Day Thirty Eight: Day 4 in the Galapagos

Today was our last day, well morning anyway in the Galapagos.

We ate brekkie and then farewelled the crew of the boat. We headed for the mainland of Santa Cruz Island to visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre. Was pretty cool! Lots and lots of tortoises, or tortii as we called them (incorrectly). Lots of baby ones too, quite cute. They have an extensive breeding program here.
We then got to see the 5th most famous turtle in the world, Lonesome George. He's 5th only to Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphaelo apparently!

He was pretty cool, very big and ugly, but cute ugly. The poor guy is the last of his species, hence his name. We were then told that George had been getting a bit of turtle action with some tortettes, so hopefully he wont be lonesome anymore. Apparently the character ET was modeled on him too, the resemblance is uncanny.
We then got to walk in the enclosure of many of the tortoises, quite interesting being so close to then. Very intriguing animals. They can live to 200years old too, incredible.

After that, we headed for the bus and then the airport. Was quite a long drive across the island back to Baltra Island to get the plane.

We picked up a few souvenirs, and got on the plane back to Quito.

We had a few delays with flights and the weather was poor when we arrived back in Quito at 6ish. The wet season had shown its teeth. We headed out into the old part of town, the cobblestone streets of La Ronda. Quite a picturesque place. Heavy Spanish influence here in both the buildings and the food.

As it was Lauras last night in town (she heads back home tomorrow) we ate a nice dinner and then went to a bar for coffee and dessert, before heading back to our hotel for some shut eye! (blogging for some)

Adios Laura amigo! Its been fun!

the famous lonesome george

back in Quito

Day Thirty Seven: Day 3 in the Galapagos

Today was another relatively early start. Woke at 6, had brekkie and headed for Post Office Bay on Floriena Island. This place was pretty cool. It's an old pirate post mailbox, dating back hundreds of years. It was the place where the first inhabitant of hhe galapagos lived, an old Irishmen. You can open up the box and see what mail is in there. There's some really old mail left in there as relics, but mist is peoples postcards. We had a look thru, to see if there eas anything close to us or in Aus, so we could pick it up and deliver. We put our mail/postcards in too, hopefully they make it. It's a cool concept!
We walked up the island further and ventured down into a cave. The cave was full of saltwater, and for the last half we were able to swim in it's dark depths. Quite a cool thing to do. Was completely dark (apart from a few peoples head torches). I felt like i was in The Goonies, living the dream!

After that we hopped back in the dingys and went marine wildlife watching. We spotted many cool things. The lucky thing was we were able to see a couple of galapagos penguins, which shouldve migrated from the islands by now.  So we were really lucky.

We also saw lots of tortoises too- really cool animals. Along with these we saw many many sealions, iguanas and birds, which you start to take for granted. They're everywhere. I still like the sealions though, they are so so friendly, one was performing for us, circling the boat doing flips.
We then went ashore looking for flamingos but were unable to see them as they had migrated away. So we headed down to the beach of the island and walked amongst the sting rays. Pretty cool. You have to shuffle your feet in the sand rather than make steps so you don't get their barbs. It's a scary and weird feeling as they brush over your feet.

The beach on this island was pretty cool, one side had really brown sand, the other really white, and if you dug down about a foot you got olive green sand, volcanic matter made it really green. Quite cool to see.
There were so many turtles on the shores of this beach too- really cool. This was the one thing I really wanted to see and we were able to.
We headed back to the boat for lunch and a bit of a rest. We were going snorkeling this arvo so we needed to be ready.

We got in the dingy and headed for a group of small rocky islands called the devils crown. The snorkeling here was breathtaking. I finally started to enjoy snorkeling. I had different gear and it made it much more comfortable and enjoyable. Was amazing swimming around with so many colorful fish, turtles, reef sharks and brown sharks. At first the sharks were scary, but I kinda felt safety in numbers. Besides we were told they were vegetarian sharks, they only ate from you palms!

We snorkeled for over an hour but it only felt like 10mins- was so fun!
That afternoon we cruised to Santa Cruz Island. The 6hour trip was spent mostly relaxing and sipping beers in the sun on the deck. The main highlight though, was the dolphins we saw. This was SPECTACULAR! Five dolphins were swimming alongside the boat, and three then road the wave at the front bow of the boat. They rode along with us for 5 to 10 minutes. Was such an incredible site.

Weve been really lucky with guides too, the naturalist guide knows so much. He has a very funny spanglish accent when talking to you in English. He reminds me of the butler in the movie Mr Deeds. Im verry verry sneaky sir...may i touch your feet... you know, that guy!

The sun then set on our Galapagos adventures. We watched the sun rapidly go down and headed inside for dinner. We were treated to a farewell cocktail before heading off to bed.
Another fun filled, energy sapping day in natures playground.

these are turtles btw - buggers dont surface that often

VIDEO OF THE DOLPHINS

Day Thirty Six: Day 2 (Australia Day) in the Galapagos

Today began with brekkie on the boat before a trip to mainland in the rubber dingy. We landed on the crisp and clean beaches of Espanol Island. There were hundreds of sealions lounging on the beaches. Such an amazing site. We had a few hours to lounge around with them as well as check out the other wildlife. Walking up the length of the beach, you can't help but take multiple photos with the sealions. So friendly. Its truly amazing how placid these creatures are. You can get so close ti them. We also saw lots of cool crabs and birds too.

We then went for a much needed swim, the water was so clean and the temperature was perfect. Simi nearly got kissed by a sealion as she was swimming. Very funny!
We went back to the main boat briefly, before heading out for a deep water snorkel. The girls loved it, despite being apprehensive at first. I liked it too, but my snorkel gear wasn't working properly, at least that's what my excuse was! Made for a difficult breathing experience. Sim got to see lots though, manta rays, sealions, coral and lots of fish.

After our snorkel, we headed back for lunch and a siesta.
That afternoon, we ventured around to the otherside of the island and went ashore to check out more wildlife. There was more sealions, more Iguanas and more birds---aka---more boobies. The cool part of today's adventure was seeing some galapagos albatross, which apparently weren't meant to be here this time of year. We saw one adolescent albatross trying to take off and fly for the first time, was a very David Attenborough moment. The island was stunning, so beautiful. It also had a blowhole, where the water went 20 odd meters high. Quite cool.

The sun began to set, and we hopped back in the dingy and headed for the main boat.
We stayed on the sundeck, drinking beers and watched the sunset. Amazing! I started to feel like we were actually on holiday, not just traveling.

Dinner was again delicious, and we went to bed early again, the sun just saps the energy from you. We were quite tired.

the blue footed boobies

Day Thirty Five: Day 1 in the Galapagos

Today we were off to the Galapagos. We headed out to the airport and were on our way. We arrived at 11am.
The place at first reminded me a little of Australia, desert like with similar plant species.
We headed down to the port where our boat was awaiting us. This would be home for the next 4 days. At the port we were greeted by sealions, Iguanas and pelicans, the Galapagos kind. One flew over and shat over the whole group; we were going to have good luck supposedly.

Once on the boat we were treated to lunch, the food was again really really good. Good food seems to be following us.

In the afternoon we ventured onto our first island, Nth Seymour island. Here we got our first real look at the many amazing animals of Galapagos. Several types of Iguanas, different types of birds, mockingbirds, finches, Frigattes (the ones where the males have the massive red balloon throats), boobies, blue foot boobies, red foot boobies and nazca boobies, all kinds of boobies! Made for a fun afternoon. You can never have enough boobies!
We then walked to the shore of the island, where the ocean was pounding the coastline. Was quite a beautiful sight seeing all the sealions lazing around, whilst the waves came crashing in. They're amazing creatures and they are everywhere. So tame and playful too. Amazing!

The day was so hot, the sun is very strong here. The evening brought some much needed respite and we then settled in for dinner and some beers. Not to be outdone by lunch, dinner was sensational. Soup, main course buffet and dessert.

I could really get used to life on the galapagos; lazing on boats, eating, drinking and visiting cool stuff. It's tough!

Nite nite