After being woken up by the guy in the bed next too me at 0130 when he returned back to the hostel and decided to talk on his mobile at length and then tap away on his laptop for about an hour, I had no problems being less that quiet and considerate at 0700 when I got up (the girl in the bed above this guy got up when I did and was about as considerate). My airport transfer picked me up at 0750 and took me to the airport. It was a strange process checking in to fly to the Galapagos. First we had to go through a bag screening, then register with the authorities, then check luggage in and receive a badge with the boat name on it and other documents, then go through another bag screening before getting to the gate. A representative of the boat gave me the passenger list of the Eclipse to give to the head guide on the Islands. I had a quick look and only 29 people are on the boat with two other Australians and some South Africans, Swiss, Austrians and the rest British.
We flew via Guayaquil (30min) and had a 40min layover there before heading to the Islands (1hr 40min). I had an entire row to myself for both flights yet every other row was full. Apparently there are only 2 flights a day to Galapagos. Once we landed we had to go through a physical bag inspection and then pay for our national park entry (US$100) and then sign in with our boat. It was the first glimpse I had of seeing who was on the cruise….lucky me, I am either the youngest or second youngest after the South African couple. The rest of the passengers are between 50 – 65 with one man who looks about 90! We met our three naturalist guides who are all male – Javier, Tommy and Franklin. We were bussed to the boat where we boarded the cruise boat via pangas (dinghy’s). Once on board we had a briefing of where everything on the boat and shown to our rooms. Our bags had already been delivered to our rooms by the time we got there. I have a room to myself with what seems like a king sized bed, nice bathroom and one porthole one level down from the main level near the bow of the boat. We then had to change into our swimmers and don the bathrobe provided and head on up to be fitted with our snorkelling gear and wetsuit. We get our own bag to put it all in and a hook to hang it on. It’s all very organised.
Our first excursion was to Santa Cruz Island to Las Bachas Beach. We had a wet landing and went for an hour long walk along the beach to a lagoon. Apparently flamingos are usually seen at the lagoon but today there were not there. We saw our first Marine Iguanas, Lava Lizard and lots of birds. We then had a chance to go swimming but I passed on that one – too cold. The sand here was so fine and white. It is also a Green Turtle nesting site and there were many turtle tracks and nest depressions. The guides are really strict with where you are allowed to walk and how close you can get to the animals which is good to see. They are also very strict when you get back on the boat to be hosed down so you don’t transfer any sand between islands. It was then free time until our 1930 briefing. I returned to my room and unpacked all my clothes in the cupboard and had a really nice hot shower! There was a briefing for tomorrow’s activities at 1930 in the meeting room and I felt a little embarrassed because everyone was dressed up for dinner – suits, ties, fancy dresses, heals and lots of make up! I didn’t bring any ‘good’ clothes with me and all my clothes are dirty because they haven’t been washed for 2 weeks, so I had to wear the same clothes I did for the flight. I received quite a few stern looks and a few couples were talking about me – I think they are confused as too why I am on this cruise and not on a more budget one. After hearing what is on tomorrow we headed into the dining room and had dinner – spicy prawns, salad and rice is all I ate. I went to bed around 2200.
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