Author Archives: Steve Walker

About Steve Walker

Once a tech in-house PR type, now professional photo/videographer and recreational drone pilot. Violinist. Flautist. Occasional conductor. Oenophile.

Galapagos 2 (Monday): Booby Booby Do

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2nd April 2018

I’ve mentioned before that we got chatting in one of our various check-in queues, to a nice Australian couple. Their Galapagos experience included one lady passenger who steadfastly refused to leave the boat to go to see the wildlife, or swim, or do anything. It’s possible that this might have been a reaction to the slave-driving that goes on on the Galapagos boats – up early, quick breakfast and then off on the day’s activities, which run steadily through the day until dinner. Any illusion that you’re on a holiday can quickly be lost. One chap on Origin declared it to be a “boot camp”, though I suppose “boat camp” might be better.

Actually, of course, one is on holiday, and so you can decide not to join in on things if you don’t want; and on the first full day I decided to pass on the snorkelling excursion that followed the morning hike (Jane had more courage than me, and decided to go for it).

But the morning hike itself, at Punta Pitt on the north side of San Cristobal Island, was an enjoyable excursion, albeit after a night of limited sleep. (If I have one complaint about the Origin it is that the cabins are very noisy, as they are on the level just above the engines, and this made sleeping difficult this first night.) The excursion was described as having a “wet” landing, which means jumping off the RIB near the shore and hoping like hell that the water’s not too deep – particularly if wearing a backpack with expensive camera gear in it. Actually, the Origin crew managed it well; no-one drowned, and, more importantly, my cameras survived the experience. After a few minutes on the beach of desanding feet and putting on walking boots, we were off, in search of the Red-Footed Booby – San Cristobal Island is one of only two open to tourists where these can be seen. There are three sorts of booby in the Galapagos – blue-footed, red-footed and nazca. Red-footed are actually the most numerous, but blue-footed are more commonly seen.

The hike started off with a bit of a scramble up a rocky path

and it soon became apparent that opportunities to photograph blue-footed boobies would be manifold. They were, frankly, everywhere, including in some cases, nesting on the track we were supposed to follow, so we had to detour around them.

This is how difficult it is to photograph blue-footed boobies:

That said, we were lucky because we were there in their mating season and so could see some of the characteristics of that. The males reserve a nest site by basically creating a circle of droppings, inside which they court females.

The courting ritual involves prancing and dancing

and, if a successful match is made, up to three eggs might be laid.

The male and female take turns to keep the eggs at just the right temperature – 39°C. If too hot, they stand and cool down, sometimes doing a particular panting action to cool themselves.

If all goes well, and food is plentiful, then the chicks hatch. This nest was unusual in that all three chicks have survived, indicating plentiful food.

And now the parents have a job to do to get enough food to feed a growing family.

We eventually reached the point of the island where there is a colony of red-footed boobies. These are more difficult to photograph, as they are the only booby species that is able to nest in trees.

but we saw a few, and also some chicks.

We weren’t limited to boobies, though. There was an immature yellow-crowned night heron

several lava lizards

and many, many Frigate birds, cruising around looking for food to steal.

It was a good introduction to the pattern of our excursions’ activities and the wildlife of the islands.

The relentless stream of activities continued for the rest of the day, with opportunities for further snorkelling, and also kayaking, an activity accompanied by a ride in the RIBs, by the cliffs of San Cristobal island at Cerro Brujo (“the witch’s hill”). So there was an opportunity for some nice photos of people kayaking

and a nice view of a rock formation that (from some angles) looks like a boot, so is called Kicker Rock.

I didn’t snorkel – these blogs don’t write themselves, y’know – but Jane did, and reported that the water visibility was better, dammit. After that, we had a chance for a walk on a beach, so took up on that, as it required nothing more complicated then water shoes. And I’m very glad we did, as it got us some more booby action.

Near the shore at Cerro Brujo, the boobies were fishing, which was a wonderful thing to watch. I’m going to create some kind of animation from photos I collected, so watch this space. For now here is a handful of stills to give you an idea.

A heron was quite obviously awestruck by their skill.

Even the sealions took a peek.

All in all, this was an agreeable way to end the day’s activities and it nicely set up the first G&T when back on board. The challenge of the next days is clearly going to be simply that of standing the pace.

Here’s how day 3 went.

Galapagos 1 (Sunday): Getting under way

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1st April 2018

The Galapagos islands are a special destination in many ways. Historically significant, touristically exciting (we hope) and ecologically vulnerable because of the bloody tourists. So, although San Cristobal is only some 90 minutes’ flying time from mainland Ecuador, and although it’s just a domestic flight, many aspects of getting there are controlled as if an international flight – and then some.

The passenger lists are scrutinised and controlled very carefully. Because you can’t just potter about the islands by yourself, but must be in a group led by a guide, every embarcation is carefuly checked to make sure that all travellers have a legitimate travel plan. Suitcases are sealed before check-in to make sure that no unwanted materials (meaning mainly fruit, veg, meat, that sort of thing) sneak in. When you disembark, there is a multi-stage process to check people’s provenance and onward plans, and to check, once again, that no extraneous biological matter comes in unannounced – it’s the only time in my life when I have had to answer “yes” when asked if I was bringing in camping materials, as I was wearing hiking boots.

(By the way, I was damn’ glad I had these with me, as on at least one activity in the islands no other footwear would have been appropriate. Our initial materials gave the impression that Teva sandals would be OK, and this was not always the case.)

Such care might result in torturous processes before you eventually get on to the islands, but it’s entirely justified in order to ensure, as best possible, that travellers don’t degrade the environment. Yes, it’s self interest in that tourism is better sustained this way; but also scientific research benefits.

The excellent job Sunvil had done to take us smoothly through three weeks that included five flights, four bus rides, four boat rides, many excursions and innumerable hotel transfers looked in danger of falling apart in the melée at the exit at San Cristobal airport

but this was eventually proven to be an illusion, and the planeload of incoming travellers was eventually assigned to buses to take them onwards – in our case to a RIB transfer to M/V Origin, the newest in Ecoventura’s fleet of cruise boats. This will be our home and that for eighteen other souls for a week as we are led around the high and low points of the (southern) Galapagos ilands. We even caught sight of sea lions and a pelican as we waited to be transferred.

The boat is excellent; room for 20 people in 10 very well-organised and well-appointed cabins; a very comfortable lounge/bar/dining room; excellent food; and friendly and competent crew and tour guide/naturalists. Even our first evening’s view from the boat was rather nice,

particularly later, as the sun went down.

And then – we were off! A spot of lunch (at which we met Allison, Nick and Harry, a very gemütlich family from the UK) and a swift and a thorough safety briefing were followed by immediately going out on a snorkelling trip. This, for Jane and me, was a bit daunting, as we have had very little experience, and getting into wetsuits and snorkelling gear is something of a faff. And the snorkelling experience wasn’t particularly brilliant, as the visibility in the water was poor. I took a waterproof camera with me, and took several photos, but couldn’t, on later examination, work out what they were supposed to be of. I think this is a photo of a sea turtle.

Others were more skillful in managing the snorkelling process and for example managed to get videos of playing with sealions, though. I shall try again later in the week. Maybe.

After we got back and dried off, we had a welcome cocktail of Listerine and Tonic, dinner, introductions to captain, crew and the other travellers on board, and a briefing about day 2, which looked to provide opportunities for hiking, snorkelling, kayaking, beach swimming and being whizzed around in a RIB. As I write this, I feel I may write up the hike instead of going snorkelling, but – who knows. It’s clear that we’re in for an active time!

Here’s the Day 2 installment

Half way through – and what have we learned?

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31st March 2018

Here we are, three weeks through a six-week odyssey around the left-hand side of South America, and we’ve seen Santiago, many bits of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina, and Easter Island. Obviously, we’ve learned a vast amount about the history, geography and climate of these areas, but what about the other stuff, the tacit learning that you pick up as you go along, rather than have explained to you by a tour guide?

Internet access is normally very slow. The UK media give the UK a bad rap on internet access speed. They should come here before doing any more criticising.
It is possible to live without constant internet access. Even for a whole week. No, really.
It’s surprising the extent to which English she is not spoke – not only by residents, but also tourists and the people there to serve them in hotels, on tours, etc. This is more a reflection on my arrogant assumption that foreigners should speak my language, based upon years of travel mainly around Europe, where, largely, they do. But I was surprised at how rarely I heard English being spoken around me.
Even with people who do speak English, it pays to be considered and careful in expressing yourself. You will almost certainly be misunderstood if you don’t.
The Chileans are even better at queuing than the Brits. Just as well, as life seems to present them with plenty of opportunities to practice.
If you are a wearer of spectacles and are going away for 6 weeks, take a spare pair. I nearly broke mine in week one (hands up, yes, I walked into a plate glass window), but fortunately was able to bend them back into approximately the right shape.
If you are a wearer of spectacles and your holiday might involve swimming/snorkelling, remember to take a robust case for them. In my case, I thought to acquire and take a waterproof camera, but forgot the case for my specs.
It’s a pleasant surprise when the local bank’s ATM doesn’t rush you several quid for a withdrawal of cash. So far, the typical charge for taking out £50 of local currency has been about £6.
Currency is a bit of a puzzle. Many, but by no means all, places in Chile and Argentina will take US dollars. Many, but by no means all, will take credit cards. It’s not easy to know which is which, so there’s a danger of walking around with multiple currencies. Not a big problem. But, still…
Two days on Easter Island fills your head to bursting with information about the place. What’s a week in the Galapagos Islands going to be like, for heaven’s sake?
You need normal shoes for Santiago, proper waterproof walking boots for Patagonia (and, as it turned out, the Galapagos, where water shoes are also useful), and trainers for Easter Island (I used here the Teva sandals I packed for the Galapagos and they were OK but not comfortable). That’s a lot of packing space for footwear.
My estimation of Salomon as a provider of footwear has plummeted. I spent a lot of money on a pair of Salomon hiking boots, and they lasted less than two years of moderate mileage before (1) springing a leak and (2) having the uppers peel away from the soles. Of course, this only happened once I had left the UK. I shall be complaining upon my return. I realise I shan’t get my money back, but a good moan is pleasingly cathartic.
It seems a fairly rare occurrence that anyone takes any notice of hand baggage size restrictions or that South American airlines enforce them.
We’re halfway through the teabags we brought with us (plus the ones we’ve harvested from various hotel breakfasts). Extreme care is going to be needed to eke out the remainder, as that major staff of life, Earl Grey tea, is by no means as ubiquitous as any civilised nation needs to realise that it should be.
There is no Marmite on hotel breakfast buffets. Rarely is there bacon.
And, finally, half way through the longest holiday either of us has ever taken, we are still (a) enjoying everything and (b) talking to each other, so there is a pleasing prospect that the other half is going to be equally enjoyable.