July 2-10, 2014

After we said goodbye, momentarily, to the Geers and other animals, we rested for a couple days in Cuenca and then headed to Guayaquil to meet up with Mom and Sam. From Cuenca, we caught a “private” shuttle for about 12 bucks a person as opposed to the 8 you would normally pay for a bus. This shuttle is supposed to be a couple of hours faster too but was not the case on this trip due to lots of construction. We arrived in Guayaquil and got a cab to the Hilton and decompressed for a few hours before Mom and Sam got in at night. Naturally we walked around a bit to get our bearings, checked out a nearby mall and quickly found ourselves in a McDonald’s regretting paying almost $10 for a heart healthy double cheeseburger combo which we split among the two of us. We had earned it, right? The regret lasted no time at all because it was quickly replaced with the arrival of family. As is most often the case, the reunion of family is a happy one and this one no different. It was nice to see hair on Mom’s head and Sam’s stupid face. I think we were all a little beat from traveling so we had a quick dinner at the hotel and went to bed.

The next day, Holly and I got a taste of what it would be like to spend a couple days with Mom at reins, constant motion. We got up around 9, had breakfast, and after a quick deliberation decided to cross off some of the cities major highlights. We went to the Malecon 2000 which is just a glorified canal boardwalk, up the legendary (and painfully easy) 444 steps to the old lighthouse, then down back onto the boardwalk where we got hungry and decided to head into the city center for some food. As it usually goes, nothing looks particularly standout from the window, but eventually we stumbled upon a Chinese place cooking up the usual transplant style Chinese fair. Afterwards, we headed back out into the city streets for some good ol’ fashioned wandering. We visited a couple random churches, happened upon the Iguana Park, and one of the subsidiary markets that speckle the city. Mom found the markets to be particularly interesting, so on our way back to the hotel I asked our cab driver about other markets to visit to which he replied they were all mostly the same but that if we really wanted to we could go to the main distribution center for all the subsidiary markets, El Mercado de Transferencias. After a long day, Mom decided to get dinner at an Itilian place which turned out to be pretty good. The ambiance of the place was anything but refined, with a fish tank ceiling, Ferrari TV set, and lots of other chotchskies. Goofy garb aside, the service was full on and the food was actually very good. We returned to the hotel with full bellies and had our welcome beverage. I think we all slept well that night.

The following day we said we were going to take it a bit easier with a full itinerary lying ahead of us, but after breakfast Mom again began to feel restless and after toying with the idea of various hired day trips, tours, etc, we decided to get a cab to the Mercado de Transferencias to check it out. I had no idea what to expect but I think the fact we went a little later in the day (by that I mean not at 5AM) meant that most of the negotiations for that day had already occurred leaving the market mostly barren. It was without a doubt a massive operation though and part of me was a little glad that it wasn’t so crazy for a couple reasons:1)it would have been hectic as anything, chaotic, and maybe a little peligroso for a couple full blown gringos and 2)it would have taken Mom a decade to make it through all the vendors. Holly and I in our travels have seen a whole variety of markets and very little surprises us anymore. Mom, on the other had, was flabbergasted by it all, but really it was refreshing for us to have her be so interested. After an interesting yet failed attempt to visit a bustling market, we got dropped off at the mall Holly and I had previously visited for some independent browsing and some coffee. After we returned to the hotel and tried to relax by the pool. Mom again could not stay still so she signed up for a pedicure which she then pawned off to Holly while we figured out dinner and got ready for the travel day ahead. That night we went to get some Peruvian fare at Embarcadero 41. Food was good and they had passion fruit sours so Holly was happy. Mom liked them too and added pisco to her list of desirable spirits. I look forward to making pisco sours for the family when we return home.

Travel day comes around and its another early start with another great buffet at the hotel and then us awkwardly sitting around the lobby waiting for the Wilderness Travel (WT) rep to meet us as we coyly looked around trying to guess who all would make up the rest of our group. Eventually we all get rounded up, loaded into a van and shuttled to the airport. Waiting at the gate, we all made some small talk and tried to curb our overflowing excitement for the trip ahead. Turns out animal lovers really do like to make the trip to Darwin’s Islands.

We hopped on the plane which was surprisingly big and within 90 minutes had landed at the main airport in Baltra. The first thing I think we noticed was that there were indeed a lot of people there. Like I mentioned before, I kind of thought we would be coming in on a little 20 person puddle jumper but instead we flew in on something akin to a 737. Customs went smoothly as you would expect and after making sure you weren’t bringing in any extracurricular pets, we quickly met our WT guide Silvia and were off on a quick bus trip to a marina for a quick hop across the water from Baltra to Santa Cruz. When we arrived to the North end Santa Cruz, we got in a private short bus and started making our way south, stopping along the way to check out the giant twin sink holes, have lunch, and get our first taste of tortoise life. Eventually we made it to the southern terminus of the island at Puerto Ayora where we got our first looks at the boat we’d be spending the next week on. While the crew was busy getting the boat ready from the last voyage, we made use of the time to buy some booze in the local shops and otherwise provision for the week ahead.

Within 20 minutes, we were gathered up, split up into our pangas (zodiacs) and shuttled out to the Mary Anne. This was where things started to get interesting. The day before, Silvia told us, was very rough and a good bit of that roughness was still around. The swells were large enough with a wide enough period that the pangas more or less rolled up and down between them until we approached the loading stairs to the boat. Coordinating the movements of a 216 foot monster and a dingy in easy 10 foot seas was interesting to say the least, but with enough patience and a professional crew we all made it on safely to begin dealing with the next symptom of heavy seas, nausea. It was impressive. Within seconds almost some people began feeling moderate symptoms of sea sickness. This was exacerbated by the fact that since we had just boarded we still needed to go through the motions of boat orientation, emergency procedures, etc. We all calmly sat around listening to Silvia patiently trying to keep our lunch down. Eventually she finished up and released us to find comfort below, above, in a glass of wine, whatever worked. That night few people ate. Around 2AM that night, we pulled anchor and began heading south through the seas to Floreana.

When we woke up, some were still feeling a little rough and wondering what they had signed up for. But we were in a new place and Floreana was beautiful. That day we had a morning hike around to check out some views, see some sea turtle nesting sites (nonactive), and generally observe. We got introduced to the types of trees, maybe saw a land iguana, and definitely a ton of birds. Afterwards, we checked our snorkel equipment and checked out some sea lions lounging on the beach. We went back to the boat for lunch, rested for a bit, and then went on our first snorkel at the Corona del Diablo, or the Devil’s Crown. It was pretty much what it sounds like, a big jagged crown formed from volcanic rock that provided a lot of really good habitat for fish. And there were many. This was our first taste of what the other snorkels would be like. School upon school of black striped grunts, lots of hog fish, various parrot fish and puffers, surgeonfish, wrasses, chubs, blennies, etc. etc. I took a class in college that I refered to as “Fishes” and it was just that. It was a systematic breakdown of not all because that would be reckless to say, but of many many many of the fish in the world. Starting with the jawless proto-fish like lampreys all the way up to advanced perciformes, from the lobe finned ancients of the world and non-bony cartilaginous beasts like sharks and rays. I consider myself a fish nerd, and although not well versed I think that class really opened my mind up to the paraphyletic group. If that class opened my mind, the Corona del Diablo blew it to pieces, and that was just the first snorkel. Needless to say I started looking at all the fish books on the boat so I could start picking apart what I had seen. That night we had a nice dinner and went to bed in calmer seas, only to be shuttled back to Puerto Ayora for a day on land.

For the next day, we toured the Darwin Station and saw how they were involved in raising tortoises to augment the natural populations and help secure their numbers. They separated the ages and the species from each other, so the infant tortoises from Santa Cruz were separated from the infants from Isabela, and on and on. Along the walk, we saw more iguanas (also in captivity) and at least the home where Lonesome George used to live. To me, this whole exercise seemed pointless. We spent almost a whole day on the main island looking at tortoises that we could, and very much did, see in situ on the islands we visited. This day was made much better by a few things:1)Holly and I splitting a sixer on the pier, and 2) visiting a farm where they made what the locals called crystalina but goes by countless other names around SA such as puro, caña, aguardiente, rum, moonshine, etc. It is fermented and distilled cane juice no matter what you call it. It is delicious, and it is dangerous. Mom liked the donkey and bought a bag of coffee and a bottle of the pure stuff for good measure. We said our fairwell to the farm guide and his Marilyn Manson shirt and headed back to the boat.

At this point, to be honest, the next few days ran together a good bit. It doesn’t help that it has been over a month now that we were there and I’m only writing it now, but between days 3 and 7 there was at least one snorkel per day, plus a couple short hikes, plus some panga rides, with lots of good meals thrown in. I could bore you with the details of these escapades but I think instead I will just hit you with the highlights.

1: every time we went snorkeling, but Holly and I agree that the last snorkel at Punta Vicente Roca was our favorite for the sole reason that we finally got the attention of a sea lion pup. It played with us for probably 10 minutes. The others were studded with marine iguanas, lots of sea turtles, and again enough fish diversity to boggle the mind.

2: all of the panga rides were incredible, but the one to Elizabeth Bay was particularly memorable because we had a sighting of either one massive pod or two large pods of bottlenose dolphin, probably 50 in all.3:Baby sea turtle rescue. On a beach walk, Holly saw what looked like some bird fighting a crab, which upon further inspection revealed that they were fighting over an unfortunate baby sea turtle trying to make its way to the water. After dodging a couple attacks from above and below, Holly and I marched over top of the babes trying to reach the water with hope of increasing their success. I know I know nature will have its way, yadda yadda yadda, but these things were stinkin’ cool and just had the bad luck of making the migration in small numbers during the day. All together I think there were 5 hatchlings, 3 were quickly picked off by hungry birds leaving the other 2 for Holly and I to protect. Holly’s also got picked off by the bastard birds but mine managed to make it to the water. Unfortunately at the waters edge I could protect it no longer, and within seconds of swimming away, the last turtle was snatched up out of the water. Birds 5, Turtles 0, game, set, match. Needless to say it was one of the most memorable parts of the trip. 

4.sunsets

5: I also enjoyed the hemisphere crossing ceremony where we all piled into the wheelhouse and watched the GPS tick over from 0.001S to 0.001N. Holly and I have crossed it countless times without much fuss, but I think this was our third “fuss included” crossing. The first two were right outside of Quito and in the Amazon and although always slightly anticlimactic, the one aboard the Mary Anne was certainly the best. Drinks included.

6: A lot of the hikes were nice we can pretty much pick our favorites based on whichever ones included lots of lava. The Punta Moreno hike was really nice on the fancy pahoehoe lava in the shadow of the volcanoes, and Puerto Egas for the clear pools, loads of fur seals and sea lions, marine iguanas, and a random set of whale bones.

The last night on board we had a farewell toast from the crew, gave everyone their tips, and generally enjoyed the night. I gave the crew the bottle of puro that Mom had bought at the sugar cane plantation and they excitedly hid it away from the captains sight and basically pummeled each other for control of said bottle. I’m sure the contents were enjoyed responsibly and in the most professional manner.

The last day we took a short early hike around North Seymour and saw the blue footed boobies do their little dances and the frigate birds in their mating display. As it warmed up a little, we also started spotting more land iguanas and naturally the place was just lousy with sea lions.

After the hike we had our last breakfast, took some group photos, and said our final goodbyes to the crew. We got shuttled to the airport and after a short wait we were on a plane back to the mainland.

In Guayaquil, a WT rep picked us up at the airport to shuttle us back to the hotel. Mom was in the point position in the shuttle and had to listen to the guide practice his English and tell us of all the great things Guayaquil has to offer. After patiently listening to his spiel, she asked for restaurant recommendations and we were pointed to a grillhouse right down the road from the hotel. We sauntered over, filled up on meat and sangria, and headed back to the hotel for an early night.

I’m going to stop here and dedicate an additional post to our last few days with Mom in Guayaquil. Below are even more photos and two short video clips of our incredible time in Darwin’s archipelago.