The last time we caught up with our travelling adventurers, they had been harrassed by a gang of Sea-Lions, bullied by Boobies, stalked by Hammerheads and ogled by Marine Iguanas. Tune in now for our next installemnt of,,,,,, GRINGOS IN GALAPAGOSSSSsssss!!!!
Fresh from our hectic pace on Isla Isabella we decided to relax and slow things down a little, (of course time would start to go backwards and we´d fall in a blob of mass if we did relax and slow down more) but we were determined to do it. Bring on camping!!
Located on the east side of Isla Santa Cruz, well away from any other towns lies the beach Galapetera. Where, given permission from the local authorities, you can camp for a few days. We had checked it out during our motorbike ride around the island and we liked what we saw. Beautiful white beach with rocky headlands and a sheltered camping area not five meters from the beach.
We arrived on a Sunday arvo with about 20 other locals sharing the beach. Signed in with the Ranger where he advised us of the rules and gave us all the coal we would need, Bring on the CAMPFIRE!! So we pitched our tent and got on with the business of relaxing. At about 4:30 the ranger comes along and informs everybody that the beach is now closing. So everyone packs up, the ranger included and heads back home. The beach is now OURS! Not a soul for about 20 k´s. Lifes tough! So we enjoy the rest of our day, light up our campfire, enjoy a meal of BBQ sausages (is there anything better) and soak up the whole experience. A walk at night reveals that the tide is well out and the beach is crawling with hermit crabs, strange little buggers.
The next day the ranger returns but no one else. The beach is all ours again. A quick explore of the area reveals that a turtle had come to nest is the evening, way cool. So the rest of the time we just tried to relax and enjoy it as much as we could.
Returning to civilisation we enjoyed the local swimming hole Las Gietas. Formed in a little canyon, it's filled with the deepest clearest water. After a few jumps into the water we just had to get out our snorkling gear and check it out, and of course get to the bottom about 7 meters down.
Now finished with Santa Cruz we boarded a boat once again and made our way to our last island on our Galapagos adventure, San Christobal. The capital of the islands but not the largest town. It hasn't quite embraced the full tourist mecca view but still offers plenty.
The first day we checked out a nice little snorking spot and watched Blue Footed Boobies dive into the water from a lookout over the ocean. The next day we had a couple of dives booked at Kicker Rock or Leon Domingo. About 4km off shore. It's a towering straight edged rock about 50 meters high, with a split down to the water in the middle of it. Our first dive would take us through this split.
The first thing to hit us as we jumped into the water was how clear it was. We could see about 30 meters down and close to 50 meters away. CRYSTAL CLEAR! Still making my way to the bottom i get a tap on my shoulder from ange and get pointed to a dark shadow just on the edge of our vission of a nice big hammerhead swimming away. That was just a taster though. As w start making our way through the passage way a HUGE school of Galapagos sharks swim by us. Ther was probably about 50 of them in the school, raging from about 3 to 6 foot in length. Another slightly smaller school swam by not much later and then a HUGE hammerhead swam by as well not more than 10 feet away. WOW! We were all blown away. So apart from turtles, thousands of fish and coral, we saw close to a hundred sharks on the dive. Our best dive EVER! Once again WOW!
Our next dive took us to the back of the rock and although being a superb dive, the highlight being a turtle that swam so close to us all but only about a centimeter away from Ange. So CLOSE! It was not as good as our first. Forgot to mention that we snorkled with our checky Sea-Lion friends again on our way out to Kicker rock also. With a bull male taking a bit too close of attention for our liking but all was good.
So that wraps up our Galapagos adventure. An absolute highlight and well worth it.
