The Galápagos Islands, official name: Archipiélago de Colón are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, 926 km (575 mi) west of Ecuador of which they are part of. The Galápagos Islands and their surrounding waters form an Ecuadorain province, a national park and a biological marine reserve. The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000. The islands are famed for their vast number of endemic species and were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
Now you've had the history i'll get in to our experiences of this magical place. I am sitting in the sun of the top deck of La Pinta - our floating hotel for a week, looking out onto Bartholome Island, one of the many islands that make up the Galápagos Archipelago. It is one of the youngest islands of the Galapagos and probably the world - 800 years old. Very young in geological terms, which is why there is virtually no wildlife on it, but the volcanic formations are amazing. Sun is out, water is sparkling and the beaches are white to golden.
Most famous view in the Galapogas
We were lucky enough to pick up a last minute deal from Quito, so had 3 days to organise ourselves and get to Quito airport. Just as well really as Andy had managed to get a chest infection when we left Cusco, so was on antibiotics. He was feeling better until we boarded La Pinta. It was moored off San Cristobal Island and despite its size was bobbing around like a cork in some fairly large waves. Neither of us are the best sailors, but for some reason the ginger tablets did it for me, Andy was put on the stronger stuff! The first night wasn't good for him, but within 12 - 14 hours he came right and has been able to enjoy everything. Needless to say Curtis is born to sail and couldn't understand what the problem was! He is the only kid on board and the guides love him, they are great with him and take time to explain all the information about the animals and islands to him in a really interesting way.
Resting on Mum!
Male Marine Iguana
Basking marine iguana
Arrival innthe Galapagos at San Cristobal airport
The locals!! San Cristobal
The first few days the weather was extremely changeable, with wind, spitting rain, large waves, which made getting on and off the boat a challenge, misty one nimute and sunny the next but the temperatures were warm. The first snorkel was windy with big waves, not to mention the seas temperature only being around 20 C, the visibility wasn't great as the sea was churned up, but it was exciting! We have still managed to see a huge amount of marine life, fishes of all different shapes and sizes, turtles, sea lions always keen for a play, sting rays, starfish, reef sharks, sea urchins, marine iguanas, sally lightfoot crabs and penguins.
Sea lion colony- Gardener Bay, Espanola Island
Espanola blowhole
Stingray
Green Pacific Turtle
Sea lion playing with us!
On land has been just as successful, we have visited quite a few islands, San Cristobal, Espanola, Santa Cruz, Isla Bartholome, Eden and Sombrero Chino (Chinaman's hat) and Santiago Island. Each island has slightly different wildlife as they have adapted to the islands age and therefore environment of flora and marine life that is around. Espanola was definitely the highlight so far with animals and birds everywhere, we had to watch where we walked - crazy, but they have absolutely no fear of man. There were albatross's and boobies all just nesting in the areas where we walked? I have never experienced this anywhere else in the world. Probably the highlight for us all was the red footed boobies, Galapagos hawk, short eared owl and the waved albatross. The albatross is not there all year around, in fact they spend the majority of their life at sea. The albatross were also courting and doing their courting dance which was neat to watch. This island also had an enormous population of marine iguanas, and sea lions, most of these sea lions were there to give birth and a few had done so within hours of our arriving. It was a magical morning and one we'll remember for sometime.
Galapagos Hawk
Galapagos sea monkey!
Proud Mum to be!!
Pelican
Giant tortoise
Rare lava gull!
Male frigate bird - Genovesa Island
The boat we are on turned out to be a good choice for us, even though we were a bit dubious about there being up to 48 passengers! We could all be in a triple room together, not many offered that, the trip was 8 days and visited some good islands for viewing wildlife. The boat had 4 English speaking guides who are all very experienced and knowledgeable. The food is outstanding, with a large selection of just about everything, I have seen Curtis eat before, but he's eating like a horse here and we think you'll notice how he has grown- probably outwards as well as up! Alot of the food is Ecuadorian and that is great to try, luckily I don't like any of the deserts!!
The second mate!
We were lucky enough to meet some lovely people, for the first few days we got to know a really nice young girl from Canada and a young lad (17!!) from Holland, both were good fun to be with and great with Curtis, he missed them heaps when they left half way through the week. There were heaps of others from all over the world, we particularly enjoyed the company of a British and American couple. The boat itself was flash, with huge cabins, large enough for Curtis to do handstands and other gymnastic moves! It had a jacuzzi that we all dived straight into after our snorkeling trips to warm up! We had a large window in our cabin looking straight out to sea and even saw lots of wildlife through it, the most amazing being stingrays jumping out of the water.
Kariana and Eddie
The guides made this trip for us, they were incredibly knowledgeable and had a great way of imparting the facts that made it both interesting and real, especially for Curtis. There were four of them so we just changed around during the day, we usually had two nature type trips a day and 2 snorkel sessions, we made the most of it and went on every trip on offer, including a kayak along the shores of Genovesa - one of the northernmost islands of the Galapagos.
John one of the guides
Carlos and Curtis on Bartolome
We had a ball and it was well worth the time and effort to get here. We have had a couple of days in Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz just winding down. We head to Quito tomorrow and early the next day head up to Mindo into the cloud forests of Ecuador. We are getting towards the end of our trip now, can't believe it has gone so quickly. We are already planning the next one!
We'll leave you with a few more photos.
Kayaking at Tortuga Bay - Santa Cruz
Baltra island at end of cruise
Been snorkelling!
Galápagos penguin - the northernmost penguin in the world
Xxx
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