I apologise in advance for the length of the Galapagos blog - but I did it as we went along and we saw so much I really wanted to share everything!! It was an awesome experience - I think I took as many photos here as I did in the 3 ½ months preceding so there are a lot of pics in the album too. By the way anyone who ever plans on coming should get an underwater cover for their camera - I bought mine for £25 of amazon and it was awesome!!

Day 1

So it was time to go to the Galapagos, an early start, getting picked up at 6.30. We had to get up especially early so I could partake in the buffet breakfast which I was informed would contain curry - I was less than impressed when I arrived at 5.45 and there was no curry. While we were eating though curry did arrive (hurray) but it wasn't very nice (boo). Anyway enough about breakfast it's hardly the highlight of my first day in the Galapagos. So after only 1 day's respite from travel Sanchia and Emma (and me of course) were off to the Galapagos, we had to take 2 flights to get there, stopping over in Guayaquil, luckily (mainly for Sanchia's patience) we got to stay on the plane.

We arrived at Baltra Island in the Galapagos, we had a short bus and ferry to get us to Santa Cruz, then a longer bus trip across the island to get to our boat, the Pelikano, which was waiting in the harbour with our lunch. We ate our lunch and just had a short break before we went back up to the highlands of Santa Cruz to see Giant tortoises. Even on the way up there we saw some giant tortoises on the side of the road. Then we reached the national park and got to wander around seeing many giant tortoises. It was awesome! We even got to see some tortoises mating. It was such a surreal experience being so close to such big animals in the wild! Pretty awesome!

That evening we had the opportunity to visit the town but I wasn't feeling fantastic so just grabbed an early night!

Day 2

Overnight we had travelled to Floreana, we did the bulk of our travelling overnight. While I wouldn't describe the seas as rough, they probably couldn't be described as calm either and there were a few times overnight where I caught some air. After breakfast we went ashore to the island. First we visited post office bay where you can post cards - however this relies on someone else then coming by and picking up the card and hand delivering it, so sorry Mam and Dad but I think I might be home before the card - unless you decide to come and pick it up yourselves. We then went for a walk to a lava tunnel, exactly what it sounds like a tunnel made by lava! We even got to have a little refreshing (read bloody freezing) swim at the bottom. After the visit to the island we went back aboard the boat and moved to our site for deep water snorkelling! This was our first chance to snorkel on the trip and my first time testing out my underwater cover for my camera - and it was awesome.

As we got into the water there were so many fish you could barely see anything but fish. Before long we had sparked the interest of some local sea lions who came to swim with us. On the snorkelling trip I saw loads of fish of different colours and sizes, some star fish, a shark of some sorts but the highlight was definitely swimming with the sea lions, they just swam around us and played, it was incredibly surreal! I really, really enjoyed it and I think Sanchia and Em were fairly happy too!!

After a nice lunch and a short navigation we arrived at Punta Camaron. As we arrived on the beach we saw some more sea lions, playing, fighting and relaxing in the sun.We then went for a walk hoping to see some flamingos, unfortunately because of La Nina effect (the year after El Nino) there were no flamingos in the spot. Then we went in search of some turtles, we visited one of the beaches where they lay their eggs, they hadn't come on land yet but we could see them bobbing their heads in and out of the water. We also saw a lot of Sally lightfoot crabs, in various colours and sizes, the immature ones are black and the larger ones are red or orange, it was pretty cool! Then we went for a snorkel, I was really hoping to see a turtle. We snorkled for a while and I saw quite a few cool fish but alas no turtle. At the point where I gave up and returned to shore I saw a shark (white tip fin reef shark) swimming past just below me which almost made up for the lack of turtles. As I was swimming back to shore I saw something really big just below me, I almost exploded with excitement it was a giant sea turtle! I swam along just above it for like a minute, it was amazing, then as I carried on towards the shore I saw many more turtles and got to swim with them too - it was absolutely amazing, a life's dream realised!!! Then it was time to leave Floreana island but I was a pretty content man. We returned to the boat where we had dinner, played some games (thanks Christine for the presents) and chilled out on top of the boat watching the few stars we could see (it was cloudy) and the full moon.

Day 3

Overnight we travelled from Floreana to Espanola (a fairly rough crossing by all accounts, a few people on the boat felt a little worse for wear), we had an early start to visit Punta Suarez, where our guide had promised us lots of sea lions and marine iguanas and some boobies. He hadn't lied, as we arrived we were greeted by thousands of crabs, and sea lions and marine iguanas scattered everywhere. The Iguanas were fantastically coloured, various shades of black, red, orange and green. It was a fantastic experience, I had to really watch my step to avoid standing on an iguana. We also saw plenty of the much smaller lava lizards which were still beautifully coloured! We saw plenty of mocking birds, which certainly aren't shy, at that point it was probably the closest I'd ever stood to a bird! We walked across the bay and came to a point where albatross nest but we weren't expecting to see any because they usually leave in early January, however luckily because of La Nina we got to see some Albatross. We also saw some Galapagos doves (red feet and blue eyes), a Darwin finch, and then arrived at the other bay, the home of the boobies. We saw lots of lots of Nazca boobies, and quite a few blue footed boobies, some of the birds had chicks! It was an awesome morning, I managed to take almost 200 photos of all sorts of animals!! We then returned to the boat, I had a quick swim and then we were off to Gardner Bay!

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach in Gardner bay, A beautiful white sandy beach covered with sea lions! It was a beautiful beach and again we got to get up close to lots of sea lions, it was really cool to watch them play (it was predominantly cubs) and just lie around in the sun! We walked around for a while watching the sea lions and some marine iguanas as well and of course plenty of sally lightfoot crabs! Then it was time to go snorkelling, again I was very excited about the prospect of finding another sea turtle! I headed out to where we were told we may see turtles but no luck. I did however get to see a lot of very very big rays! It was pretty awesome! I then swam towards another rocky island, I saw lots of fish, including many parrotfish - they were so cool , really brightly coloured and they have a mouthful of teeth, like they have false teeth in. I also saw a couple of cornetfish - that was cool! Then I met Sanchia and Emma who had seen a turtle so I went in search of him. En route to find a turtle one swam just under me - it was so amazing - I just swam along beside him, then another turtle passed going in the other direction but I decided to stay with the one I was swimming with. Then I saw another giant ray. It was awesome. I returned to have a look at some more fish and then it was time to return to shore. However, on my way back to shore I had to keep stopping because there were so many rays, some of them were massive and another turtle who I swam along with for a while - such an amazing experience. We returned to the boat for dinner another scrumptious dinner and a couple of beers and played some more games! I retired to bed that night a pretty happy chap. As promised the crossing wasn't quite as choppy as the previous night and everyone got a good night's sleep!

Day 4

We arrived at Santa Fe Island overnight, in the morning we went for a walk on the island where we saw some pretty cool looking cactus trees, of varying heights. We also saw some more boobies, galapagos doves (with bright red feet and bright blue eyes) and frigates, Of course there was a wealth of sea lions to see, one might expect that this would get boring, it doesn't! Watching them at such close proximity, playing, swimming or even just lying in the beach is fascinating and incredibly entertaining. We went on a walk, where we saw more of the cactus trees, more lava lizards (it's interesting to see the different types in lava lizards on different islands) and land Iguanas. This was our first time seeing land iguanas, they were really nice colours and pretty big! When we returned to the beach we saw a Galapagos hawk! It was a stunning walk and then it was time for another snorkelling trip! We had been told that at Santa Fe we may see some sharks when we were snorkelling, as well as more rays and maybe turtles. Again we saw lots of fish, they are so interesting to watch, then I heard there was a big shark around. I went in search of it and then it appeared below me - it was massive (a Galapagos shark), it was so close and about 2.5m long - it was awesome. It swam away and we continued, soon I saw another shark, this time a white tip reef shark, this was smaller (but still big) and I swam along watching it for a while - it was awesome. Then we saw some more fish, and finished up spending some time with a very, very playful sea lion cub. Another extraordinary snorkelling experience - it is so awesome here! Then we returned to the boat to start our navigation to South Plaza Island!

We arrived at South Plaza island, probably the most interesting scenery we had encountered, the small island is covered in a red/orange plant with many cool looking cactus trees, again we were greeted by a group of sea lions, there were many birds including a wealth of swallow tail gulls, the highlight of this island was the many large coloured land iguanas. After our walk around the entire island (as I said it was small) we went snorkelling again, this was yet another fantastic experience where we saw a massive Galapagos shark (our guide thought it might have been a bull shark - which have been known to attack humans - so he bravely jump out of the water into the dingy), a smaller, but still pretty big with tip reef shark and finished up with a very playful sea lion cub! Yet another fantastic experience. That afternoon we were moving to North Seymour island where would anchor overnight, en route we got to see some manta rays jumping and flipping out of the water. We also some Galapagos sharks swimming about the boat that night! This was to be the last night with 10 of the people on board the boat, so we got a free cocktail and Em, Sanchia and I wore our finest clothes (that we had bought in Quito, in an hour with $15 each - it was an interesting site, have a look at the pics).

Day 5

We started with avery early morning walk on North Seymour island, the highlight of this trip was the male frigate birds with their red chests all puffed out. We were again treated to plenty of other wildlife including more boobies, sea lions (lots of tiny cubs who were very cute) and more Iguanas. We then travelled to Baltra island (where the airport is) and the other 10 guests left the boat. The five of us who were left got to spend the morning chilling on a fairly quiet beach with only some sea lions, iguanas, crabs and pelicans for company! A relaxing morning! Then we returned to the boat to meet our 3 new boatmates and travel to Las Bachas From the boat we did see some more large Galapagos sharks and turtles.

We arrived at Las Bachas, where we saw plenty more iguanas. We also saw some ghost crabs (different to all the sally lightfoot crabs we saw everywhere else) who like to run and hide in holes in the sand. We also watched a pelican diving for fish and a smaller bird who would land on his head to try and steal some fish. We went snorkelling, this was the least impressive snorkelling of the trip, the visibility was extremely poor and there was little to see. We returned to the boat and started our navigation to Chinese hat, a small island off the coast of Santiago, en route we saw some more manta rays flapping near the surface (no flipping this time) and also some dolphins jumping. We arrived at Chinese Hat where we had dinner and stayed overnight.

Day 6

We visited Chinese Hat in the morning, we saw more sea lions, including a new born cub a few hours old. We saw more Galapagos hawks, one of which had bloody claws as it had just been eating the sea lion placenta. We also saw more marine iguanas, including 2 having a fight which ended with one of them walking off with a cut on his head. We also watched 2 sally lightfoot crabs having a tug of war. The island itself was also cool, it's a lava island and it was cool just to see the scenery!After the walk we went deep water snorkelling, the visibility here was awesome, we saw more white tip reef sharks (3), more sea lions playing around us, lots of very cool fish, starfish but I think the highlight for me here was the marine iguanas in the water, I was able to swim along right beside them, watch one eat and watch them come in and out of the water. There was one disappointment for me and that was the lack of penguins but I was told I should see some in the afternoon so was hopeful. We returned to the boat and travelled to Bartolome where I would hopefully see penguins!

We visited Bartolome where we did see a lonesome penguin - but a penguin nonetheless! It was awesome to see one pretty close up though. Then we went snorkelling where again we saw more starfish which were different colours and pretty big!We saw another white tip reef shark and this time I got up pretty close to him - that was awesome! Again I had some inquisitive sea lions come up to play -this is something else that I could never really tire of! And then just as we were making our way back to shore, another treat, a giant zebra moray eel - it was awesome and although they are meant to be shy he swam around for quite a while! We then returned to land and went for a walk on Bartolome - it's one of the more stunning sceneries in the Galapagos - it looks a bit like how you imagine the moon! That was cool and then after we went to have another look at the penguins - this time there were 2! That night we travelled further round Santiago island!

Day 7

In the morning we visited a black sand beach and went for a walk where we saw lots more birds. We also saw some Galapagos fur seals (which are sea lions not seals - as they have ears and stronger front fins) which were really cool - it was interesting to see the difference between the two different sea lions. We saw many, many more marine iguanas, a few of them were fighting and some of them were really massive! Then we went snorkelling - soon after getting into the water a saw a turtle - I was obviously excited as they are my favourite - we were then joined by a sea lion who wanted to play with the turtle (I don't think the turtle was as much a fan of this idea). But then the turtle started to swim away with the sea lion swimming alongside him about 2 m away and I swam in between them - this was probably the best experience of my trip swimming along between a sea lion and a turtle!!

We had great plans for the afternoon to take a Panga ride (a trip in one of the motorised dingys), a short walk and one final short snorkel - however due to rough seas none of these were possible! Ah well so is the nature of life on the seas - instead we drank cocktails and played cards!

Day 8

We travelled back to Santa Cruz overnight where we had a very early start to allow us to go to the Charles Darwin centre before leaving the Galapagos. This is the home of lonesome George a 120 year old tortoise who is the last of his species. We did also see some other tortoises - it was really interesting to see the differences between them and compared to the ones we had seen in the wild the first day! And then very sadly our trip was over!!

I absolutely loved the Galapagos - it was just stunning - I have said it is my favourite place that I've been but that's a difficult statement as it is incredibly unique. It is just such a wonderful experience to be in such close proximity to such amazing animals. As Emma Box was here I obviously have a top three of the trip and for me it was the turtles, the marine iguanas and the sea lions!