Who are Lonesome George & Lively Leanne ? Marijuana in the wild? Highland Tubes? , Acapulco in Ecuador?
16 March 2012 | Puerto Ayora , Isla Santa Cruz , Galapagos Islands
John
Hi All ,
The answers to the questions above are in the tales of our adventures over the last 3 days which feature below,, there are also lot of pictures in the photo gallery under "Galapagos Adventures" - then click on the sub album "Isla Santa Cruz" but first where are we ?
Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz is the largest of the towns in terms of population and size in the Galapagos Islands and that's where we are.
There are lots of small shops, restaurants and hotels as well as tour operators located here. The town is a mixture of a modern tourist destination and a humble residential settlement. In the photo gallery there are pictures of the town as well of one of a motor bike pulling a trailer that I discovered was the egg delivery guy!
The anchorage is open to the south where the predominate wind and swell come from so in order to make it more comfortable on board in addition to our normal bow anchor we also have a stern anchor deployed which keeps Red Sky pointed into the swell.
The trip from Isla san Cristobel was once again a pleasure with enough wind to sail most all of the way and calm seas. A 15kg tuna was also landed so we were joined by Nick , Lynn & Hanna of S.V Shweetie for another of Matthew`s feasts. I have since learned that tourists are not permitted to fish, whoops !
We have spent the last 3 days (we arrived on Monday) seeing the sights.
DAY 1;
The Charles Darwin Centre named after Charles Darwin who arrived in the Galapagos in 1835. Darwin a biologist is said to have developed the theory of evolution whilst here as a result of his observations of the animals. In addition he wrote about having ridden upon and eaten the giant tortoise's that the Galapagos are now famous for. Thousands of these tortoises were later captured by passing ships as they were and excellent source of food for the sailors as the animals can apparently survive for up to a year on very little food or water meaning that they were able to be kept alive in the ships hold providing a source of fresh meat. As a result they became all but extinct and have been the subject of a captive breeding program here. LONESOME GEORGE as he is called is the only surviving member of one of the original Giant Tortoise's , he is something like 140 years old I think they said , and he now lives at the Darwin Centre along with the new era of the tortoises that have been bred here.
We visited George and his "modern family". We only got a glimpse of George as it was pretty hot and he was tucked away in the shade of a tree, he is also reported to be over the paparazzi like tourists and as such difficult to photograph ,,, I reckon it`s all bull , at 140 years old he is just tired , cranky and lazy ! We did manage to get a good look at many of his family members however and they are pretty amazing creatures.
We also discovered a NEW SPECIES, part human and part tortoise that we have named LIVELY LEANNE. Scientists are now considering introducing Leanne to George in an attempt to revitalize George but are concerned that he might get too excited and have a heart attack! Check out the photo gallery for the picture of LIVLEY LEANNE and leave us a comment if you reckon GEORGE will be impressed!
On our way back to town we wandered out to a little beach as the locals said we would be able to see some marijuana in the wild ????? .
The marijuana turned out to be Marine Iguana`s (when the locals say Marine Iguana they pronounce Mar- iguana) . The family of these prehistoric critters was sunning themselves on a rock and were not at all bothered by our presence, see the pics in the Gallery.
Day 2 ;
Matthew was pretty excited at the prospect of "highland tubes" but when he started to unpack his surfboard I knew he had misunderstood!
In the highlands about 10 klms from the town there are Lava Tubes. The Lonely Planet guide explains as follows; "These underground tunnels of more than a kilometer in length were formed by the solidifying of the outside skin of a molten lava flow. When the lava flow ceased the molten larva inside the flow kept going emptying out the solidified skin and thus leaving the tunnels".
After being told by the owners of the land where the tunnels are located that there was lights inside but the electricity supply was "unreliable" and it gets very dark inside we were issued with 2 torches and about 5 well used candles for the 12 of us and told where to go to find the entrance,,, Hmmm the guide book said they provided guides,,,,,, oh well it's only a tunnel isn`t it?
We wandered thru the bush along a path that lead to a rickety set of fairly steep stairs that had an even more rickety hand rail that lead down to a hole in the side of a hill, this must be it!
We descended into the hole and were pleased to find that the lights, well at least some of the lights, were on and we could pretty much see where we were going but not where we were walking (the torches stopped working within the first few minutes).
The tunnel was amazing, the ceiling about 25-30ft high and about 15-20 ft wide. Incredible to consider the immense heat and pressure that could have forged it thru the solid rock. There were a few areas where there had been rock falls that we had to climb over and whilst doing so caused me to
a) think that at least a hard hat might have been a good idea and
b) hope that today would not be the day of the next cave -in.
The drops of water that were falling from the roof thanks to recent rainfalls were also a reminder that the ground above was probably heavier than normal at the moment.
I got a sense of what it must be like being in an underground mine but without any of the tunnel reinforcement or safety precautions ,,, and I concluded that like the active rock spitting volcano we visited in Vanuatu it was probably only a matter of time before you wouldn`t be permitted to do this.
So whilst it wasn't the kind of tube that Matt would prefer we all still really enjoyed the experience.
DAY 3:
A short ride on a water taxi landed us on the shore from where we hiked along what started out to be a smooth trail and then became a rocky path that lead to Las Grietas, a deep chasm between two rock walls that was filled with crystal clear seawater, a pretty awesome sight and as we were all pretty hot and sweaty from the walk we were eager to cool off and relax.
After a swim it was time for some fun! The cliff walls had small rock ledges and with some planning and effort could be reached by scaling the vertical faces. The ledges ranged from about 3 meters at the lower ones to about 15 meters at the top above the water. Over the next couple of hours we climbed up and jumped off these ledges, each time looking to go a little higher with Matthew finally going all the way to the top and then with a bit of a Tarzan yell jumping into the pool below. It was a bit like being in Acapulco again!
In between these adventures we have wandered around the town, done some souvenir shopping, enjoyed some nice meals in the restaurants and quite a few ice creams! Leanne and Hannah (Hannah has jumped ship for a few days and is staying with us on Red Sky ) have been doing Yoga and going for runs in the mornings , so as you might have gathered we have been keeping busy and enjoying ourselves !
Today and tomorrow we will take it easy, do a little shopping and just hang out.
Also an essential piece of equipment has stopped working and I need to fix it,,,,,The stereo !!!!!
We intend to depart here on Sunday for the last of our Galapagos Islands Isla Isabella, another day sail away, where we will hang out and relax for a week or so and wait for a suitable weather window to present itself that will allow us to depart on our crossing of the largest of all the world oceans!
So take a look at the photo gallery , I hope you enjoy the pictures and we will write again next week ,
See ya
J,L ,M (and Hannah)