May 29th & 30th - San Cristobal & return to Baltra
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno
May 29th - Punta Pitt & Pitt Rock
Another day, another island, another early breakfast and landing! A wet landing here on to a sandy beach - this was a green sand beach - so named due to its high concentration of olivine crystals [as are the other 'green sand' beaches]. We had a fantastic walk up a ravine between stunning colourful formations of volcanic rock, and eventually emerged onto a plateau area with fabulous views all round. This is the only place where you can see all three species of Booby breeding. Nazcas and Blue-footed nest on the ground, whereas Red-footed nest in trees, being a bit lighter than the other two species. It was quite amusing to see the Blue-footed in particular, nesting in the middle of the track, surround by a neat broad white circle of guano demarcating their 'home'. The headland was very colourful, with large swathes of of purslane and/or what I believe was Galapagos or Common Carpetweed. One important bird we became familiar with on the walk, was the San Cristobal Mockingbird, another endemic version of this inquisitive family. We spent some time up here admiring the view and taking photos, and then made our way carefully down the ravine and back to the beach, where we spent a short time taking photos of the colourful rock formations and some Galapagos Sea Lions. Then it was back into the pangas and return to the boat . After this we had a panga cruise out to Pitt Rock which lies just offshore and is teeming with seabirds. It reminded me a little of Bass Rock off the SE coast of Scotland where the air is full of Gannets, only here we had Boobies, Shearwaters, Petrels, and Swallow-tailed Gulls - an incredible sight.
Another day, another island, another early breakfast and landing! A wet landing here on to a sandy beach - this was a green sand beach - so named due to its high concentration of olivine crystals [as are the other 'green sand' beaches]. We had a fantastic walk up a ravine between stunning colourful formations of volcanic rock, and eventually emerged onto a plateau area with fabulous views all round. This is the only place where you can see all three species of Booby breeding. Nazcas and Blue-footed nest on the ground, whereas Red-footed nest in trees, being a bit lighter than the other two species. It was quite amusing to see the Blue-footed in particular, nesting in the middle of the track, surround by a neat broad white circle of guano demarcating their 'home'. The headland was very colourful, with large swathes of of purslane and/or what I believe was Galapagos or Common Carpetweed. One important bird we became familiar with on the walk, was the San Cristobal Mockingbird, another endemic version of this inquisitive family. We spent some time up here admiring the view and taking photos, and then made our way carefully down the ravine and back to the beach, where we spent a short time taking photos of the colourful rock formations and some Galapagos Sea Lions. Then it was back into the pangas and return to the boat . After this we had a panga cruise out to Pitt Rock which lies just offshore and is teeming with seabirds. It reminded me a little of Bass Rock off the SE coast of Scotland where the air is full of Gannets, only here we had Boobies, Shearwaters, Petrels, and Swallow-tailed Gulls - an incredible sight.
After Punta Pitt and Pitt Rock we lunched and cruised down the west side of San Cristobal and eventually moored off the port of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. During this cruise Andy was gazing out of the dining room window when he spotted 2 Pink-footed Sheawaters passing close by - I've never seen anyone move so fast to get out on the side deck! Nice find tho'. At Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, we whizzed off the boat on the pangas to the dock and took a bus up into the highlands of the island to look again for Galapagos Rail. My recollection is that we failed again but I stand to be corrected. We did encounter the local subspecies of Woodpecker Finch striatipectus though, and we visited the tortoise sanctuary known as Galapaguera. Whilst walking around the various trails, yours truly managed to catch his foot on a volcanic stone on a level path and fall forwards and in doing so caused the tripod foot of my new Canon 100-400 lens to take most of the force of the fall and break off, including part of the foot mounting ring! When I had recovered my composure [with Andy's help - thanks Andy] it was a relief to find that the lens appeared to be still working in all other respects, which it continued to do. Some small cuts on the back of my hand were also cleaned up. I did however pull my right shoulder rather badly and it is still not fully right to this day [17th July]. The repair to the lens subsequently cost me £400 [I am waiting for the result of the insurance claim ....]. Anyway, enough of my woes. Apart from close views of various tortoises, another highlight here was even better views of a Paint-billed Crake which strutted its stuff around the perimeter of one of the water pools provided for the tortoises. After the sanctuary we headed up into the hills to view a freshwater pool. It was rather misty and Andy & Ernesto found that the normal access point to the pool was fenced off. This was where the chance of the Rail was hoped for. With the exception of myself, Linda P and Janice, they all decided to set off down the road to try & find another access point. I remained with the bus at the parking area as my shoulder was very sore at this point, although I did wander around and take a few photos. The others did manage to get a view of the pool and saw a few birds although I don't recall what they were. Unexpected was a Whimbrel flying across the hillside in the mist! Eventually we re-boarded the bus and made our way back down to the port, to return to the boat for the evening. After dinner, the de-brief and briefing for the morning we retired to our rooms to pack and thence to bed, and had an overnight cruise back to Baltra. The briefing from Ernesto was to make sure we knew what was to happen at Baltra where we would be catching the flight back to Quito via Guayaquil, this being the end of the main trip.
30th May - Baltra to Quito
We had breakfast at 6:30 and then there was a prompt transfer of bodies and luggage to the pangas in order to get to the airport at Baltra before the crowds [it's a very busy little airport with people coming and going all the time]. Ernesto was very helpful in that he checked us all in himself [partly so we could stand off to one side with our carry-on bags so that they weren't inspected to closely regarding their weight!]. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Ernesto who had looked after us so well and made the trip to interesting - and entertaining at times! :-) Unfortunately we had a long wait as our Avianca plane was 2 hours late arriving! This caused Andy some anxiety as he was keen to get back to Quito before the KLM office closed - I didn't mention at the outset that KLM had failed to get his hold baggage to Quito on the flight out, and there had been no time to collect it on the morning of our departure for Baltra as their office wasn't open. Poor Andy had lasted the whole 11 days with what he was wearing when he flew out [I think plus a few extra undies he managed to buy in Quito on arrival!]. Fortunately drying washed clothes was pretty easy on the boat by hanging them out on the upper deck. Anyway just to be sure I contacted the ground agent Tania by mobile [Andy was low on credit!] and in the event I had to leave a message authorising her to retrieve Andy's baggage if we didn't get back to Quito in time. It was touch & go and as we landed we made sure Andy was the first off the plane as it was about 4:50 p.m. local time and the office closed at 5! After we had all gone through customs and collected our bags we waited with baited breath. Then a huge cheer went up as Andy appeared through the crowds with his case in tow and Tania close behind. The office had been closed but it was clear that someone was still inside so after some banging on the door, Andy and his case were re-united! We then transferred back to our hotel in Quito [the excellent Mercure Almeda] for the last night of the main tour. After freshening up we had an excellent last meal and bade our farewells to the folk who weren't doing the Andes extension [David & Linda, Michael & Malcolm, Linda from Canada, and Janice]. We also met Greg & Boo Baker who were joining us for the Andes extension. All agreed that the Galapagos trip had been outstanding.
We had breakfast at 6:30 and then there was a prompt transfer of bodies and luggage to the pangas in order to get to the airport at Baltra before the crowds [it's a very busy little airport with people coming and going all the time]. Ernesto was very helpful in that he checked us all in himself [partly so we could stand off to one side with our carry-on bags so that they weren't inspected to closely regarding their weight!]. Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Ernesto who had looked after us so well and made the trip to interesting - and entertaining at times! :-) Unfortunately we had a long wait as our Avianca plane was 2 hours late arriving! This caused Andy some anxiety as he was keen to get back to Quito before the KLM office closed - I didn't mention at the outset that KLM had failed to get his hold baggage to Quito on the flight out, and there had been no time to collect it on the morning of our departure for Baltra as their office wasn't open. Poor Andy had lasted the whole 11 days with what he was wearing when he flew out [I think plus a few extra undies he managed to buy in Quito on arrival!]. Fortunately drying washed clothes was pretty easy on the boat by hanging them out on the upper deck. Anyway just to be sure I contacted the ground agent Tania by mobile [Andy was low on credit!] and in the event I had to leave a message authorising her to retrieve Andy's baggage if we didn't get back to Quito in time. It was touch & go and as we landed we made sure Andy was the first off the plane as it was about 4:50 p.m. local time and the office closed at 5! After we had all gone through customs and collected our bags we waited with baited breath. Then a huge cheer went up as Andy appeared through the crowds with his case in tow and Tania close behind. The office had been closed but it was clear that someone was still inside so after some banging on the door, Andy and his case were re-united! We then transferred back to our hotel in Quito [the excellent Mercure Almeda] for the last night of the main tour. After freshening up we had an excellent last meal and bade our farewells to the folk who weren't doing the Andes extension [David & Linda, Michael & Malcolm, Linda from Canada, and Janice]. We also met Greg & Boo Baker who were joining us for the Andes extension. All agreed that the Galapagos trip had been outstanding.