We were up and out the door by 6 am. Needless to say there was not much sleeping since we had to be up by 4:45 am. The drive to the airport in Quito was a little hairy and at the airport very congested – no surprise, I guess.
Thank goodness Jorge was with us because the airport was a confusing mess. Lines everywhere and very few English speaking people. With Jorge’s guidance we secured our tickets and passes to Galapagos National Park and boarding pass to the Galapagos Legend our place of residence for the next three nights.
At the airport in Baltra we had to pass through the National Park inspection to make sure we didn’t bring in any fruits, nuts or plants not endemic to Galapagos. They even had a treated pad for us to walk on as we entered the terminal. to clean the bottom of our shoes.
We took a lovely bus ride to our waiting vessel and that bus sure was crowed. Patrick gave up his seat and ended up standing on the luggage platform!!! Safety didn’t seem to be an issue here so he rode to the pier standing.
The bus dropped us off at the pier where we donned life jackets and would take one of many shuttles by dingy to and from the boat.
It is hard to tell in this picture but there is an eight inch drop from the platform to the tile floor with no signs or railing indicating not to step off. Some poor woman took a dive – luckily she didn’t break anything!!!!
Getting on the dingy at the pier was easier then getting off and onto a moving boat.
Once on the ship were were pleasantly surprised because when we had booked this trip we had been told we would be upgraded to Junior Suite but when we checked our documents realized we had been booked into a regular suite. Not sure how that happened but we were happy!
Although not as fancy and modern as the new cruise liners the rooms were perfect for us. And the best news Patrick didn’t have to curl into a little ball to sleep.
We were checked in by Noon and had lunch in the dining room buffet style. The food was very good but we didn’t have long to savor the meal or ship because we had a program to attend then a tour to take.
Back on the dingy we headed to our first stop – Bachas Beach so called because it was once the property of the United States Navy when they operated an airbase on Baltra Island during WWII. At this site are the remains of barges that sank long ago. The beach is called “Bachas” because the word “barges” in English was too difficult for the local people to pronounce.
On our way over to Bachas Beach we lucked out and ran into a flock of Blue Footed Boobies. Their feet are really a beautiful shade of blue and when they fly the underside of their wings are also blue.
Check out the blue feet and the red crabs crawling all over the rocks.
Walking along the beach the views were spectacular and water a beautiful aqua color.
We were amazed at the number of red & blue crabs that were everywhere. The colors were incredibly brilliant and it was hard to believe they were real!!!!!
Then there were the land Iguanas. WOW!!!!! Yes, he is looking at us. The animals here were not phased by the human visitors.
At every turn it was just beautiful. We could not believe we were really here in the Galapagos.
It is considered winter in the Galapagos but it is not called winter. It is called the dry, cool season. The skies were overcast but it was still gorgeous. Our ship is in the foreground.
As we continued our tour we ran into some Flamingos. For a moment we thought we were back in the Everglades.
Just another Iguana slithering around paying no attention to us. We were within inches and he just looked at us and continued on.
After spending over an hour touring with Harry our guide and our group called the Iguanas we were given the opportunity to snorkel from the beach. The air was cool and the water even cooler but we jumped in anyway. Ron was having a blast swimming out as far as he could until he got called back by the guides. Kelly and I went out too but were quite as brave as Ron. Ron got great underwater photos but not with our regular camera. So no pictures yet. Will update with those at a later date.
Ron leaving the water reluctantly. No pictures of me to see in my bathing suit. UGH! but I had fun anyway and got to see some very cool fish.
Getting back to the ship and out of the dingy was exercise in itself. We took showers and went to dinner then hit the sack fairly early because yes indeed we were very tired from a long day of traveling and playing.
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