Our trip to the Galapagos Islands was filled with captivating animals, the odd surf adventure, education about the islands´history, beach soccer and evenings of Latino dancing and alcohol- aided pole dances.  

After 2 days of exploring Santa Cruz, the central isalnd, we commenced  an 8 day tour aboard a boat The free enterprise..

Our boat was occupied by about 20 travellers in total and 11 crew members , which included our own cook, dive master and 2 naturalist guides. The 8 day journey involved a detailed agenda for each leg of the trip to ensure that we enjoyed maximum exposure to flora and fauna and were able to cover the distance between the different islands.  A typical day comprised of brekky at 7.00am, snorkelling or island exploration at 7.45am- 11.00am, lunch 12.00pm -12.45, guided island tour/ wildlife viewing in the afternoon, followed by relaxing on the front deck, dinner and an evening of latino dancing and general scallywag behaviour.  We snorkelled with whitetipped reef sharks, sea lions, penguins, tortoises, tropical fish , manta rays and many more beautiful marine animals. Galapagos wildlife is divided into endemic ( animals unique to the Galapagos with evidence in support of species evolution between islands/environments), native ( arrived at Galapagos and appear to have evolved however other species found in other parts of the world as well) and introduced ( animals introduced to islands by humans such as goats etc..). Goats introduced to the islands by explorers/settlers over the decades played a contributing role in altering the ecosystem dynamics within the Galapagos´- ie: Goats were fierce competition for major plant food sources of Galapagos tortoises and catalysed the near extinction of the pinta Island tortoises ( in combination with mass killing by humans for the tortoises fat which was in demand as a source of oil). As a result,  The famous pinta Island giant tortoise Lonesome George is the last remaining of his species- the Islands Darwin Centre is desperate to mate Lonesome George with other willing female species to try and rejuvenate the Pinta tortoises but old George like sto keep to himself so this is proving more difficult than one may think… Cloning is entertained only as  a last resort due to the complexity and financial costs of such a project.      I managed a bit of surfing (with an Aussie traveller Roger) but not as much as I would have liked as the best surf breaks were on San Cristobal island – I sacrificed a day trip here as Nicki was keen to move on due to the expense of the trip coupled with a desire to minimise sitting on the beach watching me surf… Tough decision but I reluctantly agreed given that our next stop was Montanita- deemed the best surf in Ecuador ohhh yeah! Our guide Andreas was good fun and very informative and our other guide George amused us by getting drunk and imitating sea lion noises for the duration of most activities… An amazing trip and yet another South American experience that will remain in my memory for many years to come!