Eric Ault’s Galapagos Report (Cont.)

Finally on Thursday morning, June 30th, we boarded an AeroGal plane for our flight to the Galapagos via Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second largest city located on the Pacific coast. Unlike Tame Airlines (formerly the only airline serving the islands) which has a reputation for padding their revenue by charging divers for baggage over 50 pounds, AeroGal happily carried all our dive gear and camera equipment the 600 miles to the Islands. We arrived on the Island of San Cristobal as the airport on Baltra, the usual entry point, is undergoing renovations. First things first, all of us foreign tourists had to pay the $100 cash Galapagos National Park fee. We did see some uninformed back-packers scrambling to come up with the cash; don’t know what happens if you can’t ante up. Hopefully, at least some of this money really does go to support the park and not just to line some politicians’ pockets.

After claiming our luggage we were met by Walter Torres of the Aggressor. A short bus ride took us to the docks and in a few minutes we had our first experience with the pangas (zodiacs). We all made it aboard and received our room assignments. The Aggressor I (there are two Aggressors in the Galapagos, virtual twins as far as I can tell) is one of the best liveaboards I have been on. Our room had two twin beds and loads of storage including shelves, drawers and a real closet that would actually hold a fair amount of stuff. In addition, each stateroom is equipped with a TV/VCR combo and a CD player. The staterooms, the lounge and the dining area are all finished in a beautiful polished wood with all floors being carpeted. The main lounge features a ring of leather-covered sofas and a big-screen TV with DVD player.

Because of the wind and cooler temperatures, the partially covered sun deck at the very top of the boat did not prove as popular as on some trips. A gas grill is located there, though, and a couple of meals were served top-side. A spacious covered deck at the stern on the second level complete with a U-shaped cushioned bench was the most popular spot for reading, chatting and especially napping during cruising. For the week the Aggressor logged over 500 miles so we did more than just a bit of cruising. Chef Alfredo turned out three delicious meals every day accompanied by the obligatory mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks. My favorite was the cinnamon rolls; glad they made those twice during the week. Alfredo also turned out to be quite the artiste turning a variety of fruits and vegetables into whale sharks, dolphins and penguins. A pineapple made an appearance as Darwin’s Arch, a natural arch rock formation located at Darwin Island.

On Thursday afternoon after lunch the Aggressor motored a short way to a local dive site where we all suited up for our “weighting” dive done off the back of the Aggressor. Quite a few of the dive sites place a premium on descending quickly to keep the group together so the dive staff has a tendency to grossly over weight everybody to insure they get down fast. To be fair, a lot of people have only been diving in the Caribbean so at Galapagos they were wearing a lot more neoprene than usual. I spent the rest of the week discarding weight as did a lot of others. Minor adjustments were made difficult by a lack of smaller weights - one and two pounders. Visibility at the site was poor, but we still saw many fishes familiar at least in shape, but somehow wearing different suits of clothes. The dive was also enlivened by sea lions blasting by and demonstrating their superior diving skills.

Sharks and Sea Lions »