Galapagos Islands

Wednesday, April 14. Wake-up call was 6:00 a.m., breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter, we were shuttled into Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz, the main population center in the Galapagos Islands and our first sign of civilization in days. Our first “activity” as taking a bus up to the highlands to see the wild dome tortoises. After downing some wellies, we went trekking in the woods in search of these gigantic animals. We came across three dome tortoises and they were enormous! Next, we had some free time (finally) to wander around the town. We visited an open-air fish market where dozens of pelicans and a couple of sea lions were just waiting for the left over fish parts. They had absolutely no fear of people and seemed to be more of a nuisance to the fishermen than anything else. It was one of the best sights we've seen so far. Keith and I checked out the town and then it was time to head back to the boat for lunch. After lunch it was time for our next activity – visiting the Charles Darwin Research Station. At the Station we saw a number of dome tortoises (where we could get up close and personal) and saddle-back tortoises. There also was a tortoise nursery and giant land iguanas. We had a little more free time after the Station and then it was time to head back to the boat for our briefing and dinner. Bedtime once again came quite early.

Thursday, April 15. Wake-up call was 6:00 a.m., breakfast at 6:30 a.m. By 7:15 a.m. we were shuttled on shore into Cerro Dragon on the northwest side of Santa Cruz. Our first activity was a hike in search of the giant land iguanas. We successfully saw two of them and they were quite impressive. We then had a quick swim off the boat and set sail for the island of Rabida. After lunch, our next activity was snorkeling. We saw thousands of beautiful fish and several sea lions – one of which was quite playful. It swam all around us, doing flips and turns and even nibbling on one person's flippers. It was fabulous. Our final activity for the day was a hike on Rabida. Rabida had a beautiful red sand beach. We saw sea lions and Oyster Catchers (a type of bird). It was then time to shower, have our briefing and dinner. It was Captain Rodrigo's birthday, so after dinner it was time for a celebration. There was lots of dancing, laughs and, though I'm sure not technically allowed, a seemingly open bar. I think I was the first one to call it a night and Keith was by far the last – I think he finally headed to bed around 2:00 a.m., after some pole dancing and staying up with several of the crew - only one of which spoke English! A great time was had by all.....

Friday, April 16. We got to sleep in and wake-up call was 6:30 a.m., with breakfast at 7:00a.m. Keith woke up not feeling his best. Our first activity of the day was a two hour hike on a lava field on the island of Santiago in a place called Sullivan's Bay – the result of a large volcanic eruption in 1897. We didn't see much wildlife, but the landscape of all the lava was impressive. After the hike it was time for a snorkel. In addition to many beautiful fish, we saw hundreds of different star fish, several white tip reef sharks and Keith saw a Galapagos penguin and a sea turtle. After lunch it was time for another snorkel, this time off the island of Bartolome. It was another great snorkel. We saw several sea lions playing in the water, a white tip reef shark just hanging out on the ocean floor and several different types of fish that I hadn't seen before. Our last activity for the day was a hike on Bartolome. We hiked up to the top, all 362 steps, and from there, there were amazing view of the bay and the surrounding islands. We could even see the volcano that had produced the lave field we had walked on earlier. We were back on the boat in time to shower, have our briefing and some dinner. After dinner we had a slide show with the pictures from Captain Rodrigo's party the night before. The pictures were quite hilarious....