30/05/2019 – Travel day, Quito to Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

We got up at 01:30 after not too much sleep from excitement! We finished packing up and left the hostel at 02:00 with our host to get to the airport. We left earlier than necessary but our host was going to collect another guest from the airport at that time, so it seemed convenient for everyone. Kindly, the hosts didn’t charge us for the 3 nights of the hostel due to the camera loss. We got in the queue for Galapagos island passengers behind one guy who had beaten us to it. Josh got chatting to him and it turns out he is a photography geek, has a fancy camera but uses his Canon G12 most of the time (a similar camera to mine, that Josh will be using in the Galapagos.) He gave Josh a few pointers and tips about the camera which I think helped Josh get to grips with the kind of pictures he might be able to achieve, and sparked a bit of hope! We got our baggage scanned and tagged (I think they scan for fruit etc as well as the usual stuff so as to not bring new plants and species into the protected islands that might effect the precious ecosystem and wildlife.) Then we queued for our $20 entry card. We got ourselves checked in and then had to run to the boarding gate – the Galapagos baggage scan opened at 0500 and our flight took off at 0600 so it was a bit of a rush! We had organised our own flights via Guayaquil as it was cheaper but most Galapagos were going directly and took off a bit later than us. We managed to hop on board, we must have had an upgrade as we ended up in the first class area of the small plane – an extra big seat and lots of leg room for my little legs, the other passengers must have been fuming! After the shortest flight of my life (it was only 50 minutes in total) we landed in Guayaquil and transferred to the gate for our next flight. We grabbed a coffee from the Ecuadorian version of Starbucks ‘Juan Valdez Café’ and ate some croissants we had bought ourselves the evening before. We were called to board our next flight after just enough time to pop to the toilet and then were on our way to Baltra island on the Galapagos! Josh and I had been seated in the emergency exit so again I had a ridiculous amount of leg room! We watched some Narcos and Josh had just about drifted off to sleep when we were landing again. I was too excited to sleep on the journey! We landed in Baltra then went through border control where our entry ticket and passports were checked. We also had to pay our $100 entry fee each. We later learnt that only $25 of this goes to the national park and the rest goes back to the mainland, to add to this, this is due to go up to $200 next year, with still only $25 of that going to the national park, an absolute shame! Our baggage was scanned then all the passengers waited and watched as all the luggage was sniffed by two police dogs. We were signalled to collect them so Josh and I picked up our bags and as we exited were greeted by a guide holding a ‘Majestic’ sign – the name of our boat. We waited a little while as the rest of the passengers had arrived on a direct flight from Quito. We saw a few Darwin Finches, our first glimpse of the wildlife! When we had all been identified our luggage was then taken care of by one of the crew, and all the passengers boarded a bus to take us to a ferry. Baltra island is uninhabited and the landscape was barren land. When we pulled up at the ferry, a large iguana crossed the road in front of us! We got off the coach and Josh immediately spotted a blue footed boobie flying above us. We saw bright orange crabs all over the rocks and lots of pelicans diving into the sea, fishing. It really was magical already! We crossed the short distance to Santa Cruz island on a ferry boat, where Josh got some attention for his blue nail varnish. We were taken onto another coach then drove down to a ranch for lunch, where there were loads of giant dome tortoises. They were in the wild and just wandering around, it was so cool! They were absolutely huge and their skin looks like elephant skin.

Giant tortoise.

We wandered around the ranch and then were joined by the rest of the group (half of us were just arriving for a 5 day trip, half had already been on board for a few days and were going to finish their trip at the same time as us.) We had lunch at the ranch and then got on a bus to the pontoon where we were picked up by two rubber dinghies or ‘pangas’ orange life jackets on. We arrived on the beautiful huge speedboat ‘Majestic’ that we can call home for the next few days. We had a welcome briefing with our guide James in the lounge area, where he explained how things worked and went through itineraries with us. We were then showed to our cabin. It is absolutely luxurious and we are so ready for it! We have a huge comfortable double bed, a screen with apple t.v. (loads of documentaries and tv shows to watch, except I don’t think we will spend much time watching it whilst we are here!) and a bathroom with a lovely power shower (best shower in two months, you don’t say that usually when you stay on a boat!) and l’occitane toiletries. The other guests laughed when we said ‘we even get free soap!’ There is another couple on their honeymoon about 5 or 6 years older than us and the other 13 people are mum and dads age(ish), a mixture of Australians, some English people, and a German guy.

We then all went on the dinghy to the town of Santa Cruz to spend a couple of hours wandering around or ‘supporting the local economy’ as our guide told us. As we stepped off at the pontoon we saw some small sharks and rays swimming around, as well as some little sea lions sunbathing on the pontoon. They are not bothered by people, boats or noise at all it is quite surreal! Josh and I went for a wander, had a coffee and a snack, bought a blue footed boobie magnet (not going to miss out again this time!) and went to look at the fish market where a heron and some pelicans were fighting over scraps of fish. We got picked up by the dinghies and taken back to our boat where we watched the sunset from the back of the boat. We had a group briefing to let us know about the plans for the following day and then it was dinner time! We were served some rice and chicken and vegetables, and had a still warm marble cake for dessert, which was so tasty. The food here is great! We went down to our room and crashed out as early as seemed socially possible as we were so tired from the long day. The boat was set to depart the bay at about midnight.