Our little boy only seems to be in love with two things--and luckily one of them isn't a girl! Penguins and Sea Turtles. That's one of the reasons we decide to make the epic journey to the Galapagos. I'm sure there are people out there that are questioning what kind of money we must make and if we have an illegal side business in order to afford the Galapagos. Teacher + Self Employed does not equal wealthy. We are certainly blessed to be able to travel, but I am learning I am also quite the trip planner. Plus, we only have one child, and Eric selflessly stayed behind and let us have this adventure together. When you research the Galapagos, most of what comes up are cruises around the island aboard yachts and luxury cruise liners with private naturalist tour guides for thousands of dollars. That is not us. We are staying at a wonderful hostel for $450 for the entire week (shared with Emma) and hire local taxi drivers to take us around for a nominal amount. Most of the beaches are free, and the tortoise reserve was $5 per person. Food is no more than it would be in any resort town (although double what it has been anywhere else here), and we did one group tour on a catamaran to see Bartolome for $165pp--a price I would have easily paid again for such an epic excursion. However, my budget will rise once Emma leaves on Saturday and I can only longer collect 33% of everything from her. Plus the snorkeling and food on the more remote island we are headed to will cost more. I asked Jace to eat less. He laughed. Loudly. That isn't going to happen, apparently.
We arrived and settled in the first day, but had a little budget shock when we saw the jump in prices. We had to alter things a little bit, but we found good places to eat with the help of our hostel that weren't on Charles Darwin Avenue in the middle of the tourist part of the city. Our hostel was so great and the family that runs it is really nice and helpful. This would be our home for the next 7 days until Emma has to leave and Jace and I travel to another island.
Monday we woke leisurely and unpacked and got our bearings. The sun came out and we headed to Tortuga Bay after lunch. It was a long 45 minute walk in the sun to get there, but it was so worth it! White sand beaches, blank land iguanas everywhere, beautiful birds flying overhead, warm sea water, kayaks for rent, and plenty of peace and quiet. I had read that sometimes at sunset, black tip reef sharks and sea turtles will arrive to feed, but I didn't want to tell Jace or Emma, as animals are unpredictable. However, after those two were done kayaking and snorkeling, we headed to a tiny inlet on one side of the beach. And sure enough....Jace found himself snorkeling with about eight small black tip reef sharks. As if his mind wasn't blown enough, he caught glimpse of three huge sea turtles riding the surf coming in to look for food. He took his GoPro and headed after them. One of them rode the surf almost into Jace and I thought he was going to explode with excitement. On the walk back, Jace was almost floating rather than walking, and Emma commented she never knew a 15 year old could get that excited about something. It was a pretty great day.
Tuesday was no less awesome than Monday. We went to the Tortoise reserve, hiked through lava tunnels, bird watched around sunken craters, and learned an incredible amount on our tour of the Darwin Research Center. We even got to see Lonesome George! Well, his body anyway. He was the famous tortoise that was the last of his species and died in 2012 at the age of 104. He was sent to New Jersey, where it took four months to have his body preserved for display here. He just returned to the island a few months ago, so we were lucky to get to see him.
Wednesday was our only planned cruise aboard a catamaran to see Bartolome, one of the most photographed islands in the Galapagos. We arrived after about an hour and a half on the water, and transferred to our small boat to go ashore. Ten feet from the dock, someone spots a penguin. A penguin!!! Thank goodness. I had told Jace there were not promises we would see the infamous Galápagos penguin and not to get his hopes up, but there it was swimming near us looking for food! And then he was gone. Those things can't fly, but they are are rockets in the water. I took a deep breath and relaxed. We hadn't got a picture, but Jace had seen a penguin on day three. The pressure was off. After an incredible hike up the island to see the view, we headed back to the boat and got our snorkel gear. Wow. I have only snorkeled once and sort of have a fear of swimming in the ocean, but this was incredible. The water had great visibility and we could see eveything. I quickly forgot all about any fears I had and just got lost in the magic of life below the water. The sea life was unbelievable and we saw more in an hour that most people see in a lifetime, I'm sure. We were thrilled to find a stingray and we caught glimpses of the penguin a couple more times and Jace caught him sunbathing on a rock with his GoPro. We had spotted several white tip reef sharks, but right before we got out of the water, we swam right over the top of a seven foot white tip reef shark. Whoa. That was unreal. Jace and I stayed pretty close to the guide, as they always know the waters the best, and at one point, he took my hand and led me about 15 minutes across very shallow reefs pointing out things I wouldn't have know to look for on my own. Jace followed us with the GoPro.... But I think he might have followed more closely because the guy was holding my hand, not because of the fish footage he was getting :). On the way back, Jace and a kid his age sat on the front of the catamaran riding the waves. Fausto, our guide, challenged me and Emma to sit up front in the netting. So we did. And we got blasted by the waves that crashed over the front of the boat. We had to hold on tight, as some of waves tried to throw us off the front. It was actually a great place to be, as many others on the back were getting quite sea sick. We lasted about an hour of the two hour ride up there. I don't think I've screamed that much ever. It was like an extreme Disneyland ride that the government would never allow. Jace was impressed that I sat there and survived the crashing waves and extreme ride. I was impressed with myself!
Thursday was a planned quiet day. Jace and I went out to visit a private school here on the island that worked with Teacher 2 Teachers, the program that I went with the Esmereldas at the start of my trip. It was a good tour and a nice school, but we were so tired from the trip the day before that we just went back to the hostel and rested for the morning. In fact, we didn't' accomplish much the whole day. It felt difficult to even consider walking to get a meal. That day on the water really took it out of us. We had planned to take a two hour ferry on Friday to one of the other islands for the day, but we were told that this was a holiday weekend and there were no more tickets being sold. Short story. We didst' get to go and Friday ended up another relaxing day. We all agreed maybe it was for the best since Emma left the next day and Jace and I would be taking another ferry to Isabel Island on Saturday. We stayed on Santa Cruz and had a great day on two different beaches. We ended the night back at Tortuga Bay where Jace got to watch sea turtles feed off shore for about an hour. It was quickly dinner and bedtime for the next part of our journey--without Emma.
We arrived and settled in the first day, but had a little budget shock when we saw the jump in prices. We had to alter things a little bit, but we found good places to eat with the help of our hostel that weren't on Charles Darwin Avenue in the middle of the tourist part of the city. Our hostel was so great and the family that runs it is really nice and helpful. This would be our home for the next 7 days until Emma has to leave and Jace and I travel to another island.
Monday we woke leisurely and unpacked and got our bearings. The sun came out and we headed to Tortuga Bay after lunch. It was a long 45 minute walk in the sun to get there, but it was so worth it! White sand beaches, blank land iguanas everywhere, beautiful birds flying overhead, warm sea water, kayaks for rent, and plenty of peace and quiet. I had read that sometimes at sunset, black tip reef sharks and sea turtles will arrive to feed, but I didn't want to tell Jace or Emma, as animals are unpredictable. However, after those two were done kayaking and snorkeling, we headed to a tiny inlet on one side of the beach. And sure enough....Jace found himself snorkeling with about eight small black tip reef sharks. As if his mind wasn't blown enough, he caught glimpse of three huge sea turtles riding the surf coming in to look for food. He took his GoPro and headed after them. One of them rode the surf almost into Jace and I thought he was going to explode with excitement. On the walk back, Jace was almost floating rather than walking, and Emma commented she never knew a 15 year old could get that excited about something. It was a pretty great day.
Tuesday was no less awesome than Monday. We went to the Tortoise reserve, hiked through lava tunnels, bird watched around sunken craters, and learned an incredible amount on our tour of the Darwin Research Center. We even got to see Lonesome George! Well, his body anyway. He was the famous tortoise that was the last of his species and died in 2012 at the age of 104. He was sent to New Jersey, where it took four months to have his body preserved for display here. He just returned to the island a few months ago, so we were lucky to get to see him.
Wednesday was our only planned cruise aboard a catamaran to see Bartolome, one of the most photographed islands in the Galapagos. We arrived after about an hour and a half on the water, and transferred to our small boat to go ashore. Ten feet from the dock, someone spots a penguin. A penguin!!! Thank goodness. I had told Jace there were not promises we would see the infamous Galápagos penguin and not to get his hopes up, but there it was swimming near us looking for food! And then he was gone. Those things can't fly, but they are are rockets in the water. I took a deep breath and relaxed. We hadn't got a picture, but Jace had seen a penguin on day three. The pressure was off. After an incredible hike up the island to see the view, we headed back to the boat and got our snorkel gear. Wow. I have only snorkeled once and sort of have a fear of swimming in the ocean, but this was incredible. The water had great visibility and we could see eveything. I quickly forgot all about any fears I had and just got lost in the magic of life below the water. The sea life was unbelievable and we saw more in an hour that most people see in a lifetime, I'm sure. We were thrilled to find a stingray and we caught glimpses of the penguin a couple more times and Jace caught him sunbathing on a rock with his GoPro. We had spotted several white tip reef sharks, but right before we got out of the water, we swam right over the top of a seven foot white tip reef shark. Whoa. That was unreal. Jace and I stayed pretty close to the guide, as they always know the waters the best, and at one point, he took my hand and led me about 15 minutes across very shallow reefs pointing out things I wouldn't have know to look for on my own. Jace followed us with the GoPro.... But I think he might have followed more closely because the guy was holding my hand, not because of the fish footage he was getting :). On the way back, Jace and a kid his age sat on the front of the catamaran riding the waves. Fausto, our guide, challenged me and Emma to sit up front in the netting. So we did. And we got blasted by the waves that crashed over the front of the boat. We had to hold on tight, as some of waves tried to throw us off the front. It was actually a great place to be, as many others on the back were getting quite sea sick. We lasted about an hour of the two hour ride up there. I don't think I've screamed that much ever. It was like an extreme Disneyland ride that the government would never allow. Jace was impressed that I sat there and survived the crashing waves and extreme ride. I was impressed with myself!
Thursday was a planned quiet day. Jace and I went out to visit a private school here on the island that worked with Teacher 2 Teachers, the program that I went with the Esmereldas at the start of my trip. It was a good tour and a nice school, but we were so tired from the trip the day before that we just went back to the hostel and rested for the morning. In fact, we didn't' accomplish much the whole day. It felt difficult to even consider walking to get a meal. That day on the water really took it out of us. We had planned to take a two hour ferry on Friday to one of the other islands for the day, but we were told that this was a holiday weekend and there were no more tickets being sold. Short story. We didst' get to go and Friday ended up another relaxing day. We all agreed maybe it was for the best since Emma left the next day and Jace and I would be taking another ferry to Isabel Island on Saturday. We stayed on Santa Cruz and had a great day on two different beaches. We ended the night back at Tortuga Bay where Jace got to watch sea turtles feed off shore for about an hour. It was quickly dinner and bedtime for the next part of our journey--without Emma.