The
Galapagos consist of 12 main islands and about a dozen minor ones and each one
has multiple names; Santa Cruz is Indefatigable, San Salvador is Santiago and
Santa Maria is also known as Floreana or Charles. The islands are volcanic in
origin and the oldest is about 5 million years old. The newest islands are in the west and each has its own
geology and unique flora and fauna.
Our cruise,
like most, began and ended at Santa Cruz.
Most long sea crossings, or navigations, took place at night while you
are (hopefully) sleeping. June is
between the warm, wet season and the cooler dry season and the seas can be
rough.
We
overnighted in Santiago, Isabela, Floreana, Espanola (Hood), Santa Fe, and Santa
Cruz. We also visited Bartolome, Sombrero
Chino (Chinese Hat), Islas Plazas and Isla Seymour. Some of the crossings were horrendous and only seasickness
remedies kept us from being ‘sicker than a dawg.’ But the anchorages, with the exception of Puerto Aroyo on
Santa Cruz, were idyllic.
Espanola is
the southernmost of the Galapagos.
It may be small but it has everything we hoped to see except
tortoises. The sea lions are
mellow to the point of tameness, waved albatrosses, blue-footed boobies, Nasca
boobies and swallow-tail gulls perform their courtship dances just inches away
from you while all of the above plus frigate birds and tropic birds soar
overhead. Hood mockingbirds hop up
to your feet and several species of finches flit around in the bushes. The anchorage is like a pond and you
can watch sea lions surf the gentle shore break. If I could visit only one island it would be Espanola.
