Each of the Galapagos pages contain a few photos from each Island (more photos in the photo album also). |
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Touching down at Baltra, it was a short bus journey, followed by a ferry and then an hours taxi ride to reach Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz. I had a few days on the island before boarding The Aggressor which gave me chance for some exploration; some of the islands are possible to reach in a day trip.
Santa Cruz itself made a pleasant change after Quito, no longer necessary to guard all your belongings and a good base for some island hopping. Sooo much wildlife and so unflustered by humans, many times you have to be careful not to actually stand on anything. After talking to a pro photographer back in Quito who had just returned from Galapagos I went with his recommendation and left my 400mm lens behind, I had struggled a bit in the jungle with it, shooting out of unsteady dugouts travelling down a creek, shooting up in between the foliage, often directly above you it was hard to hold steady at times, there would have been the odd occasion it would have come in handy in Galapagos but to be honest on the whole the wildlife is so close by that you don’t need such a long lens and my old 75-300 did just fine, plus it was a lot lighter to carry. This along with my 10-22mm were the two lenses used the most.
Galapagos is rugged and wild, with its black volcanic rock, often shrouded in mist and abundant extraordinary creatures, many of them endemic, that inhabit both land and water it would be easy to think you had stepped back in time. Each island is different and has its own variations amongst the species that live there. The prehistoric looking Land and Marine Iguana’s frequent many of the islands, along with huge numbers of birds, the blue-footed booby probably being the most comical looking. These birds lay their eggs on the ground and during incubation period of 40 days the parents take it in turn to sit on the egg, totally unconcerned by the constant clicking of cameras.
The sea lions were found on many islands, basking in the sun, on land extremely clumsy and slow, but seeing them underwater whilst diving was a different story!
I managed to get my dive bag collected and shipped out to the Aggressor whilst it was collecting supplies from Puerto Ayora the day before boarding; this saved me having to lug my gear back to Baltra which is where I had to meet the boat the following day.
On the whole a good bunch of people on board, great crew who really did work hard and definitely deserved their tips which when added to one of the worlds top diving locations made for some unforgettable diving experiences. We did a few land visits but the main purpose of the week of course was diving.