Lights. Camera. ACTION!

Setting: The magnificent archipelago known as The Galapagos Islands. Some 600km west of the Ecuadorian coast, this myriad of lava rock islands is home to some of the most diverse and unique wildlife in the world.

Scene: 15 tourists from around the world disembark the yacht Daphne to explore Bachas, a northern beach on the island of Santa Cruz – the first of several to be visited.

Cue Blue Footed Boobies and an intense feeding frenzy as they dive by the hundreds to feed in the shallow water! Cue Sea Lion pups frolicking playfully amidst the rocks! Cue baby Sea Turtles – huddling near the top of their nest and only hours away from their frantic run to the sea! Cue Pink Flamingo flying just overhead and settling in nearby lagoon!

“I paid an extra $5 for the perfect timing of that Flamingo,” said our guide Charlie as we set off down the beach.

That statement was almost to be believed. Day after day, outing after outing, we were all constantly stunned by the abundance and close proximity of the wildlife we encountered – Charlie joked that he had all of the animals under contract to show up at the exact times we were arriving. After awhile, we weren’t sure if he was joking or not. It was a wildlife experience like none other. And for four jam packed days and nights, we were well guided on our exploration of the islands of Santa Cruz, The Plazas, Santa Fe, Española and Floreana.

There are several ways to explore the islands, and people could easily spend weeks here trying to see it all. Wanting to see as much as we could in a short time frame (and on a small budget!), Pete, Margaret and I booked a 4 night tour onboard the Encantada – a highly recommended sailboat in the “tourist class” level of boats. We were quite happy with the last minute deal that we secured and were set to sail on Wednesday morning.

We flew to the islands on Monday morning to explore a little on our own. Upon arrival we roamed the town of Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz and talked to different tour agencies about the possibility of supplementing our cruise with other day tour options allowing us to take in even more of the islands (we did this on Tuesday, with a half-day tour of Santa Cruz that introduced us to the unique plant life, marine iguanas, sea lions, and our first snorkel!) On returning to our hotel later, we got a distressing message that our boat, the Encantada, had an “incident” (fire!) and that our tour was canceled. Cue PANIC! For the next few hours we were constantly on the phone and doing research online as to what our options were. We finally decided to accept an offer to get on the yacht Daphne – almost an identical tour over the same days, but a free upgrade to “comfortable class”.

SCORE!! We were treated to delicious food, a newly refurbished yacht, a top-class guide (naturalist), and many more comforts that we would not have gotten on the Encantada – the most luxury we have experienced on our travels! One small downside, however – our new upgraded class of boat meant that we were traveling out of the price range of many backpackers like us – making us the outsiders to a group of twelve friends who were all at least twenty years older. One small upside on top of that, however – we were the kool kids on the boat – the crew treated us to free drinks, we often got served food first, and we also were tipped off first whenever there was marine animal activity around the yacht.

Our days began early, with the breakfast bell ringing at either 6:30 or 7:00am, with the exception of the first day, which began after lunch. After being well fed, we would climb into the zodiac and be taken ashore the islands for a nature walk. Our first day of exploration was literally as first described above – we were shocked by the immediate exposure to the multitude of animals, including the endemic blue footed boobies. We were just in time to see them diving into the shallow waters by the hundreds, hunting for lunch:

The blue-footed booby

Feeding frenzy!

And then there were the pelicans, the crabs, the jet black marine iguanas, and the pink flamingo that swooped by our heads! The stars of the show on this island visit, however, were the wee little baby sea turtles. Two months before, their mama dropped them off on shore as eggs, buried a few feet below the sand. For dozens of days they broke out of the eggs and slowly inched towards the top of the sand, readying themselves for their dash to the open sea, where they would disappear and show up as adults 15 years later.

We were there to see them on the exact day that they were meant to start their scramble to the sea – we could see their tiny little heads and legs almost right at the top!

Baby sea turtles!!

Circling above the turtle nests was a nasty frigatebird – savagely looking for a snack. We offered to stay and protect the turtles to ensure they made it to the sea (only 1% of the babies survive!), but we were not allowed. We were told we had to let “nature be nature”. Cue much sad sighing.

The nasty frigatebird!

We snorkeled a bit on Bachas beach (named after the US military barge that was here during WWII), but saw very little in the murky water. We returned back to the boat for dinner and I felt the first effects of seasickness that would plague me for the first couple of days. As soon as the boat started moving to our next location (a 3 hour trip after dinner), I had to promptly lay down with my eyes closed to combat it.

We woke up the next morning and found ourselves on the Plazas – two small islands off the east coast of Santa Cruz. We stopped to watch baby seals frolicking on the shore before our attention was captured by the colorful land iguanas that we saw for the first time. Mating season is over and the males are shedding their colorful skins, but many still showed their vibrant yellows.

Baby seals, playing among the rocks and crabs!

So ugly it’s cute?

Back to the boat for lunch, and then into the water for some snorkeling around the boat and in the bay. Pete and I followed a large stingray for some time as it slinked along the bottom (rays FREAK me out!), but we mostly saw a lot of yellow tailed surgeonfish (think “Dory” from Finding Nemo).

El Capitan of the boat took us out a little further for more snorkeling – this is what I was afraid of. We were in SHARK territory! There are a few different sharks in the Galapagos waters and none are threats to humans – but that doesn’t matter. They are still sharks! We eerily swam across deeper, darker waters listening only to our own breathing and expecting something to jump out at any second. We fully expected and (half) hoped to see them, and my grip on Pete’s hand tightened.

It turned out that it wasn’t to be on Thursday (perhaps Charlie was still negotiating their appearance contract?), but we still came away without disappointment. Instead of sharks, we saw a humongous school of salemas (think school of silver fish that shaped themselves into objects on Finding Nemo). There had to be hundreds of thousands of them all huddled together, stretching as far as we could see.

Feeling a little nauseous again from all the swimming in choppy waters, I climbed back on the zodiac while everyone else made their way towards shore. “TURTLE!” yelled one of the snorkelers and everyone quickly swam over to the same area to see a graceful sea turtle swim along.

I stayed on the boat and the driver took us off to the side to give everyone more room. Suddenly, on the far other side of the boat – another turtle! At that point, I didn’t care if I vomited in my mask – I had to get back in the water. I jumped in quickly, and was rewarded with having this giant creature all to myself. I swam alongside him for a couple of minutes, marveling in his gentle, graceful nature as he lazily glided along, popping his head up every couple of minutes for a gulp of air. It was honestly a spiritual experience, sharing a moment alone with this amazing animal!

Still feeling sick, I skipped the afternoon walk along the beach and napped instead with dreams of turtles. But Pete came back with more pictures of beach-bum-sea-lions and iguanas.