Planning and arriving in Baltra

We had a few options for how to get to Quito, Ecuador from London. As two of them involved boring stopovers and the potential of being cooped up for 13+ hours with drug runners, we opted for the London-Miami-Quito option on BA and AA. Given how much both SS and I hate US customs, this was a mark of how awful the other flying options were.
We had a few days in South Beach Miami on the way to Quito, which was expensive and hot. 32 degrees and humid most days – my hair turned to frizz and my body a gentle pink colour. The main reason for my stopover was that I wanted to visit the Miami Ink shop. Those that know me, know I am a fan of the tattoo programme Miami Ink. So imagine my horror and disappointment to trek there, camera in hand, and find a large “To Rent” sign in the window. The only remaining Miami Ink part was the raised platform inside the shop – all the names and decals had disappeared. Apparently there is some deep dark resentment against Kat von D and LA Ink, as her show meant the Miami Ink show was terminated. I will never know, but I can’t help but wish I had got there earlier… sigh.
So after our South Beach stopover, we made our way to Miami Airport. The usual debacle of organisation and confusing signs all in Spanish meant that we handed our bags over to a strange man behind a black barrier, and hoped they would make it to Quito with us. My last remaining months of FF status meant that we got access to the Admirals Club (AA’s version of an airport lounge). Ha! Hideous place. Depressing 70’s décor, and no snacks. Everything was for sale behind a bar, only nasty salty snacks full of unnecessary fat and carbohydrates were on offer, with tea. I had been confused when the woman on reception handed me drinks vouchers, now I understood. So SS and I found the least depressing corner, and he sloped off to the bar to get us some spicy tomato juices and himself some red wine. We also used the vouchers for a couple of bottles of water as we left.
I used my status again to get priority boarding, pushing ahead of the crowds, and we settled in. AA is a truly terrible airline. Communal video screens (they played an awful film called Easy Virtue with Jessica Biel and Colin Firth that made me want to punch something very hard). Food was terrible – some “chicken” and fried rice concoction. The four hour flight seemed very long.
We flew into Quito and squinted out the window. Quito is very high (altitude 3000m or 10,000ft) and is tucked into a valley surrounded by mountains (part of the Andes). A very long (about 22km) and narrow (about 3km at widest) city. We landed in a very steep descent, and were first off the plane from the economy section. Customs was easy, and we were in – my first visit to a South American country.
Unfortunately our bags did not realise how quickly we got through, as they were literally the last two bags off the plane. After scanning, we exited and then discovered that Quito is one of the airports where an officious little person removes the airline luggage tags and insists that you provide the baggage check receipts to match before you can leave. Interesting security precaution. This did not please the other 3 people that were on the Sheraton airport shuttle bus with us, who had had to wait for us. Oh well…
The shuttle was quick and well driven, and 15minutes later we were at the hotel. It looked just like every other Sheraton we had ever seen, except there was a choice of juice or tea or coffee in the middle of the lobby whilst you waited for reception. We were checked into our room, and up we went.
The room was fine – nice and roomy. We checked emails, and then I convinced SS to order room service as we had an early start. We settled on sea bass ceviche, and a hamburger for me and steak sandwich for him plus onion rings and a beer. All came to USD20. There were some language issues when shrimp ceviche arrived instead which SS sorted out by phoning numberous times and getting progressively louder and louder and more English. Eventually everything was there, although decidedly cooler than when we started.
The following morning we got up, and caught the 7:30am shuttle to the airport. Eventually after running into a lot of other people clearly doing the same thing as us, we located the lovely Raoul who provided us with boarding passes, luggage tags, $10 tourist cards, and folders of information. He helped us have our bags scanned by the airport authorities to ensure we weren’t taking seeds etc into the Galapagos, and then we went through security. There was no liquid restrictions interestingly on this flight – no real reason why. There was however a place at the airport to check your firearms for the flight, so that is another first.
Once through security we got a lovely toasted cheese and ham sandwich (which was served with crisps).

As the plane was now direct to Baltra (rather than stopping at Guayaquil) it was very late leaving – the boards actually said it had departed 20 minutes before we were even allowed to board. I love foreign airports!
Flying into Galapagos looked just like the photographs – I was getting so excited.

Again, an easy airport process, it really reminded me of travelling in the 70s and early 80s – relaxed happy customs and easy processing. We paid our $100 park fee, and were met by a man with a board with “Sagitta” (our ship) on it. He introduced us to Alex/Alejandro, our guide, who told us to wait outside on the bench whilst he sorted out the baggage with our tags. We got a Galapagos passport stamp and waited happily, looking at all the other people trying to figure out who was on our boat.
We were then loaded on to the bus, which had metal seats and looked like an Aluminium American school bus – just like the ones you see in all the films for South American bus rides. A short trip down to the “canal” and there was the Sagitta waiting for us! Also waiting for us was the same sea lions that greet all visitors, stretched out on the benches on the dock. So we took the same photos of the sea lions that everyone takes.

Note the Shrek ears on them (the easiest distinguishing feature between sea lions and seals which have "internal" ears – bit of trivia).
We were loaded on to the smaller “panga” boat to go out, and had our first experience of life jackets and boarding – by the end of the week we were all experts. On the boat we did the usual orientation, allocation of cabins (I got cabin 3 as requested – yay!) and meeting the other 12 passengers. As expected, they were all older than us, and by the end of the trip there were some we really liked, some we liked, and one sourpuss that no-one liked. It is always the same! There are two French people who speak only French and Spanish – not a great start; two Dutch; two American; four Canadians; four English.
As soon as we confirmed we had our bags, the boat was off to North Seymour for our first landing.
Lunch was served as we motored out to sea (steak and mashed potato, followed by mixed melon – ugh!).

Sagitta

Here are some general photos of the Sagitta, including our cabin and en suite and some of the common areas. There was loads of space in the cabins, with drawers, two hanging racks and other nooks and crannies all used for storage space - we had loads of empty spaces even once unpacked!

We found out once we arrived that she is not a sailing boat at all - instead she is a converted "barge" which had some masts attached when the Angermeyers bought her. The sails were raised one afternoon, but apparently they only assist the speed by about 0.5knots!

This did not bother me at all - she was very spacious with lots of areas to sit, particularly outside on the main deck. Very few other boats have this outside space, so whilst for example the Mary Anne is a more attractive vessel, all the rigging means that there is nowhere outside to relax and enjoy the views and the sun.

It also meant we had an outdoor eating area which was very pleasant rather than the internal rooms which could get stuffy.

All in all, she was the best boat we saw all week in terms of convenience and attractiveness. The cabin was quiet, the air conditioning very effective and the food varied from perfectly nice to very good.

Also, as mentioned elsewhere, we benefited from a hard dinghy as opposed to the inflatable zodiacs, and the pelicans appreciated this too and often hitched a ride behind the boat as we motored from island to island.

The crew were very friendly and always helpful, and made up the cabins twice a day - when replacing the towels we always got a lovely design or towel sculpture on our return...

And on our last night, the chef and crew created lovely designs and fruit sculptures (it feels personal even tho' you know they do it every Tuesday night...)

North Seymour

The sea was quite choppy for our first landing as you can see in the photo, and the rocks quite wet.

There are very few man-made landing sites in Galapagos – most are just slightly lower rocks were you have to jump out off the end of the boat and hope for the best. Our crew were fantastic however, and good at providing a hand on and off with a firm grip. They also had the most smooth, muscly, brown arms I have ever encountered – it was certainly no hardship accepting their assistance!

I also realised during the week how lucky we were to have a "panga" that was a wooden dinghy with seats along the edge with back rests - everyone else used the inflatable zodiacs which you sit on the edge of - no back support, and much wetter through choppy seas. Also harder to get off when you need to step on the edge and then on to slippery rocks - another selling point for the Sagitta as she was the only ship we saw that did not solely use the inflatables.

As soon as we landed, there were animals and reptiles everywhere. Alex had said that he would not talk that much on the first walk as we would be too busy snapping photos and getting over-excited, and he was right. We saw blue footed boobies, land iguanas

marine iguanas

sea lions and their babies

frigate birds - some puffed up to attract the ladies attention (although apparently it is the situation and quality of the nest that is the deciding factor, not the colour, size or impressiveness of the red neck bit)

and finches. I took loads of video footage as well as photos (only a small selection included in this blog!). The walk was 90 minutes along a beach

then tracking inland through dry trees (it was "spring" in the islands).

We were there for spring, so the green was yet to arrive as the garua had only just started.
Back on the panga and back to the Sagitta, which immediately set sail for Santa Cruz – quite a bumpy ride. I did a video of the boat whilst SS snoozed in the cabin, and then we had the fire drill. We snoozed a bit more and then decided to be sociable. We went upstairs to make a cup of tea and found most of the other passengers sitting in the lounge next to the bar… reading. No-one was saying a word. Hmmm. Luckily Donna (the American) and Phil and Kathy (an English couple) came up as well, and we got talking to them. Little did we know that that would pretty much be the way of it for the rest of the trip! Captains cocktails were at 7pm where we were introduced to the crew and had a couple of drinks, then downstairs to dinner. At this point the boat was rocking and bouncing around quite a bit. Dinner was a lovely vegetable soup followed by rice, white carrot bake, tuna cooked in foil and asparagus and tomatoes. There was cake to follow which SS and I skipped. It was quite warm downstairs in the dining rooms as the windows were shut. SS was thrilled however to see that there was a bottle of chilli sauce on the table. He was less thrilled to note that there were at least another 3 people including myself who were interested in the chilli sauce….
Off to bed early as we had an early start and the ride to Santa Cruz is always rough. We already had two down by dinner with seasickness, with more predicted…

Santa Cruz

Day two and we woke up to grey skies, docked in Porto Ayoro.

The weather followed pretty much the same pattern every day, being grey in the morning, and then clearing to a bright and sunny afternoon. The temperatures ranged from 32 degrees and hot in the day, down to about 20 degrees but windy at night.
SS and I slept really well – luckily neither of us are ever affected by seasickness. I spent some time looking through our porthole at some other ships docked nearby, including the Mary-Anne which is another Angermeyer ship, and the Cachalote. These two ships followed the same route as us, and so we 3 spent the week together (although all activities were held separately and staggered so that we did not run into each other). I was very happy with our choice of Sagitta – the Cachalote is a much lower spec vessel, and the Mary Anne, whilst more beautiful than the Sagitta, and a true sailing ship (unlike the Sagitta which it turns out was actually a barge that had some masts added for effect), had no outside space to speak of. The Sagitta was the best of all worlds, and had the happiest most helpful crew.
So, breakfast was served downstairs due to the weather. It was great – scrambled eggs, toast, cold meats, cheese, cereals and fresh fruit. I had taken numerous sachets of marmite from the BA lounge on the way over, so we usually had one of these on our toast each day.
So, very full, we waddled on to the main deck, put on our life jackets, and were taken into the dock and transferred up to the Charles Darwin Centre.

We had to sit through a 6 minute out of date video and then a plea for money from the Darwin Centre people, and then Alex rescued us and shuttled us outside to where the giant tortoise breeding centre was. On the way, he gave a run down of the different types of tortoise (one per island – about 14 in total of which 2 are extinct, and only Lonesome George remains of the Pincha variety), and also of the introduced species that are causing havoc eg rats, cats, dogs, donkeys, insects. He went through how the goats were eradicated a couple of years ago (see the separate section on the Judas Goat…).
Then we were off to see the baby giant tortoises. The centre is focussing on giant tortoise population first. They collect the eggs from the tortoise nests, transport them upright (tortoise eggs cannot be rolled or inverted) and at the correct temperature (the sex of the tortoise is pre-determined by the depth at which it is buried in the nest – the deeper, the cooler, and therefore male. The closer to the surface, the warmer and therefore female. So the eggs are marked with their island, which side is up, and whether they are male or female. The eggs are incubated and hatched at the centre, and the babies kept for 4 years, at which time they are sufficiently mature to be re-released on to their respective islands. The programme has been very successful to date.

The babies were very cute in their pens, even if some of them did get into difficulty - we all cheered along this little one until he managed to right himself...

We then went to visit Lonesome George, who contrary to media reports is actually sterile and will never sire any babies. He has a very nice pen though, and some females for company. He also has a shell that looks WAY too small for him.

After this we had some free time to wander around, take pictures of land iguanas,

and also stumble across two tortoises having a fight – look at the mouth locked on the other’s leg through this fence!

We took photos of the same giant tortoises that everyone does,

and then went to the gift shoppe where I bought SS his own Darwin Centre T-shirt.
Back off to town along the red and yellow brick road (bricks are made from recycled glass from the islands),

past the weird cactus trees

and we sat for a while by the docks watching people getting on with their day (working, unloading goods etc) while SS took his shirt off to get some sun.

I also bought some more less salubrious tshirts as gifts, including a sleep tshirt for SS that says, of course “I love boobies”.

We also stopped briefly at the fish market - very amusing to see the pelicans waiting for the scraps...

We had to stop at the supermarket to check out their chilli sauce collections, and bought 3 bottles of exotic looking sauces, then back on the panga and back to the boat for lunch.

Lunch was chicken marinated in garlic with fried rice and a lovely salad with fruit, radishes, lettuce and tiny sweet tomatoes. Followed by crepes stuffed with fruit and chocolate icecream.

We had some time to relax before again going back on the panga to the docks and transferring to a mini van to head up to the highlands to see tortoises “in the wild”. This is where the first indication of the military strictness of timing on the Sagitta came up. We had been told 2pm leaving, but started getting loads of knocking on the door at 1:55pm with exhortations to hurry up. Humph. 2pm means 2pm, or perhaps even 2:05pm in my book!

The wilderness of tortoises was actually a farm where the farmer now makes more money selling tickets to tourists to come and see the reintroduced giant tortoises trek around his land. Alex was a bit annoyed by the number of people there, and to be honest, tortoises really aren’t my thing. We did get to see a tortoise shell from a dead tortoise, and were shown how the bones of the tortoise are actually attached to the shell - quite interesting.

I was more amused by the gaggles of people staring at the lumbering, fat plodders. I did buy a carved tortoise as my take home knick knack tho’.

We went round the corner to see a lava tube as well, which was just like a big cave – not really my favourite thing as I get a bit claustrophobic. This was quite a huge tube however.

We got back a bit early to the docks, so had half an hour to kill before being picked up. SS and I wandered about town, observing the plight of the city – not very attractive.

Quick shower and change at the boat, and then back on the panga for a ride to the Angermeyer Point restaurant. To be honest, I would have preferred dinner on the boat, particularly when SS got into a “discussion” with the barman over the price of our beers (everything in Ecuador has a VAT of 12% plus service of 10% added to all quoted prices…). Food was ordinary (onion soup followed by meat and salad then a selection of cakes, one of which bore a great resemblance to the cake we had on board on the night before), and then on the way back our panga motor got tangled in the mooring line of the Mandalay yacht. Thank goodness someone on the boat saw it and called to our driver, otherwise things could have been messy! As it was we had to reverse back and forward 3 times to disentangle ourselves. Good fun in the dark...
We got back, had some mint tea, and prepared for the longest overnight cruise, down to Espanola.