If I was to think of my life as a series of lists then the Galapagos Islands would definitely make it onto my top 10 of any number of these lists. Top 10 natural wonders of the world, top 10 amazing experiences, top 10 best holidays of my life, blah, blah, blah. It was everything people said it would be and more. Bloody marvelous, truly incredible, amazing. I think by now you can tell that I loved it. If you ever get the chance to go then grab your credit card and do it. Yes it will cost you an arm and a leg - or a backside in some cases (more of that later) - but for me it was worth every penny, and some!

Located nearly 1000km from the mainland we took an early flight from Guayas to Santa Cruz. After taking a bus, a ferry and another bus we arrived in Puerto Ayora in the early afternoon. It wasn't hard to find somewhere to stay but although the hotel was clean and relatively cheap it was run by the most miserable bunch of so and so's you could ever have the misfortune to meet. Just what you need in the hospitality business. It became our mission to get them to smile and eventually we suceeded. Mind you we were aided and abetted by Ecuador beating Argentina in the World Cup Qualifiers, who would have thought that would ever happen.

We decided against a cruise and ended up taking day trips which was great as we could choose where we wanted to go. Some trips worked out better than others but most were excellent. Our first trip was to Plazas where we had our own personal guide. We had joked the day before about getting stuck on a boat with a load of tercera edad and sure enough we had a boat load of them. They were German and spoke no Spanish and very little Engliah so they had their own guide who spoke German and we had ours so it was perfect. They were lovely people and soon became "our Germans" and we spent the next week bumping into them all over the place so it was fun. Plazas was made up of two very small islands literally poking out of the ocean. It was a great place, really remarkable from the wet landing with the sea lions to the cactus forest, the smiling land iguanas, the cliff edge to the sea below with schools of fish and turtles. Need I say more! Next up was Seymour Norte for our first glimpse of Blue Footed Boobies, Frigate Birds, Iguanas and Marine Iguanas. They really are the strangest looking animal, almost demonic, lazing around in the sun soaking up the rays and the vista. It was very strange to see them.

Day 2 was not one of the best days. That is probably the understatement of the year. We took a trip to Floreana hoping to see the Galapagos Penguin and the Flamingoes. I was always really impressed that Chile had these two species of birds within the same country but they were separated by a distance of some 4000km. Here they were in the same place which was pretty remarkable. So the plan was to head out early for the day and see what we could as well as do some snorkeling. Sounds like a good plan doesn't it but it all went horribly wrong.

Luckily we had our heads in the water and didn't actually see what happened. All we heard was this almighty scream then a bloke yelling get out of the water. We lifted our heads up and saw a woman being hauled out of the water with half her backside hanging off. Not a pretty sight I can tell you. There was panic all around us as no one knew what had happened but everyone had flash backs of all those Jaws movies going through their minds. We swam as fast as we could but by the time we got to the boat the woman was on the deck wrapped up in towels and blankets with the guide applying pressure to her legs to try and stop the bleeding. It was rough. The whole boat was awash with blood and guts. The captain went as fast as he could back to Floreana where there was a doctor and some army people. They patched her up as best they could and then took her across to the bigger island and then the mainland. From what we gathered the captain turned on the engines of the boat and she got caught in the propellers. Ugh is all I can say. But as horrible as it was we were determined that this wasn't going to be the overriding memory of our trip.

Next day we spent the morning on the beach which was great therapy. Bahia Tortuga was a wide sweeping bay with amazing rollers and a beautiful white sandy beach. You could walk the length of the beach to a smaller beach where you could swim in this lagoon. It was picture perfect. In the afteroon we headed out to Isabela with Kate and Thomas. It was a bit of a bumpy ride but well worth it. Isabela is an island made up of 6 separate volcanoes. Coming into the harbour was like entering another world. We were surrounded by these black lava grottoes poking out of the water. It was a little bit spooky but very cool. We went off with a guy on the jetty to a hostal which was right on the beach. We had a great room right at the top with incredible views across two wide sweeping bays. We literally dumped our stuff, got changed into our swimmers and lept into the water. It was a lot of fun surfing in the waves.

We wanted to go up one of the volcanoes and opted to go on foot. The idea being that we would find out more about the unique flora and fauna. A good plan but it didn't work out that way. We had this pretty useless guide called Vilma who literally sprinted up and down the side of a volcano with us trailing him in his wake. When we asked him what things were, all he could manage was um well its a Darwin Bush or um its a Darwin Finch. Pretty useless information really given there are about 13 different species of Darwin Finches so it wouldn't take a genius to work that one out. The volcano was though pretty unique and very cool with great cacti and amazing lava formations with beautiful red, black and yellow rocks. By the end of it we were exhausted but the afteroon made up for it. We went snorkeling with turtles on the Island of Tintoreras then on to see the penguins, sharks, yet more turtles, sally lightfoot crabs, marine iguanas, pelicans, que mas! To top it all we had a beautiful sunset and we could buy beer despite it being an election weekend. There are some advantages of being some distance away from the mainland!

Our last trip was to the very beautiful island of Bartolome. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen from the lava formations to the crystal clear water and vistas. We had a short hike to see the pinacle rock then a chance to do some serious snorkeling. It was great. The water was so clear and there was all this wildlife just hanging out in the water chilling. We saw some amazing star fish, sea lions, penguins, schools of huge fish, parrot fish, coral. It really had to be seen to be believed.

Our final trip was to the Central Highlands to see the Giant Tortoises and the Lava Tunnels. It was very cool to see the tortoises out in the woods and in the ponds. We even saw a little x-rated action when two of them started having sex. It was hysterical especially when the female decided she had had enough and tried to get away who was then chased by the male. She was having none of it though! The tramp through the tunnels was very cool, literally, but fascinating. It did get a bit rough though when we had to crawl on our tummies at one point to get to the other side! But a lot of fun. Last up was another trip to the beach and yet another trip to the Darwin Centre to find "Solitario Jorge". We completely missed him first time we went there partly because we had no idea where we were and got far too carried away with the other tortoises. Second time around we were determined to find him but it was not meant to be, oops!

So all in all a good time was had by all. It was a lot of fun. Incredible to see the wildlife in their natural habitat. It was amazing to be able to get up close and personal with them. They were certainly fearless of humankind and almost indifferent to us so it was a remarkable experience. Good times indeed especially being able to share it with the very lovely Shannon, Sheik o Abade otherwise known as Kate the beading Queen and Thomas aka Nick Cage. Thanks Guys!