I thought rather than typing up a blog each day I'd try to summarize each week in Galapagos instead. So here I am at the end of Week 1 - southern itinerary, happy, sunburned, and oh so glad I have another week in this amazing place.

The Ship: I'm on the MY Eric which is one of the Ecoventura boats. The Flamingo is currently in dry dock so I can only compare it to the Letty and I can definitely say its the superior of the two. The boats are basically the same although the Letty lost its sun shade from the sun deck recently. Thankfully the Eric still has its or the top deck would have been unbearable during the day. The Eric also has solar panels although we still managed to lose power a few times this week. Neither has a clothesline though which would help when drying swimsuits etc in the wind.
I was in cabin 8 which is on the bottom (iguana) deck right at the front of the boat. Bathroom was big by boat standards and cabin was ok space wise although not a lot of storage. Windows were portholes near the roof so couldn't see out but did get natural light. Only real negative is that we are right next to the anchor so everytime it was raised or lowered it woke me up. Not as pleasant as the music that was played over the speakers at our official wake up calls!
Food on the Eric was great! 3 hot meals a day (buffet style for breakfast and lunch) and snacks after morning and afternoon activities. 2 glasses of wine included with dinner each night too as well as welcome and farewell cocktails. Soft drinks and water free. I haven't paid my bar bill yet but from what I've heard drinks are cheap - $2 for a beer.

The guides:- could not have asked for better! Cecibel and Gabby are both level 3 guides (the highest possible), fluent in English and loads of fun! The two are great friends on and off the boat (Ceci even showed us photos from Gabby's recent wedding) and you could tell they were having as much fun as we were. The Letty only had 12 passengers so only one guide for them.

Fellow passengers:- I really am lucky. I got matched with Corinne from the USA as a cabin mate and she was a hoot. I couldn't have asked for a better cabin mate. Easy going, and fun she broke the ice with everyone. We had a few single ladies on board, a family of 3 men, and some couples. It was a nice group. Everyone could have a laugh. No one was too obnoxious and it just made the week really enjoyable. Ecoventura divide passengers according to demographic and the Letty did seem to have a generally older group although we had a nice mix of ages among our 19 passengers. I think the Letty's itinerary was modified slightly to suit as I don't think they got as many snorkel opportunities as we did.

The itinerary:- this week was Itinerary A Southern central. We started in San Cristobal, and also visited Espanola, Floreana, the southern tip of Isabella, Santa Cruz, south plaza and Bartolome. The actual itinerary did differ a little from the advertised one. We didn't get to snorkel at Devil's crown (dissappointing as it was one of the places I wanted to go. ) we did snorkel at Champions Islet though which was very good. Also there was only one opportunity to kayak and not much to see when we did. (note there are only 2 double kayaks on board so if more than 4 want them you have to take turns or borrow a kayak from the Letty). Biggest disappointment for me was probably that we didn't get to ride horses to the top of Sierra negra as advertised. I think it would have been awesome to traverse that terrain on horseback. Instead we got a bus up most of the way and then hiked up pretty steep terrain and rocky stairs. Unfortunately when we got to the top the fog was so thick we couldn't really see anything. Then it started raining and we walked down again.
Enough negativity though. I really did enjoy myself. I got to see some AMAZING creatures. Before going I really wanted to see the blue footed boobies, and they were great as were the Nazca boobies, but I totally fell in love with the red footed boobies. They are the only boobies that can hang out in trees as well as on the ground and in the water due to having webbed feet with claws (and yes their feet are very red). They also have beautiful powder blue beaks and look up at you so sweetly your heart melts. My other favorite birds were the Great Frigates with their bright red neck pouches they inflate to attract females during mating season and the swallowtail gulls with their red ringed eyes and soft dusky grey and white feathers. The yellow warblers and vermillion flycatchers were also beautifully coloured but a little harder to photograph!
The Christmas Iguanas (only found on espanola) were the most amazing lizards! Bright red and turquoise they don't look real. Definitely prettier than the grey / black marine iguanas on the other islands. Apparently the colouring has something to do with the algae they eat. The Land Iguanas we saw on ???? were also brightly coloured but this time it was yellow and orange. The colours here are so vivid. I guess because they don't have predators they can afford to be bright. I also loved the Sally Lightfoot crabs which start off black but become bright red in adulthood. All these creatures colours go so well against the backdrop of turquoise waters, white sand beaches and black lava.
Underwater is an experience too. Whilst the reefs arent as colourful and fish aren't as plentiful as the barrier reef, it was definitely thrilling to snorkel with baby sea lions coming up to investigate, and penguins zooming past while white tipped reef sharks and Galapagos sharks swim lazily below. Ultimate highlight though was swimming with pacific green sea turtles. Watching them feed, their bodies swaying with the current as they anchor themselves with their mouths was a privilege as was watching them glide effortlessly away. Truly spectacular.

We also learned a bit about the human history of the islands including a visit to Post Office Bay. Here, since whaling times, people have left mail to be picked up by the next ship and delivered home. I left a couple of post cards and picked up 2 to deliver when I get home. Posting is cheating.

So overall I had a fantastic first week in paradise. I'll miss Gabby who's heading home, Ceci who's guiding on the Letty next week, and the lively lovely passengers from this week but am looking forward to next week.