Monday 7 March 2011

Cuddly Cute & Razor Sharp

So it was time for 8 days at sea and begin my life as a pirate, to do battle with elderly German tourists, to conqueror new lands in the name of England, to drink too much rum and call everyone "matey"...
 
Well, that was the plan, and its amazing how short of the mark I fell, but I soon learnt that there are some consolations on offer in the Galapagos. My career as a pirate may have been thwarted my by inability to drink rum whilst coping with sea-sickness, but my career as the next David Attenborough/Steve Irwin is definitely not off the cards yet.
 
The format of days aboard our catamaran La Galapagos Vision were that we'd visit a couple of islands and snorkel twice each day. Our guide for the trip was the legend that is Danny, who's knowledge of everything that moved on the islands, nay the entire earth earned him the nick-name "The Internet". Our chef would surprise us everyday with delicious dishes that included the local delicacy of Ceviche, a medley of seafood cooked in lime juice, delicious. Life on board the catamaran was not the cosiest, but was definitely a great setup to avoid the typical tourists. Steep steps, cabins where yoga moves were necessary to get into and out of bed and a lack of wheel chair access meant that our boat was full of young backpackers and lacked the hordes of German grannies and grandpas who filled up all the other charter boats.
 
 
Snorkeling is something I'd done little of before this trip, but I was soon diving deep, chasing reef sharks and photographing everything that moved. I would apologise for having 4 photo albums of seals on Flickr, but I'm not going to, they're awesome.There were times in the first snorkel, where we were all keen to be the first to see something, when I'd surface for someone to remark loudly:
 
"Did you see that seal?" 
"What bloody seal?"
 
Thankfully this trend was reversed for the rest of the trip, with me managing to spot most of the exciting wildlife. Incidents where I swam eyeball to eyeball with seals and turtles were definitely highlights I experienced by myself, much to the jealousy of my crew mates. People who think it's all sea lions, seaweed and seagulls, are alas mistaken, with a haul of animals including; Blue Footed Boobies, Stone Fish, White Tipped Reef Sharks, Dolphins, Giant Tortoises, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, Iguanas, Octopus, Green Turtles, Orcas, Galapagos Sharks, Lava Lizards, Sting Rays, Eagle Rays, Penguins oh and a few thousand sea lions (pause for intake of breath) to name but a few, make this place the place to see wildlife who are only too happy to see/eat/play with you.
 
You read the words "eat", and no, you're not reading a typo from a severely exhausted traveller fighting yet another bought of food poisoning, but something that very nearly happened to our guide. On one particular day, we were set to disembark on the inflatable boat when someone spotted dolphins storming their way through the channel. We sailed off with snorkeling gear for our guide to realise they were actually Killer Whales. With our hopes of a dip with dolphins put to one side we were treated to a very unique experience, as these four Orcas were in the middle of devouring two Galapagos Sharks and a Green Turtle. This started a feeding spree as hundreds of Frigate birds and Boobies swarmed all over the sea's surface for a piece of the action. The smell was horrific, (shark blood is rich in ammonia) and as we watched these killer whales dipping in and out of the water, their immense size and grace reminded us that it was far safer to be on board rather than over it.
 
With a million photos taken and all the sharks devoured we cruised back to the catamaran, wondering exactly how big Galapagos Sharks are, that they qualify as fodder for Killer Whales. We didn't have to wait long, as getting back on the catamaran we noticed two of them taking refuge from the Orcas around our boat. I remarked to the guide that one was over 6 foot long, and after responding that they don't get that big, he came up on deck to gulp audibly. Two 6 foot Galapagos Sharks (that are unfortunately the spitting image of Great Whites) were circling the boat, carrying injuries from the run-in with the Orcas. They were nervous and potentially aggressive and our guide Danny had realised that he had to help remove the boat's rope tethered to the mooring buoy some 15 feet from the edge of the boat. Hence the gulp.
 
Whilst our very nervous guide was over board trying to free the boat, the Captain thought he'd help the situation by throwing lumps of tuna steaks over board at the opposite end of the boat as a distraction. Yelling at the captain that he was effectively chumming the water with blood, turning nervous sharks into eating sharks, Danny was understandably uneasy as two sharks known to take lumps out of people were not too far away. As we tourists looked on (taking photos of course) Danny was thankfully hauled clear of the water by the crew, shaken and pale but importantly unscathed. The Galapagos... not just cute and cuddly, but razor sharp and with a taste for blood.
 
 
The islands are more than just cute photos of sea lions, the men in grey suits, blue booby jokes and the impact of some guy called Charlie. The islands have a history that include murder mystery, an ancient postage system and is a key outpost for any navy worth its salt would kill for. We would hear all these stories from our resident tour guide Danny, who made our voyage far more than the elaborate zoo, a lot of people imagine this place to be.
 
For example, if anyone receives a Galapagos postcard that's stamped from the UK, its not a ruse. There is a postal system set up on one of the islands by whalers over a 150 years ago. The system works that you drop your postcards or messages for home in the box on Post Office Bay, and whalers (or tourists) passing in the opposite direction would pick yours up to be delivered home on their way home. So if the post mark is labelled as Basingstoke, don't worry, although you should worry about the poor bastard living in Basingstoke, that's not a great place to live.
 
With many of us budding to spot the next wildlife spectacle on our trip, there were understandably, rooky mistakes made, most notably by our youngest passenger, Adele, a dutch guy possibly straight out of kindergarten ("pot-kettle-black" I hear you cry). Two particular incidents of note, were
 
"It's a nesting turtle!"... turned out to be a sea lion waving behind a sand dune... and
 
"Its a giant sting ray!"... after standing on the 5 foot wide sting ray for 2 minutes, he still didn't believe me when I told him it was actually a large rock.
 
To be fair, I used my snorkel to imitate a sea lion to try (successfully) to encourage one to swim with me, so we all regress when surrounded by wildlife that act like giant Labradors.
 
 
The Galapagos, is a trip, many pass up for fear of hordes of ancient German tourists, not only stealing sun-loungers but also all the good snorkel ling gear, but my experience of these islands is going to be one very hard to beat. Surfing is by far my favourite past time, but for 8 days at sea thanks to the most friendly wildlife, this was a trip any surfing jaunt would struggle to beat.
 
People who think Labradors/Retrievers are the most adorable, lumbering, clumsy and smelly animals in existence, need to come here to be corrected. The film Marley and Me, needs to be remade featuring this fella with horrific breath, who was only too keen to make friends.
 
 
Apologies for the long blog, the videos and photos do justice to this more than I ever could:
 

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