Adios Galápagos; ¡Hola! Quito

Sunday, 15 July (Part II)
Temps in Quito: 73F (23C) / 48F (9C)

As the bird action tapered off (post here), a barge showed up alongside the Xpedition, and with the help of a couple of the crew, a boom was laid.  Though it was awfully small, we think it was a fuel bunker.  It sure was good to see measures were taken to protect the water from an accidental spill.

the pelicans don’t seem to mind the barge.

I just pointed and clicked as we were called to board the zodiacs;
turned out to be one of my favorite shots of the trip.

Shortly after the barge arrived, the call went out to board the zodiacs for the shuttle service to shore.  Being last to leave the ship wasn’t going to change the eventual outcome — our cruise was over — so we didn’t wait around for the last zodiac to disembark this time.

The sad truth is that the cruise is over and it’s time to fly back to the mainland.

Passengers are taken to this pier, while …

… the luggage is taken ashore at a more primitive landing spot and loaded on a truck.
At least …

… we have better transportation, but be prepared to stand as they really pack ‘em in!

Perhaps someday we will make a happy return to the islands.

We didn’t make the first bus, so we had a short wait until the second bus showed up for the 15-minute ride that dropped us off at the souvenir stands outside the terminal. One last opportunity to shop!

I seem to recall Mui at this very same spot, doing this very same thing just a week ago.

You want a hat?   You got plenty to choose from.

Once the entire passenger complement was assembled, the naturalists escorted us to passport control, where our documents were given a cursory check and the agent collected the stubs of our Galápagos entry forms.  Since we’d been given our boarding passes while still aboard the Xpedition, there were no other check-in formalities to deal with.

On the other side of the security checkpoint, the Celebrity staffer who was accompanying us on the charter flight directed us to the VIP lounge where a sign on the door indicated it was reserved for Celebrity and Lindblad/National Geographic passengers.  The two operators must use the lounge on alternating days, however, as we were the only ones in the lounge for the hour-long wait for the plane to arrive from Quito.  The humidity and lack of A/C made the lounge a little stifling, but sitting by the windows at least allowed cooling breezes to waft over us as we chatted with our shipmates about the wonders of the Galápagos.

Amongst the first to go through security, we have our pick of the seats in
the inner room of the two-room VIP Lounge.

With the incoming Xpedition passengers deplaned, soon it will be time for us
to board the charter flight to Quito.

Boarding commenced at 12:15p.  We exited through the door in the room in which we were seated, followed the yellow-striped path across the tarmac, and walked up the roll-away stairs to board the plane. 

I had commented to Mui on the flight down that the smart thing for Celebrity to do would be to assign everyone the same seats on both the inbound and outbound charter flights.  Of course I’d want that, wouldn’t I?  After all, we had comfy exit row seats out of Quito.  Well, apparently Celebrity was of like mind, and we were in fact assigned the same seats — 10E and F :-)  The passengers settled into their seats quickly, and with everyone strapped in, AeroGal Flight 943 was wheels up at 12:45p.

Adios Islas Galápagos!

No sooner were we at cruising altitude that the flight attendants sprang into action, distributing first warm washcloths and then linens monogrammed with the Xpedition logo to cover the seatback tables.  Lunch service followed on the heels of the drink service.

This time we get napkins with iguanas embroidered in one corner.
For airline food, the meal on the Aerogal Charter was quite good.

I spent half the flight watching an episode of Criminal Minds on the entertainment system, and the other half drafting and updating blog posts with notes I had jotted down in my writing pad.  Before I knew it, Quito was in sight and we were being asked to stow our electronics.

¡Hola! Quito … we’re back!
An aerial glimpse gives us a good perspective of the city’s long, narrow layout
within the confines of a valley rimmed with mountains.

Landing in Quito at 2:40p, we were welcomed by the same Celebrity guides who had taken us around the city before our departure to the Galápagos.  Assuring us that our bags would follow us to the hotel, we were directed to the busses waiting curbside in front of the arrivals terminal.  Twenty minutes later, we were at the JW Marriott where we were welcomed with washcloths to refresh ourselves and delicious fruit juices to quench our thirst.

Welcome back to the JW Marriott, Quito!  Our room this time is in the wing on the right.
[scanned from the hotel’s postcard]

After picking up keys from a nearby table, and getting the bag we’d left behind from the bellman, we headed off to our room.  Before we left Quito, Mui had asked the front desk to make a note in our folio that we would like a room with a mountain view when we returned from our cruise.  We were not disappointed.  Though the furnishings and layout of the room was the same as the one we’d stayed in pre-cruise, the view definitely was not.

Room 708 gives us a head-on view of the Pinchincha Volcano.

Zooming in to the cityscape across the street from the hotel, I catch a glimpse
of the grounds of the Eloy Alfaro Military College.

I begged off from the Celebrity shopping tour to relax in the room, enjoy the view, go through the couple hundred photos I took of the blue-footed boobies this morning, and unpack a few things from our bags when they were delivered as promised.  Mui had a few gifts he wanted to pick up, so he joined those who had money burning in their pockets.  The tour went to two different places, one a local market and the other one a high-end shop, but he didn’t find anything he liked and returned empty-handed.

Dinner was included in our Celebrity package and was at La Hacienda, the hotel’s steakhouse restaurant.  We’d been told to go down anytime between set hours, so we were not expecting a series of 8-top tables when we walked in.  Not that we minded eating with our shipmates, but with people arriving at different times throughout dinner, it wasn’t the ideal setting.  Luckily, most of the people at our table had just barely ordered, so it wasn’t too awkward.

Foyer of La Hacienda

The set menu offered an appetizer (soup or salad), four entrée options — beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian (pasta) — and dessert.  A note at the bottom of the menu card indicated that two soft drinks were included.  Soft drinks?  Well, you see it’s Sunday and, by law, no alcoholic beverages may be sold.  (Rodrigo, our guide for the pre-cruise city tour, did say that you can have a drink in your room, but you are not allowed to consume anything alcoholic in public.)

Our selections from the Islas Galápagos menu.
The Baked sea bass was one of the best entrées of our entire trip.

We didn’t dally long after dinner.  A great many of the people had early — like 5:00a early — flights out in the morning; a few people were taking the red-eye out tonight.  We’re on that same red-eye, but since Celebrity is paying for the room, we’re taking the flight tomorrow night instead … thus giving ourselves a full day to explore a bit more of Quito.  We’ve asked for and have been granted a late check-out at 6:00p.  Later would have been better since the Celebrity airport shuttle doesn’t leave until 8:30p, but this is better than nothing.

Not sure what we will do tomorrow.  We have lots of ideas, but no concrete plans, yet.  I’ll think about it in the morning …

Baltra: Guess Who Came to Breakfast?

Sunday, 15 July (Part I)
Temps: 82F (28C) / 72F (22C)

This morning, anchored offshore from Baltra Island, we found ourselves back where we had started our voyage just a week before.

The arrow points to Baltra Island where we started our voyage a week ago,
and where we bring it to a close today.
[MAP COURTESY OF THE GALAPAGOSISLANDS.COM WEBSITE]

One last opportunity to watch the sun rise over the Galápagos waters … one last breakfast on deck 4 aft … that’s how our last morning aboard the Xpedition began.

Our luggage had already been picked up, so there was little for us to do but collect our carry-on bags and join our boatmates, who, like us, had been asked to vacate their cabins by 8:00a.  While the stewards were busy spiffing up things for the next group of passengers expected later in the day, other crewmembers were loading the zodiacs with the piles of luggage that would precede us to the airport.  In fact, we would not see our bags again until we arrived at the hotel in Quito.

Not everything was a sad reminder of our departure.  The Galápagos had a spectacle in store for us as a special send off gift — a feeding frenzy!

The sky was filled with blue-footed boobies and brown pelicans checking out the waters around the ship and dive bombing for their breakfast.  They were diving so close to the hull that I was afraid one of them might miss its target and skewer itself on deck beak first, or maybe even on one of the sea lions cavorting in the water, looking for their share of a fishy breakfast.  There was even the occasional frigatebird gliding in the sky, waiting for an opportunity to steal from the boobies and the pelicans.

The boobies were so fast that I never managed to catch one going in; just got a bunch of the white trails they left in their wake as they dived deep for their breakfast.  Mui had better luck — this was the moment he’d been waiting for and he took advantage of it.

A one-minute video of the diving boobies.

A pelican comes in for a landing just as a blue-footed booby takes off from the water;
one of the many near-misses we observed.

Not to be left out of the breakfast party, a couple of sharks show up, too.
But we don’t see them feeding on anything.

My favorite part of the hour we spent watching the action was when the blue-footed boobies parade-flew at eye level.  I was too lazy to take out my 70-200mm lens from my carry-on, but the 17-55mm lens proved that it was up to the task.

When I wasn’t photographing the boobies, I was watching them scrutinizing the water for any sign of a fish to take home to their waiting mates and chicks.  Their heads pointed down, their eagle-eyes searching constantly — they were on the hunt!

This one is so intent on looking for fish that it has forgotten to bring up the landing gear :-)

What a great way to end our visit to the islands.  I came away with hundreds of photos of the boobies in flight — a bonus takeaway for me.

“The End” — at least for now!

Xpedition: Around the Ship

Sunday, 8 July (Part II)

In my last post, I forgot to mention that one of the things Mui did while he was wandering around the shops at the Baltra airport was to get a souvenir passport stamp for the Galápagos Islands.  It’s available from some of the shops — no purchase required.

(We got the Mitad del Mundo stamp at the Celebrity Xpedition desk at the JW Marriott after we returned to the hotel from our city tour.)

So, back to the story at hand.

A shuttle bus to the Quito airport; a flight to Baltra; another shuttle bus to the dock; and a panga (zodiac) ride to the ship.  That’s how we arrived at the Celebrity Xpedition (post here).  Once aboard, our panga group was escorted by Fatima to the Discovery Lounge for a short briefing.

As we sipped our welcome aboard drinks, the purser collected our passports and the stub from our Galapagos entry forms.  (The passports were returned later in the day and the stub was returned to us at the end of the trip, stapled to our boarding passes for the return flight to Quito.)

Next, a crew member escorted us to Cabin 407, located just down the hall from the Discovery Lounge.  It didn’t take us long to get acquainted with the cabin.  Smaller than other cabins we’ve stayed in, it still afforded plenty of storage for our belongings.

I’m going to post pictures I took in places I spent time around the ship, as well as a video Mui put together.  With footage included from the zodiac operations as well as Mui’s visit to the bridge, the video is more extensive; definitely a better way of getting acquainted with the ship.  At almost six minutes, however, it might be too long for those with limited data packages.  Take your pick, and come along for the tour.

Here’s the six-minute video …

… Or you can continue with the photo essay below.

407 is an XP category cabin mid-ship on Deck 4.

Hidden in the corner behind the bed is a small sofa; the drawer in the desk has a
hairdryer, and the cabinet below has a variety of glasses and an ice bucket to use
for the drinks in the complimentary bar set up (behind the chair).

Our drying center! Although we used the ship’s laundry service, on occasion we did some hand laundry or had swimsuits to dry.  The heavy-duty suction cups and hangers worked better than a clothes line.

As Founders Select members of Celebrity's Captain's Club loyalty program, we received a complimentary bottle of champagne and chocolate-dipped strawberries.

** The “founders” portion of our membership level simply means that we joined the first year the program was offered.  The treats were great, but on this all-inclusive sailing, we could have ordered them ourselves!  The strawberries didn’t last long; we shared the champagne with tablemates who reciprocated on subsequent nights.

The breakfast buffet in the Darwin Restaurant (deck 3 mid-ship).
for breakfast and lunch, we mostly made our selections from the buffet, and ate our meals
on deck; Victor never let us carry our plates ourselves, always rushing to do it for us.

The Discovery Lounge (deck 4) — the gathering spot for briefings, socializing, and entertainment.

Beagle Grill (Deck 4 aft) is a good place to enjoy early-bird coffee and tea, and watch the sunrise.
we had this area mostly to ourselves for our carried-from-the buffet breakfast.

The Blue Finch Bar (Deck 5 mid-ship) was never open during the sailing, but we
enjoyed many CARRIED-from-the-buffet lunches here.

The deck 6 mid-ship loungers make a great spot to relax as the ship repositions to the next site.
The hot tub is on this deck (not our thing), as well as the open-air gym equipment, and the spa.

Deck 6 bow — no shade, but this is a great spot for stargazing at night, enjoying
the sunrise in the morning (always around 7:00a), and photographing birds in flight.

By the time we finished a quick look-see around the ship, it was 1:00p and time for lunch.  Once our tummies were sated, we returned to the cabin to unpack the bags that the crew had placed outside the door.  By the time the emergency signal was sounded for the 3:45p mandatory muster drill, we were settled in and ready to get the exciting stuff underway.  That comes up next!

P.S. A note about the time.  The islands are an hour ahead of mainland time.  However, the ship stays on mainland time for the duration of the cruise.

Getting to Isla Baltra

Sunday, 8 July (Part I)

Our excitement was palpable when we woke up.  In a few hours, we’d be on our way to the Galápagos Islands — more specifically, to Isla Baltra, our embarkation gateway.  With little to do to prepare for the day ahead, we got dressed, and with our leave-behind-in-Quito bag in hand, headed down to the lobby at 6:00a.  After we handed the bag over to a bellman, we continued to Bistro Latino for the buffet breakfast and then strolled around the property, checking out the outdoor pool and gardens.

Too cold to swim today!

By 7:30a, the lobby of the Marriott was a hub-bub of activity, with several cruise groups preparing to leave for the airport.  We watched our bags get loaded onto the truck and then Mui went to the Xpedition hospitality desk to pick up boarding passes for the charter flight.

The bags are loaded and ready to be taken to the airport.

We have our boarding passes and the Galápagos entry forms.

We’d been told to make NO CORRECTIONS to already-completed information on the entry forms, but to fill-in any missing information.  With the formalities completed, we found a quiet-ish corner in the lobby to do just that. 

Around 8:15a, we joined our cruisemates for the 15-minute transfer to the airport.  One of yesterday’s guides accompanied us to what she called the “first filter,” meaning the first check-point.  Though we’d been told that we would need only our boarding passes here, looking at the people ahead of us in the long-but-quick-moving queue, it became apparent that passports would be required as well.  No problem; they were in a convenient pocket.  By the time our turn came, we had them in our hands to show the officials.  A few minutes later, we were on the other side, going through the security check-point.

Our wait at the gate area was short — perhaps 20 minutes before the AeroGal 942 charter passengers were called.  Without further ado, carry-on bags in tow, we were walking across the tarmac to the waiting Airbus A319.

I’d read mixed comments about the seating.  Some said the middle seats remained empty; others said the flight was full.  Noting that our boarding passes showed 10E/F on a 3-3 configuration, we knew I was in a middle seat.  But there was a surprise in store for us when we boarded — we were assigned to the exit row!  And we didn’t even have to pay extra!  To boot, Mui took the middle seat so I could take photos during the flight.  YAY!

(By the way, there were unfamiliar faces on the flight, so I think there were some non-Celebrity passengers onboard as well.)

From embroidered pillows to the logo on the bulkhead, it’s quite apparent that
we’re on a flight chartered by Celebrity Xpedition.

Adios, Quito!  See you next Sunday.
If you look closely, you can see the teleferiqo station atop Pinchincha volcano.

We were wheels up by 9:30a.  It didn’t take long for the flight attendants to come down the aisle with warm washcloths.  Next came white placemats — embroidered with the ubiquitous Xpedition logo — to cover the pull-down trays.  Before long, the flight attendants were rolling down the aisle with breakfast served on trays covered with a navy placemat, also embroidered with the Xpedition logo.  The quiche wasn’t bad at all; and the fruit was fresh-cut and tasty.

About the only thing not marked with the Xpedition logo is the napkin, which has
a cute blue-footed booby embroidered in one corner.

The flight was just under two hours.  As the aircraft started descending towards Baltra, the flight attendants walked down the aisle, opening all of the overhead compartments.  We’d been warned about this and were prepared for the insecticide spraying that followed.  I didn’t pay much attention as I was too busy trying to get my first glimpse of the islands.

We’ll be sailing around Daphne Major and Daphne Minor (closer to the wing) this afternoon.

First glimpse of Celebrity Xpedition as the flight comes in for the landing.
Either they are still ferrying passengers off, or the naturalists are coming
ashore to pick us up from the airport.  Or maybe both.

Also known as South Seymour, Baltra is located near the center of the Galápagos Islands.  Until the mid-1980s, the airport here was the only one serving the islands.  It was once part of a WWII US Army Airbase, which has since been turned over to the Ecuadorian military.  No worries; we didn’t land on a 1942-era airstrip; the airport was renovated a few years ago.  From the looks of it, construction to improve the facilities is ongoing.

Bienvenidos a Baltra!

Passengers were deplaned from the front of the aircraft directly onto the tarmac.  The warmer and more humid temperature was immediately apparent, but a nice breeze kept us comfortable as we queued up to go through immigration first, and an agricultural inspection of our carry-on bags next.  Our backpack and the camera bags got a cursory inspection once we verified that the latter had nothing more than camera equipment stuffed inside.

That’s the winged-chariot that brought us from Quito.

Surprised to see a sign with the Turkish flag in the middle of this poster of Post Office
Bay on Floreana, I took a picture since we won’t be going there on Itinerary B.

On the other side of the agricultural check-point, we joined the line formed by our cruisemates to wait for the shuttle to the dock.  It was stifling inside the building that passed as a terminal.  Despite the fact that all four sides were open, the air just wasn’t moving.

The naturalists from Xpedition greet the incoming passengers at the airport.

While I stood guard over the carry-ons, Mui went to check out the souvenir shops outside the terminal.  We still had a few gifts to buy for family back home, and now seemed like as a good a time as any to get that taken care of.  When he came back, I went out in the hopes that there was more air around the shops.  Alas, no; it was even worse with the hot equatorial sun blasting its mid-day rays, so I quickly retreated back to the terminal.

You want souvenirs …

… You got souvenirs!

After 20 minutes or so, our turn came to board the shuttle bus for the short ride to the dock where Xpedition staff were handing out lifejackets for us to don for the short panga (zodiac) ride to the ship.  Familiar with this mode of transport from our trips to the Antarctic and the Arctic, we gamely put on the ill-fitting jackets; they sure looked like they could use a really good cleaning and disinfecting.  Then, while we waited our turn, we enjoyed the wildlife for which the islands are famed — sea lions sleeping under the pilings, marine iguanas sunning themselves, and blue-footed boobies and pelicans diving for fish.

Sign near the dock welcomes visitors to Isla Baltra.

Nothing fancy; but it gets the job done for transferring passengers to their ships.

Sea lions love to snooze; this one is obviously no exception.

there are two marine iguanas here; can you see them both?

Passengers and carry-on bags onboard, the panga is ready to leave.
Note the steps at the bow; this will make it easier to board these moving platforms.

Do we look like we’re ready for our panga ride or what!

Once the zodiac pushed away from the dock, Fatima (our naturalist escort) introduced herself and proceeded to demonstrate the Galápagos handshake — a forearm to forearm grasping technique that we’re to use when embarking and disembarking the zodiac.  That done, the boat gathered speed and headed into the bay.  On the way to the Xpedition, we made a quick stop at a buoy on which a couple of sea lions were resting.  Knowing there would be better photo opportunities, I let my shutter finger rest.  (Actually, my camera was blocked by my vest :-) … hence the lack of photos.)

In the next post, I’ll introduce you to the Xpedition, our home away from home for the next seven days.