• Brazil – Amazon rainforest and Iguazu Falls
• Chile – maybe the name, maybe the food, maybe the wine
• Ecuador – Galapagos Islands
• Germany – Oktoberfest
• Greece – ouzo
• India – Chand Baori stepwell and Daulat Ki Chaat
• Madagascar – chameleons
• Palau – Jellyfish Lake
• Peru – Macchu Picchu
• Russia – vodka
• Spain – Alhambra, sangria and tapas

The wake up call was back to the usual 7am. KKH and I stepped out of our cabin to find a rainbow on our side of the yacht. The rainbow curved in a graceful arc with both ends on the sea. This was the first time I saw a full rainbow. I wasn’t able to captured the whole rainbow on camera; it was too big. The rainbow didn’t stay long and disappeared before breakfast. What a beautiful start to the day.

We went to Suarez Point on Española in the morning. It was supposed to be a dry landing but Hernan felt that the conditions were good enough for a wet landing at the beach. So everybody took off their shoes and jumped into the water. Once we were on dry land, everybody put their shoes back on.

KKH sat down on a log, together with some of the passengers, to put on her hiking shoes. She did not notice that there was a male sea lion lying under the bush next to the log. The male sea lion must have felt they were too near. With a loud roar, he rose up and charged towards the people sitting on the log. Hernan quickly pulled KKH, who was nearest to the sea lion, away and the rest of the people scattered. The sea lion went back to sleep once he saw that the people had moved away. So KKH and I felt that the sea lion wasn’t really on a full attack; he just wanted to chase us away. Hernan said that KKH was lucky that the sea lion didn’t take off her face as they could move really fast if they wanted to. I guessed this was a reminder that even though they were not a danger to us, they were still wild animals and could be dangerous.

Española was a rocky island and the trail was a rock-strewn path. We had to watch each step as the ground was so uneven. It was easy to trip or twist your ankle. Sometimes the sea lions would sleep along the trail and we had to walk around them. They didn’t move so it was easy to just mistake them for a rock. All the more reason to keep your eyes on the ground.

There were also marine iguanas on this island. They were more colorful than the marine iguanas on the other islands.

It was the nesting season for the waved albatross. The albatross were great gliders and could glide for months on the oceans without touching land. This was why they were clumsy at landing and taking off, since they had little practice. They only stayed at Española to rear their chicks. They mate for life so each year the same pair would get together again. Their renewed their relationship by clicking their beaks together and we were able to catch a brief view of a pair in action.

The waved albatross got its name from the wave-like patterns of its feathers on its chest. They were considered a medium-sized albatross with a wing span of 2.25m. They were critically endangered, which was just two categories above extinction. Although they were protected on the Galapagos Islands, they roamed the oceans when it wasn’t the nesting season. They were killed when they became trapped in the long fishing lines from the boats. Hernan said it was a horrible death.

There were Galapagos doves on the island as well. They were brown little birds with light blue eyes. I always thought doves were white.

Hernan brought us to the cliffs where we saw a lot of birds flying. The wind was very strong and I could feel the sea spray even though I wasn’t standing near the edge. At this spot, nature felt powerful and untamed.

The waves were strong and made a loud noise when they crashed against the rocks.

I wasn’t able to photo the birds in flight. My reaction time was too slow. But I did get some photos of the birds when they were at rest. The swallow-tailed gulls were one of the birds we saw.

The terrain of Española was rocky but flat. Because it was the oldest island, more plants were growing on it. Sometimes we would see these stop signs which were put up to tell us not to walk past this point. Jorge told us if they do not put up the signs, people would keep walking until they fall off the edge. He said it happened to three people last year.

We walked to the nesting sites of the blue footed boobies. It was a real treat to be able to see them so close. They made two kinds of calls; one was a honking sound and the other was a whistling kind of sound. We were not allowed to linger to prevent us from the scaring the boobies off their nests.

I thought the blue footed boobies were rather comical looking birds, not because of their blue feet, but because of their blank expression. The one on the rock was scratching itself with its right foot, like a dog.

We also saw a few nazca boobies. Jorge explained that “nazca” meant mask. The nazca booby got its name because the black patch around its face looked like a mask.

We came down from the cliffs and passed by a beach that was covered with rocks. The rocks here were not jagged like those on Fernandina Island because it was exposed longer to the elements.

A sea lion was sleeping beside the trail. As we were walking pass it, it suddenly decided that it wanted to go down into the water. So it walked down the trail as it was the easiest route. Meanwhile some of us were stuck at the top while the rest of us were at the bottom. All of us had to wait for the sea lion to move away before we could proceed on.

Then it was back to the yacht. Since it wasn’t time for lunch yet. I went up to the top deck with to read for a while. The book I was reading was a factual book and could be quite boring at times. Lazing under the bright sunshine, my eyelids began to get heavier and heaver, until I finally fell asleep. I slept for 30 mins and woke up just before lunchtime. After lunch, I went back to the cabin and tried to pack a little because we would be leaving in two days later. But the bulk of the packing would have to be done the night before.

At 3pm, we went to Gardner Bay. It had a beach of white sand which was 1km long.

There were a lot of sea lions sleeping on the beach and from far away, the beach looked like it was dotted with brown rocks.

It was a wet landing at the beach and we had to walk in between the sea lions. After this morning’s episode, I was a little wary of being too close to them. But the sea lions mostly ignored us.

I walked to the end of the beach until the rocks made it hard to proceed on. I saw some marine iguanas basking on the rocks.

Since few people came this way, I sat down to enjoy the scenery. A couple of hood mockingbirds joined me. They were quite bold and seemed unafraid of me. I kept seeing them digging in the sand, sometimes right where my footprint was. I never did figure out what they were digging for since they did not find anything. When I walked back to the beach, they followed behind and one of them even stood right in front of KKH for a few minutes.

Dinner was at the top deck again. This time, the chef grilled chicken and beef steak. We sat with the Japanese man and chatted with him. He was travelling alone and knew how to speak Japanese (duh!), English and Chinese. He was taking a month to visit Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. I couldn’t imagine travelling alone for such a long time in such a faraway place. He told us that we were the first Asians he met on the trip. He was glad to see us as it felt a bit lonely at times without meeting anyone from his part of the world.

After dinner, I stayed in the cabin and chatted with KKH until 9pm. That’s when I started to feel a bit seasick. So I went outside for some fresh air. The skies were clear and I could see more stars tonight.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Espinosa Point and Tagus Cove
2. Galapagos: Rabida and Egas Port
3. Galapagos: Dragon Hill

Most of the passengers would be leaving today so the wake up call was at 6am. I felt a bit grumpy at the thought of waking up one hour earlier. Even though back home, this was the same time I woke up on a normal workday. I ate a lot for breakfast. Today could be the most I ate for breakfast on this trip. Hee, it’s good to get my appetite back again.

Today we would be spending the whole day at Santa Cruz. In the morning, we took a 45 mins bus ride up to the highlands. The air felt cooler and more damp. Quite different from the sunny coastal areas. We stopped at a nature reserve where all of us changed into rubber boots. The rubber boots were covered in dried mud and kept together in one area. There was no order and all the sizes were mixed up. We spent quite a while looking for the other half of our pair. I had no experience wearing these rubber boots that reached up to my knees and had a bit of difficulty putting them on. I think we spent too much time looking and putting on our boots because Hernan told us to hurry up and reminded us that we had a plane to catch.

Once everybody had their boots on, we walked out into the reserve to try and look for giant tortoises. The ground was squishy and muddy. Sometimes our feet would get stuck so we need to use a bit of strength to pull them out.

We found two giant tortoises in this muddy patch. They had roamed out of the nature reserve and onto private land. But I think there was some kind of arrangement between the government and land owners so the tortoises were not chased away.

They were big. During the whole time we were there, they did not move from their spot. They seemed contented to just stay motionless for hours which makes them rather boring creatures to observe. One of them looked at us in a bored kind of way.

The other tortoise kept its head in its shell and refused to look at us.

We moved into the forest to search for more giant tortoises. The ground was firmer and not so muddy although there were puddles of muddy water. Green moss hung from the trees like hair. We were not able to find more giant tortoises so we went back. At the entrance, there were displays of the empty shells of giant tortoises that had died. An adult human was able to crawl into the tortoise shell quite comfortably. Some of the younger people tried. They crawled into the shell and then tried to lift it and walked on all fours. The shell was heavy so most people only managed a few steps. Hernan said that the shells were made of keratin which was the same material found in our fingernails. He also told all of us never knock a tortoise on its shell as the shell is connected to its backbone. So knocking on its shell would hurt the tortoise.

There was also a souvenir shop and most of us bought something from it. I bought three t-shirts; one for my brother and two for me. I wanted to buy more but the t-shirts cost around USD 15-20 each. I don’t think the price is cheap but I really wanted something about the Galapagos. Anyway, this place did not charge any entrance fee so the only way they could earn money was by selling food, drinks and souvenirs. I felt that if the people were able to earn some money from this, they would be more motivated to keep a place for the giant tortoises to roam.

All of us got onto the bus and took a short bus ride to the entrance of a lava tunnel. We saw a Galapagos owl sleeping inside the tunnel, just a few steps from the entrance, but it was too dark to take any photos. The tunnel was dimly lit with a row of lights. It was much bigger and wider than I had expected. Hernan said that this tunnel was 200m long. It could be much longer but the roof had collapsed at the 200m mark.

After visiting the lava tunnel, we said goodbye to the rest of the passengers. Hernan arranged for a car to bring KKH and I to the town while he would bring the rest of the passengers to the airport.

KKH and I walked around the town, Puerto Ayora. This is the most populated town in the Galapagos islands.

There were no tall buildings and most buildings were only two to three storeys tall. The roads were tiled, not paved with asphalt like in Singapore. They were also not very wide, at most two lanes but as there were very few cars, it was not a big problem. Maybe because it was a Sunday morning, most of the shops were not opened yet. We saw a lot of shops advertising cruises or diving trips to the Galapagos islands. There were also some hotels and restaurants in the town.

There was a race in the morning. There were different age categories so different age groups would start at different times. The participants ranged from little children to adults.

KKH and I spent most of our time walking along the seaside as we had little interest in shopping. There was little point in going to a cafe or restaurant as lunch would be provided on the yacht.

Even at the jetties, there were still a lot of animals to see. There were marine iguanas basking in the sun. They were able to climb out of the water and up the rocky sides of the jetty with the help of their sharp claws.

We also saw some baby marine iguanas.

A pelican landed on the jetty. KKH thought it could be a juvenile because of the brown coloring. It remained wary of us and would fly away if we were too near for its liking. But it wasn’t too scared of us, as it would land just a few meters further away.

A short distance away from the pelican, a sea lion was sleeping. A lot of people stood next to it and took photos but it did not seem to be bothered by the attention.

It ignored us and continued sleeping.

A dinghy was sent to pick us up around 11am. KKH and I lazed in the lounge chairs on the top deck and read our books. It was quiet and peaceful and both of us dozed off after a while. The new batch of passengers arrived after noon. Lunch was at 1:30pm after everybody had settled down and the new passengers were briefed on the rules. I noticed that some of the new batch of passengers did not go barefoot and wore slippers on the yacht. Once again, most of the passengers were from USA. A few of them spoke Spanish well and were able to converse with the crew in Spanish. There were three Australians who lived in Peru for the past three years so their Spanish was quite good too. A Japanese man was the only other Asian, besides KKH and I, on the yacht.

The new passengers quickly discovered the top deck and when I went up after lunch, all the lounge chairs were taken. Tsk.

When it was time to disembark for our afternoon hike at 3pm, we found a sea lion resting at the disembarking area. We had to use that area to board the dinghy so Hernan and some of the crew tried to get the sea lion to go away. It took a while as the sea lion was reluctant to leave. After complaining loudly, it went into the water and swam away.

We visited the Charles Darwin Research Station in the afternoon. The bus ride to the station was shorter than the morning ride. The bus stopped some distance away from the research station and we proceeded on foot. Admission was free as it was included in the USD 100 park fee.

Hernan brought us to see the giant tortoises first. We found three of them motionless under the bush. We could enter the enclosure and go right up to them. Hernan said these tortoises were over 100 years old as their shells had become smooth. A baby tortoise had a shell with many wrinkles and folds so that the shell could expand when the tortoise grew bigger. The shell would be completely smooth when the tortoise reached 100 years.

Giant tortoises could live for 150 – 200 years. They moved so slowly and lived for so long that I felt that they must experienced time in a different way from us humans. Hernan asked us to look at their legs which he said were thick and powerful like elephant’s legs. The legs had to be strong to hold up the heavy shell. Hernan called them the 4-wheel drive of the animal kingdom.

We visited Lonesome George which was the most famous of the giant tortoises. It was the only surviving member of the Pinta Island tortoise. Hernan told us that in the past, many tortoises were killed by the sailors for food. The tortoises could survived for a year without food and water so the early sailors captured and brought them on board to be slaughtered when they needed fresh meat. They killed so many that some species became extinct. The tortoises had few natural enemies on the islands. Man was always the main and most destructive predator.

Lonesome George is a saddleback tortoise and his shell is different from the domed tortoises we saw earlier. The shape of his shell and long neck was because he had to feed on food which were higher off the ground. Hernan said Lonesome George is a young tortoise as he is only around 100 years old.

Lonesome George shared his enclosure with two female tortoises from Wolf Island in an effort to save the species. Genetically, they were the closest to Lonesome George and it was hoped that they would mate and reproduce. Although eggs had been laid twice, none of them hatched.

Next we visited the baby tortoises. The eggs were collected from the various islands and hatched at the research station. Each cage was labelled with the name of the island and the year they were collected. The baby tortoises were kept at the research station for two years before releasing them back into the wild. Hernan explained that it took two years for the tortoise shell to harden. In the meantime, the baby tortoises were kept in the research station so that they would not fall prey to the rats.

This batch from Pinzón Island would be released back into the wild soon.

At first glance, there did not seem to be any tortoises in the cage for Española Island.

Then on closer inspection, I discovered that they were all hiding under the rock. So cute.

Besides the giant tortoises, the research station also had one or two land iguanas. After showing us all the facilities, Hernan told us that we were free to roam around the research station and the town. As there was only one way out to the town, he told us do not even pretend to get lost.

KKH and I stayed at the research station for a while longer and saw one of Darwin’s finches. The curve of its beak made it look grumpy.

We also saw a Galapagos mockingbird which landed quite close to us.

KKH and I dropped by the souvenir shop before we went into town. I bought a t-shirt with the Charles Darwin Research Station logo on it. We exited out into the other side of Puerto Ayora. We did not walk to this area when we visited the town in the morning. There were a lot of souvenir shops in the area. KKH and I took our time to visit most of them. There were also some expensive-looking art galleries but we did not go into them.

Back on the yacht, we had a welcome cocktail for the new passengers before dinner. This time the cocktail was a creamy, minty drink that was called Grasshopper. It was very nice. I only had grasshopper once before and it didn’t taste great then. I wondered if it was because the previous bartender was lousy or my taste buds had changed. KKH and I sat opposite a couple from Portland. The wife liked the cocktail so much that she wondered if she should keep it for dessert. I was able to eat my normal amount for dinner, yeah!

At night, I saw pelicans fishing again near the yacht. I could also see stars in the sky which got me quite excited. Back in Singapore, I can’t see the stars as Singapore is too bright. When I commented to KKH that there were a lot of stars tonight, KKH glanced up and said, “You consider this many stars?” I forgot that KKH had been to more exotic places than me so my comment was like the frog in the well. I looked at the twinkling stars and remembered reading somewhere that the stars don’t twinkle, it’s our atmosphere that made them seemed to twinkle. Then I chuckled because it was such an unromantic thought.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Bartolome and Black Turtle Cove
2. Galapagos: Rabida and Egas Port
3. Galapagos: Dragon Hill

I woke up later today at 6:45am but still before the 7am wake up call. I must be getting used to sleeping on the yacht. This was my fourth day on the yacht and life seemed to have settle into a comfortable kind of routine.

• Wake up call at 7am
• Breakfast at 7:30am
• Morning hike
• Read a bit
• Lunch
• Laze around, read, nap
• Afternoon hike
• Bathe before dinner
• Dinner at 7:30pm
• Briefing for tomorrow’s hike
• Went to bed at 10pm

We also got to know our fellow passengers a little better. Besides the two of us from Singapore, there were a father and son from Israel, a couple from Australia and a couple from UK. The rest were from USA. A couple from New York was here for their honeymoon and there were moments when KKH saw an expression on the wife’s face that was something like “why is it so siong?”

There were pancakes available for breakfast. They were about the size of my palm. I took two and drizzled them with maple syrup.

We went to Bartolomé Island in the morning. It was a small island created by a volcano. It was right next to Santiago Island, the island with the black sand. But the soil on Bartolomé wasn’t black; it was brown with some gray areas because of the volcanic ash. It was a dry landing and it was perhaps the easiest landing we had. We landed on a man-made pier so it was easy to get off and on the dinghy.

Near the pier, a pelican was preening its feathers. The neck had turned red, displaying its mating colors.

Bartolomé felt rather bare as it was mostly just brown soil and rocks. There was not much greenery although some plants were growing.

It was an easy walk as there was a wooden platform and steps. It was built to prevent the visitors from eroding the soil. This was the first time we met other tour groups on the same island. I guess it was hard to avoid as there was only one way up and down.

It was a long climb to the top, all 365 steps. I was glad that Hernan stopped halfway to talk a bit about the formation of the Bartolomé Island. It was an opportunity for me to catch my breath.

Hernan told us that those big lumps of rock that we saw on the way up were called spatter cones. It was formed from the giant fireball was spitted out by the volcano. These balls fell to the ground and spattered, hence their name.

Finally we reached the last flight of stairs. Hernan told us that Jorge held the record among the guides for running up this flight of stairs. Jorge’s record was 9 secs. Some people tried running up the steps to see if they could break Jorge’s record. The best time was from a 20 year old guy who reached the top in 18 secs. All of us urged Jorge to demonstrate running up the steps but he declined, saying he’s too old already.

Then the rest of us walked up the steps at our own pace. From the top, we could see the beach that we would visit later. It was the one on the right, next to the pointy rock called Pinnacle Rock.

We also had a good view of an underwater secondary crater from summit. Then it was back down the mountain. I was looking at the scenery around me and wasn’t watching where I was going, so I missed a step and sat down suddenly on my butt. Only my dignity was hurt. I quickly got up again. The group behind me was very far away so I hoped nobody noticed anything. Back on the yacht, we were served some cheese and crackers.

At 10:30am we disembarked and went to the beach we saw earlier from the summit. Alex had finished his chores so he joined us for some snorkeling. I didn’t snorkel and instead walked from one end of the beach to the other. There were not many animals on the island.

Everybody stayed near Pinnacle Rock. I was the only one to walk to the other end of the beach so there were only my footprints.

I spotted this strange worm-like thing on the other end of the beach. It moved a little and then was still. It seemed to have died. I didn’t dare to touch it with my bare hands as I’m not sure what it was.

Moving back towards Pinnacle Rock, I walked into the water until it covered my knees. The water was so clear that it looked like it came straight from the tap. Even so close to the shore, I was able to spot some fishes. I’m quite sure one of them was a puffer fish as it had a distinctive shape.

Alex chatted with KKH and I while we were waiting for the dinghy to pick us up. Alex is an Ecuadorian but he looks a bit Caucasian with his fair skin and brown hair. He told us that he had worked on other cruise ships previously and had been to places like the USA and Caribbean. But he would be staying in Ecuador for a while as he just signed on to this cruise not long ago. He told us that the rest of the passengers would be leaving tomorrow and he would be picking up a new group at the airport. It was news to me. I had expected some passengers to leave but I did not expect that KKH and I would be the only ones staying on. I had gotten used to my fellow passengers and I’m not sure if I like the thought of getting to know a new group of people all over again.

The yacht began moving after we returned. The waves were quite rocky and I felt a bit seasick. I stayed on the top deck and by lunchtime, I felt better. The yacht was still rocking when we went to the dining room so all of us were extra careful when we went back to our tables with a plate of food. Nobody lost their balance or drop the food so it was all good. There was a lovely chocolate cake for dessert but I only took a bite as I was afraid that I would eat too much and be (sea)sick.

The sea took on this shade lovely shade of greenish-blue after lunch.

At 3pm, we went for a dinghy ride at Black Turtle Cove which was a mangrove estuary on Santa Cruz Island. There was no landing sites so all of us did not bother to put on shoes and went barefoot into the dinghies. There were clusters of mangrove trees forming little islands. Sometimes we had to go through narrow channels and had to duck our heads to avoid the low branches.

The first thing we saw were two pelicans sitting in a tree at the entrance of the cove.

We also saw brown noddy. It was a plain brown bird with a whitish forehead. It was from the tern family.

In the cove, all of us kept our eyes peeled for any sights of animals in the water. We briefly saw some baby sharks which quickly disappeared out of sight. We also saw green turtles popping their heads out of the water to breathe. Most of the time they were far away and only popped up their heads for a few seconds. This photo was the best I could do.

We saw lava herons perched in the mangrove trees as well. They looked funny with tufts of hair sticking out on the top of their head.

We saw a blue-footed booby standing on a rock covered with Sally Lightfoot crabs. All this time I kept seeing blue-footed boobies but I was not able to get a good photo of its blue feet. I hope I would be able to have the chance before I leave the Galapagos.

As we were leaving Black Turtle Cove, we saw more pelicans. This time they were feeding. They dived into the water and scooped up the fish in their huge beaks. Jorge said that sometimes a pelican would break its beak on the underwater rocks when it dived. They were unable to feed with their broken beaks and would die of starvation. On one of the islands, they gave these pelicans a replacement beak, like giving someone a prosthetic limb.

The birds seemed to be more active and we saw several brown noddies flying around.

On the way back to the yacht, we saw a big sailing boat. “Pirates,” Jorge said but he was joking. KKH and I thought that it could be another ship for touring the Galapagos Islands. When we were planning for this trip, we checked out the cruises and there were a few sailing boats listed.

At 5pm, Alex invited all of us to the lounge to watch a video documentary of a BBC series on the Galapagos Islands. All of us watched the first episode. At the second episode, those who were not interested in documentaries left. But half of us, including KKH and me, stayed behind and watched the second episode.

Then it was time for dinner. It was a special treat tonight. We had dinner on the top deck and one of the chef cooked fish and prawns on the grill. Besides the grilled food, there were other sides and sauces. There were two kind of sauces; a green avocado-based sauce and a white sour cream-based sauce. It seemed that the avocado sauce was very popular as there was none left when I went for a second helping. It was windy up on the top deck and some of the crew were around to bring us drinks and desserts. All of us were given sangria to drink and music could be heard the speakers. It was a festive mood. I went for a second helping of grilled prawns because they were so tasty. It looked as if I was getting back my appetite. But maybe it was the open air which always helped to improve the appetite. KKH reminded me that we were on the top deck so maybe that was why I felt better.

After our usual briefing about tomorrow’s hikes, I got some seasick pills from a couple from Montana. They were leaving tomorrow and offered to give us the pills as the sea would be a bit rocky around one of the islands KKH and I would be visiting. I thought it was safer to have some on hand in case I needed it.

I was hanging around outside our cabin at 8:30pm and saw pelicans alongside our yacht. They were hunting the flying fish that would leap out of the water. We also saw sealions and sharks swimming around the yacht. Looks like a fishing night for the hunters. It was the first time I saw animals around our yacht at night.

Then Alex brought us on a tour of the kitchen and the engine room. I think one of the passengers requested for it. First we went to the kitchen. It was narrow and cramped. All of us had to walk in a single file. It’s really amazing that the chefs were able to whip up all the tasty food in a small kitchen like this. Alex said that 90% of our meals were cooked in the oven. We also saw the large walk-in freezer that stored all the raw ingredients. Then we moved to the engine room. We could only go into the engine room one at a time. The engines were big and noisy and the room was hot. I didn’t stay long inside.

I went back to my cabin after I came out of the engine room. When I came down to refill my bottle a few minutes later, I found the some of the passengers (including KKH) chatting with Alex and asking him questions about the logistics. I stayed to listen as well. Alex told us that there were various ships or supply points located at various locations in the Galapagos Archipelago which would supply the yacht with food and water. There were also desalination facilities on the yacht. He said Ecuadorians would say “Ecuador AND the Galapagos” instead of grouping Galapagos under Ecuador. Tourism is a big industry in the Galapagos and what the people earned on these islands helped to support the people back in Ecuador. So all Ecuadorians understood that protecting the environment in Galapagos was to their benefit.

All cruises were only allowed to throw food overboard. All our uneaten food would be thrown overboard for the birds and fishes. But first, all the food had to be blended until they were in small pieces. There were also certain food, like bones, seeds and banana skins, which had to be removed as they could not be thrown overboard. All other waste and sewage had to be stored until it could be unloaded at the proper disposal plants. Sewage would be stored in a tank on board the yacht until it could be unloaded at a sewage plant on one of the islands.

It was interesting that almost everyone who stayed to listen to Alex showed some expression of approval when he told us about the strict rules to protect the Galapagos environment. I guess we all enjoyed visiting such a unique place and we would want to preserve it so that even years later, there would still sea lions sleeping on the beaches, marine iguanas basking in the sun, blue-footed boobies diving for fishes and water so clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Espinosa Point and Tagus Cove
2. Galapagos: Rabida and Egas Port
3. Galapagos: Dragon Hill

I woke up at 5am but I continued to lie in bed as 5am was too early to be awake. When I found myself still awake at 6am, I concluded it was unlikely that I would fall asleep again. So I got up and went up to the top deck. It was chilly so I wore a sweater. The yacht wasn’t moving so the only sound was just the gentle lapping of waves. I was a bit surprised that I could still see the moon.

In the morning we would be visiting Fernandina Island, the youngest island of the Galapagos islands. It was located on the western edge of the Galapagos Archipelago while the oldest island was on the eastern edge.

KKH and I saw one of the crew members preparing the dinghy that we would take to the island. There was a crane at the front of the yacht where it would lift the dinghies onboard when we were not using them during the night. Then every morning, the crane would lift the dinghies and lowered them onto the sea and the crew would drive them to the disembarking area at the back of the yacht.

It was a dry landing at Fernandina. The dinghy went right up to the black rocks and we got off. It was the beginning of low tide and the waters were receding. The rocks we landed on used to be underwater. So the rocks were wet and as slippery as hell. It was hard to get a grip on the rocks. I had to move slowly, testing each time I placed my foot to make that it would not slip before I placed my weight on it. At one point, I had to use my hands. I thought the problem was with my sandals and maybe if I had wore hiking shoes, the grip would be better. Then I saw someone else who was wearing hiking shoes but who was also having difficulty walking on the wet rocks. So I felt a bit comforted that the problem was not unique to me and wearing hiking shoes might not make it any better. The going was much easier once we reach the dry part and I was able to walk normally again.

The harden lava was still young compared to the other islands, about 150 years old. The folds of the molten lava as it cooled could still be clearly seen. There were great areas of black harden lava fields along the coast. The terrain was rough and jagged so I was very careful when walking. It would really hurt if I fall.

Fernandina seemed to be the home of the largest marine iguana colony we visited. This was the first time I saw baby marine iguanas. There was also a lot of poo on the ground.

It was easier to tell the young apart from the adult marine iguanas. Not only were the young marine iguanas much smaller, they also did not have any spikes along their back.

We saw some marine iguanas who had finished basking and were making their way into the sea to feed on the algae. Their body temperature could go up to as high as 52°C before they entered the cold water. They moved slowly and unhurriedly into the water. I thought that since there was limited time to feed, they would hurry into the water but I guess not. The sun was very bright so it was hard to see them clearly. All I could see were black moving shapes on the black rocks. A fellow passenger called the sight “the march of the iguanas”.

There were sea lions on this island too. I was starting to feel that they seemed to be everywhere.

We saw a male sea lion staking it’s claim on a pool of water. It sat in the pool and once in a while, it barked loudly, announcing to the world that this pool belonged to him. Sometimes it would swim around and patrol the edges.

The lava lizards on this island was not as brightly colored as the ones on the other islands. Maybe it was because the terrain was mostly made up of black rocks and having color would stand out.

Sometimes there were cracks in the lava fields. This was because the surface of the lava had cooled and hardened, forming a thin crust, but below were still molten lava. Don’t worry, that was 150 years ago. All the lava had cooled and hardened by now. Someone compared it to the icing on a cake which I thought was a good example.

We saw flightless cormorants drying their wings. Jorge pointed out the big gaps in their wing feathers which were to weak to carry them into the air anymore. As they had no predators on the Galapagos islands, there was no need for flight. Over the generations, these birds were slowly losing their flight feathers as they traded their flying ability for swimming ability. Maybe generations later, they would lose all the flight feathers on their wings and replace them with something that was more suitable for swimming, like what had happened to the penguins. I suddenly realized I was seeing evolution in process and that thought was mind-boggling.

We walked past this field of broken loose stones which Jorge said was made from a different type of lava. When I stepped on the stones and caused them hit each other, they made a kind of ringing sound that was similar to those made by good quality charcoal.

While Fernandina was still mostly made up of black lava fields, plants had started to take root on this island. There were mangrove swamps along some of the coastal areas and there were trees and bushes further inland where sand was available. On the lava fields, lava cactus were growing.

The lava cactus were short plants, maybe because there wasn’t much nutrients in the lava fields.

We also found this mark embedded in the rock which was left by the Ecuadorian army.

We came to this part of the island which was underwater at high tide. Parts of the rocks were covered in algae which was slippery but because the terrain was flat, it was still easy to walk on.

The waters here were clear and I could see all the way to the bottom. We were able to observe a few herons and pelicans in the area too.

The low tide had uncovered some of the algae and we saw a marine iguana feeding. Jorge said that the algae was lusher underwater so that was why most marine iguanas still dive underwater to feed.

One last look before heading back.

On the way back, we passed by this pile of bones which were collected from the coast. From the size, the body was likely the bones of a pilot whale. As the skull could not be found, a dolphin’s skull was placed at the head. There was also the little skeleton of a marine iguana. Then we walked back to the landing site at around 10:45am to wait for the dinghy to pick us up. I was a bit apprehensive when I thought of the difficulty I had walking on the slippery rocks. But I need not have worried because the sun had dried the wet rocks so they were now much easier to walk on. Someone else commented that same thing so I wasn’t the one only who thought that.

While waiting for the dinghy, we saw an adult Galapagos hawk in a tree along the mangroves. The coloring was different from juveniles Galapagos hawks that we saw on Isla Rábida.

I managed to eat a bit more for lunch but it wasn’t my usual amount yet. At 3pm, some passengers went snorkeling. The dinghy did not land at a beach and they just jumped into the water from the dinghy. KKH went and she said the water was quite deep and colder. I stayed behind on the yacht to read and nap. It was very peaceful as there were only a handful of us left on the yacht. Finally there were enough lounge chairs for all of us.

The snorkelers returned after an hour. At 4:30pm, all of us went to Tagus Cove on the northwestern side of Isabela Island. Isabela Island was the largest of the Galapagos islands. First we went on a dinghy ride around the area where we saw more flightless cormorants drying their wings. Because of the way they bent their necks, I thought they looked headless ha ha.

We saw some blue-footed boobies on a rocky ledge. As we watched, one of them pooed.

We saw a Galapagos penguin sitting on the rocky ledge. It was the second smallest penguin in the world at around 35cm tall. These penguins were the only penguins living near the equator. They were able to survive because of the cold Humboldt Current from the south. Hernan said that the El Nino killed a lot of sea lions and penguins. The sea lions recovered their numbers faster while the penguins took a longer time.

It was a dry landing but the incline was very steep. Hernan advised us to use our hands to hold on to the rock walls until we reached flatter ground. Apparently Darwin landed here which was why so many visitors came to this spot. We reached a rock wall where the early visitors carved their names. The earliest we saw was dated 1836. This was before Galapagos was declared a national park. Of course, carving in the rock walls was now considered vandalism and forbidden.

We continued up until we reached the top of the crater. It was hard work and I sweat a lot, probably the most I’ve sweated on the Galapagos Islands. At the top was a crater lake. Like the dead sea, it was an isolated body of water and the water in the crater was saltier than the sea water. Hernan said that he had dived in this area many times and he was sure that there was no underwater opening linking the crater lake to the sea. Yet he felt that water must be seeping into the lake from another layer because with the strong sunshine in this region, the lake would have dried up long ago.

We found ice-cream waiting for us when we got back to the yacht. I think the ice-cream were homemade and there were the basic vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors. We could have as much as we wanted and some people went for second helpings. On a small table nearby, were various toppings we could add to our ice-cream. There were raisins, chopped nuts, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, tia maria, almond liquor, chocolate liquor and mint liquor. I had vanilla and chocolate ice-cream and added lots of chocolate syrup, some raisins, a dash of tia maria and chocolate liquor.

The yacht left Isabela after 6pm. A pod of dolphins was sighted and all of us went up to the top deck for a better look. It was a large pod. The boat followed them for 30 mins or so. We saw some of dolphins jumped out of the water. Some were really good and jumped in a graceful arc, while some landed on their stomachs. After the dolphins dispersed, KKH and I went to bathe before dinner. I looked into the mirror and thought the back of my neck looked a bit red. KKH confirmed that the back of my neck looked sunburn and added that the tips of my ears were sunburn as well. She passed me some aloe vera gel for me to put on the sunburn parts.

KKH and I finally made it to dessert today. We shared a slice of cake. I also had some canned peaches. I loved them. Yummy!

We would be crossing the Equator line tonight. Alex announced over the PA system when it was almost time and all of us crowded into the bridge with the captain. It was dark in the bridge and the only light came from the data screens. All of us waited for the GPS to count down to zero. It was a long wait so a girl left, telling her siblings, “give me a holler when we crossed the Equator.” Can’t say I blamed her as it was quite boring standing in a dark room, watching the numbers slowly decreasing. When it was finally zero, a lot of people took photos. Then we thanked the captain and left.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Bartolome and Black Turtle Cove
2. Galapagos: Rabida and Egas Port
3. Galapagos: Dragon Hill

Slowly, my eyes were able to make out the dark shapes of landmass, all misty and grayish-blue. The sky slowly brightened but I could not see the sun as it was hidden by the clouds. It looked like it would be a cloudy day. Then I caught the sight of birds flying far on the the horizon. I watched them for a while. When it was almost 7am, I went back to the cabin.

KKH woke up when I entered. While KKH was in the bathroom, the voice of Alex (cruise coordinator) was broadcast over the PA system. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is a wake up call. It is now 7am.” At 7:30am, we went down to the dining room for breakfast. In the dining room, Alex and another crew member was walking around and making sure that everything was alright. They acted as waiters, clearing our empty plates and asking us if we wanted coffee or tea. When they asked me if I wanted coffee or tea, I picked coffee with milk, figuring that I would give their coffee a try. Thankfully, it didn’t cause me any unpleasant side effects.

We were visiting Isla Rábida in the morning. Hernan told us that Rábida was closed for three months and just opened up recently for visitors. It was closed to conduct an experiment to eradicate the rats from the islands. The rats were not native to the Galapagos Islands and were brought to the islands by the early sailors. As the rats were destructive and competed with the native species for food, they had to be eradicated. For the experiment, remote-controlled helicopters or planes were used to drop rat poison all over the island. As the hawks on the island hunt the rats, all the hawks on Rábida were captured and taken to another island to stay for three months. After three months, when all the rats were dead, the hawks were released back to the island. Hernan said that if the experiment was successful, it would be implemented on the rest of the islands.

It was a wet landing, meaning that the dinghy would go as close to the beach as possible and then we got off from the dinghy into the water. The water reached up to my knees and the bottom part of my berms got wet. The sand on Rábida was red in color due to the high iron content.

On the beach, we saw a Galapagos hawk. It was a juvenile so it was curious about us but still remained a bit wary. It stayed on the beach, looking at us while we took photos of it.

Further inland where there were more bushes, we saw a vermilion flycatcher. It only stayed for a short while and quickly flew off.

We arrived at a saltwater lagoon but this time there were no flamingos in sight.

In a tree, we saw two Galapagos hawks. As we were taking photos of them, a third hawk landed in the same tree.

We were able to go quite close to the tree without scaring the hawks away. We tried to stay mostly to one side of the tree and not surround it so the hawks would not feel threatened.

It was an easy hike on Rábida as the ground was mostly flat and the trail was wide. There was no dense undergrowth with thorny bushes.

We walked up a slope and could see our yacht anchored nearby.

On the other side of the cliff were beautiful blue waters.

Then it was back to the beach for some free time. You could swim or snorkel or just walk along the beach. KKH snorkeled for a short while as the water was cold. I didn’t snorkel and walked along the beach instead. Sometimes I would walk in the water until it was deep enough to reach my knees. The water always felt cool no matter how hot the sun was. It wasn’t boring walking along the beach as there were so many things to see.

The juvenile Galapagos hawk was still roaming the beach. Now that there were less people taking photos, it was more relaxed and I managed to get a good photo of it.

I saw some lava lizards. They were small lizards and very wary of humans. It was hard to get close to one. I guess it was because they were preyed on by the Galapagos hawks so they tended to be more timid around larger animals. This is the male lava lizard.

The female lava lizard has a red throat.

There were holes along the beach which were crab burrows. The crabs were not the famous Sally Lightfoot crabs. I thought they looked like ghost crabs but I could not be sure. It took a long time for the crab to emerge from its burrow. I could not move at all as any slightest vibration would send it back into its burrow.

Soon one hour was up and it was time to head back to the yacht for lunch and some rest before the afternoon hike. A crew member was waiting with a hose to rinse off our sand covered feet and shoes. I did not have much appetite for lunch as I was starting to feel a bit seasick again. After lunch, I went up to the top deck to read my book and felt much better.

At 3pm, we went to Puerto Egas on Santiago Island. This time we were in the group with the other guide, Jorge. His English wasn’t as descriptive as Hernan but he was very jovial and sometimes cracked jokes. Even thought he knew our names, collectively KKH and I were called “Singapore!”

It was another wet landing at the beach. This time the sand at the beach was black in color. I found it amazing that Isla Rábida and Santiago Island were next to each other and yet the sand on the beaches were so different.

We were allowed to snorkel first as the water would get too cold later on. I walked along the beach and some fellow passengers told me that a sea lion was sleeping on a rocky ledge. I wonder how it managed to get so high as the ledge was at my shoulder height. When I went near, it opened its eyes and peeked at me. Then obviously deciding that I was just a curious tourist and not a danger, it went back to sleep again.

A lot of Sally Lightfoot crabs were clinging on a rock. The matured ones were red in color while the young ones were as black as the rock they were on.

Jorge said they were named Lightfoot because they looked as if they were walking on tiptoes. Someone asked Jorge if Ecuadorians eat the crabs and Jorge replied that they don’t as the crabs were food for other animals in Galapagos. I didn’t notice it when I was there but the Sally Lightfoot crab’s eyes seemed pinkish!

There were also some marine iguanas lying on the beach. They didn’t seem to mind my presence even though I could be only 1m away from them. But I tried to respect their personal space so they would not feel disturbed.

Because the marine iguanas were so motionless and unafraid, they were perfect models for photos. Can you see the two tiny flies sitting on its head?

There was a pelican sitting on top of a rocky ledge. It was so still that a fellow passenger thought it was a piece of rock.

After an hour, it was time for the hike. The terrain of Santiago Island felt different from Isla Rábida. The rocks were arranged in flat layers and it looked as if someone had paved a road.

Jorge told us that people used to live on Santiago Island. There was a mining operation and the workers would live on the island. Now there were no longer people living on the island and what was left of their houses were just sticks stuck in the ground.

We walked along the coast and it was more obvious that the rocks were arranged in horizontal layers, one on top of the other. I was reminded of my geography lessons in secondary school. My geography teacher would love it here as there were so many real life examples of land formation that she was teaching us.

There groups of marine iguanas sunning themselves along the coast. It was the first time I saw so many marine iguanas together. Previously I had only seen a few at a time.

Jorge found an empty crab shell which he passed around. This was the shell left behind after a Sally Lightfoot crab molted. A young Sally Lightfoot crab may molt up to 100 times a year, while an adult Sally Lightfoot crab would not need to molt so often.

We saw quite a few birds along the coast too. This is the lava heron.

There were two oystercatchers sitting on the rocks near the water edge.

Not all birds stayed still. This little yellow bird kept hopping around and flew off after a few minutes. I think this could be the female yellow warbler.

There were also sea lions resting along the coast and we saw a few babies. The babies were a few months old and they were mostly alone as the mothers were out hunting. The babies would look at us sleepily and sometimes they would cry, like human babies. One of the rules was that we cannot touch any animal on the Galapagos islands. Jorge said that if we touched a baby sea lion, we would leave our scent on it. This would cause the mother sea lion to reject her baby when she returned as she could not recognize her baby by the smell.

I think these are the Galapagos mockingbirds. Young ones though.

I spotted a finch. There were 13-15 species of finches on the Galapagos islands. Each species had its own name but together they were called Darwin’s finches. Specimens of the finches were collected by Charles Darwin when he visited the islands but at that time, he had no clue to their significance. In fact he thought they were different species of birds as some of them looked quite different. Then John Gould, an ornithologist, examined the specimens and told Darwin that they were all finches. Upon hearing this, Darwin cried “Eureka!” and the beginnings of the idea of evolution was planted in his mind. Subsequently, the term Darwin’s finches was popularized by David Lack in 1947.

We soon came to another type of terrain which was formed from relatively young harden lava. I had to be careful while walking as the ground was uneven and there were cracks all over. Some of the larger cracks became pools and the water was calmer here.

We saw some sea lions swimming in the sheltered pool. The sea lions we kept seeing were the Galapagos sea lions. They were descended from the California sea lions but they were smaller in size than their California ancestors.

We also saw two sleeping Galapagos fur seals. They were smaller than the sea lions and unlike the sea lions which could be found on the beach, the fur seals preferred to rest on the rocky ledges. I think the fur seals were rarer than the sea lions as I only saw them at most twice while the sea lions seemed to be everywhere. Jorge said that we could differentiate them from their faces, as the fur seals looked a little like bears. Actually, fur seals were more like sea lions than true seals. So this was a case where an animal was named wrongly but the name stuck. I guess that’s why Hernan said there’s no seals, only sea lions in the Galapagos.

We were back on the yacht by 5:45pm. I stayed in the cabin until dinner time.

For dinner, I did not have much appetite and took less than my usual amount. KKH had no appetite too but her lack of appetite started even before we flew off so it was not because she was seasick. But dessert looked so tempting that KKH told me that if we managed to finish both our dinners, let’s share dessert. Sadly by the time we finished the food on our plates, we were too full to think of eating any desserts.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Bartolome and Black Turtle Cove
2. Galapagos: Espinosa Point and Tagus Cove
3. Galapagos: Dragon Hill

So we had time to eat breakfast after all. Today I took a chocolate bun, some fried rice, pancake, ham, bacon and a fried banana. My favorite was the chocolate bun because chocolate for breakfast is always great. I wished there was more chocolate.

The pickup arrived just after we finished breakfast. We were driven to the airport where we were greeted by the staff from Klein Tours. They helped to check in our luggage and gave us our boarding pass. Then we were through the gate and soon onto the airplane. We were taking an Aerogal flight (short for Aerolineas Galapagos) to Galapagos. It was a short flight, around two hours or so. Halfway through the flight, the air stewards opened the hand luggage compartment and sprayed all the hand luggage, probably to kill any insects that had hitched a ride.

We landed at Baltra Airport on Baltra Island. It was a small airport consisted of several one storey buildings. There were no visitor sites on Baltra Island. It functioned primarily as an entry point for visiting the Galapagos Islands.

All of us had to walk on a blue mat after we got off the plane. I later learned that the mat contained some liquid with was supposed to kill off any seeds that were stuck to the bottom of our shoes. We paid USD 100 each at the customs for the national park entry fee. We were greeted by someone from the yacht after we passed through the customs. There was no need to collect our luggage as they had been had been tagged with a distinctive yellow tag by the Klein Tours staff at Guayaquil airport. So the crew from the yacht could recognize and collect them from the airport. We would see our luggage when they were delivered to our cabins. I hope it was a very nice service. It sure saved me the hassle of waiting for my luggage to be unloaded from the plane.

All of us who were joining the cruise got onto a bus which brought us to the pier. I thought it was a beautiful sight. Blue skies and blue sea, looking so clean and unpolluted.

Even while waiting at the pier for the dinghy to arrive, we were able to see some wildlife. There were black marine iguanas basking on the black rocks and a pelican was preening its feathers. There were also some sea lions under the pier, hiding from the hot sun.

Soon the dinghy arrived and all of us got into it. The dinghy brought us to the yacht, Coral I, where we would be staying for the next few days. The yacht had four floors. The bottom contained ten cabins. Above it was the main deck which had a lounge, dining room and two more cabins. It was also where we get off and on the yacht. Above it were six more cabins. Our cabin was on this deck – Cabin 18. The topmost deck was where all the lounge chairs were. Coral I could have a maximum of 36 passengers. Including us new arrivals, there were 29 passengers on the yacht.

First, all of us newcomers gathered in the lounge for a briefing. We were told not to flush used toilet papers down the toilet bowl and to dispose of them in the covered bin in the bathroom instead. We had to separate our trash into plastic, batteries and paper. Drinking water was provided at specific taps and we were advised not to drink from taps in our bathrooms. We were also briefed on the rules that we have to observed when we were on the islands. It was quite strict. We have to stay with the guide, we cannot stray from the trail, we cannot collect things from the islands, we cannot leave rubbish on the islands, we have to wash our shoes and make sure we did not carry any materials from one island to another. I was quite glad to hear the strict rules because it meant that the islands will be well preserved. Lastly, all of us were taught how to put on the life jacket found in our cabin closet.

I thought the cabin looked nice and cosy. All of us left our hiking shoes at the disembarking area and we were told that we could walked around the boat barefooted if we wanted to. KKH and I did. It was a nice feeling to be able to walk around barefoot. It made the yacht felt really like home. We could not lock the cabin doors when we were out because the cabin boy needed to go and clean up our cabin. I noticed that the bin for used toilet paper was emptied each time we were out, either during meal times or hikes.

There were some passengers who were already on the boat. They arrived on Sunday and would be leaving the coming Sunday. The rest of the passengers who arrived with us were staying for four nights so they would be leaving the coming Sunday too. KKH and I arrived on a Wednesday and we would be leaving the next Wednesday.

We had lunch in the dining room. KKH and I sat with a father and daughter from New York. It was buffet style so we just took what we wanted. The selection wasn’t very big but the food was good. It was usually three types of salad/appetizers, two meat dishes, two or three vegetables and two desserts. Sometimes each of us would be given a bowl of soup too. It was pretty international kind of cooking so I didn’t take any photos. I learnt a few days later that the bread served on the boat was baked daily. So since then, I always made an effort to eat a piece of bread a day.

It was free time after lunch while the boat traveled to Santa Cruz. The top deck seemed to be everybody’s favorite place to laze around. Most of the lounge chairs were taken.

As we traveled towards Santa Cruz, we saw some birds following the boat. There were as many as eight birds at one time. They seldom flap their wings and just appeared to glide effortlessly in the wind. Sometimes one of them would fly close to the boat, at eye level.

We were told that these were frigate birds. The males were the ones with red pouches at the throat while the females had a white chest. They could not dive underwater like some birds as they do not have oil on their wings. So they had to snatch food from the surface of the water or snatch food from other birds. A fellow passenger called them “the pirates among the birds”.

At 4pm, we disembarked to go to Dragon Hill, which was on the northwest corner of Santa Cruz. It was a dry landing. The hike would take around two hours and was rated moderate. We left in two dinghies with a guide in each dinghy. Once we landed, we followed the guide from our dinghy and walked off. The group from the other dinghy walked off in the opposite direction but we met up again halfway along the trail.

The guide leading my group was called Hernan. He spoke English well and was passionate about protecting the wildlife. During the cruise, I heard him spoke a few times about how amazing and what a privilege it was to be so close to the animals. He also spoke a few times about the cruelty of the early sailors and people who visited the islands.

We started off by walking along the beach before we moved inland through the dense undergrowth.

One of the first things we saw were Sally Lightfoot crabs. It was hard to miss them as they were bright red and clinging onto the black rocks.

We also saw some iguanas resting in the vegetation near the beach. It was evening so I guess that had already finish feeding and were settling in for the night.

There was one that was already sleeping. Aww, so cute.

Hernan found a hermit crab and gathered all of us for a look. It was hiding in its shell but when Hernan breathed on it, it came out of the shell. KKH and I thought that it could be deal to the warmth from Hernan’s breath or the carbon dioxide. Hernan explained that the hermit crabs are scavengers and would search the beach for dead and decaying animals. The hermit crab had no shell of its own and had to search for abandoned shells as they grew bigger. Hernan explained that this was why we should not collect shells from the beach as we could be depriving a hermit crab of a home. At this moment, the hermit crab decided to give Hernan’s thumb a nip, causing him to drop it. I don’t think the hermit crab was hurt as it landed on sandy ground.

We moved further inland. The trail was narrow and overgrowth. We had to walk in a single file and be careful of thorny branches that grew over the trail. We had watched where we put our feet as the ground was uneven. Hernan said that in the early days, the land was barren and there were not many rules about touring the Galapagos Islands. Most of the plants that we were seeing now were brought to the islands by tourists who had seeds stuck to the underside of their shoes. This was why the rules were stricter now and there was the blue map at the airport to kill off the seeds.

Hernan showed us a seed pod which sounded like a rattle when we shook it.

Along the way, we saw several yellow land iguanas in the bushes. The land iguanas were bigger than their marine cousins. Then we came upon a huge male crawling in the middle of the trail and heading in our direction. Hernan told us to keep quiet and stood still so as not to frighten it. He also asked all of us to stand to one side of the trail so that the land iguana could pass. It crawled past Hernan slowly and then it stopped and stared at the red shoes of one of the passengers.

It stayed there for a long time. So in the end, we had to shuffled sideways around it as quietly as possible. For half of us, it was our first close encounter with the Galapagos wildlife. A lot of us went “That was so cool!” once we were far away enough from the land iguana to talk.

We saw a forest of holy stick trees. They were given that name because they produced a very nice smelling oil which was used to make incense. The trees were bare now because it was wintertime for them. Hernan explained that even though it did not feel like winter to us, the trees were used to a much higher temperature and humidity so this was like winter to them. Wow, the temperature was already like 28°C or 29°C, I could not imagine how much higher it had to be before the trees thought it was summer. Hernan poked one of the trees gently with a toothpick and immediately we saw oil flowing out. He let all of us dab some on our fingertips and smelled it. It had a very nice smell, like those perfumed incense. As the trees were full of oil, they were very flammable and this was why nobody was allowed to smoke on the islands.

As we walked on, we came to some brackish pools of water.

A lone flamingo was looking for food in one of the pools. The flamingos on the Galapagos Islands were descended from the Caribbean flamingos.

After the hike, we returned back to the yacht. One of crew was waiting with a hose to wash our shoes once we got off the dinghy. There was still some time before dinner so KKH and I sat in our cabin. I loved the thought that the sea was right in front of the door. For the rest of the cruise, sometimes I would just sit by the door and looked out at the sea. We kept our cabin door opened as much as possible and only closed it when we were out or sleeping.

It was 6:30pm and the sun was setting. My first sunset on the sea!

There was a welcome cocktail for us newcomers before dinner. Each of us were given a red tinted drink which unfortunately tasted like cough syrup. KKH and I had tasted a similar cocktail before as we found the taste familiar but we could not recall the name. We sat with a couple from Australia during dinner. They had been on the cruise since Sunday so they had seen some of the things that we were going to see. After dinner, we gathered in the lounge for a briefing on the hikes for tomorrow.

KKH and I went to bed at around 10pm. We had to wake up early tomorrow.

Related posts:

1. Galapagos: Santa Cruz
2. Galapagos: Bartolome and Black Turtle Cove
3. Galapagos: Rabida and Egas Port

We had breakfast at the hotel. The selection wasn’t big but it was enough for me. I don’t have a huge appetite in the mornings anyway. I tried a little bit of everything. I took some rice, pork stew, lentils, scrambled eggs, pineapple bread pudding and a pastry filled with minced nuts. Everything tasted quite nice. I wished I could take another helping of the pork stew as it was quite tasty. But I’m full already.

After breakfast, we left the hotel and walked to Parque Seminario which was home to many green iguanas. We saw many iguanas around the park, on the grass and pavement and trees. They were quite used to humans and were indifferent to our presence. They remained very still, basking in the sun and only moved when we got too close.

I read online that tourists could buy mango slices from vendors to feed the iguanas but I guess we were too early as I didn’t notice any vendors.

In the middle of the small park was a statue of Simón Bolívar who played a key role in liberating Latin America from Spanish rule. An iguana was dozing at the base of the statue which amused me very much.

After leaving the park, we continued eastwards, passing by Palacio Municipal where there was another statue of Simón Bolívar (I think).

We reached Malecón 2000 which was a 2.5km long boardwalk along the Guayas River. There were a lot of facilities along the boardwalk for the locals to enjoy, like playground, exercise corner, park and theater.

Along the boardwalk were colorful horse statues painted by local artists. They reminded me of the lion statues that Singaporean celebrities painted for one of the National Days. KKH had no recollection of it and they reminded her of the colorful bull statues instead.

We continued walking along Malecón 2000 until we reached the northern end. Opposite was Las Peñas, a historical neighborhood with narrow walkways and brightly-colored houses. People still lived in some of these 400-year-old houses while others have been converted to art galleries, shops and restaurants.

We had to climb a lot of steps to reach the top and needless to say, I felt quite tired by the end of it.

At the top was a tower and a church. We climbed up the narrow spiral staircase to the top of the tower to take a look. It was windy at the top of the tower and we had a good view of the city.

Lunch was at Poly Restaurant, a local eating house. Many locals and nearby office workers ate there. We were served by a cheerful waiter who handed us the menu. He tried his best to be helpful even though he spoke no English. KKH and I spent a long time deciphering the menu which was in Spanish. Luckily we brought along a Lonely Planet guidebook which listed the names of some food in Spanish.

Finally I ordered a mixed ceviche which was served cold. My mixed ceviche contained prawns and cockles cooked in lime juice. It was quite nice and tasted salty and sour. There were a lot of prawns and cockles.

The ceviche came with some mashed plantains. I still felt that plantains were bland and not very nice but I discovered that it helped to take a bite of the plantains when the sourness of the ceviche got to me.

After lunch we continued southwards and came to a convenience store which had large bottles of water on their shelves. We bought two bottles. I do not want to carry a heavy bottle of water around with me so we left them at the hotel.

Then we walked to Plaza Del Centenario which was a big square with a tall column in the center. At the top of the column was a female figure. There were a lot of people sitting in the park and it seemed to be a popular gathering place.

We continued on and came to a local market. It was a tall boxy building and four entrances, one on each side. Inside was dim with narrow, twisting passageways crammed with stalls. A lot of local produce was sold there, including chocolate in its raw form. I lost my bearings when we exited the building and we had to ask one of the policemen nearby for directions back to the hotel.

Dinner was at one of the hotel’s restaurant called 1822. It was a French restaurant with a Mexican decor. We were the only customers there that night. We were served bread with butter and chicken liver pate. The chicken liver pate was very nice and we ignored the butter.

I had mixed grill which consist of beef, pork ribs and chicken. I think Ecuadorians really knew how to grill meats as the beef and ribs were tasty. The chicken was not bad too but who bothers with chicken when there is steak? For those who wanted to know, yes, I ate all my veggies.

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There was a bit of difficulty getting through the Immigration. The officer looked at my passport and didn’t know how to process it. I guess not many Singaporeans visited this part of the world. It took a while before the officer decided to stamp my passport.

I was a little disappointed to find out that it was a computer printout and not a stamp. While I was waiting with KKH to collect our luggage, the officer came with another colleague. He asked for my passport again and the colleague checked through it. After seeing that everything was in order, they baded me goodbye. I asked KKH if she had any problems at the Immigration and she said the officer who attended to her asked a senior and more experienced colleague who then let her through. I grumbled that next time KKH can go through the Immigration first and answer all the questions.

We took a taxi to our hotel, Grand Hotel Guayaquil. The taxi driver spoke no English and we spoke no Spanish so we had a bit of difficulty communicating with each other. We passed him the address of the hotel and he tried to recommend a cheaper one. We declined because we had already paid for the hotel as part of the package from Adventure Life.

The staff at the hotel spoke very good English, which was a relief. We were able to check in immediately. Good, I needed a bath. I felt dirty. We took turns to bathe and then decided that since it was still early, we would rest in the room first and walk around the city later. The room was big and we had a queen-sized bed each. So shiok! KKH fell asleep first. Since she looked tired, I didn’t have the heart to wake her up and decided to just let her sleep. I finished my book at 3pm. Since I did not have a good sleep on the plane and was feeling a bit tired myself, I slept too.

We woke up at 5:30pm and left the hotel. Our first task was to buy some water. It was not recommended to drink from the tap so we have to buy bottled water. A 500ml bottle cost around USD 0.30 which was cheaper than the €1.50 we had to pay in Amsterdam. The shopkeeper advised us not to keep our money in our wallets as wallets meant that we have a lot of money. I thought it was nice of her to warn us.

We walked around aimlessly for a while. There were little traffic lights for pedestrian crossing so we just followed the locals and crossed the road as and when. Even when there were pedestrian crossings, nobody seemed to follow it very strictly. It wasn’t hard to walk around Guayaquil because the city was laid out very neatly in a grid. It was harder than we expected to find convenience stores to buy bottled water. There were shops but most of them sold clothing, accessories and shoes. When we came across places that sold bottled water, there were only small 500ml bottles available, no big 1L bottles. I guess the locals just drink from the tap. It’s us foreigners, with our delicate stomachs, who needed to drink bottled water.

Another thing that I read about Ecuador is that their sewage system is not powerful so we should not flush toilet paper down the toilet bowls as it could clog up the pipes. We had to throw the used toilet paper into the covered bin in the restrooms which were emptied at least once a day. It felt strange at first because I was so used to throwing the toilet paper down the toilet bowl. But when in Rome, do as Romans do.

We had dinner at La Canoa which was located at Hotel Continental. The staff at our hotel said it served local cuisine so we decided to give it a try. Thankfully they had a English version for the menu. We were given bread, butter and a small pot of something spicy and sour which seemed to be a local hot sauce.

For dinner, I had a traditional dish which consisted of rice with lentils, grilled beef and plantains. The lentils was soft, mushy and salty. It was quite nice. Despite the huge serving, I managed to finish them because they go so well with the rice.

I liked the grilled beef which was just simply sprinkled with salt. I didn’t like the mashed plantains as they were starchy and bland.

We also had a large glass of fruit juice each. Altogether dinner cost around USD 23. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel. It was already dark, the shops were closing and there were not many people on the streets.

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