Dates:
Weather:
Localities:

18-26 August 2019.
Mostly cool and overcast with rain inland. Temperatures ranged from 17°C to 34°C.
Baltra, Seymore Norte, Genovesa, Isabela, Fernandina, Española, Floreana, Champion, San Cristóbal, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz.

Usually Rockjumper offers a land-based trip which, although cheaper, by necessity leaves out a couple of remoter localities resulting in a few species being unavailable. Note that current restrictions mean that at least three Galápagos endemics are off limits, even by boat. This trip, led by Forrest Rowland and local guide Hairo, was a great success, and the Galápagos continues to be a fantastic wildlife experience. However, the rising number of tourists mean that restrictions and limited time slots have been introduced at each locality, resulting in the islands losing their sense of adventure, as all now feels canned and regimented. Available trails are short, very easy to walk and lack any challenge.

Galapagos Land Iguana

Elliot's Storm Petrel

Galapagos Dove

18 Aug. We took the early 06:00 shuttle to the airport for the Avianca 08:12 flight to Baltra, via Guayaquil. Although the flight left Quito on time a bit of faffing in Guayaquil meant we landed eventually at 11:20. Travelling into Galápagos one has to deal with the bureaucracy, form-filling and pay a park fee of $100 upon arrival. Immediately outside the terminal building we encountered our first Galápagos endemics, with Medium Ground Finch and Small Ground Finch.

A short bus ride to the harbour where we transferred, via zodiac, to the Nemo III, our home on the sea for the next eight days. Weather rather breezy and cool with scattered cloud. Around the harbour were Lava Heron, Elliot's Storm Petrel, American Oystercatcher, Blue-footed Booby and Magnificent Frigatebird. Following lunch on board, we set sail the 30 minutes to Seymore Norte, the small islet just to the north of Baltra. We docked in a choppy sea just offshore, with many Swallow-tailed Gull and Galapagos Shearwater. At 15:00 we took the zodiac to shore to experience first hand how confiding the Galápagos wildlife is. During our two hours on the island we encountered hundreds of Sally Lightfoot Crab, Great Frigatebird, Magnificent Frigatebird, Blue-footed Booby, Swallow-tailed Gull, Galapagos Ground Dove, Galapagos Sea Lion, Galapagos Lava Lizard and Galapagos Land Iguana to mention a few.

Swallow-tailed Gull

Large Ground Finch

Great Frigatebird

Red-footed Booby

Nazca Booby

Genovesa shoreline

We arrived offshore Genovesa at 03:20 and anchored in Darwin Bay. Around the boat in the bay were many Elliot's Storm Petrel, Swallow-tailed Gull, Galapagos Shearwater and Red-billed Tropicbird.

Off the boat at 07:00, after which we spent more than three hours on a very short, 500 metre, walk starting from Prince Philip's Steps. The early temperature was only 17°C with a stiff breeze. This interesting stop, with Genovesa Cactus Finch, Large Ground Finch and Genovesa Sharp-billed Finch provided a good introduction into the headaches concerning the identification of Galápagos finches. We experienced the large nesting colonies of Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel plus a couple of Short-eared Owl that predate them continuously. Good numbers of Galapagos Dove, Red-footed Booby and Nazca Booby.

20 Aug. A long 13 hour crossing to Isabela, anchoring first at Vincente Roca at 04:20. Here we spent the first couple of hours in a slow cruise along the rocky shoreline, obtaining our first views of Flightless Cormorant and Galapagos Hawk, plus more Galapagos Shearwater, Brown Noddy, Galapagos Sea Lion and Green Turtle. We continued south, past Tagus cove, with Galapagos Martin and Galapagos Penguin, then as far as Punto Espinosa before crossing to Fernandina, where another snorkeling session was followed by a short afternoon walk.

Flightless Cormorant

Galapagos Sea Lion

Brown Noddy

Galapagos Shearwater

Common Cactus Finch

Green Warbler Finch

Waved Albatross

White-cheeked Pintail

Over our several birding stops, we found finches galore with Woodpecker Finch, Large Tree Finch, Small Tree Finch, Small Ground Finch, Medium Ground Finch and Large Ground Finch. A Dark-billed Cuckoo was a nice bonus, though we struggled with Darwin's Flycatcher, which must be a rapidly declining species and could well be on the way to joining its sister species, the San Cristobal Flycatcher, which was recently declared the first Galápagos extinction.

Gardner Bay - Española

Galapagos Mockingbird

Galapagos Hawk

Espanola Lava Lizard

Left at 10:00 and rounded the northern side of the island to Gardner Bay for lunch, snorkeling and a walk on the open beach. Despite being very hot the wildlife still performed, with Brown Pelican, Blue-footed Booby and incredibly tame Galapagos Mockingbirds.

Back on board around 16:00 for a general chill-out, relaxation, jacuzzi on the boat and dinner. Life could be worse - and quite a comparison to West Papua where we'd been struggling less than a month ago! We departed the area by 19:00 for the shorter, five hour, crossing to Floreana.

Espanola Racer

Lava Heron

During the evening we were given a presentation by Hairo concerning the intriguing and sordid history of the earliest settlers of the island. Some undercurrents and tension still appear to exist on the island today.

23 Aug. Breakfast at 06:00 and departure, as usual, at 07:00. A good swell on the disembark was apparently due to some recent seismic activity. Boarded another chiva in town and 15 minutes, ten kilometres, later we arrived at Asilo de la Paz. As expected, the weather was pretty damp and overcast with light rain. Surprisingly, our first bird, in the middle of the road, was a Hudsonian Whimbrel, quickly followed by a Galapagos Flycatcher. We took a short walk in the general vicinity of the Giant Tortoise Program Centre, the old Ritter properties and pirate caves. Our main target here was the very range-restricted Medium Tree Finch, a couple of which were found. Also many Medium Ground Finch, Small Ground Finch and Smooth-billed Ani; the later being deliberately introduced in the 1960s. Back on board we cruised a short way up the coast for a quick visit to Post Box Bay, then to Punta Cormoran where we walked to the lagoon, finding American Flamingo, White-cheeked Pintail, Lava Heron and Wilson's Phalarope.

Despite the rain and generally miserable weather, we quickly found San Cristobal Mockingbird. We then birded adjacent forest edge, scrub and farmland searching for Vegetarian Finch that eventually gave itself up after an hour. Mostly on account of the rain, and having found our targets we then returned to town for coffee and any last minute souvenirs before setting off for Santa Fe around 10:00. During the two hour crossing the weather finally cleared and on arrival we had close views of Humpback Whale.

Although Santa Fe held no specific bird targets, an afternoon walk did produce Santa Fe Land Iguana and Santa Fe Lava Lizard. The giant cactus here are impressive. Late afternoon we motored the final leg to Santa Cruz, arriving around 21:10, having now completed a total of 506 nautical miles over 66 hours of sailing.

25 Aug. Said our final good-byes to the crew; both boat and crew were excellent. We then left for shore, to board our bus upon which we spent the whole day. Our initial stop was a rock quarry to try for Darwin's Flycatcher, to no avail, though we did see a close Woodpecker Finch. We then headed up to Cerro Crocker. This last walk of the trip turned out to be the most exercise we had all week, spending two and half hours tramping in the wet, but finally rewarded with good views of Galapagos Crake that we'd missed earlier. After lunch, we passed by Rancho El Chato with American Barn Owl, then to the central highlands where Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise appear to be thriving. Our final stop was the Darwin Centre on the southern coast. Overnight at the Puerto Ayora Ikala Hotel in town, the trip dinner, then a few of us visited a bar to sample local craft beers; middle to average being the general verdict.

26 Aug. Although the main town is on the south side of the island, the airport is located on the north side so that fog does not disrupt flights. A 40 minute bus ride, then a three minute ferry to Baltra. Our final Galápagos endemics were the Medium and Small Ground Finches attending the coffee tables in the terminal café. With our flight on time we arrived Quito by 11:15, said farewell to our travel companions and headed off for our next 18 days in northern Ecuador.

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Galapagos Crake

Medium Ground Finch