As is always the case when you have to get up early, we had a restless night sleep. The agent was waiting for us when we checked out at 5.10am with a breakfast box – a cheese and ham roll, some fruit and a muffin. We picked up another 6 guests from the Marriott before winding through a deserted Quito to the airport. 2 of the guests were joining us on the Reina Silvia – an American, Linda and her niece Kelly. The Galapagos had a seperate check-in where all bags are scanned – we were warned on the way in about the multiple luggage scans as the Galapagos National Park is paranoid about any introduced species.
The flight to the Isla Santa Cruz Beltra Airport took 3 hours care of a stop over at Guayaquil. It was the first time I have ever stayed in my seat while leaving passengers got off and new passengers embarked. All visitors to the islands have to pay a US$100 Park tax and then wait for our luggage to be checked out by a sniffer dog. Of course our bag (we left a backpack behind in Quitos with all out winter gear and tramping boots) was the only bag out of 30 or so that attracted the attention of the dog. We had to follow a policeman into an office where the contents of our bag got thoroughly searched. Turns out a bag of cocoa leaves was the problem – they are illegal in Ecuador. We pleaded ignorance and thankfully were let off with a simple forfeiture of the offending leaves.
Our guide for the Reina Silvia, Franklin, met us and 4 other guests – Deb and her son Trey, and their former German au pair Caroline and her boyfriend Conrad. Our luggage was taken to the boat whereas we boarded a bus to head to a tortoise park for lunch. We also met our other guests – a young English couple on their engagement holiday (who had lived in Christchurch for 13 months)Tim and Kerri and a Canadian / English father (Barry) and son (Tim).
After lunch we walked around the park and marvelled at the many massive tortoises. Tortoises in the Galapagos are the worlds largest on account of the lack of predators. They were also completely unfazed by humans – a common occurrence for Galapagos wildlife. This was a theme we encountered in the rest of out time in the Galapagos – the amazing indifference the animals/fish/birds have to humans. This is as much about the local rules forbidding tourists to interact with the animals as it is about the enforcement of those rules. Where else in the world can you photo close ups of animals with an iPhone? It really is special.
After lunch we drove to the tortoise park and the Charles Darwin Research centre. The different species of tortoises {mostly illegal pets} were visible – the long necked saddleback and the more common round back. We also got to see the embalmed Lonesome George – the last of a unique species of tortoise that they unsuccessfully tried to breed before he died. There is a very large breeding program for tortoises as they try to repopulate the species after hundreds of years of pirates and whalers using them as their primary food source. They believe between 200 and 500 thousand tortoises were taken from the islands.
We then got to wonder through the town before boarding the Reina Silvia. Our room was below deck and backed onto the engine room. At least the noise – measured by the SPL Meter app on my iPhone to be 67 decibels – was consistent so sleep was possible. However for me it was only after 2.15am when the boat started its journey to Isla Floreana. Other below deck passengers that had front cabins, while further from the engines, had to cope with waves banging against the side of the boat as it moved through the night. As expected we did get used to it!
