Category: Galapagos

Our first day was supposed to be spent exploring Genovesa Island, famous for the abundance of birds and the Prince Philip’s Steps. The island however, was closed due to a outbreak of Avian Flu. So, the Evolve instead headed first to Santa Fe Island.

I woke early and got a nice cup of coffee on the deck. I started getting a hint of “who ran things” around these parts!

After which we got our gear on and boarded the Zodiacs.

And we headed to Barrington Bay. Santa Fe Island used to be named Barrington Island after Admiral Samuel Barrington. During our briefing the night before, we were told that the island is considered the oldest by many at over 4.5 million years old, and there’s a specific species of Land Iguana only found on Santa Fe Island.

Fabrizio, the Naturalist in our Zodiac mentioned that there’s a large colony of Sea Lions in the bay and also pointed out the first Blue Footed Boobies of the trip!

They are so cool looking, huh?

We did our wet landing and being told that there’s a large colony of Sea Lions in Barrington Bay was a bit of an understatement!

You are not allowed to touch any of the wildlife and not approach and try to stay 2 meters away from them. It was amazing to visit a place where the wildlife has no fear of humans.

The sea lions would look at you and then “bust a pose”.

And having no fear of hoo-mans meant that if you weren’t paying attention, sometimes they’d catch you in some interesting situations.

We started our nature walk and Fabrizio quickly pointed out some lizards.

These were Santa Fe Lava Lizards. The ones with the bright red throats are the females.

The island is small, just 24 square kilometers and yet, it is an amazing place to visit.

We were amazed to see so much cactus here.

Apparently, there’s a specific species of cactus that is endemic to this area.

Walking along the trail we came across a Mockingbird. It was just not phased by our presence. This is of a distinct sub-species endemic to Santa Fe Island.

Can’t you just see how Darwin would have been affected by this?

And then Fabrizio pointed what we’d been waiting to see.

This is Conolophus Pallidus, more widely known as the Santa Fe Land Iguana. Endemic to Santa Fe Island……which covers just about 9 square miles! Amazing!

It just stared at us; knowing it ran the place. You know, like “get off my front lawn?”

It was so amazing to see creatures totally not fearful of humans. This male Lava Lizard was doing “push ups”, trying to attract a possible mate.

We boarded our Zodiac and headed back to Evolve, where lunch was waiting for us.

Tables set, the Concierge, Joselyn, introduced us to the Chef, and lunch.

Which we enjoyed.

After which we headed back to our room for a break before our next stop.

**** I realize that I’m waaaay behind on these posts; so I’ll try to minimize the verbiage after this post.

Being born and raised on an island is something that has stayed with me. Islands and island life fascinates me…..and of course there are those amazing places to visit. We’d already done Easter Island like almost a decade ago now. There are places that this bookworm had always dreamt of visiting. And one of them was the Galapagos. With wildlife found nowhere else in the world, where a young Charles Darwin‘s observations would lead to the theory of Evolution. Well, ’nuff said, right?

While looking at different ways of visiting, it became clear that being on a cruise would work out the best for us. The problem being that the Missus is not into cruises as a whole. Then I did some research and discovered Ecoventura, a company that does “luxury cruises” with no more than 20 passengers on board! The reviews I’d read were mostly super positive. Yes, it’s not cheap…like 10k per person double occupancy…but you only live once, right? One we decided to go with Ecoventura, we had to choose which seven day intinerary we wanted. Was it the Southern Route, with beaches, bays, and water life. Or the Northern route, the volcanic soul of the archipelago? You know which we chose, right?

And so, we flew to Quito and spent a few days, really enjoying ourselves. And soon enough we were on our flight, on our way to San Cristobal Airport.

We were met at the airport and transported to the dock where we to meet our Zodiac to the Evolve. Check out the Sea Lions hanging around the harbor.

This one is having a nap!

Once on board, we were greeted and shown to our suite…and yes, it was a suite. Very comfortable, with nice amenities.

The views from the room was amazing. We got our own personalized water bottles and there were kettles and Nespresso Machines in the room as well. The dining area also had all these amenities. We were also provided binoculars.

Even better was that good WiFi was also provided. Rooms were also made up each day while we were out on our tours.

Everyday, there would be an itinerary posted.

This being the first day, folks would be arriving at different times, so there was a buffet lunch available.

And the view was wonderful…..

And it gave me time to explore the yacht a bit.

It turned out that there were 17 passengers on this voyage of the Evolve. There were 13 crew. The standard tour ratio of Naturalists to guests in the Galapagos is 16 to 1….we had two Naturalists on this cruise.

Soon enough we were underway. We’d find that there was always more than enough space for one to relax and contemplate the beauty we’d see.

We had requisite emergency drill and protocols reviewed and then were fitted for our snorkeling gear.

Soon enough, our destination for the evening was in sight. And the Naturalists met the guests at the rear of the yacht.

And the lessons would begin! Man, I could written like several volumes for this trip!

That’s Leon Dormido aka “Kicker Rock”.

It’s name; Leon Dormido means Sleeping Lion which is said to resemble. Others say it resembles a foot, thus the name Kicker Rock.

It’s a volcanic Tuff Cone that has been eroded thru time, thus there’s that little channel in the split area.

FOY’s might know of another tuff cone…..named Diamond Head?

It was awesome sailing around Leon Dormido. From the sheers walls…..

To the little bays…..

It’s supposed to be a rather popular diving spot; but we’d be doing that several times along other islands during our trip. It’s quite stunning to watch as the sun sets…..

It was a great way to start our adventure!

After sunset, all the passengers met in the lounge and the crew was introduced to us by the Captain and we had a cocktail. Then we had a briefing of our destination the next morning.

We would have a briefing on our upcoming destination every evening.

And then it was dinner time. So, this being a “luxury” cruise, with under 20 people, there would be an ever changing menu each evening.

How was it? It was a mixed bag; though we appreciated the effort. With two choices for appetizers and mains, the Missus and I would get one of each every evening.

Nice presentation, but nothing particularly stood out to us during this dinner. Still, this was not typical cruise dining, right?

Tomorrow we’d be visiting Santa Fe Island and Plaza Sur.