rjadelsonourlife: Off to the Galapos Islands

January 19
Out the door at 7:45. Did not waste my calories on anything but the roll with the chocolate inside. We left one suitcase at the hotel with clothing not needed. The boat has eight cabins for us. It is 90 feet long. 9 crew members. We are not allowed to wear our shoes on the boat to keep it clean. Good thing I brought cheap flip flops. We are going from 11,000 feet to sea level, just when I am used to the altitude and know how to manage it with a lot of water. Again the airport is jammed with people. Two other OATS groups are here going to the Amazon. We have two flights but stay on the same plane to get to the island Baltra. In the middle of the flight they opened all the overhead compartments and sprayed them. I guess to kill any thing and not bring it into the Galapos national park system. You can not bring any fruits, vegetables or seeds into the area.
We arrived in Baltra. They spayed the cargo area and we had to wait awhile for the luggage to be inspected. Then we had a 20 minute ride to the other side of,the island. There we took a ferry with our luggage on the top for about a 15 minutes ride. We then boarded our tour bus for a 40 minute ride to the dock. Got on a zodiac boat to our boat, the Archidell II. It has a large
Irving/dining area with eight small bedrooms off it. An upper deck with lounges. The boat is six years old. We had a short meeting while our luggage arrived. Changed clothes and ate lunch at 2:30. Back on the zodiac to the city of Santa Cruz and then a ride to an area with giant land turtles. It was raining, we were given boots to wear in the mud. The turtles can live to 180 years and continue to mate. They lay many eggs but only 5% survive. Then were went to see a natural lava tunnel. There are about 65 of them mapped on the various islands. We got back to the city at 6:30. The town people are at the playground. The men, no women, are having two games of volley ball. And all are having a good time in the center of town. There was an area where you could use wireless on the dock. But I did not take the ipad on our tour of turtles. Dinner was cream soup, fresh tuna, different vegetables and cake for dessert. We went to the upper deck and talked. At 9:30 the boat set sail for our next port.
The Galapos has a population of 35000 people. You can only be a permanent resident if you are born on the island or marry one. Otherwise you can not Live here. Roberto's grandfather first came here. Married the grandmother. Grandfather never liked living in the Galapos and he sold all the farm property. A big mistake.

Ferry with luggage on the top.