National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Last Days

From Ecuador

Photos here.

We made an early morning visit to one of the iconic places in the Galapagos - Cerro Dragon. It is a volcanic hill with views down to a unique rock formation next to a beautiful beach. It was many steps up but the view was very, very nice.

In the last days we went snorkeling many times. It was so great. What was so really good was that we saw penguins not only on the rocks but also in the water with us. It was really impossible to get a photo of them in the water. They are super fast swimmers. I was checking them out and one almost swam right into my face. It was like a guided missile shooting at me. It certainly startled me.

Austin did not snorkel until the last day. However, he saw everything on that last day. He got to see all the fish plus penguins, sea lions and turtles. It was great.

Thanks Dad for such a great trip. We all enjoyed it and will remember it always.

National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Santa Cruz Island

From Ecuador

Check out the photos here.

Santa Cruz Island has a larger population than the other islands. The village of Puerto Ayora has a population of 15,000 people. It is home to the Charles Darwin Research Station. We visited the Charles Darwin Research Station and viewed some of its conservation efforts. Ever increasing tourism has impacted the amazing wildlife in the Galapagos. The Research Station studies the impact and tries to ensure the preservation of all wildlife in the Galapagos.

At the research station we saw our first tortoises. The station has a number of tortoises. They are pretty big animals and can weigh up to 800 lbs. Early visitors would take them from the Galapagos because they could survive a long time in ships and provide food for sailers. The population is now quite low. The Pinta Island tortoise has only one remaining specimen - Lonesome George. You would think him old at 77 years old but tortoises can live up to 150 years. If the research station can not find someone for George to mate with he may be the last of the Pinta Island tortoises. He won't mate with just any other tortoise. Some tortoises with similar DNA have been found on a volcano on Isabela island. Researches think that maybe a ship with a variety of tortoises wrecked and the tortoises made it to Isabela island. They are hoping that one of these tortoises will interest poor old Lonesome George. The research station has a breeding program to help increase populations of all tortoises in Galapagos islands.

The research station has worked hard to eradicate non-native species such as goats and rats on the various islands.

After checking out the station we walked into Puerto Ayora. There was plenty of shopping there that I ignored. My nephews got some crazy masks and pants. My brother-in-law also got some crazy pants. I am not sure anyone else bought anything. I used the internet which was much cheaper than on the ship.

We then headed up to the highlands. After lunch Huichi and I headed further up to check out large volcanic sink holes. These occur when a large bubble in lava forms. After the lava cools the bubble collapses forming a large sinkhole. Next we headed down to a farm. These farms have realized they can make additional income by opening up their farms and letting tourists walk around looking for tortoises in the wild. We did see a few. Apparently my sister's group saw like six.

National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Isabela and Fernandina Islands

Check out the photos here.

During the night we went around the north side of Isabela Island and crossed the equator. It happened around 3am so I wasn't up to take notice. However, we rounded the top and headed south so we got to cross it again - all in one day. Surprise, surprise there was not actual line or sign there in the middle of the ocean. However we did spot blue whales (the largest mammal on Earth) and dolphins while doing this motoring around.

After breakfast went went on a panga ride along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca. It was quite beautiful. On the way back we saw a huge manta ray swimming along the surface.

Once we arrived back at the boat we quickly changed into our snorkeling gear for a snorkel. We hoped to see sea turtles in the water. The visibility was terrible. However, it was still a good snorkel. First of all a cormorant zoomed right by me in the water. We also saw two large turtles feeding on the rocks. I was watching one for quite a long time. It was right below me. I think that it wanted to come up for air and I had to move quickly to get out of its way. The photos are not as good as I would like due to the visibility but you can definitely see its a turtle.

Later int eh day we sailed towards Fernandina Island. Fernandina is the newest of all the islands and is still volcanically active. The island terrain is marked by ropy or pahoehoe lava flows. Here we saw many more marine iguanas. We had to be careful were we walked to ensure that we wouldn't destroy any of their nesting areas.

On this island there are many flightless cormorants. They lost their ability to fly because there was no need to expend the energy to fly due to the absence of predators on the island. They have these really cute tiny wings. They hold them up to dry just like the regular cormorants even though they don't need to dry them to fly. We were lucky enough to see rays in the water here too.

Walking back we saw the skeleton of a sperm whale. I got an awesome photo of Huichi pretending to chew on one of the ribs. On the way back to the boat we saw a really tiny little sea lion.

Poor little Austin feel asleep before dinner.

National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Floreana Island

From Ecuador

Photos here.

We started the day with a pre-breakfast landing on Floreana Island. There were visited a "post office". This post office had been used for two centuries. People have put mail in a barrel and as other ships passed by they took the mail if it was addressed to someone in their area. I mailed a post card to my Aunt Karen. It has since been hand delivered to her in Connecticut. It arrived before I even left Ecuador. I picked up two post cards for Pagosa Springs because I am hoping to go up and visit a friend who lives up there. Even if I don't I am sure that someone in her family will be heading up that way and can take the cards to her and she can deliver them to the Pagosa residents.

After breakfast we (Huichi, JJ, Erica, Brody, and I) headed off to snorkel off a volcanic cone called Champion Islet. It was a little choppy and Brody stayed in the boat until in calmed down a bit. We did an amazing drift snorkel. This time the sea lions were playing all around us. It was incredible. We topped this off witha glass bottom boat ride.

We had lunch and then Huichi and I went out in the kayaks. We saw a number of sea birds on the rocky shore line. In addition we saw a group of rays swimming along the surface and one or two turtles swimming in the bay.

The day was not yet done. We went for a short walk across the island looking for flamingos. Brody used Dad's camera and took video. Unfortunately, we saw no flamingos. The turtles were nesting and we had to be very careful where we walked. We did find some baby turtle shells. They were not the fittest or luckiest and did not survive. It was a very pretty walk.

National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Espanola Island

From Ecuador

Check out the photos here.

We landed at Punta Suarez on Espanola Island for an "arduous" hike of 1.75 miles. It was probably arduous for my five year old nephew but it was an easy walk with awesome wildlife sighting opportunities for me. There was wildlife everywhere. We saw marine iguanas and sea lions immediately. In fact you need to watch where you walk to ensure that you didn't accidentally walk on one. I was so excited to see an iguana swim. Iguanas are generally thought of as land animals. These found more food in the water and are the only iguana with a marine based food source. Other iguanas may swim to cross a river but these actively enter the water to eat algae. We also saw finches, warblers and mocking birds. As we walked further into the island we viewed the waved albatross. The waved albatross has a large body and is a great flyer but it has difficulty taking off. Generally it must jump off a cliff to take flight. I didn't see any doing this. Instead they were sitting on eggs or doing mating dances where they clicked beaks. Further along we stopped along some high cliffs where a bunch of marine iguanas were hanging out. They must be awesome climbers to get from the water to up there. There were some amazing blowholes a little farther on.

Later in the day we went snorkeling at Gardner Islet. We saw some huge schools of fish. When we snorkeled into a cave were were surprised by sea lions swimming with us. They cruised by at lightening speeds.

National Geographic Lindblad Trip - Baltra and North Seymour Islands

From Ecuador

Check photos here.

It was a big trip to Ecuador for most of my family. After all of the really long trips to and from Australia it wasn't as bad for me. It was 4+ hour flight from PHX to Miami and then a long layover and a 4+ hour flight to Ecuador. The unfortunate thing was that the flight from Miami to Ecuador was greatly delayed. We eventually took off and made it to the hotel in Ecuador. It was the Hilton. It was a big change for me being used to the cheapest hotels and hostels. We didn't get much time to enjoy it though. We got in at 2am and our wake up call was for some extra early time like 5am.

It turns out that my brother-in-law, PJ, and nephew, Brody, sleep like the dead. They had the bolt on in their room and either didn't hear the phone or the ringer was off. Poor Erica was pounding on the door trying to wake them but couldn't get them to get up. She eventually got a key from the front desk but because the bolt was on she could only open the door a few inches. That seemed to help and eventually she woke up one of them and got them going in the morning.

We all had breakfast and then assembled to leave for a flight to the Galapagos Island. It was a typical case of hurry up and wait. Eventually we were told the flight was delay and we had until 9am. I went back to the room and slept. Long flights might not get to me but lack of sleep makes me a bit grumpy.

We eventually landed in Baltra on the Galapagos Island and took a "panga" (zodiac) out to the big ship. This in itself was a bit of an adventure - Dad walking with a cane, PJ can't swim, and Austin (age 5 and not an olympic swimmer) given a life jacket that he could swim in. The ship was great. Dad and I shared a "suite". We had lunch, a lifeboat drill and headed out for our first hike on North Seymour Island .

Now I have to say from here on out that the term hike was used throughout the cruise and the word "walk" was a better description. However, whether a walk or a hike the activity was filled with close encounters with animals. Sea lions met us at the spot the pangas dropped us off. We saw male magnificent frigate birds with their large red neck pouches. We also saw blue footed booby birds. The blue footed boobies were doing mating dances and nesting. North Seymour is one of the only Islands with land iguanas. We saw one or two on the island.

It was great that the staff fit in all of the day's activities even though the flight was late.