Santa Fe de Antoquia
We
CRUISE / PART 2
5th day: Santa Cruz
4 people join us
* 2 girls from Denmark
* India and Alex from UK
We leave to visit the "Reserva de tortugas El Chato" that we have already visited.
Indeed, not knowing the details of the new program we had decided to visit it in case it was not planned... We do it again under very cloudy weather.
At the end of the journey, four other people are waiting for us ... Oswaldo doesn’t know anything about them and asks.
It turns out that they paid for their cruise at a local agency in cash a week before and the shipping company got nothing.
The captain refuses to take them and the poor guys remain at the dock ... We are all disturbed by this episode. The negotiations lasted a while and we joined the boat at nightfall!!!
For this second part we are only 8 passengers
6th day: Rabida Island
It is a small island with steep slopes with red sand beaches, originally called Jervis. Despite its small size, Rabida has one of the highest volcanoes concentrations in the Galapagos. It is thanks to iron-rich lava deposits that its sands and soils are so red.
Bartholome Island
The island is rather arid. With little vegetation, endemic species consist of a few lava lizards and the insects they feed on. The island is home to one of the most recognizable geological features of the Galapagos, the famous Pinnacle Rock. The rock was formed by the lava of an underwater volcano that quickly cooled into thin layers of basalt, forming this distinctive and highly photographed landmark. Pinnacle Rock even played the lead in the 2003 Hollywood movie "Master and Commander" starring Russell Crowe!
7th day: South Plaza Island
The island is the result of an uneven geological uplift, which explains why it has cliffs on its south side and low shores on its north side.
The interior is a mixture of scrub vegetation and giant cactus forest
Santa Fe Island
Small flat island that would be one of the oldest volcanoes of the archipelago.
The dating of submarines estimates their formation to more than 4 million years.
8th day: San Cristóbal
The island was formed when three or four volcanoes, all now extinct, were grouped into a land mass. Named after the Spanish version of St Christophe, the patron saint of sailors, its original English name was the island of Chatham.
San Cristóbal has the oldest permanent settlement of residents in the Galapagos, and it is the first island that Charles Darwin visited when the Beagle arrived in the archipelago in 1835.
Punta Pitt
A hiking trail allows to observe close up the robust shrubs that manage to survive in this sometimes sinister volcanic landscape.
Witch Hill
The bright white coral beach on Witch Hill is one of the best in the Galapagos. The hill itself is the product of a cone of volcanic tufa - a cone of compact volcanic ash and debris. It was one of the first sites that Charles Darwin visited on his famous trip aboard the Beagle
9th day: Lobos uninhabited island
The wolf island (Isla Lobos) was named after the colony of Galapagos sea lions that live here,
Two short hiking trails lead peacefully to the centre of the island.
After this morning walk at 6 am, we leave our bat to reach the airport and catch our flight to Quito
CRUISE / 1st PART
The meeting place is set at 9:30 at the airport, which means we have to go backwards to join the group.
Actually, we’re taking a cab for the first part.
We received an email from the travel agency with the details of the new program... It’s not equal to the original, but we don’t have much choice.
Arrived at the airport, there is no one representing our boat the "Monserrat"!! Other guides are already there.
The first flight of the day arrives on time, but still no guide.
We approach other travellers looking for their guide and we are all part of the same group.
20 minutes later, Oswaldo finally arrives without giving us too much information.
The group consists of 12 people.
* Léonie and Erin from New Zeland
* Michael and Michal from Israel
* Noa and Omri from Israel
* Mickael and Belinda from Switzerland
* Iwona and Bernd from Poland and Germany
We board a bus to a small port where our boat is waiting for us. 2 people arriving on the next flight
are missing.
First mettting that allows us to introduce ourselves, to have information about the coming days and to get our cabin.
We opted for a cabin with sea view ... small but with all the comfort ... we are used to living in a small space, also for us no change.
The Galapagos archipelago consists of thirteen main islands with volcanic relief, about a thousand kilometres away from the South American continent. Only five islands are inhabited. The Galapagos Islands were discovered on March 10th 1535 by Brother Tomas de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama. The extreme isolation of these islands allowed the development of a fauna unique in the world. The archipelago is the emerged part of a large volcanic cordillera and lies under the sovereignty of Ecuador
Our program is shared between hiking and snorkeling in the different islands.
Day 1: Playa Las Bachas
The name of this beach comes from a wrong pronunciation.
After World War II, the American forces stationed here abandoned some of their barges and bachas was the closest sound to the locals.
Day 2: Dragon Hill
Dragon Hill owes its name to the population of land iguanas that inhabit this rocky hill. The abundant forests of Opuntia Cactus provide iguanas with their favorite food - juicy fruits or prickly cactus pads. These yellow «dragons» wait in the shade of large cactus plants, waiting for a meal to fall from the branches directly into their plate.
Eden Islet
The islet of Eden consists of the remains of a volcanic "tufa cone" - a volcanic element formed by explosions when molten lava comes into contact with cold sea water.
3rd day: Floreana
The island has got a very unusual human history. It was there that the very first person to live full-time in the Galapagos - a fearless Irishman named Patrick Watkins, was abandoned and lived there for two years, starting in 1807. Floreana was the first island of the Galapagos to be colonized by the Ecuadorians around 1832.
Post Office point
During their months-long voyages, the whaling ships stopped here to rebuild food and water stocks, and so that impatient sailors could tell their loved ones that they were safe. The tradition was that sailors would leave a letter to their families hoping that a ship back in port would take it and deliver it for them. This practice of leaving letters and cards and taking others addressed to relatives, gave his name to the place, now called "Post Office Bay".
We all left an envelope and picked up one or more letters to mail back.
Punta Cormorant
A beach located between two volcanic peaks. The sand of one of the beaches is olive green. This is due to the high concentration of volcanic olivine crystals in the sand. Another beach is composed mainly of corals making the sand white and fine.
4th day: Española
This island is the southernmost of the Galapagos Islands and probably one of the oldest. Geologists have estimated it to be over 4 million years old! For thousands of years, thanks to tectonic activity, the island slowly moved away from the volcanic hot spot where the magma forms and where it was first created. So its volcano lost its power source and went out. Once the source of cool lava ceased, time began its inexorable process of erosion and made Española surprisingly flat and low in altitude compared to most of the other Galapagos islands.
Gardner Bay
A perfectly sheltered area on the east bank of the island. It is characterized by its white sand, which makes it one of the best beaches of the Galapagos.
Punta Suarez
It is located at the western tip of Española and is one of the wildest sites of the Galapagos. A famous natural feature is its geyser. This geological formation channels the currents entering a chamber where they are compressed and then expelled at high speed, causing a spectacular stream of water to flow through the air.
5th Day: North Seymour
The island was formed by an underwater lava uplift. This small flat island is crossed by hiking trails, allowing you to explore the arid landscape and observe the seabirds that inhabit North Seymour.
North Seymour’s greatest attraction is its large colony of blue-footed birds and Galapagos frigate birds.
This is where we leave 8 people who have chosen a 5-day cruise.
It is a moment of great sadness for us all, the atmosphere was extraordinary.
The group immediately functioned and as the days passed together a great complicity was established and turned into friendship.
But we promise to keep in touch.
We remain on board waiting for the arrival of the new passengers under a beautiful sun.
ROAD BOOK 130
MAVROS ODYSSEE