The decision to go to the Galapagos Islands was one that surprised us all.  Prior to coming on this trip, we hadn’t even considered going to the Galapagos.  As we’ve travelled through Columbia and Northern Ecuador, we’ve met person after person, mostly backpackers, who gleamed and glowed about their Galapagos adventures.  Many,  who had opted out of exploring the islands, expressed regret for not doing so. We bit the bullet, my mom found us a last minute deal, and we forgot the rest.  We flew out of Quito early in the morning, to clear skies and a view of Cotopaxi that made us drool.  We landed on Baltra island and were transported to the 14 passenger boat that would take us around to 4 different islands.  The water was clear as crystal and turquoise blue.  The Islands were uninhabited and barren of vegetation, except for cacti, mangroves, and small endemic brush. For us, guide-shy people, Edison was the low key, laid back guide we were meant to have.  Our friend, Cindy J. would have marveled at the birds, which included frigates, nazca boobies, red footed boobies, pelicans, galapagos hawks, galapagos doves, and on and on.

 

 

 

We snorkeled with sea lions, who, like dogs played with us by fetching under water sticks and blew under water bubbles.

On one particular snorkeling trip, as Darin and I were putting our masks on, I saw two sets of large shark fins and finally saw the 10-12 foot bodies attached to them.  While I was trying to hide in the bottom of the dinghy, the guide urgently started yelling “VAMOS!”, telling us to jump in right away to swim with the gray monsters!  Uhm, I’m sorry but innately, uhm, HELL NO!

Ok, so we jumped in and swam with huge hammerhead sharks, galapagos sharks, reef sharks, and manta, eagle, and cow rays.  I figured it was good training for the next time we see a shark while surfing.

The galapagos islands have some of the world’s strictest restrictions on the number of visitors permitted.  This makes for a feeling of being nearly alone, with only the occasional sighting of another boat or two, holding no more than 20 passengers.   This place epitomizes eco-tourism.  From the careful attention paid to proper disposal of trash and recyclables, to the assurance of keeping invasive species out, to keeping every grain of sand on the beach, the people of Ecuador have a deep respect for this archipelago.

The kids were so very happy about being on a boat for 4 days.   I’m surprised that they (Marco) didn’t suffer from more sea sickness as we made the 11-12 hour night time traverses from island to island.  We had lower bunked cabins that enthusiastically rocked and rolled while we slept.

 

Actually, I thought for sure that Darin would lose his cookies, as always, but no, he managed to remain puke free.

Like no other place in the world, in the Galapagos islands, the animals have no fear of humans.  They stay perched, or beached, or treading water while one walks or swims by.  Apparently, it’s been this way since Watkins and Darwin explored the area.  They’re said to have effortlessly picked up and held the fearless birds and animals.  It’s like they’re all on drugs, but not at all…it’s fascinatingly strange.

 

When we weren’t exploring one of the islands or its’ water, we were on the boat reading, napping, eating, and enjoying a cold beer or glass of wine.  We felt spoiled, to say the least. We got off the boat and spent an extra 2 nights on Santa Cruz Island in Puerta Ayora.  We walked around the few tourist trap shops but still couldn’t help but buy a few t-shirts.  Lucky for our friends, we refrained from buying any of the “I love boobies” shirts donning blue bird feet.

Darin and I spent a morning surfing at Tortuga Bay.  We hiked 6 km under the beating sun carrying our boards, hoping we’d be rewarded for our efforts.  The white sandy beach was isolated, soft, and the waves looked big and awesome.  We had a most excellent time, while catching some waves that splashed the ants out of our pants and left us looking forward to plenty more Ecuadorian surfing.  I was thankful for our previous shark training as a shark zipped by twice in a big wave in front of us.  I looked over at the 2 other surfers in the water to make sure they were ahead of me, that way, they’d get eaten first.

The seafood and tuna were fresher than fresh.  I’m now planning all sorts of seared tuna salads and Eurovan based sashimi parties in the weeks to come.

On our last night on the Island of Santa Cruz, we went out for what was to be a slow dinner, with crazy good Passionfruit Mojitos and grilled fish and seafood.  We were relaxed, the kids were busy with the coloring posters my mom had brought, and we were enjoying a relaxed conversation about surfing.  We were waiting for our food, when the waiter came to tell us we needed to evacuate immediately due to the severe probability of a Tsunami that would touch land 90 minutes later.  Apparently this was coming from a 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Chile.

We left our drinks on the table, grabbed our nice food in styrofoam containers and took off for higher ground.  The Tsunami evacuation area was the community center area of town, about 120 feet above sea level. We immediately regretted having watched the movie “The impossible” with the kids.  Simon was in a pure hysterical panic, thinking this meant death.  Marco on the other hand,  was calm but wanted to find a basement and shut the door.  The tsunami sirens rang out as people were hurriedly running around and emergency vehicles navigated the streets, making evacuation announcements on their loud speakers.  We ate out our nice grilled dinner, and watched locals play “Ecua-ball”, which is played everywhere in Ecuador and is like 3 on 3 volleyball with a much higher net and pretty much no rules.  The tsunami warning was cancelled by 9:30pm and we all walked back to our “habitacion” as though nothing had happened.

We now find ourselves looking forward to tourist free $1.50 meals again and to being reunited with our dirty van.  This was an unplanned, vacation from vacation that we’re thankful to have shared with my mom and we won’t soon forget.