Episode 11: The Galapagos - A Paradise Within a Paradise!

Hola Everyone!

If you have a Bucket List plastered to your fridge or wall of your office, you MUST see the Galapagos Islands! Wow! Wow! WOW! You cannot wipe the smiles off our faces! It is easy to see why they call them 'The Enchanted Islands". 

Our last sunset at sea coming into Galapagos waters - Sensational!

The weather has been perfection, the temperature a cool 22-23 degrees, the sun brilliant and the seas kissed by gentle tropical breezes. We have been blessed to be surrounded by wonderful islanders who have helped us no end and welcomed us with open hearts and those big smiles. The people are quiet and very demure by comparison to other countries we have visited; we feel so very lucky to be here...

So, we lost Glenys' bucket she lost over the side from the last blog when we were entering Galapagos waters. It sunk. Why did we not dive over? Because we did not know what was lurking about. One must check out the territory first and safety of the family is our Number One priority. Silly us. In hindsight; we have never swum in such a fish/animal friendly environment! Better to be safe than sorry hey!

We had a long motor for some 30 hours getting into Galapagos, there was simply no wind but, on the bright side, we got to get very close up to the walls of mighty 'Kicker Rock', a magnificent, standalone rock some 148 metres high welcoming the Marmax Crew with our first experience of frolicking sea lions, turtles, huge frigate birds and a selection of birds we have never seen before. We were surprised to see so many brilliant white, sandy beaches as we cruised up to the island of San Cristobal.

Kicker Rock - Kicker Rock', a magnificent, standalone rock, see the boat to the right? It's huge!

In to the main port, we dropped the anchor on the outskirts of the mooring bouy's and awaited Customs and Immigration to clear us. Well, that was an experience, I tell you. We think New Zealand Customs are tough! We had to wait a few hours for them as we had arrived early. A water taxi arrives at our stern with not one or two officials, but EIGHT!! We could not believe it, they just kept coming aboard. Fancy uniforms, big boots, guns, you name it. They inspected and photographed the fire extinguishers, the fridge (goodbye beef in the freezer, I'm sure they had a good feed that night), us, our papers...cameras going off everywhere. The doctors' (yes, an official doctor) eyes nearly fell out of his head when he examined the first aid kits. We probably have more drugs aboard than what the whole island has. He was most impressed. The Spanish interpreter was a huge help and kept things calm. None of the officials could speak English but they were nice enough, though very stern and obviously take their jobs very seriously indeed, a point driven through to us time and time again over the next week of travelling between islands. The good tick of health from the hull inspector, the doctor, Department of Environment, Customs and Immigration, the safety dude and whoever else was taking part. The fumigation guy arrived the next morning with a 'Ghost Buster' size gun to fumigate the yacht. Silly thing was, we only got a bee and a fly or two inside once we got to Galapogas. Bruce got taken ashore with our passports and we were good to go. Yellow quarantine flag down; we had officially arrived in Galapagos!

Bruce looking a bit stressed! Customs & Immigration Inspection

It was no easy street getting here as you are supposed to book a minimum of 60 days before you arrive, we booked 30 days out. There are not many overseas yachts here as the cost of fees is so prohibitive. $US3000 just for boat and crew fees. We would have probably spent this amount again on just being here, so start buying those lotto tickets! It is best to use an agent to make the path smooth, the security is phenomenal! We have cameras being played on us no matter where we go, the shoreline, streets, jetty and docks are constantly monitored. You cannot move from island to island without an agent. We decided to anchor up for the week in San Cristobal and take fast boat rides to the islands. It is only US$30 a trip each and, with no wind about, faster than sailing Marmax.

Taking the taxi boat ashore US$1.00 each trip per head. Love this easy transport system

One of our island to island speed boats. All had 3 x 250 hp Suzuki's and went like the clappers!

So, Glenys found this kid about 12 years old, Gabriel to act as our travel agent. The children of the island seem to run the shops and restaurants a lot of the time as the parents know very little English. Little Gabriel was unbelievably efficient! His Dad owned a boat which supplemented their travel agency in the main street. Gabriel ran around on his bike with his VHF, leaping taxi boats, fussing around his clients; could not recommend him enough, he did a stellar job for a young man.

Gabriel - Our miniature travel agent. Big responsibilities for a young man! 

The travel agents here are responsible for ensuring that their clients get on and off boats at the correct times and at the correct places. Sounds obvious but the border controls between all the islands is tight as can be. We always had boat ID's put over our heads prior to any boarding a boat, bags checked by customs, a personal 'minder' to meet and greet us on each jetty, ensuring we got to our hotel or the next boat or tour. We had a road block one day on our tour to the Highlands of Santa Cruz; all ID checked, asked 'no fruit or vegetables on us?' All for environmental control. The islands have different species, different habitats, they are understandably paranoid about insects and animal matter. Until recently, the future of humans here depended on the islands. Today, the future of the islands, depend on the animals. Once we were checked a few times, it has now become habit, so it is not a problem. At first it seemed very invasive to us, mind you the uniforms are quite intimidating too. They LOVE uniforms here!

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of 13 major islands and few minor ones. They are volcanic in origin and very geologically young. Basically, they are the tops of enormous submarine mountains and pretty much dominated by lava flows, interesting basalt formations and stunning, white sandy beaches; all very dramatic! All the coastal areas and smaller islands are covered with bushes and small trees, mainly the cacti which silhouette the horizons. The islands have varying climates mainly because it hardly ever rains here. Most of the islands are arid though there is some lush vegetation in the highlands of some of the islands where vegetables and fruit are grown. Most of the drinking water is distilled. Because the Galapagos lies in the meeting place of winds and ocean currents coming from the north and south, these determine the climate and distribution and abundance of the species, each island is quite different.

 The islands of Galapagos are basically the tops of enormous submarine mountains

We have arrived during, what they call the 'Garua' (causing a fine drizzle on top of the hills). This runs from June to November when the Southwest Tradewinds are stronger, the South Equatorial Current and the Cromwell Undercurrent are their strongest. Therefore, the air and sea are cooler right now. From December to May, The Northeast Tradewinds blow and the hot Panama Current prevails. This is what we got caught up in on Marmax while sailing here! It was hotter then, but only to the tune of 25 degrees, so very comfortable!  

Cold misty mountains above...

Glorious, soft, sandy, white beaches...extraordinary! Puerto Chino - San Cristobal

San Cristobal is supposed to have not a lot going for it according to the locals, though we have loved it! To be greeted every single morning by sea lions is very special. They blow bubbles against the hull at night, we presume because there are so many fish under us. We have had to place a few fenders on the stern to keep them away from jumping aboard; many local boats have lengths of barbed wire slung around their topsides to keep them off.  The mess they make is not worth the 'cuteness!' Honestly, it is just like sleeping on the farm during lambing season. The baby sea lions sound just like ram lambs that have lost their Mum! Of course, the Mothers and fathers make sexy noises all night, we've gotten used to it now.

By day, we have seen the huge Frigate birds steal fish out of the sea lions’ mouths. Frigates cannot dive in salt water as it will kill them, so they steal food. Often Frigates can be found in the volcano lakes splashing about to get rid of salt from their wings. We have never learnt so much about animals in our lives, I tell you! Marvellous for Janelle at her age but if I tell you about all of them, this blog would never get posted. Each animal has rather an incredible history and story behind it here and the Charles Darwin Institute, among others, do a fabulous job with interpreting it all. Just too much to tell you!

We have been on incredible walks through the mist to the top of volcanoes (no pics sorry-too misty the day we went), we have swam at the most beautiful beaches you can imagine, the infrastructure of the walking tracks are amazing, all diamond-cut volcanic rocks, flanked by these incredible moon like scenes of black rocks, lichens and prickly pear cactus'. We've climbed rocks to sit down with the Blue-footed Booby birds, had conversations with the both young and cute Iguanas and the old fellas getting uglier by the day. They are mainly black and grey, but the boys turn on their colours during the breeding season. Whoever is the most colourful, pulls the girls. Same with the Booby’s actually; those with the bluest feet pull the hot chicks! We visited a couple of the tortoise breeding farms where we meet tortoises from only a month old...so cute! Then the grand daddy’s who reach an amazing 125 years of age. It was just fabulous!

We have climbed through stunning lava tubes, quite different to our New Zealand volcanic environment. The lava has all stopped rather suddenly and because many of the islands are so young, the rocks are quite soft by comparison to ours.

From San Cristobal, we travelled by boat to Santa Cruz, the second largest town in Galapagos, did the Highland tour with Bruce, checked out giant sinkholes, those giant tortoises, an incredible tree house which had accommodation both under the roots and up in the branches! Then Glenys, Janelle, Les and I set off to the stunning island of Isabela. The streets were all soft, fine sand, just like castor sugar!  It’s hard to pick a favourite island. Bruce had to get back to Marmax as we cannot leave the boat unattended for longer than 24 hours for insurance purposes. He took a boat back to the yacht in San Cristobal. 

Wow...Isabela was a place we could not get enough of. Flamingo’s, iguanas, the Tintorera Grotto with white tipped sharks swimming with the sea lions. The sea lions nip at the shark’s tails to get their attention so they will play. We snorkelled with turtles, parrot fish, sharks, penguins and sea lions whilst lucky enough to have a brilliant naturalist as our guide. Her words were, "We live in a paradise within a paradise'. Never a truer word said. The animals seemed to pose like photographic models. On one small rock alone, we saw a pelican, a Booby bird, a penguin, a heron, Sally light-foot crabs, iguanas, sea lions and frigate birds circling above. It was like an aquarium in heaven! There is a 2-metre rule here with animals. It is the animals who break the 2-metre rule. If you don't watch where you are walking, you are bound to trip over some magnificent creature! Superb accommodation, sensational food and drinks everywhere we went!

A 4 week old tortoise

Isabela Island, we can't get enough of you!

A Blue footed Booby

Back to Santa Cruz for another night and we walked through to Finch and Academy Bay. A wonderful walk through salt lakes, mangroves, cactus groves, breath-taking beaches, a beautiful cool canyon with a salt water grotto to swim in - huge fish!

Some Galapagos ingenuity...bottle air-conditioning & a tyre for a window frame. Well, why not?

Janelle’s Uncle Ian had given her a book called 'My Father's Island' prior to this trip. It was a fascinating autobiography about a young girl called Joanna Angermeyer and her family, growing up in the Galapagos Islands from the 1930's. Glenys and I are into this stuff, to cut another long, exploratory story short, we were absolutely rapt to find and spend time with her Uncle Teppi who owns Angermeyer Destinations in Santa Cruz. A final feast and cocktails at his establishment before we headed back to San Cristobal on the boat.

The Angermeyer property

Back to Marmax and bubbling over with excitement and stories of our adventures, Bruce felt a bit left-out, so Glenys re-booked the entire trip to Santa Cruz and Isabela! Bruce and Glenys have gone off on a second honeymoon for two days in paradise! In the meantime, Janelle has stayed with us. Yesterday we went swimming with some more sea lions at a beach which lies just off Marmax's port side. Have you ever heard a 14-year-old girl squealing into a face mask underwater? The sea lions would just come rushing out of nowhere at us, as Janelle said, clutching her little heart, "I felt that their eyes looked right into my soul!" What an experience for us all!

One funny story before we go, remember our blog about Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands? About us girls hanging up our clothesline with lingerie hanging up and a big tourist boat laden with tourists slid in alongside? Well, this is only the second time we have had that clothesline up with girly bits on it, much to Bruce's disapproval. Up it went. Not 30 minutes later, guess what happened? A taxi boat turned up alongside with a wedding party aboard. Glenys is on deck drying her hair with a towel over her head. She thought they asked her to take their photo in the taxi boat; only Spanish speaking here! No, they did not just want their photo taken, they wanted it taken aboard Marmax! Much to Glenys’ surprise, the boat fronts, bow up, to our stern (stepping over our sleeping seals on the tuck) and a beautiful bride and her handsome husband stepped aboard. Turns out he was a ship’s Captain. The resplendent bride tottered forehead, with the help of her husband, in ridiculously high heels and a magnificent, sheer, full length wedding dress. Glenys and I were both thinking, “Dear God, please don’t let her rip that gorgeous dress off on the split pins of the shrouds of the mast!” Janelle is frantically trying to pull back the clothesline which was tied up with four clove hitches to the rigging. Glenys has got the giggles, Les is now the official photographer as Glenys has her hands full apologising for the clothesline and trying to help Janelle. It was simply hilarious. Seriously, the things that happen on this boat, you simply cannot believe. It’s crazy! 

There are so many stories within stories we could tell you about, our time here has been simply magical. Sadly, we must move on. We expect to leave for a 25-day sail to the Marquesas Islands on Saturday. If I don't post this now, I'll never get it away. It has been and honour and a privilege to be here, and again, so much more than we ever expected! We absolutely have loved being here…

Good luck to my son, Ben and his beautiful fiancée, Katie in the coming week. We are expecting our first grandchild! Sorry I am not there for you Katie...

Adios from the Marmax Crew!

Cheers from Bruce, Glenys, Janelle, Les and Debbie

P.S. For those of you at the Sandspit Yacht Club who have been asking, YES, I will be standing for the role as Vice Commodore again but, unfortunately, will not be at the AGM as we are not back from sailing until September. My nomination, however, will be in. 


Please vote for me again! With thanks, Debbie