From Quito to the Galapagos Islands
We booked an 8-day trip to the Islas Galápagos. These islands are located near the equator, about 1000 km off the west coast of South America. These islands are a province of Ecuador and consist of 127 islands, of which only 4 are inhabited. All of the islands belong to the Galápagos National Park. This is a unique protected nature reserve (since 1959). The islands have been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1978. In 1981, the surrounding ocean was declared a marine reserve. The Galápagos National Park covers 97% of the archipelago. This means that the landscape is protected by strict regulations to preserve the fragile ecosystem. The archipelago consists of 13 main islands and many smaller islands.
The 13 largest Galápagos islands have a surface area in km² of (in order of size):
- Isabela 4588 km²
- Santa Cruz 986 km²
- Fernandina 642 km²
- San Salvador / Santiago 585 km²
- San Cristóbal 558 km²
- Floreana / Santa María 173 km²
- Marchena 130 km²
- Española 60 km²
- Pinta 59 km²
- Baltra 26 km²
- Santa Fe 24 km²
- Pinzón 18 km²
- Genovesa 14 km²
Today we flew from Quito (Ecuador) to Isla San Cristóbal (Galápagos). We were picked up at the airport of Isla San Cristóbal and taken to the boat “Aida Maria”.
We will be staying on this boat for 8 days (7 nights). The boat can accommodate up to 16 people in 8 cabins for 2 people (there are 15 people on this trip). Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be served on the boat. On the photo below you can see the area where we always eat. We go down the stairs to our cabin (unfortunately with bunk beds).
The boat often sails to a new location at night. Below you can see the trip we are currently making.
After the delicious lunch the boat navigated to Isla Lobos.
Isla Lobos is a very small islet off the coast of Isla San Cristobal, made of volcanic rocks and named after the colony of sea lions ( Lobo de Mar in Spanish ) living there. Here you can observe the behaviour and interaction of sea lions living in a small community.
After this visit on Isla Lobos we went snorkeling.
Tonight we will cruise to Isla Santa Fé.