Our Galapagos adventure begins

This past week I cruised the Galapagos Islands on the M/Y Eric, operated by Ecoventura. As I did not have access to internet, I am going to post my daily blogs this week.

Sunday, Sept. 20:

Our Galapagos adventure with Ecoventura begins. Today we flew 1-1/2 hours from the Guayaquil Airport to San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. When we arrived it was raining which we thought was a rather glum start. But nothing is ever as it seems here and we were in for surprises.

Our first was the revitalized dock area in the town. It is really quite lovely, with a wooden pier and and a pavilion. Close by were some very attractive bars. We were met at the dock by our first wildlife: several sea lions were sleeping on the planks. So we stepped around them and clambered into inflatable boats and headed toward our home for the next week, the M/Y Eric.

The Eric is quite a comfortable vessel, with 10 cabins carrying up to 20 passengers. There are 18 of us this week, all journalists here to write articles and take pictures of this fascinating area. Huw and Julia are from the UK giving us a bit of international flavor. It is nice to be traveling with some of my SATW friends, Clark Norton, Dave Houser and Lois Friedman and to meet Mary Love and George Miller , who are also in SATW.

We board, have a quick briefing and meet our guides Ivan and Harry. We are issued snorkel gear and wetsuits for the week. We then immediately head to our first Galapagos experience. As we travel to Ochoa Beach (on the same island) the clouds disappear and the sun comes forth. Our guides assure us that all is well in “paradise.”

We have our first “wet landing” (you get off the boat at the beach, stepping in the water) and are greeted by more sea lions. Our guides give us a quick briefing and then we have the chance to test out our snorkel gear. After so many days of travel, it was a great respite.

After our snorkeling adventure we begin an overnight sail to Genovese Island. On the way, we pass by Kicker Rock, one of the great rock formations in the Galapagos and we are able to take sunset pictures.

There was a short reception with the captain and crew, followed by a very tasty dinner — it is obvious that the food is going to be quite good. We all head to bed early after a long day of travel.