Photos 3

David and Gil

David and Gil with Sign

Magnificent Frigate on M?Y Floreana

Photo 2

3 Giant Tortoises (Breeding Center)

Giant Tortoise in Wild

Sea Lion on Red Beach

Photos 1

Blue Footed Boobie

Marine Iguana

Baby Giant Tortoise and Egg

Overview Review Part Two

David - M/Y Floreana - The boat is a small, green painted vessel that has a crew of 6 and capacity for 16 passengers.  We missed capacity by one.  When I first saw the crew I thought of pirates.  They turned out to be a fun group that worked hard to make our trip memorable.  Our National Park guide has a degree in natural resources and is a master diver.  Fabian has spent most of his life on the Galapagos and is extremely knowledgeable of the land, animals and plants that are above and below water level.  The boat itself is not a state of the art boat.  That said I would not have traded it for the nicest ship in the islands.  It fit the Galapagos.

To conclude, Mine and Gil's Galapagos experience will be one I will never forget.  We also got first hand knowledge of how the different types of volcanic islands influence what plants and animals live there.  We also found out that there are only 4 island that have human habitation and that there is a concerted effort to eradicate  invasive and introduced species from the islands.  We learned how the introduced/invasive species impact the original resident organisms.  I can't speak for Gil because I am not in his head but I learned so much on the trip that I could not learn watching videos and reading books.   If you get the chance; go.  Finally:  I got to see penguins at the Equator!!!!!!!!!!!  Nuff said.

Galapagos - June 20

Brown-footed booby nesting in mangrove.  Darwin Bay,  Genovesa Island.

Overview Review Part One

David - Blogging with no access to internet except for an hour during the trip is difficult.  It gets even worse when you try to type on a small vessel that is constantly bouncing so I decided to just try to give a summery of the trip.  We visited many islands, some twice, but, of those, the locations did not look the same.  We saw more Marine Iguanas than I could count, lots of Lava Lizards, and many Boobies.  We saw Red Footed Boobies, Nasca Boobies, and Blue Footed Boobies (Birds).  We saw Great and Magnificent Frigate Birds and the Galapagos Penguins.  A few Finches and Wrens, Storm Petrels, Galapagos Owl, and the Galapagos Hawk.  Interesting note about the penguin; we saw them on two islands they are rarely seen on.  We also met two species of herons.  We were constantly visited by Galapagos Sea Lions and Fur Seals while visiting islands and snorkeling.  We met Giant Tortoises on three islands and visited the Tortoise Breeding Center on Isabella Island.  While snorkeling and wading and swimming we shared the water with white tip sharks, green sea turtles, sea lions, penguins, and lots of fish to include puffer, parrot, and a whole lot more.  Sea urchins, barnacles, sea stars, and sea slugs also abound.

We visited volcanic beaches that ranged in color from black to gold to red.  The islands varies in shape and composition.  Some where shield type while others are stratovolcanos and cinder cone.  Many islands still show evidence of lava flow and some islands are actually a combination of many islands that were joined when lava from one eruption surrounded existing volcanic islands.  When we walked over lava flows we observer how quickly or slowly the lava cooled.  We also could determine how viscus the lava was and the amount of gases present in the flow.

Vegetation is interesting on the islands.  Our guide, Galapagos National Park certified, Fabian Sanchez (the BEST guide I have ever met) told us that 80% of the vegetation in the Galapagos is DRY Tropical Forest.  this explained why most of the vegetation we saw looked more grey than green.  This doesn't mean there wasn't any green vegetation; just that there wasn't a lot.  Vegetation on each island adopted to the animals that live there or the animals that don't.  Example cactus.  Islands without land iguanas have cactus with longer, softer thorns.  Islands with land iguanas have cactus with shorter, harder thorns.  Also the availability of moisture and even soil determine what plants are present.  Many plants are flowering and pollination can be self, wind blown or insect driven.

Galapagos - June 20

Sea lions and gulls near Darwin Bay. Frigate birds in flight.

Genovesa

June 20 – David. Today we visited Genovesa Island where frigate birds and red-footed boobies nest.  The male Great Frigate’s were interesting with their red sacks under their beaks puffed out trying to attract a mate.  We even found a happy couple nesting in a tree.  She had her head resting against his red pillow.  It was so romantic.  We were also introduced to the Galapagos Sea Lion.  It has a longer snout than the Galapagos Fur Seal (really a sea lion) which we saw later.  We later went snorkeling in search of hammerhead sharks and while we saw sharks on our way to the snorkel site we did not see any while snorkeling.  We finished the day walking up a steep narrow path up a cliff after disembarking from zodiac on what is referred to as a dry landing and saw Nazca Boobies and the Galapagos Owl hunting small birds called Storm-Petrels.  I need to explain the two different types of landings.  Dry means we are not supposed to get wet while wet means we wade ashore.  Our means of transport to the beach is zodiac.

M/V Floreana

June 19 – David.  6:30 am  Gil and I, along with Teresa and Lona, the two teachers from Minn. who are also Fund for Teacher recipients going to the Galapagos, met or ride to the Quito airport.  Our ride is from Latin Roots who represents Holbrook travel in Ecuador.  Check in was interesting as you go to a Galapagos window to check in, have your check in bags x-rayed and sealed, then you go through normal check in where you turn in your bags and get your boarding pass.  The flight was long and uneventful with one stop along the way except for the landing on Baltra  Island.  Strong cross wind.  The pilot got a round of applause for the successful landing.  We went through a process similar to customs but we were entering a national park that is a protected area.  They were making sure we weren’t bringing in illegal items that might contaminate the Galapagos.  We were met by our guide Fabian and bussed to the boat, the M/Y Floreana, secured our luggage and went to see giant tortoises at a ranch in the highlands on Santa Cruz island.  Santa Cruz is one of the islands in the Galapagos populated by humans.  The tortoises looked like huge rocks peeking out of the tall grass.  We saw about 8.  We then went into a partially collapsed lava tube that was actually two lava tubes, one above the other.  It reminded me of Ruby Falls.  We the returned to the boat and made a long night cruise to our first stop.  End of Day 1.

Galapagos - June 20

Darwin Bay,  Genovesa Island
Great Frigate birds were mating.
The male attracts the female mostly by displaying his red, inflated chest and calling to the female. This fellow has captured the attention of a female with pride in his success.

Blogging Difficulties

We will try to catch up blogs later. Having problems getting Internet to publish blogs .

Galapagos - June 19

Santa Cruz Island
Giant tortoise in Highland Forest habitat.
Darwin finches. Egrets.
Invasive species: cattle, donkeys, dogs, cats, and guava trees.
Lava tubes both collapsed and intact.
Red coloration in rock indicative of oxidized iron.

Cotopaxi Volcano

Stratovolcano near Quito

Observatorio

The Merz telescope in the observatory in the "Old Town" district of Quito. I took several photos here. This is my favorite. David enjoyed our little walk from Hotel Quito to the observatory and back. Built in 1872, the Observatorio served as a catalyst for many scientific endeavors in addition to astronomy. Seismolographs gathered data in the early 1900's and the meteorological station is still in operation. 

GPS Equator!

The Intinan Museum claims the location of the equator to be there according to the Global Positioning System.

Center of the World Monument

David stands in front of the Center of the World Monument 0° 0' 0" latitude, the equator.

David and Gil at Pululahua Crater

Globe Trek Galapagos http://globetrekgalapagos.blogspot.com/

Pululahua Crater

This is an enormous collapsed volcanic caldera located in the Geobotanical Park a few miles north of Quito. People live in the crater itself and you can see farms on the crater floor.

Recommendations

The young lady on the plane that David mentioned was a civil engineer about my son's age.  She gave us some good, practical advice for our visit to Quito.

View from Hotel Quito

Quito is a beautiful city.

Travelin'

David - Gil and I began our trip at 7am.  We arrived early at Nashville's International airport and had a pleasant time sitting around for our flight with EXIT ROW SEATS.  Arrived in Miami on time and the fun began.  We had to go from Concourse D to Concourse J.  It is not that easy to find.  Also lots of walking.  We arrived at the gate 20 minutes before boarding.  We were turned back because we apparently did not have a phone number in the system but that was quickly fixed.  Gil met a young lady who had something in common with his son but that is Gil's story to tell.  The 3+ hour flight to Quito was uneventful until the landing.  We bounced big time. After getting through immigration and customs (a lesson on how to correctly fill out the paper work would be nice.  I never am sure what they are asking) we met our driver and let's just say he drove like my older brother.  I enjoyed the ride immensely.  As you will have read by Gil's blog we settled in fine.  Only issue we have to clear up so far.  Find out when we will be picked up Thursday for the return ride to the airport for our flight to the Galapagos.

Hotel Quito

Gil - We just had a nice dinner in the restaurant of the Hotel Quito. We are going to rest now, it's after 11 pm  local time. Quito is located in the Andes; the elevation is approximately 9000 feet! David and I will visit a snow-capped stratovolcano tomorrow, the middle of the earth monument,  and I think I've talked him into going to visit the observatory (It's said they have a most interesting astronomy museum there).
We plan to make the most of our one day in the city of Quito before our trek takes us to the Galapagos.
I'm sure we'll post some great photos tomorrow!

Getting ready to go.

David - Well tomorrow is the beginning.  Gil and I will be leaving for BNA to go to the Galapagos via Miami and Ecuador.  While visiting Quito, Ecuador we will visit a few sites to include an observatory and an active volcano that is a little over 4 miles from the city center.  While visiting the Galapagos we will be staying on a motor launch so we can visit multiple islands.  I am starting to get excited.  More to follow

Exchange Rate?

No problem with the exchange rate in the Galapagos Islands. Ecuador uses the US dollar as currency!
Gil