Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Having booked our 8 day, first class cruise of the Galapagos Islands about 4 months prior, you can imagine how excited the three of us were when we finally landed at Baltra airport. We were met by our guide, Geoff, who whisked us off to Santa Cruz Island for a lovely lunch at a local restaurant. The nature action started immediately after, as we strolled through a spot favoured by Galapagos Giant Tortoises who migrate to the lagoon when the dry season begins. The first 3-4 tortoises that we glimpsed were females but, still, we were amazed by the sheer size of them! When we came across our first male, however, we could truly appreciate just how enormous they can become. He was mounting a female from the wrong end and we soon learned that they are not so hot in that department. They often give it a few tries before the female gets bored and walks off. Only when he sees her bottom waddling off does he realise where he's meant to be aiming for. The confusion they encounter was demonstrated further when we later visited the Charles Darwin Research Centre and saw one huge male going at it (grunting and all) on another rather unhappy male. You would think, with their lack of know how, that they're numbers are rapidly depleting but thanks to the breeding centres on two of the islands, the population of adult tortoises in the wild is very healthy. Unfortunately, due to a number of introduced species such as cows, goats and rats, tortoises born in the wild have no chance of survival. Only those that are born and raised in captivity, and released when they are big enough, will make it to old age which can be up to 200 years old! The research centre also allowed us to see the Land Iguanas which we would otherwise have missed. They look prehistoric and we were amazed by the differences between those and the marine iguanas which were once the same species.

Santa Cruz Island houses the main town for residents and tourists and we were given time to look around before boarding our boat. We had heard how tame the animals in the Galapagos were but nothing prepared us for the pier where fisherman prepare and sell their recent catches! It was comical! A sea lion was begging at the heels of one fisherman like a dog, practically tugging at his boots. The huge pelicans and frigates were equally unbothered by the crowds of people and were diving at the fisherman (and us!) trying to steal any scraps of fish from the table.

We were giddy with excitement when we were later greeted onto our boat, the Seaman II Catamaran, with a welcome cocktail. The boat was absolutely beautiful! First class all the way and the crew of 9 couldn't have been lovelier. We didn't have to worry about a thing the entire week. We had 3 gorgeous meals prepared for us everyday, our room was checked 3 times a day, we got hot drinks and snacks every time we stepped out of the water, the list of luxuries goes on and on!

Since there was so much wildlife to see, our days started early, usually around 6am. On our first morning, we left our catamaran on one of the smaller pangas (or dinghy) to explore Isabela Island, the largest in the archipelago. Although the main attraction for us was the animals we were also bowled over by the geology of the islands. This particular stop was our first of many walks over the black, jagged lava fields left by numerous volcanic eruptions. It was here that we witnessed a marine iguana nesting sight. These iguanas, like the lava, are stark black in colour so we really had to concentrate on where we were treading! There were literally hundreds of them basking in the sun, restoring their energy reserves before plunging into the cold water to feed on algae. The adaptations, that allow them to dive up to 30 feet and swim as gracefully as a crocodile in water, are fascinating. The most noticeable is a gland that enables them to spit their large intake of salt out through their nostrils. You only have to look at one for 5 minutes and you'll witness it 'snotting' a good couple of feet!

Crazily, there was so much more to look at in this one spot. In the shallow water just below were about 15 white tipped reef sharks bathing in the warmer water. Scuttling around the shore were hundreds of bloodred Sally Lightfoot Crabs. Looking ahead to the deeper water we saw 3 Pacific Green Sea Turtles surfacing for air. Close by were a couple of Galápagos Penguins feeding on a shoal of fish. This in turn attracted the Frigates and Pelicans hoping to get in on the fish action. We literally didn't know where to look, there was so much going on in just one scene!

Luckily for us our itinerary allowed us to go snorkelling twice a day. Since 60% of Galápagos wildlife is underwater, the three of us took full advantage of this! Each and every snorkelling experience was just as incredible as the last. Seeing hundreds of tropical fish was a given and our first snorkel also had penguins swimming around us! These are probably the shyest of all the animals we saw yet I still had one pop up only a couple of feet away from me. The boys also got a glimpse of a big Galapagos Shark which I missed even though I was told it was right next to me! Another memorable moment was seeing the blue footed boobies diving like bullets into the water to catch fish. Like the iguanas, it was so surprising how natural they seem under water!

The afternoon took us to another tortoise breeding centre and a lagoon with the most fluorescent pink flamingoes I've ever seen! Being the last time we would see civilisation we all enjoyed a sunset cocktail at a little beach bar before heading back to the boat.

The following morning brought us an absolute treat before we'd even cleaned our teeth! A tannoy announcement alerted us to a humpback whale in the distance! We all darted up to the top deck to see the misty spurts and it's rolling back as it surfaced for air. An amazing start to the day and it only got better. Another lava walk presented even larger marine iguanas than we'd seen previously. Due to a very territorial male we got to witness a fight whereby the smaller iguana was knocked into a deep crevice in the lava. We never did see him again so we weren't sure whether he survived or not!

The morning snorkel was magical! We came across about 10 turtles, so oblivious to us that we could hover over them for as long as we liked! Their gracefulness in the water made the whole experience very peaceful. We were also joined by a couple of very playful young sea lions who wanted nothing more than to perform an array of 'aquabatics' for us. They finished their routines by coming right up to our masks, staring at us with their big puppy dog eyes as if to plead for an applause! What makes the close proximity to the animals so special is that they are not being lured with the promise of food; the wildlife comes to you and is happy to stick around because you don't interfere with it. We finished the day with an afternoon panga ride into the mangroves where we saw swarms of eagle rays and lots of the famous Flightless Cormorants. All in all a solid day of amazing wildlife!

The following day on Fernandina Island was, for me, a mixed bag in terms of loveable wildlife. Geoff had previously mentioned that tourists never get to see snakes because the they never expose themselves on the bare landscape that is the lava fields. Oh how wrong he was! In the morning alone we saw not one but THREE snakes! Supposedly desperate for food, they were tracking the movements of the smaller lava lizards. I kept my distance, busying myself with watching a lava lizard feast on a huge locust, whilst everyone else hoped to see a kill. The snakes were unsuccessful, however, and had to retreat back to the safety of the lava crevices. You can imagine how jumpy I was when Geoff later told us to sit down on the lava for a geology discussion!

The snorkel that morning was slightly nerve wracking as there were hundreds of toxic sea urchins in quite shallow, choppy water. It was hard to avoid them when we were being thrown around as much as we were but more turtles made it worth the effort. That afternoon also brought more playful sea lions vying for our attention and another snake encounter prompted a job offer from Geoff. He figured I must be some kind of snake charmer since I kept drawing them from their hideouts! We took the pangas out that evening to visit a cave, formed by a giant gas bubble. We radioed in a drink order from the main boat and picked them up just in time to watch the sun go down.

An even earlier start and our first wet landing the following morning felt rather painful at first, but we had one of the best experiences of the entire week. We disembarked at a beautiful white sand beach where turtles nest. The early start was necessary since they will only lay their eggs when the sun is low and it became very clear why when we saw how much energy it requires! The female turtle had reached the top of the beach on high tide and was in the process of covering her eggs when we arrived. We watched her flicking sand onto her eggs for a good hour and a half. She looked exhausted! The entire process of laying and covering can take up to 4 hours and she was barely able to rest for a moment in between since there were birds of prey circling her. When she was satisfied that they were sufficiently covered she began her descent back to the sea. By this time, it had become low tide and the water was, frustratingly, further away from her. Using all her might she dragged herself back to the ocean. When she finally reached it we couldn't help but letting out a round of applause! The struggle was so great that it even brought tears to some people's eyes! We were all feeling very lucky when we returned to the boat for breakfast. (I caught it on video so check it out)

We took a walk that afternoon to spot a different species of sea lion, one from Chile as opposed to California. The Chilean sea lions resemble bears whereas the Californian sea lions look (and act!) a lot like dogs. There were big groups of both species surfing the waves and performing all sorts of jumps and twists for us. Harry chose to swim back to the Catamaran that evening whilst the rest of us normal people caught the panga. We enjoyed a brilliant Latino night hosted by the very coordinated and very fast moving crew!

Another wet landing brought us to a beach where baby sea lions were being fed by their mothers. If the mothers pulled away for a moment, the crying pleads from the babies were almost pitiful. I had to use all my strength not to go and bag one of the babies, they were too cute! An unrelated sea lion began to feed on one mother which we learned was a rare allowance. Although usual for a mother's call to bring several cubs running over to feed, she will determine which one is hers by smelling the cubs noses. Only hers is, usually, allowed to suckle and the mother can be quite aggressive in shooing away other opportunists! Geoff guessed that the mother we were looking at was just too tired to kick up a fuss. All that playing, sleeping and eating all day is a hard life! (We later decided that Joe was taking up the life of a sea lion since he needed a nap between every activity and meal!)

I'll take this moment to mention that Harry and Joe were the only passengers who went without wetsuits the entire week. Everybody thought them to be the crazy, hardcore Brits since the water was so cold in some areas; so cold that I ALMOST missed out on snorkelling that afternoon. Since you never know what you might see, however, I decided to take a leaf out of the boys book and man up. Thank goodness I did! I was happily splashing about with a turtle when I looked down through my mask and guessed I must have floated into a shadowed spot. When the shadow began to swim I actually let out a scream and immediately looked up for Harry. He too had just seen what I'd seen and was having a little panic of his own! At first we thought it was some kind of whale, it was that big. On closer inspection, however, we saw that it was a giant manta ray, 4 metres from wing to wing and even bigger in length! There turned out to be two of them in the reef with us. Although not aggressive creatures, their sting was bigger than Harry's leg so we were sure to stay near the surface to watch them!

Our penultimate day on the cruise finished things off beautifully! We got to splash around with a group of sea lions one last time, Harry had a penguin come and peck at his mask and the reef was bursting with tropical coral and fish. We walked up to a viewpoint to get pictures of the famous Galápagos sight on Bartolome Island, the pinnacle rock and enjoyed an amazing BBQ and farewell sunset cocktails on the open deck with the crew.

All three of us agree that the Galápagos Islands are the most amazing place we've ever visited! Our boat and crew were fantastic and the other guests that we shared the experience with were brilliant, we couldn't have asked for a better group of people!

Nicola & Harry

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 141 - 156 HF