Over Semana Santa (Holy Week) we did not have any classes and where else would be better to take a vacation than the Galapagos Islands! My IES program had a four day/five night trip planned for everyone to the beautiful islands just off the coast of Ecuador. It was quite possibly the most magnificent trip I have ever been on and I will do my best to explain all of the greatness that we saw!
Day 1: We left Quito at 10am and flew through Guayaquil to get to our first stop on the island tour: San Cristobal Island. The ocean was absolutely gorgeous as we flew over it and into the airport! Everyone was practically squealing with excitement about the adventures that were awaiting us. We found our hotel and ate a delicious lunch (again, this girl ate and delighted in the sea food!). Then we walked to an Interpretation Center that was basically a museum that displayed the history of the Galapagos and learned a little bit about them. We hiked to cove where we jumped in the water for our first snorkel of the trip! The cove was absolutely beautiful (as was pretty much everywhere we went in the Galapagos and you will see) and we got to swim with turtles and sea lions!
This was some people’s first time snorkeling ever, can you imagine how awesome of a first time that was? It was unbelievably cool to have sea lions swimming and playing all around us! We also hiked to the top of the hill to the look-out and we were all surrounded by sheer beauty. We just kept talking about how we couldn’t believe where we were! And it was only the first day…
Day 2: Every morning we had to be up and ready for breakfast by 6am so our nights were always uneventful, unless you call showering and turning the lights out by 9pm an event. That morning it was raining as we got on the boat to cruise over to Floreana Island. The rain is key: we had been divided into two groups since there were so many students, and our bags were supposed to travel with us in our appropriate boats. However, because it was raining they were rushed when getting the suitcases on the boats and a lot of luggage got mixed up. Another important thing to remember for later: the night before our guides told us what to pack in our backpacks that we would need during the day, and bathing suits were not on the list. I even asked twice because I wanted to be sure we would not need them and I was told again that no, we would not our swimsuits (I bet you can see where this is going…).
Anyways, back to our boat ride. We got on the boats and headed out to the Pacific. The captain let everyone take turns throughout the weekend riding on the front of the boat and up top with him. About an hour into our ride we noticed dolphins appearing and swimming alongside our boat and playing in the wake!This was my favorite part of the whole trip. They followed us for a while and we couldn’t believe how close they were to us! Then our captain asked if we wanted to swim with the dolphins…
Did WE want to swim with the dolphins? Is that a serious question? Did he even have to ask or wait for an answer? Of course we did! Now, remember the swimsuit and bag situation? You guessed it! Half of us did not have our swimsuits with us in our backpacks nor could we get them out of our suitcases because they were on the other boat that was a ways behind us. But why would we pass up an opportunity to swim with dolphins in the wild? So half of us stripped down to our underwear and jumped right in! It was spectacular! The captain circled around us in the boat because they liked to follow the boat and they swam right by us! Shrieks could be heard from everyone’s snorkel tubes out of pure excitement! What an unbelievable experience.
After this amazing event we continued on our way to Floreana and Sally and I sat at top with the captain. I really liked sitting up there because he pointed out all the islands and rock formations to us so we really learned a lot. We drove around an aquatic mouth to a volcano called La Corona del Diablo (the Devil’s crown) where pirates used to hide and attack each other. There we saw the famous blue footed boobies and some mating fragatas with their big red bellies. We stopped two more times for more snorkeling with sea lions, turtles and penguins! The wildlife we saw was simply incredible! Then we landed at Floreana Island for lunch and some hiking. We hiked around old pirate hideouts and saw a few giant land tortoises. After this stop we got back on the boat to travel to Isabela Island where we would stay for the night.
On the way there Sally and I got to sit on the front of the boat and just fly over the waves. There I saw a few giant manta rays just resting at the surface of the water! It was really neat to see the ocean and the islands from the front of the boat and we thought the ride was a complete blast! But it got a little interesting once we passed through a small storm… the waves started getting really choppy so the boat would bounce over them which hurts our butts so much! We were sore for a few days afterwards. It also started raining which stung our faces and we noticed some rather terrifyingly large waves behind us. Don’t worry, we made it into the harbor safely, a little exhausted, but safe nonetheless. The boat hands came out to tie up the boat and told us that this particular port is one of the most dangerous in the Pacific to get into, especially during a storm. I am so glad someone told us after we got there and didn’t bother to get us off the front during the ride!
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