Baltra Island

Tha airplane flies in circles. We have gone below the clouds. Through the window we see how a big Island appears, Santa Cruz Island. Near this huge dormant volcano are several islets, all of them suggesting active volcanoes in the past.
Two small close to one another, The Daphne’s. Two more separated by a sand bar, North Seymour the smallest and a second one larger and flat, South Seymour well known as Baltra.

The airplane descends, pointing its nose to the runway until we touch land.
Still running until full stop, what we observe is rocky landscape with some green bushes and big Prickly Pear Cactuses. Not much, just a barren landscape suggesting fresh water is not abundant.

The exciting feeling of “we have arrived” fulfils people’ hearts. Galapagos is one of those destinations nature lovers dream to visit one day.

Upon landing, the flight attendant gives instructions to disembark the airplane. The moment everybody was waiting for.

Right after leaving the plane a selfie is a must, but we have to stay on the safety lines. One of a sudden a big yellow iguana shows up, chewing one of the cactus pads. Soon after, we go through the airport’s control area.

Once we are ready with our luggage, we must take the bus to continue with our journey. We have to cross Baltra by bus to go to Santa Cruz; it is just a ten-minute ride.

Along the road in the distance a lava rock house is standing, a naturalist guide says it was the bar during World War II, its name: “The Beer Garden”, he explains Baltra was a military base established by the United States to protect the Panama Canal.

Right after we notice pieces of structures that suggest buildings were there, concrete pads now cracked by time. The base comprised 200 buildings, all dismantled in 1946 after the war was over.

A couple of houses are still standing along the Charles Darwin Street on Santa Cruz Island.

In 1942, the military base is busy, the enemy is somewhere out there. The Islanders reported seeing German submarines.

Beta base or Baltra has 2.500 soldiers and around 700 civilians, prepared for war. Junior Soldiers ready for a war that never came.

Boredom was the norm, besides taking care of the military equipment there wasn’t much to do, fishing perhaps or feeding their pets, most of them goats, the best part was going to the casino. “The Rock” was the island’s nickname, an isolated place.

The bus arrives at the cliff, the border of Baltra, before crossing to Santa Cruz. It always stops for the breathtaking view.

The turquoise color of the water is stunning. Everybody smiles while getting their cameras out of their hand-luggage. The bus continues straight to the water’s edge to take the Ferry boat to Santa Cruz. The trip has begun.

Nowadays Baltra is not only an airport, most of it is protected, belongs to the Galapagos National Park.

During the war most land iguanas died, but today this iconical species is back.

Its success, was possible due to efforts of the Charles Darwin Research Center, The Galapagos National Park and The Ecuadorian Airforce.