Friday, 13 July (Part I)
Temps: 84F (29C) / 72F (22C)
We woke up to overcast and humid conditions for our day on and around San Cristóbal Island (Chatham to the English). Named for St Christopher, the patron saint of seafarers, this was the first island to be visited by Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle. Some say the island is 3.3 million years old; others say it’s more like 2.4 years old. Either way, though that is geologically young, San Cristóbal is one of the oldest of the Galápagos islands that is still above water. And the oldest on our itinerary.
The arrow points to our morning landing location on San Cristóbal.
[map courtesy of the GalapagosIslands.com website]
After our usual routine of breakfast on deck 4 aft, we joined the other passengers for the first landing of the day. This was to be a “town” visit at Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, the provincial capital of the archipelago and the second largest settlement in the islands.
We had two options to choose from — a fitness walk that included the Interpretation Center and free time in town, or a visit to the Interpretation Center with more time in town. Since we had little interest in shopping or otherwise dallying in the stores, we opted for the first option. In hindsight, I think we could have done the walk on our own, and at a slower pace, had we gone with the second option.
A short zodiac ride across Wreck Bay took us to the floating dock at the municipal pier. From there, our group boarded a 20-passenger bus to the trailhead for Las Tijeretas (Frigatebird Hill).
Water taxis and small boats at anchor in wreck bay.
A short ride through town will take us to the trailhead for our fitness walk.
The 1.5-mile (2.4 km) walk took us about an hour. We did the trail in reverse of what is shown on the map below. We started with a short dirt path to the beach at Punta Carola (Carola Point), then hiked the paved path up Las Tijeretas, stopping at a couple of miradors (scenic overlooks), and ended at the Interpretation Center, which is marked with the words Usted está aqui on the map.
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The trail to Punta Carola is not difficult, but | We started from Punta carola, |
A ten-minute walk on the dirt path dumped us on a beach where we found ourselves in the company of sea lions. They were sleeping, of course, but one of them did strut its stuff for a while so that we could all get our pictures taken with it. What a ham!
What you might think are boulders on the beach are actually …
… sea lions sleeping the day away.
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Hamming it up for the cameras!
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We each get our photo ops with the sea lions, and one together as well.
The next portion of the walk was up a steep, stone-paved path. There were some areas leading up to the overlooks that required climbing a series of stairs, with some broken steps for an extra challenge or two. Not particularly difficult, but we did have to pay careful attention to where we stepped. The walk would have been especially nice at a slower pace, and with blue skies and sunshine to brighten our grey day, but we played the cards we were dealt and enjoyed ourselves anyway.
Magnificent and great frigatebirds nest side by side on Las Tijeretas in March-April. Though we were long past that time frame, I was hoping that we might see at least a few of the birds; we didn’t. The pace of the walk did not allow for much time to dally for wildlife sightings, so perhaps it was best that there wasn’t much to see in that respect.
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Scenes from the paved path going up to the miradors.
what look like hibiscus to Me turn out to be blooms of the Galápagos cotton plant, believed
to have been brought to the islands by the incas. The blue flowers are morning glories.
We were welcomed to the second mirador by Darwin himself; and a few of his friends. Nearby signage provided a map of the Voyage of the Beagle as well as a brief description:
The HMS Beagle sailed from Callao, Peru and, on 15 September 1835, it reached the Archipelago with scientist Charles Darwin aboard. Long after his trip, back in England, he analyzed his notes and collections from his trip on the Beagle and proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection in 1859, based on his meaningful research experience in the marvelous Galápagos islands.
The statue is said to mark the Bay where Darwin first landed in the archipelago in 1835.
The next mirador was at the highest point of our walk; several in our group opted not to climb the stairs leading up to it. A bit strenuous at the pace we were going, but worth it for the scenery. I imagine the sights would be spectacular on a nice-weather day.
Wreck Bay and Puerto Baquerizo Moreno from Las Tijeretas.
Looking back down from whence we came, we catch a glimpse of the Darwin statue
and a nice little bay that looks like it would offer some great snorkeling.
anchored out in the deep water, the Xpedition awaits our return.
The next part of our walk took us to the Interpretation Center. Not many opportunities to stop along the way, but I did find a few things that required a shutter-click or two.
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A cactus amongst a jumble of lava rocks, and a smooth-billed ani catch my eye.
These birds are an introduced species. How they came to the archipelago is not known.
They compete with native and endemic species for territory and resources,
and are considered a threat to the Galápagos ecosystem.
The trail dead-ended at the Interpretation Center. Opened in 1998, the center documents the history of the islands, its ecosystem, and the flora and fauna of the archipelago. There are two interpretation panels that give a chronological overview, but we were sent into the center through the back door, so we didn’t realize that until later. With time running out before the bus was due to collect us, we had just enough time for a quick run through the exhibits.
an early Post Office Barrel and other signage from Post Office Bay on Floreana Island.
the mail barrel was established by sailors of yore as a means of communication. Mail left
in the barrel would be picked up by passing seafarers for hand delivery to the recipient.
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Conservation is an important undertaking in the Galápagos; this exhibit is made up
entirely of recycled plastic.
One panel that was especially interesting explained how the islands were formed:
Beneath the Galápagos is a hot spot, that is, a source of molten rock or magma, which rises from the depths, pierces the crust like a bellows, and erupts in a torrent of lava. The hot spot remains immobile, while the Nazca Plate, on which the Galápagos sits, moves 3 centimeters [1+ inch] per year towards the continent. This process, over millions of years, has created a cluster of volcanic islands.
This explains the fact that the islands of Española and San Cristóbal, in the eastern part of the archipelago, are older (about 3,000,000 years) than Isabela and Fernandina in the west (about 700,000 years).
Imagine! the islands will be 5 feet (1½ meters) closer to the continent within 50 years.
The Interpretation Center is a 20-minute walk to town, so I suppose we could have stayed behind to explore it in more depth, but we wanted to have a wander around town, too. So, when the call came, we boarded the bus back to the main drag of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.
Did you feel fit when you were done? :)
ReplyDeleteMore like hot and sweaty; but we made the best of it ;-)
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