Month: September 2012

Ecuador Trip: Day 13  

Galapagos Cruise: Day 8

The thing about being the only people left on-board a cruise when New People arrive is that how you respond and interact with the New People can set the tone for the duration of your trip. So if you find yourself in the position of being on a previous portion of the cruise (ie. you have become Old People), the best you can do is welcome the New People with open arms. After all, they outnumber you and might beat you up otherwise (Travel Tip!).

If you come on-board as a New Person, regardless of whether the Old People are only two couples or five, it can be a bit intimidating. When friendships have formed and perhaps a bit of a clique mentality may have developed, there are still ways around it. if New People reach out and try to include you, if you WANT to be included, then respond likewise. The Group of Four decided during Week 1 not to stick together as a group all the time. This was especially important at meal times and when splitting the 16 travelers into groups of 8 for riding in the pangas. If you always go with the same four or six or eight people, or you always sit at the same spot for every meal, how are you going to get to know the others? In my not-so-humble opinion, if you are going to go on a cruise with 16 travelers total, it makes sense to open yourself to new experiences and friendships. Even if those relationships only exist during the cruise, they can make or break your holiday.

So, we had our fresh blood, and the first thing you basically do after the guide gets everyone introduced and settled in their rooms, is have a late lunch (that feels more like a dinner) and then go on your first excursion. Our first excursion with the New People was on lovely Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz Island. Bachas Beach is a nice introduction to the Galapagos, and we had a chance to swim (and perform headstands and on-your-husband’s-shoulders stands, etc.) after a nice little walkabout (not to be confused with an Aussie walkabout) in the lovely, warm waters.

No, that’s not the lagoon. That’s the ocean. But I loved the clouds that made the sky look like one huge marble.

I said this would be a short and sweet post, no? Let it be known that I can live up to my promises.

When we left for the Galapagos, I expected to see a lot more flamingoes than I did. So every time we came upon one, everyone quickly reached for their cameras. During Week 1, we saw a few flamingoes on Moreno Point, Isabela Island. Maybe 4 or 5 total around the lagoon. And they were always quite far away (thank God for zoom lenses). We didn’t see another flamingo until Bachas Beach. Later during Week 2 we visited Floreana Island, which is renowned for its flamingoes. But we spotted only one from a great distance.

It wasn’t that great a disappointment, however. I have seen flamingoes in zoos as a child, and I have seen pink flamingoes on lawns. I loved seeing the real thing in the wild in the Galapagos, however not seeing as many flamingoes as I would have liked would not have been akin to not seeing enough Blue-Footed Boobies! Then I would have been distraught. Inconsolable.

Next up, Bartholomew Island and a return to Santiago Island, which we had visited during Week 1 on our way to Genovesa. Then, we visited James Bay (Egas Port) and Espumilla Beach with a quick drive-by past Buccanneer Cove. This time we’ll visit Sullivan Bay, where I found myself up to my neck in lava. Great fun!

(I just realized I might not have reached my goal to write a short post. It’s just, um, shorter than most. Ooops.)

Ecuador Trip: Day 13

Galapagos Cruise: Day 8

It’s been a few days since I posted about the Galapagos. Click this link to read all about Genovesa Island, which was where we left off.

Day 8 of our Galapagos cruise aboard the Cormorant was a little sad, because our Group of Four were the only people staying on-board for Week 2. We had to say goodbye to 12 other guests, some of whom we had gotten to know very well and now counted as friends (while a couple of others we could have frankly done without anyway, so no harm, no foul). Plus, as we discovered later, we also had to say goodbye to some of our crew. We didn’t expect that. We somehow thought our favorite panga drivers and towel-folders and bartender would be around for Week 2. Some were, and some weren’t. Luckily, our guide, Harry Jimenez (who has a great blog that details more than I ever could about the Galapagos), was sticking around for Week 2. On the Cormorant, that’s not always the case, although maybe now that the 2 week cruises are in effect the cruise lines will try to ensure the same guide stays the entire two weeks. We found it very nice to have the same guide throughout our adventure and hadn’t anticipated that we wouldn’t. So we were surprised to not find out until the day before we swapped guests whether or not Harry would still be around.

I suppose the upside to switching guides partway through a cruise would be if you had a grumpy guide during Week 1. At any rate, if it’s important to you to have some continuity, you might want to check with your cruise line if you’ll have the same guide throughout your back-to-back weeks/days (Travel Tip!).

That said, two back-to-back full weeks are not the only options for organizing a Galapagos cruise. One couple during our Week 1 had already been on the Cormorant for four days before the rest of us arrived. For Week 2, we received 12 new guests, once more making us a group of 16. However, four of that group were not there the entire week. They stayed 3 or 4 nights and then left, after which four completely new guests came on-board.

Week 1 began and ended on Baltra Island, which is a military base where one of the two airports for beginning or ending your journey is located. So on the morning of Day 8, after traveling all night from Genovesa, we got up bright and early to visit North Seymour Island before saying farewell to the first batch of guests on Baltra. On North Seymour Island, we encountered several more bugs than we had anywhere else during Week 1. A lot of slapping of shins and calves occurred. So…Travel Tip!…take along bug spray.

But! We also encountered a LOT of my favorite bird in the Galapagos—the Blue-Footed Booby! Seriously, I can not recall at this point if we had seen a Blue-Footed Booby since our panga ride at Elizabeth Bay, Isabela Island, on Day 3 of our cruise. Well, on North Seymour Island, we had Blue-Footed Boobies coming out our ears!

Okay, now just to prove I might be the cleverest faux travel blogger out there, I googled “Blue-Footed Booby Two Step” and came up with a PDF of instructions for performing your VERY OWN BLUE-FOOTED BOOBY DANCE. Travel Tip! Instructions may be adapted to suit other Boobies! Download and practice at your peril. And beware sneaky people who might be taping you while you dance. Not that I know anyone who that happened to.

I do have a video of the Boobies dancing two pictures above on my Facebook page. If you want to see it, visit the page, then click Photos, then click Videos. There, you’ll find a smorgasbord of Galapagos videos).

Bon voyage, Week 1 buddies!

After we returned to the Cormorant, the other 12 guests left on the pangas, avec Harry, to travel to Baltra Airport. Harry would pick up some new victims—uh, guests—for us to greet later that afternoon. But what would we do in the meantime? Our Group of Four was left to our own resources while the crew busied themselves getting ready for the next boatload of guests. So we grabbed some cervezas, did some sunning and reading, and then asked for a tour of the boat. We had a wonderful tour.

Just when we thought we couldn’t take any more relaxation (and a bit of wondering if we’d like ANY of the people on Week 2)…

Okay, let me explain that. A Galapagos Cruise is “like a box of chocolates.” You know the rest. If you don’t, watch Forrest Gump. (“You never know what you’re gonna get”). We got along so well with one couple on Week 1 that the crew decided we must be related. Would we find another couple to replace Couple Uno? Or would be left as the sad and lonely Group of Four + Twelve New Blechy Strangers? What was wrong with Couple Uno that they had to leave after Week 1, anyway? Were they cheapskates? Did they not want to buy us any more red wine? Were they tired of us whining that we hadn’t brought enough money and where were the ATMs in the Galapagos, anyway? And would they work? (These questions and more will be answered in a future post).

We needn’t have worried (note expert use of “needn’t”). The twelve new victims who came on-board partway through Day 8 in the G.I. had already had a chance to get to know each other before and after their flight. And that was great, because the Group of Four already knew ourselves, the New People were getting well acquainted, the Group of Four was friendly beyond belief and welcomed the New People with smiles and cheers and handshakes all around. And the next few days were an absolute blast.

We had not replaced Couple Uno. But we had a great assortment of new travelers with whom to enjoy Week 2.

Well, I had really intended to do the Morning and Afternoon of Day 8 of our cruise in one blog post. But I have rambled on, it seems. So, next time, a short (we like to think) post about our afternoon with the New People on Bachas Beach, Santa Cruz Island.