NOAA Cruise-Galapagos

NOAA Cruise Part 2-Electric BooGalapagos (The Galapagos Islands)

This is Santa Cruz Island--Galapagos

This is the NOAA ship Ka'imimoana in Puerto Ayora--Galapagos

Here's the rest of that email-story:

We did get a little break recently, a stop off in the Galapagos Islands where there were many adventures. We anchored in Puerto
Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. Luckily, I had several friends on the ship that also wanted to have adventures ala The Goonies--hiking
for miles through jungle, up mountains, through lava tubes, riding our bikes down and around mountains, disregarding warnings of danger
... muerte. I surfed this spot that has the nicest looking beach I've ever seen in my life, too bad the tradewinds were ripping the
waves apart my whole time there, although I did have some fun ones. Northern Hemisphere winter would be a much better time to be there,
north swells and constant southeast winds would be good times. And you need a boat, I heard there was a spot that was a really heavy
right called chicken hill (something, something pollo), but by the time I found a boat to drive us the swell was gone.

After surfing for 2 days and meeting some really nice locals, I was resolved to go to the island of San Cristobal that was more
consistent and had good reefs, but the ferry schedule would have left me with one night on the island and hardly any daylight to go
surf... next time. The swell had died off on Santa Cruz, so we explored this island. We got a taxi to the calderas of the old
volcanoes. These giant holes of basaltic rock at the top of the island were completely taken over by plant life and finches,
thousands of finches. You know, the birds that Charles Darwin studied that helped him develop the theory of evolution. It was
pretty spectacular. The taxi driver was incredibly nice, he gave us a little tour of the craters and drove us back to town. We ended up
crusing around the town where we met our friend Will Badger, who was from Georgia. We rocked out that night, but--lucky for me--nightlife
in the Galapagos doesn't go all night. Home was the ship, so we took a water taxi out to get some sleep.

Sunday the 1st was our last day in the Galapagos and we intended to make the most of it. The plan was to rent mountain bikes and have a
taxi take us as high on the island as you could drive... we found out that wasn't really that far. As we were bumping along in the
Taxi (a 4 door pickup with the bikes in the back), we passed luscious groves of plantains and bananas and thick tropical jungle
going up the island. The the taxi driver pulled off the road into a small clearing and we asked him to drive up further--it was steep,
but he could make it. He simply turned off the car and said something in Spanish none of us understood. We got the bikes out of
the back, paid the guy, and started hiking up this steep, dirt road with softball sized lava rocks everywhere. It didn't take long for
us to realize why the driver pulled over, the "road" turned into a foot wide dirt path with big lava rocks everywhere... this bike ride
down the mountain was going to be an experience.

I should mention this was around 10:30am and it was hot, hotter than hot. With sweat dripping and the heat driving down on our backs, we
hiked/pushed the bikes up this mountain. The tall trees we saw in the jungles below gave way to much tall grass and shorter trees with
lots of moss hanging off. We pushed up the mountain until noon and still hadn't reached any place with a 360 degree vista of the island
(there are several). The trail just led between these small, round peaks we approached, but it must end up somewhere good, why else
would someone walk up that damn thing? For most of the hike, we had a great view of the south side of the island, we could even see our
ship anchored in Puerto Ayora, but we hadn't reached a true endpoint. So when the the three guys I was with (Mike from Arizona,
Tony from Boston, and Will from Georgia) said they had enough, I still needed to see around that next corner. Mike came with me
around the corner, but there was nothing special, but then we had to see what was over that next ridge. There wasn't anything new over
the ridge and Mike turned back, but something was pulling me in. I trudged up that damn red clay, rock littered path for another half a
mile and after the 10th "next corner" I was greeted with a sharp, volcanic peak in the distance. It was so good to finally get
something out of that hike. I ran back to get the other guys, they came up and took pictures and then I started with my spiel, "it's so
close... we could be at the top in an hour... when will we ever get back here again?" Will was game if everyone else was, but they
didn't really believe we could get there in an hour--I'm not sure I believe it--but something inside me was pulling me there. They
decided to get on the mountain bikes and get back to town, I was split, should I hike up that damn thing by myself? And then mountain
bike down that crazy dirt/rock path by myself?

I couldn't leave the group, we all turned back and were down the path on our bikes in about 3 minutes, it was that fast. I've never
mountain biked stuff like that, hauling ass over these rocks, the brakes on the rental bike were crappy and reversed (left hand brake
for back wheel) and it was actually easier if you went fast over these rocks instead of going around them... as long as your front
wheel could handle it. We finished the dirt path and were on the rocky, dirt road in tight formation, laughing hysterically about how
someone's definitely going to get hurt doing this. The other guys had flip flops on, too. Bad news. Tony, "we're too close, if someone
falls we're all gonna die!" and then his front tire blew out--he was down. Right behind him, Mike mostly recovered himself. I was next in
line and had plenty of time to brake, but I couldn't stay up because I was laughing so hard. Injuries were mostly to Tony, a good burger
toe and some stigmata-like wounds on the hands and of course a flat front tire. We kept going, Tony still keeping his old pace of
way-too-fast, especially with the flat front tire. At the end of the dirt road, we entered the little town of Bellavista--definitely not
a tourist area. Most of the locals just ignored us, but a couple gave us some questioning looks as we were lounging next to the
Sunday afternoon futbol/volleyball area.

The next stop was the lava tubes, almost 1 km long tunnels that look like giant worm holes in basaltic rock. They were amazing and the
lack of caution by the proprietor was great, he told us (in spanish) something about staying right at some point in the tunnel and then
taking the road back. We figured we were ok because we didn't hear the word, "muerte" (death) anywhere in his speech to us and gave him
the $3 to enter the tunnels. No guides, no warning signs, nobody else at all was in those tunnels. You could see past cave-ins where
the roof of the tunnel (about 30-40 feet high) fell in a giant pile on the floor.

We got on our bikes again and this time used the paved roads to make our way back to Puerto Ayora, hardly needed to pedal at all. Our
last day was approaching the early afternoon, so we needed to see the giant tortoises that were plastered on every T-shirt with the
word "Galapagos" on it. We biked over to the Charles Darwin Research Center to get some of our own T-shirts with a tortoise on it and to
see some real life hulking, green, shelled, reptiles. We entered the first area with tortoises (there are no fences to keep people away)
and took some photos of a couple old fellas sleeping. Then we walked to the next area where we see a big old tortoise moving through the
underbrush, something I don't think many people see. At least no one I talked to saw one actually moving around. We stood in the general
direction it was coming and took photos... as it got closer (within 5 feet) we started to move away, to let him go on his way, but he
turned and came right up to us. I know the rules say not to touch the tortoises, but this guy was practically hunting us down. We
stood next to him/her and took photos and he/she put his/her head out as if he/she was stretching. Tony starts petting his/her head
and he/she puts it out even further.. the only thing you could compare it to was a dog walking up to you to get a good scratch on
its head. I think that tortoise would have hung out with us all day if we stayed there, but we had to get some rest. Back to the boat
and then back to the island for the last night, the sailors drank and I listened to their drunken babble. Just like home.

In short, go the Galapagos if you have a chance, but spend more time there. I had three and a half days and didn't even see one of the
small islands completely. Hopefully, I can get back there sometime soon, I need to experience Galapagos surfing for real. bye.