Wow...what a week. I don't think we'll ever be able to fully describe how amazing our week in the Galapagos Islands was but here we go...

Well, after a stunning flight across the Ecuadorian Andes, we arrived last Tuesday in Baltra, one of the islands. The view as we flew in looked pretty nice but we really had no idea what was in store for us...

Our guide, Fabien, collected us from the airport and took us to our yacht... As we got off the bus we realised that the bus stop was covered in sleeping sea lions! Then as we started walking a Marine Iguana walked out in front of us and then a Lava Heron came out of nowhere and started fishing on our dingy, and all this before we even got on the boat! Great start.

As we got a last minute deal we were a bit worried our boat would be awful...but somehow(we have no idea how) we managed to get a first class yacht, with a nice big double cabin with air con and private bathroom! Nice. The yacht itself was big, spacious and there were only 5 other passengers (all Aussies) so it was perfect! We set sail for our first destination, Black Turtle Cove...

Late in the afternoon Fabien took us out in the dingy to a mangrove lagoon. Within minutes we realised we were surrounded by wildlife...there were stingrays, crabs, iguanas, pelicans and the famous Galapagos bird, the Bluefooted Boobie! Then we got even more lucky and saw lots of giant sea turtles, a baby shark and a whole group of golden cowrays, so cool! By now we were beginning to understand why the Galapagos is so special, the animals just have no fear of humans at all, even the birds. They don't instantly fly or run away, they just look at you as if you are vaguely interesting, then carry on doing what they were doing...very strange and brilliant!

On the second day we went to James Island. We got up at 5.30 for a walk along the beach. As we got out of the dingy we noticed there were two sealions sat on the beach, just a few feet away. They briefly looked up as we walked past then went back to sleep... :-)

As we walked to the beach we saw lots of lava lizards (the female has an orange head as you can see in the pics), and a Galapagos mocking bird, the most curious little thing, he was hopping in between my feet and all around us! We also saw the first of many finches, Darwin's experimental subjects! Then when we got to the beach we realised all the rocks were covered in Marine Iguanas, sooo cool, they were everywhere and so well camouflaged that we had to take care not to step on them! We saw loads of cool bright orange crabs too.

Then we walked further and found a group of sea lions, they took no notice of us whatsoever even though we were literally next to them, beautiful animals. Then as we were watching them, a huge green sea turtle appeared from nowhere to say hi, amazing!

After that we had breakfast (the food on the boat was AWESOME!) and then got to snorkel...again we got lucky and managed to find two giant green sea turtles to snorkel with!!! Lots of cool fish too, of course.

In the afternoon I was making a cup of tea when I realised there was a sea lion sunning itself on the back of our boat! So cool, it just laid there while we videoed and snapped pics galore, occasionally hopping in the water to cool off, then jumping back on again, so funny, our guide said they just go wherever they want, as long as it's flat! Check out the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00S_WzrpVyc

The next morning we got up at 5am (!) to visit a turtle nesting beach. Unfortunately we missed them by minutes but their tracks were all over the sand and we saw lots of egg shells. After that we walked up a volcano to a lookout which is 'the most photographed place in the Galapagos'... Gorgeous view over the whole bay. On the way up we got very lucky and saw some penguins taking a swim! Sooo cute. On the way back to the yacht our driver suddenly took a detour, we were wondering what was so amazing about a big rock when we all of a sudden we pulled up close and saw there was a penguin, a baby sea lion and a pelican all sat together! Great pic, check it out! After a couple of cool snorkels with huge fish we did a 'lava walk'. Basically a long time ago one of the volcanoes erupted and the lava flowed for over 5 km! It is now solid and you can walk on it, very interesting to see the layers and just the sheer size of it!

From there we sailed to the next dock and on the way we saw big black frigate birds above the boat. They seemed to like soaring above us and came unbelievably close to the boat and our heads! Amazing. Davy also saw a manta ray off the side of the boat(unfortunately I missed it as I was in the loo!).

The next day we went to Santa Cruz island, which is the most populated. We went to the Darwin centre which has a tortoise breeding program and we saw Lonesome George, a giant tortoise, who got his name because he never has a girlfriend! Unfortunately he just doesn't want to mate with other tortoises...so a while back they bought an American female scientist in to erm...check he was in working order 'manually', well apparently George took a shine to the girl and the people on the island wound her up so much about being his girlfriend that she up and left without finishing the project so we may never know if George can in fact make tortoise babies... However, they brought in a superstud tortoise from San Diego Zoo and while we were there we saw him in action! There is a tortoise sex vid which we will try and upload to YouTube! Funny.

Anyway we also saw some land iguanas there which are being bred too, bright yellow, very cool. From there Dave and I went for a coffee at a hotel, and as we were sat there two wild sea lions hopped up on the decking and took a seat on the benches!! We got some great pics sat next to them!

In the afternoon we took a bus to see some giant tortoises in the wild, one of them was ENORMOUS and well over 100 years old!!! So cool. After that we walked (and crawled!) through a lava tunnel...quite Goonies stylee..! We picked up a couple of new passengers here so we were 9 now...still a very small group compared to the 100 person cruise ships we saw along the way, much better!

The next morning we got up and went to a STUNNING white sand beach called Cerro Brojo (Wizard Hill) for a walk. There were heaps of sealions, birds and crabs of course and it really was beautiful. After the walk we got to snorkel off the beach and we got VERY lucky as a sealion decided to check us out and swim with us! It was so cool, gracefully swimming all around us while we attempted act like sea lions to play with it, amazing experience. In the afternoon we went for a coastal walk on San Cristobal island which was nice and I saw a little snake (don't worry Mum, no pic!). The rocks, beach and all the
boats in the marina (!) were COVERED with sealions, hundreds of them! We noticed some boats had barbed wire or netting on the back to stop the cheeky creatures taking a nap there!

Day 6 was probably the best day of all... First we went to another gorgeous beach on Espanola island, with the bluest water we've ever seen, and it was covered in sea lions, lots of pups too just lazing around. We got some awesome pics of us laying right next to them! After that we went snorkelling by a huge rock, the water was unbelievably clear so we could see heaps... Then suddenly 6 baby sea lions jumped in the water to play with us!!! It was the most amazing experience, probably ever! As they were so young they really wanted to play and they mimicked us in the water and stayed with us for like 30 mins... We also saw a spotted eagle ray, so beautiful in the water. Unbelievable.

In the afternoon we went for another walk and saw albatrosses! They are huge birds, beautiful when they fly but hilariously unbalanced when they walk as they are predominantly sea birds. We got lucky and saw a pair courting which basically involves bashing beaks! Very cool to see. Great day.

The next day we visited the most famous island, Floreana. In the morning we went to Post Office Bay. Here there is a barrel in which everyone puts their mail, without stamps. Then every boat visits it and the idea is that passengers take one bit of mail for their own country then send it when they get home... Its been there for hundreds of years and apparently it's much cheaper and more efficient than normal Ecuadorian mail! (Parents, let us know of you get your cards please!)

After that the crew from our boat played footie against another boat, very fun and Davy got to play too! The crew were very impressed by his skills, unfortunately though it was on sand and he got the biggest blisters I have ever seen! After that we snorkelled for the last time and our guide definitely saved the best for last... 'the Devils Crown'. This was a huge crown shaped rock formation with a very strong current which pushed you from one side to the other. Because of the current there is a huge amount of wildlife there, I have never seen so many fish in my life! We saw thousands of different fish and Dave saw a turtle! Then we saw about 5 white tip SHARKS!! (no I didn't panic or cry, I took a pic in amazement!...they weren't big scary sharks, pretty cool actually). Then we had yet another playful sea lion come and swim with us! And then we saw puffer fish and huge parrot fish. Soooo amazing, best snorkel ever, it beat the barrier reef!

In the afternoon we went ashore and saw lots of golden cowrays and then Flamingos! Beautiul birds and great to see them in the wild just as the sun was setting... Another great day.

On the last morning, we got up very early again and it was definitley worth it... We visited North Seymour island, a nesting site for frigates and boobies. The male frigate bird has a red pouch which he inflates to attract the female when mating... This normally happens in June but again we got lucky and saw loads of males with fully inflated pouches, quite a sight to see...check the pics! After that we got lucky AGAIN and saw blue footed boobies courting too! It's so funny, the males do a little dance with their feet (apparently the females like a male depending on how blue his feet are!) then they stand up very
straight and whistle while extending their wings...quite impressive to watch, another YouTube clip to upload!

After that we made our way back to the boat (spotting lots of sea lion pups along the way!) for our last breakfast, then we got off the boat, and sadly had to say bye to all the sea lions sitting on the bus stop...

We both agree it was probably the best thing we've ever done and it will be a hard experience to top...

Anyway, we just spent 48 hours on a bus getting from Ecuador to Arequipa in southern Peru where we start teaching on Monday. Not so fun...

Hope you like the pics!!

Sar & Davy
Xx