December 28th, 2021
It seemed a bit like organized chaos when I first arrived near the docks for the ferry to Isabela Island as there were a number of boats going to different destinations but all at the same time. Eventually the tourists, including me, were lined up on shore and then led by their respective captains towards a pier with an X-ray machine for the luggage and then onto a water taxi. While on the pier I spotted a 3 foot black finned shark and then there was a sea lion sleeping on the jetty to get on the small boat to ferry us out to our ferry. I say ferry loosely, it wasn’t like BC Ferries by any means. I was on the “New Britany” which was about a 40 foot power boat with three 200 horsepower outboard engines and two decks.
Looking out at the bay at Puerto Ayora:
I first sat down with most of the passengers on the lower
deck on two cushioned bench seats which faced each other inside a cabin and was
open to the back of the boat where another 4-5 people sat facing forwards. The captain appeared and asked for three
volunteers to go to the upper deck. Not
knowing what that really entailed, I couldn’t see how it could be any worse
than where I was, so I put up my hand.
Well, that was a great idea. Up
top, even though 4 of us were sitting pretty close to each other, we were
behind the captain with great views to each side of the boat.
We pulled out of the harbour and sped up to 45 km/hr. Even though it was early in the morning, it
was a bit choppy on the water and we bounced around a bit. I didn’t see too much in the way of sea life
on the way there, but it was a nice ride nonetheless. A couple of water taxis came to collect all
the passengers once we were moored in the sheltered bay by Puerto Villamil, named
after the first governor of the island.
As we approached the dock, a woman spotted a Galapagos penguin
swimming in the water, about 15 feet away.
Okay, that’s a pretty good start!
An interesting factoid about this type of penguin, it’s the only one
found north of the equator.
Hopping onto the dock, all foreigners had to pay a $10
landing tax (locals $5). Who would I see
next? Marine iguanas basking on the
volcanic rocks beside the pier…how cool is this place?!? Most tourists were grabbing taxis (all taxis
are pickup trucks, mostly Toyota Hiluxes) or getting picked up by their tour
group but I decided to walk into town to find some breakfast before heading to
my accommodation.
I found a restaurant where there was already a table of six
sitting, eating their breakfasts. Puerto
Villamil is pretty tiny and this seemed to be the only restaurant open so I grabbed
a seat. After receiving the menu and
picking a basic brekkie of eggs, toast, bacon and tea, the waitress told me a
few minutes later that they had no more bread.
Huh. That’s a fairly basic item
for a restaurant to have on hand, but then again, we are at a fairly remote
location. I didn’t feel like pancakes
and I spotted another diner across the main center of town so I decided to
relocate. I was just about to start my
breakfast on this outside patio when I recognized a man walking on the street,
just 10 feet away. “Sponge. Sponge!”
That is Chris’s nickname, that I’ve never personally used, but I figured
that it would get his attention. It took
him a couple of seconds to respond, I’m sure he was incredulous about hearing
his silly moniker in a foreign country.
He turned his head and was just as surprised to see me. We laughed, hugged and then he sat down for
5-10 minutes as we caught up. We both
worked for the same company back in Victoria for a number of years, but I quit
in 2010. The last time I saw Chris was
about 3 years ago in Revelstoke when a group of friends (also Power
Measurement/Schneider Electric employees) came on a ski trip. What a co-inky-dink! Neither one of us knew that the other would
be in the Galapagos, never mind on a more remote island. Wow, what a small world it can be. And to think, if that other restaurant had
had bread, I would have missed him walking by, only 50 meters away. It made me wonder how many “close misses” you
must have from encountering someone you know.
We made plans to catch up over some drinks later.
My reservation for the next two nights was at the Black
Pearl, a small guesthouse owned and run by a Dutch woman Lienke and her
husband, a local, named Dario. The place was near the edge of town but that’s
not far in Puerto Villamil, maybe 7-800 meters.
The main roads are made of fabricated concreted blocks but on the
outskirts it’s crushed volcanic rock, a good reminder of how this island came
to be.
Lienke was super congenial and helpful. She showed me the recently finished room,
which was quite nice with 15 foot high ceilings, a single and double bed and a
modern bathroom. Then I received a very
thorough and useful briefing on things that I could do on the island during my
two day stay. Unfortunately, one of the
most popular snorkeling tours was fully booked up (Los Tunels) but I decided on
renting a bike from her to do a 17 kilometre ride out to Radar Hill, a 150
meter high hill, in an area where the giant tortoises like to hang out.
I rode through town and started heading along the road that
paralleled the coastline. The beach was
lovely with fine sand and turquoise water and hardly a soul on it. The sand had been blown back onto sections of
the road which made the cycling a little challenging at times, but I
managed. A few kilometres from town,
there was a small gatehouse, a chain fence blocking the road, some outhouses
and an information sign. A park ranger
appeared and told me in Spanish to read the sign, so that I was aware of the
“Do and Do Nots” of the area. He pulled
out a clipboard and I wrote down my name, country and guesthouse I was staying
at.
Then the ranger asked me for some help and motioned down the
road, beyond the chain gate. From what I
could make out from his Spanish, he needed help with a “Tortuga”, a
tortoise. We walked about 20 meters and
there was a one-meter-wide sandy path to the beach with rocks lining each
side. Twenty feet in, there was a giant
tortoise just standing there. I guess
the ranger wanted to relocate him further into the park, away from vehicle
traffic. Another ranger pulled up with a
pickup truck. There were a few other
tourists there and I figured maybe four of us would lift this huge reptile into
the back of the truck, but after five minutes, the original ranger told us all
that we could move on. I decided to
stick around.
The ranger poked and prodded at the back of the turtle and
did get him to walk out towards the truck.
The driver of the truck had disappeared so the ranger asked if I could
help. I quickly put down my small
daypack, propped up my phone, and proceeded to start a video. The ranger popped around to the more
dangerous front side, while I grabbed the shell from the back. Man, he was heavy! We lifted the tortoise up to the tailgate and
were an inch or two too low. The poor
reptile was not happy and was hissing while flailing his feet. A little extra effort and we got the cold
blooded, unappreciative boy into the box.
Whew. The other ranger
reappeared, and they both hopped into the truck to deliver the guy further into
the park. Good deed done.
Hopping back on my bike, I began the ride towards Radar
Hill. There were a number of signs for
various side attractions, like some ponds or beaches, but I decided that I
would hit those on my way back…might as well get the effort out of the way
first. Near the end of the road, I did
stop and hike up a small hill with a nice lookout. I could then see the final destination, Radar
Hill, not too far away.
At the base of Radar Hill is a massive, seemingly
purposeless, wall of lava rocks called the “Wall of Tears”. It reaches about 30 feet high, 10 feet at its
base and extends for a few hundred feet from the base of the hill. It was constructed between 1946-1959 when
there was a penal colony on the island. It must have been very unpleasant work and the
idea of some sadistically motivated warden as the sharp-edged rocks must have
been nasty to work with. We humans do some
strange things at times…
Reaching the top of the 150 meter knoll, I soaked in the
view. The US military had a radar installation
here during World War II but it has since been dismantled and a lot of the
metal was repurposed for constructing the church in Puerto Villamil.
On my return, I stopped at a few ponds and a beach called
Playa del Amor. The “love” reference is for
the marine iguanas who have there nesting grounds on the sand. I stopped to search for the mostly black
coloured lizards and there were quite a few of them nicely camouflaged in the
black lava rocks by the water. All of a
sudden I saw something different moving by the water. It was brown and moved faster than the
lizards…is that? What? A cat!?!
Yup, I guess there are some feral cats on this island who like to feed
on young lizards and tortoises. Huh.
Later that afternoon, I grabbed some snorkelling equipment from the guesthouse and cycled down to the docks. There’s a great little bay nearby and I saw quite a few things in the water: a sleeping sea turtle, a dozing stingray, a swimming iguana and a bunch of colourful fish. What a great way to end the afternoon!
No comments:
Post a Comment