Accommodation: Mansion del Angel; Samba

Our first day on the islands came after our early morning flight from Quito through Guayaquil and finally onto the small island of Baltra. Baltra is uninhabited and is located in the middle of the archipelago and was originally developed to serve as a US military base during WWII. As we took our bus from the airport to the port, you can see the cement pads that were poured originally for the barracks.

Another wonderful fact about the airport on Baltra is that it is the only one in the world that operates 100% on renewable resources. Granted, there’s no jetways or really a terminal to speak of but it’s a remarkable feat since they still have 757s landing on a single strip.

As we made our way to port with our Guide, Morris, we crossed a short channel, back on other bus and made our way to our first excursion: El Chato Ranch on the island of Santa Cruz, home of the infamous Galapagos Giant Tortoises.

These Tortoises aren’t only gigantic, but also have a sad history. The Galapagos were originally founded by mariners in the 1500s but later on became a haven for Pacific Ocean Pirates who uprooted the indigenous tortoises in order to store as food on their ships. These Tortoises can live for upwards of 150 years and require very little food to stay alive. This specific characteristic allowed the pirates to keep them on their ships for 6 months or so and slaughter them when they needed to eat. It’s estimates that over 100,000 tortoises were killed in this manner.

The rest of our first day ended with an afternoon walk around the city of Puerto Ayora and finally, a warm welcome to our home for the next week, a 20 person boat (crew and guests) the Samba.