off to the rocky precipice of the nearby island and watched as numerous whitetips cruised the wall. The second dive was futher along the rock wall and much more exposed. The current was as strong as I've experienced. At times we could barely hold on to a rock outcropping when we waited to regroup. As the current whisked us past all our underwater buddy's, we headed out to the open ocean. When we made our ascent we were surronded by about 30 dolphins apparantly rounding up a school of tuna that we saw earlier. The sea was bursting with life. There were numerous scallopped head sharks fleeing the pod of dophins. Manta rays were sighted along with all sorts of other sealife catching the scraps that the dolphins were leaving behind. We all jumped back into the water to try and get close to the dolphins but they kept us at a safe distance. If we had the time and the money I could dive out here for weeks on end. What a great place to be in the water.
Aftter the dive we made plans to meet up with the Brits at the local watering hole later that evening. One quick nap later we spent an enjoyable evening of storytelling and salsa dancing. It is so much fun hanging out with other travellers. In general they have such open and free thinking minds. I don't think that I've ever met a fellow traveler who possessed any of those nasty dispositions such as racism or greed like you can find back home.
Our final full day on the Island was spent body surfing in Tortuga Bay. The mile long beach is as good as it gets and the water was crystal clear. We spent about three hours in the water until I noticed that I was starting to grow webbing in between my fingers and toes. So Charles Darwin was right after all. It was a wonderful time and we had an incredible experience. Our final afternoon was spent relaxing and preparing for tomorrow's 7:30 bus to the airport.