Hello!
Here’s our favourite travel video from this year: the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. We had an incredible time sailing around the archipelago on a 16 passenger yacht for 8 days. We saw amazing wildlife both on the islands and underwater where we snorkelled with sea lions, penguins, turtles and marine iguanas!
This video is a little longer than usual but well worth a watch – if you do, don’t forget to set to 1080p!
Sophie & Dave
Day 8: North Seymour Island – Baltra Airport
We had an early start on the final day of our Galapagos adventure, disembarking from the boats at 6:30am for a short hike around North Seymour. It is a tiny island located near Baltra island, where the main airport is. The island was formed almost a million years ago by an uplift of submarine lava and you can see still some of the remnants of marine fossils dotted around the island.
The island is home to one of the largest populations of bird life in the archipelago, despite being less than a square mile in size. As we got off the zodiacs, you could see a tremendous amount of bird life circling the shoreline. We were lucky enough to see a few male frigate birds doing their mating ritual as it was quite late in the year and most had already mated. It was so fascinating to watch them completely inflate their bright red balloon-like sac in their throat to attract the females. We actually paused to see one performing the ritual and then circled back at the end of our walk to find him sat with his wing around a female! The gesture seemed so humanlike, it was very interesting to see. There are two types of Frigate bird in the Galapagos; The Magnificent Frigatebird and the Common Frigatebird – the Common one has slightly greenish feathers on its back. As we continued our loop around the island we also caught a glimpse of a mother feeding a juvenile frigate, and watched its whole head disappear as the mother regurgitated the food.
Aside from frigate birds, the island is home to several a Blue-footed boobies and we caught one performing his own mating dance on top of a rock. The coastline was also dotted with the last sea lions we would see.
We headed back to the boat for breakfast while the captain sailed the short distance to Baltra Island. We left the boat at 8:30 and were shuttled to the airport via bus. When we had booked the tour we were informed we’d be dropped off at around midday so had subsequently booked a flight at 3pm to play it safe. Neither of us were particularly impressed by the prospect of 6 hours in the airport. However, it did make us even more thankful that we didn’t opt for a 5 day cruise as effectively two days are lost in transit!
Join us next time as we head to Colombia!
Sophie & Dave
Day 5: Punta Moreno & Elizabeth Bay on Isabela island
We came upstairs for breakfast and were treated to a spectacular view when we looked out the window: blue skies and Volcan Azul (blue volcano). We sailed through the night round the south of Isabela island arriving at Punta Moreno. Apparently the trip was meant to take 10/11 hours but only took 7 and a half because conditions were a lot better than usual.
We set out early for our morning hike and as we neared the shore on the zodiac, we saw a mother pelican land in the nest to feed her young by opening it’s huge mouth to pass on the regurgitated food. I have never seen anything like it! Though our view was slightly obscured by the trees, we still glimpsed the baby’s neck all the way inside the mother’s mouth and I even managed to take a photograph that I’m really proud of!
This part of the island is covered in lava rock from the nearby Volcan Azul. It was a landscape that we had never seen before; black, broken and barren. It can take upwards of 200 years following an eruption before the vegetation really starts to grow. Given it erupted as recently as 2008 only a few cactus plants were to be seen. There are three types of cactus found in the Galapagos, here was where we saw the Lava cactus for the first time, each plant often had different coloured parts.
It was really surprising to see pools of water quite far inland that seemed completely cut-off from the ocean. It was even more surprising to see several Galapagos ducks swimming around in them. As we neared the sea, there were a few larger rock pool lagoons. We were so lucky to find the largest pool full of incredible marine life; 2 white tipped reef sharks, one sea turtle, 3 pufferfish and a sting ray! When the tide changes, these animals would make their way back in to the ocean.
After the hike, we had a quick change in to our wet suits ready to snorkel. As we were now properly in the west of the Galapagos archipelago, the water temperature dropped a huge amount. It was bloody freezing but still worth persevering through. We saw lots of huge sea turtles chomping on the algae on the rocks. I saw a massive hieroglyphic hawkfish too which has a really striking blue and yellow pattern. I was in my own little world when we were snorkeling and rarely bothered to come up to the surface to see where everyone else was. When I finally surfaced, I realised that our whole group apart from me and one other had bailed because the water was too cold. Unlucky for them because that’s when I saw a Galapagos penguin streak past me!
In the afternoon, we went out wildlife spotting on the inflatable zodiac motor boats around Elizabeth Bay. As we entered the mangroves, a couple of Galapagos penguins were hopping through the water in front of us, with a playful sea lion close behind! This sea lion seemed to love the attention and had great fun swimming and twirling around our boat. He kept popping his head out of the water as if to check we were still watching.
We went through the shallow, mangrove-lined waters, turned off the engine and then paddled. We saw SO many sea turtles, it was absolutely mad! You could look in any direction and were guaranteed to see a turtle pop it’s head out the water, we’d often count 6 together at once. We’ve now seen a lot of sea turtles when snorkeling (which still fascinates me every time) but it was really nice to get a different perspective and see them from the surface. Also where else in the world would you see sea turtles, sea lions and penguins swimming alongside each other?!
It was here that we saw the rare flightless cormorant! Even within the Galapagos, this bird can only be found in the western part. The bird has evolved to have these absolutely tiny, stumpy wings but the largest body of all cormorants. In the Galapagos, the cormorant lost it’s ability to fly because there was so need when searching for food, another of the incredible bits of evolutionary evidence the Galapagos has to offer. This was particularly special for me as it was actually the Cormorant bird I first saw in Byron Bay, Australia that got me in to bird watching and downloading bird guides! We also saw some more species of heron (the lava heron and Great blue heron), Blue footed boobies and even some really young white fluffy chicks.
As we got back on the boat and began sailing north, we got to enjoy our first beautiful sunset of the Galapagos with clear skies! Join us next time as we head along the coast of Isabela island to Tagus Cove.
Thanks for reading,
Sophie & Dave
Day 4: Isabela Island, Puerto Villamil & Sierra Negra Volcano
We sailed through the night, our longest navigation yet, and arrived at Isabela island. Isabela is the largest island of the Galapagos but only has a population of just over 2,200 people. Less than 1% of the land is privately owned, the rest of the land is national park. In the morning, we headed to Puerto Villamil where we caught the “chicken bus” 40 minutes inland towards our destination; the Volcano Sierra Negra. Sierra Negra is one of the most active volcanos in the Galapagos, last erupting in 2005. The chicken bus was sort of a converted truck with wooden benches in the back and open sides, although surprisingly quite comfortable.
We got off at the bottom of the volcano and started our hike, which was the most strenuous of the all the Galapagos walks so far, but by no means particularly difficult. We were headed to see one of the largest calderas in the world. It is essentially numerous collapsed volcanoes which make about a 10km2 crater. The depression is situated up in the highlands so it was very misty and a bit wet which didn’t bode well for the views at the top. There wasn’t much in the way of wildlife on the walk up other than quite a few of Darwin’s finches. Whilst it was an impressive sight, we only got to see glimpses of it through the mist. We waited for it to pass and managed to get a slightly clearer view but still a bit foggy.
Back at the port, we had a bit of time to wander round. We went along a short mangrove boardwalk that was lined with seals and marine iguanas. Back by the beach there were quite a few benches where huge sea lions had climbed up and made themselves comfortable for a nap. Whilst we waited for our little zodiac boat at the pier, we saw an Eagle Ray gliding through the shallows. The Galapagos waters are just so incredible that you can see such fascinating animals even from land!
After lunch, we headed back out to see the Giant Tortoise rearing centre that focused on species from Isabela island. It wasn’t as educational as the Santa Cruz research station but we did get to see tiny, preserved tortoise embryos of 1,2,3 and 4 months! It was really interesting to see the shell growing even within the egg as it is easy to forget that the shell ultimately is a bone. The highlight was when the guide brought out a gorgeous 7 month old baby tortoise, it was smaller than the palm of a hand, and so crazy to think it will grow to 250kg!
Isabela is the only island with multiple species of giant tortoises. The volcanic terrain and different environments have allowed up to 5 different species to evolve. The Cerro Azul tortoises have domed shells, the shortest limbs and are some of the biggest found in the Galapagos as they live in a lush environment with plenty of food. The nearby Sierra Negra tortoises however, live in a dry habitat with limited food so they have evolved to have longer limbs and necks to be able to reach the cactus plants, their primary food source. They also have the most unusual flattened saddleback shells which enable them to further elongate their necks (see photo below!). They actually had to be rescued back in 1998 as they were surrounded and trapped by lava following an eruption in Cerro Azul.
From the breeding centre, we walked along a boardwalk to where there are little salt and fresh water pools, home to Galapagos Flamingos! What’s special about the Galapagos Flamingo is their colouring. The most accurate description would be a pink stabilo highlighter! It was fascinating to watch the flamingos sweeping their heads back and forth as they searched for their favourite food – brine shrimp. We had a little bit of free time to wander round the tiny Isabela town, the last bit of civilisation we would be seeing for the rest of the cruise. We walked along the beach and saw the biggest group of marine iguanas we’ve seen yet, easily at least 50, mostly young ones with one massive adult! We also poked our heads in the Church which had stained glass windows featuring the animals of the Galapagos and right at the alter, there was a statue of Jesus in the tropical sky looking down on the ocean, beach and animals. It was interesting to see the very animals that sparked the theory of evolution inside a church. We then headed back to our yacht aboard the zodiac where we saw our first Manta Ray gliding near the surface!
Thanks for reading and join us for the next day of the cruise.
Sophie & Dave
Hello
Our video from Ecuador where we saw the wild iguanas in the middle of the largest city, Guayaquil and climbed the 444 steps to the top of Las Peñas. We then moved to the capital Quito, one of the oldest world heritage sites in the world. Finally we spent a few days birdwatching in the Cloud Forest where there are over 15 species of hummingbirds, some who even ate out of our hands!
Thanks for watching and don’t forget to set to 1080p!
Sophie & Dave
Hello!
We were glad to leave Quito on the penultimate day of their week long celebration of independence. We booked on to a 3 day, 2 night tour with Happy Gringos to visit the Cloud Forest Reserve and stay at the Bellavista Lodge. On the evening before our departure, it was Noche de las plazas and given that we were staying right next to Plaza de Santa Domingo, it meant we were kept up by crazy loud performances and music going on until midnight when we had to get up at 5am. It was estimated that 70,000 people took to the streets that night to celebrate across 4 plazas in the city!
It was a short two hour drive from Quito with only 4 of us in the minivan. Along the way we crossed the equator several times as we meandered through the mountain range. For the last 15km of the drive, we turned off the main road down a bumpy, gravel path that led us deeper in to the cloud forest. We paused only to see a rare Andean Cock-of-the-Rock bird, a vibrant orangey/red colour, nesting near the road side. We pulled up to Bellavista and were instantly stunned by how beautiful it was. We were shown our room which was amazing and massive! We had only booked the ‘standard’, cheaper accommodation with the agency but there was a mix up and we were given a superior room with a spectacular mountain view looking out over the cloud forest. It was a very pleasant surprise as we were expecting it to be fairly basic and similar to the lodge we stayed in the Cambodian jungle where we had bucket showers!
After breakfast, we met our guide Luis ready for our first walk. We spent most of our time with just one other couple; Katherine & Philip from the Lake District who were lovely, knew much more about birdwatching than us and Katherine took the most amazing photographs! We later met another American couple, Dane and Libby, who had over 25 years of bird watching experience! When people are so passionate about something, it is infectious. Dave and I who could barely tell a pigeon from a sparrow were suddenly saying “oooh, what kind of Tanager is that?!”.
Anyway, this particular cloud forest rose over the Andes between 900 and 2500 meters above sea level. The subtropical rain forests contain extremely high biodiversity and Bellavista is renowned for a huge presence of humming birds! We had been told that there are hummingbird feeders around the lodge but we were not prepared for what we actually saw. There were at least ten beautiful hummingbirds flitting around only a meter away from us, completely unfazed by our presence! We came to learn that Ecuador has the world’s highest number of hummingbird species at 132. The lodge has around 15 different species visiting daily. The wings of these birds beat incredibly fast, especially the Purple-throated Woodstar hummingbird we saw who sounded like a giant bumble bee! I could have literally stayed there for 3 consecutive days it was so fascinating.
The first walk was a slow one through the forest where we stopped to learn about different plant species and do some wildlife spotting. We saw butterflies, insects, frogs, a horned spider and a couple of birds from afar. We stopped at a lookout point where we had sweeping views of the dense forest whilst the clouds slowly crept across the mountaintops. We could visibly see the mist and clouds moving so quickly with the naked eye. We saw beautiful silver trees in the forest which were called cecropia and their colouring actually comes from a sort of spore coating on top of the naturally green leaves. The main purpose of the coating is to prevent the growth of epiphytes. Almost all of the other trees were covered with epiphytes, with some of the larger trees harbouring up to 200 different species of plants. From the lookout point, we were also able to spot two species of Tanagers in the distance.
We came back to a delicious three course lunch (something again we were not expecting) before heading back out again mid afternoon. We were able to hold the feeder containing the nectar that the hummingbirds drink in the palm of our hands. It was absolutely amazing and we were so amazed by how much more detail you could see when they were that little bit closer, not to mention feel the beat of their wings or the softness of the brush of their feathers. Dave filmed me whilst I had multiple hummingbirds on my hand and it’s so embarrassing to see my jaw literally dropped in sheer awe haha! We went for another walk through the forest before coming back for dinner.
The next two days followed a similar format, although we had the additional bonus of an early morning walk at 6.15am to catch the birds at their most active. The highlight for me was a bird that I (very proudly) spotted! It was called a Masked Trogon and had a really vibrant red breast and green back. We managed to see such a variety of bird species during our stay including Montane Woodcreepers, a Common Potoo and the most beautiful Turquoise Jay. One of my favourite photos was the Turquoise Jay eating a grass hopper! Dave’s favourite were the two different species of Toucans. The Plate-billed Mountain Toucan has the most colourful and gigantic beak, while its cousin the Toucan Barbet is much smaller both in size and the shape of the beak – both of these birds are range-restricted and can only be found in climates like this Cloud forest.
Aside from birds, one evening after dinner we were lucky enough to catch a brief glimpse of a rare mammal called an Olinguito. It looks a little like a cross between a monkey and a weasel but is part of the raccoon family. We did however see a Tayra weasel the following morning.
Join us next time as we head back to Quito briefly before flying out to our dream destination, the Galapagos Islands!
Thanks for reading,
Sophie & Dave
Hello!
This has to be one of our favourite videos from this year! We took the amazing luxury train from Puno to Cusco, visited the wonder of the world: Machu Picchu, explored the volcanic white city of Arequipa, nearly died riding a crazy sand buggy on the dunes of Huacachina, admired the incredible wildlife of Paracas and watched the sun set on our Peruvian adventure in Lima.
Don’t forget to watch in 1080p!
Sophie & Dave
Hello!
From Paraty, we caught the local bus for only $BR14 each (£3.50) two hours along the coast to Angra dos Reis. This is the port town where you can catch either a ferry, catamaran, tourist boat or private boat to Ilha Grande (big island). Ilha Grande has world famous beaches, jungle hiking trails and an abundance of wildlife. We got the tourist boat that leaves at 2.30pm from Caxa do Prau, for $BR25 (£6pp). If we hadn’t known the name of where to catch it, we would have been clueless as there are no signs, we just had to ask around. The tourist boat looked like a pirate ship and it mainly carried supplies to the island. Ilha Grande has only one main area of civilisation, Abraao, with the port, restaurants & accommodations. The entire island doesn’t have any motorised vehicles either so you see lots of people pushing carts on wheels with the cargo from the boats.
It was raining on our first day (again we seemed to be chasing bad weather) but we still wanted to make the most of it so we did a trail heading West of the town. It was very slippery and quite a steep incline so though it was only about a 12km walk, we probably spent about 3 and a half hours walking. Oh and even though it was cloudy and occasionally raining, we were both still dripping in sweat because walking through the jungle parts were so humid! On our trail, we first saw the Lazaretto Ruins, basically an abandoned farm house that was used to quarantine people with leprecy. Next on the walk was the aqueduct; apparently built with stones and whale’s oil in 1893 with the dam above it still supplying water to Abraao today. The main attraction for the walk is the waterfall, Cachoeira da Feiticeira. Though pleasant, and a nice place to stop to eat biscuits, it was nothing spectacular. On the way back, we met two Spanish girls who were struggling and asked what the waterfall was like. We showed them a photo and one of them instantly said, “right, we’re turning back” haha. We decided to carry on a bit further for our final stop Praia da Feiticeira, a very small beach with one vendor on it (bringing supplies by boat everyday). We bought a delicious pot of acai with granola; sort of like a berry ice cream though acai is meant to be a super food with less sugar than other fruits. It’s really common in Brazil, especially on the island, making it the perfect boost to get you to walk all the way back to the Abraao town.
The next day, we set off fairly early again for another jungle hike headed East of Abraao to one of the world’s top beaches; Lopes Mendez. It’s about 8km up and down through the jungle. Unfortunately, we never even made it to the beach because I fell over and smacked my knee on a rock which swelled instantly and thus I couldn’t walk properly. It took us a whole hour to walk 1km with my limping which got us to the middle beach, about half way to Lopes Mendez. From there we were able to get a taxi boat back to the main town for $BR25 each. The highlight of the jungle walk however was finally catching sight of 2 Howler monkeys! We’d heard them the day before but still not seen them. The sound they make is absolutely insane, it sounds like an army of beating drums. This brief encounter was our only proper wildlife sighting on Ilha Grande which we were a little sad about. However it is rainy season and we don’t think we ventured far enough off the common jungle hikes to give ourselves the best chance of sightings. Apparently you can sometimes spot an armadillo on the island. We said perhaps one day we will return to Ilha Grande with a tent and camp as we walk round the entire island. It’s unfortunate that the hikes on Ilha Grande aren’t loops but rather you have to walk back on yourself to get back to the town where all the accommodation is, a tent however, would be a different experience.
Our final day on Ilha Grande took us only to the town’s closest beach, given my knee from the day before, Praia Preta. We had a nice day reading books in the sunshine though we had to constantly edge backwards given the tide was trying to devour the beach whole! In the evening, we went for dinner for a second time to Las Sorrentinas. A really reasonably priced, fresh pasta place which was up there with literally our best meals of all time!
We got an all inclusive transfer from Ilha Grande to Rio, our next destination for BR$95pp (£22). The company we booked with was right next to the pier and a boat picked us up from the port and then a van met us at Mangaratiba and we drove to Rio where they dropped us off at the door of the hotel in Rio!
Join us next time for our time in the capital!
Sophie & Dave
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