Day 4 on Galapagos Islands, Exploring the Island Life
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Wed 14 Jul 2010 03:02
the center of a small coastal town, part of the 3 % of Galapagos occupied by
humans. Again the Island atmosphere and people come through, we went to a
beach yesterday afternoon, by catching a water taxi(yellow panga) across the
harbor and then walked down a small path around the back of mangroves and
walking carefully avoiding walking on black iguanas which are out sun
baking. We found a white beach settled in the middle of green mangrove
trees, and a calm shallow bay with reefs out about 100 m, where there are
surfers catching the waves. The scene brought back memories of Easter
Island, the boys enjoyed playing in the sand.
But on the way back into town at the end of town pier after the water taxi,
we found a kids park with the local kids coming down about 5 pm, so the boys
eyes lit up. We are able to watch them, and next to park are two volleyball
(type courts, as this seems to be Galapagos volley ball with a very high
net, and soccer ball), but there are two games running with 3 a side, and
there 100s of people watching it seams like it is the center of attraction
in the evenings with food stalls opening around the game. We enjoyed this
last night and tonight as the boys and us able to meet local people, and
talk, we met a US guy who has been living here for the last 20 years and
runs the conservation foundation, he has a young boy about Alex's age so it
was good to catchup. Again it is the island culture with a town, where
people are active but there is a community in the evening which people come
down to.
This morning we went up into the highlands of Santa Cruz island and found it
misty, and damp, with lava holes and craters in amongst the lush vegetation
and many plantations of bananas etc. We were looking for a section allocated
to Giant Land Tortoises that they can roam in the open. We had caught a taxi
and found it, and the boys loved walking around the area and seeing the huge
boulder like shells, moving ever so slowly. The boys climbed and walked
around them, and they looked so small compared to these ancient giants. They
have a old turtle shell which the kids crawled in side and Alex on top (see
picture).
It was a good day getting out and walking and engaging in the local life, as
well as making arrangements to stay on in the islands an extra day, we will
go out to one of the other islands and stay on the beach, this other island
is isolated and very few people should be nice.
Stand by.
