Reach for your camera / thesaurus.... it's the Galapagos Islands!!

It wasn't a difficult choice to include a visit to the legendary Galapagos Islands. It's not cheap to come here, but it's worth every penny. The message in the picture below's not wrong.



After a quiet night in Quito, my flight was around 3 hours via Guayaquil. Despite the inane and plain wrong commentary I could hear from the Americans sitting behind me, my anticipation and excitement grew by the minute, and by the time we'd touched down, I could barely contain myself. And by the time we'd toiuched down, I'd decided to sacrifice Iquitos in Peru for an extra few days here.



It's surely only a matter of time before the authorities increase the National Park fee from the present $100 and maybe clamp down on visitor numbers, so I figured I should make the most of it while I'm here and I've spent the cash on the return flight from Ecuador. It'll mean another trip to South America to see more, but that's fine by me. It's better to take your time and enjoy places than to get in a big hurry and miss out on the experiences.



There are various ways you can approach your time here. You can do a land-based trip or take a place on a boat cruise. I'm doing both. I went straight to a recommended agency from the airport and booked a last minute discounted place on a 4 day boat trip taking in some of the more remote islands, with a view to spending a few days afterwards on 2 of the main islands - Santa Cruz and Isabela.



There's more wildlife here than you can shake a stick at, and I'll be able to relax in spectacular surroundings and fit in some surfing in one of the world's most beautiful places. I was lucky to get the place on the boat for the following day - turning up and booking something locally last minute can take weeks, and it was Easter too so I thought it would be tricky, but it worked out just fine.



After sorting a boat place and a room for the night, I went with a couple of girls from the flight to see the Charles Darwin Research Station. The Galapagos Islands were instrumental in Darwin's theory of evolution. The islands have never been connected to the mainland, and over hundreds of years those species that migrated here by floating or flying have developed distinctive traits and characteristics. Darwin recognised this and so, together with other observations came to posit his ground breaking theory. Ironically, he was selected to participate in the famous Beagle voyage which landed here in 1835 on the assumption that he shared the pious religious point of view of the ship's devout captain.



The research station itself is kind of nondescript but interesting at the same time. There are species of iguana and giant tortoises, the best known being Lonesome George, the oldest surviving specimen of his kind. There are other enormous males with which, like so many of the animals which make these islands so special, you can get up close and personal. You're not allowed to touch the animals here, particularly sea lion pups which can be rejected by their mothers if they carry human scent, but the fact they are tame and uninhibited enough for you to get so close to them, and the incredible variety of species here, are what makes this a truly unforgettable experience.



After that first special introduction to island life, it was a bottle of rum with one of the girls and a night swim in the beautiful warm water to cap off a fantastic first day.



Boat Cruise - Day 1

Up at the crack of early, I took a bus back to the airport for a transfer to the boat. There are 14 of us plus the guide and staff, and we're well looked after with good food and comfortable cabins. Not that we're on the boat much during the day - the emphasis is very much on getting amongst the spectacular scenery and wildlife.



Today we went to the northern shore of Santa Cruz to a beach where giant turtles go to lay their eggs. It's breeding season but there were no turtles on the beach since they've already laid their eggs, as evidenced by the enormous pits you can see were created by these magnificent, clumsy creatures. We did see one swimming in the surf, bloody enormous it was.



We took a walk to a little lagoon and saw some flamingoes feeding there, though its not a colony. We'll see one of those in a couple of days and it's sure to be a beautiful sight, in keeping with everything here.



We also saw plenty of crabs - particularly the beautiful Sally Lightfoot variety - hopping around on the rocks. I'm not especially a fan of the crab, and I'm happy to report I've never had crabs, but these were pretty cool.



No day here would be complete without seeing iguanas or sea lions, and we saw a couple of black marine iguanas sunning themselves on the sand. The sea was too rough for snorkelling, but we were able to swim in the beautiful turquoise water for a while. It was probably a good thing I didn't have my mask on, because a small shark swam through our group. If I'd seen it I'd have issued a small brown eel in fright, but they tell me the sharks here are pretty mellow and you can swim with hammerheads. Something to look forward to...



On our way to our overnight anchor spot, we were accompanied by a group of frigate birds, which we amused ourselves with by trying to feed by throwing balls of bread in the air for them to catch. With skills like those, the frigate bird should stick to its other normal means of feeding. You can click the button below to see them flying with us.



Boat Cruise - Day 2

Up again at daybreak, our first stop was South Plaza Island, where a handful of sea lions greeted us. We wandered a trail around the island seeing more sea lions but the main attraction here were land iguanas, which are breeding here now so there were plenty.



Before I came here I was only really fussed about seeing sea lions, iguanas and tortoises, but I was still stoked to see lizards and some unusual species of birds like the blue footed booby and lava gulls. You can't help but get excited at ever



After lunch we sailed to a beautiful little bay at Santa Fe island for snorkelling in more amazing water. My mate Adam would need to explain to me what the various fish were, aside from enormous parrot fish and spotted eagle rays. All I can say with certainty is that they were beautiful and it was a great experience I'll take with me.



Our late afternoon was spent sitting with a group of sea lions on a beach nearby. I could have sat there for days, watching them flopping around to settle in a new spot to laze around for a while before flopping to another spot. Click the button below to see what I mean.



We went for a short walk around part of the island and saw another species of land iguana, which wasn't in breeding season, plus some finches, Galapagos doves and mockingbirds. Back on the boat we saw a turtle swimming nearby so some of us went back in for more snorkelling. We didn't find that turtle, or any of its mates, but we did go swimming with sea lions, which was the main thing I wanted to do here. I couldn't stop smiling, which made it difficult to keep my snorkel in place. We'll be doing a lot more swimming with sea lions in the next couple of days, so I couldn't be happier.



Boat Cruise - Day 3

I woke at 4:30, wandered out to deck and was greeted by a shooting star and my first sight in a while of the Southern Cross. It was going to be a good day.



Our first stop was Española island, home for a few months to albatross migrating from further south. They're magnificent birds but you have to be amused watching them try to take off. Because of their enormous wingspan and weight, they can't simply take to the air like most birds - they have to walk to the edge of a cliff and launch off into the wind, ideally not plunging into the ocean below. They're not generally confident, so they'll often walk to the edge and try to pluck up the courage before chickening out and waiting a few minutes before going to the edge to try again. They get there in the end.



They've only just started arriving in the last week, so we were lucky to get a glimpse. In a month's time this place will be covered with them.



We went on to a blow hole which shoots up a huge spurt of water with each crashing wave, before leaving a rainbow in the dispersing spray. Masked, or Nasca boobies were breeding round here so we saw hundreds of them nesting and preening themselves. The blue footed booby isn't breeding here at the moment (though I think they are in a different island) so we only saw a couple of them.



On the way back to the boat we were treated to the sight of land iguanas making their nests. They fight for nesting rights on spots of ground, and it was very entertaining watching the duels unfold. The battles are short and not especially violent but they can get airborne.



In the afternoon we sailed to Gardner island and bay for more snorkelling in a cave and around a rock off the beach. On the beach itself were hundreds of sea lions lazing or flopping around, as they do.



We had to leave a little earlier than planned as one of the passengers had been ill since before the cruise and the antibiotics he'd bought in Peru weren't helping. It turned out the "antibiotics" were in fact aspirin, which explained a lot. I guess the moral of that story is always check your medication carefully if you're buying it on the road. I met a couple of guys in Colombia who's asked a pharmacy for valium to help them sleep on the bus. The stuff they were given was for epilepsy sufferers and left them feeling spaced out for days. But I digress...



We sailed to San Cristobal, one of the bigger islands, so he could get some medical attention and real antibiotics. Several of the boat's crew and el capitan jumped ashore too to see their wives for conjugal visits, having been sailing constantly for a few weeks without going to San Cristobal, which isn't on that boat's route. A couple of us also got off for a wander and were blown away by the sight of hundreds of sea lions lazing all over the beach, pier, and even on benches. How on earth did they manage to get up there?



They made a hell of a racket, with pups looking for their mothers and being barked at the 99% of the time they were going in for some milk from the wrong tit, and with the general bickering, barking and coughing we've come to expect.



Boat Cruise - Day 4

After another overnight cruise, to Floreana island, we had a short walk inland to a lava tunnel. Unfortunately it had been raining heavily there the previous afternoon so we weren't able to descend into the tunnel, walk around and swim inside, which was the plan. We walked back to Post Office Bay, where there's been a tradition since 1793 that you can leave postcards, addressed but unstamped. The idea is that you check the box and if there are any addressed to your hometown or somewhere you're going, you take it with you and deliver it.



Having done the mail run and left some cards of our own, we went snorkelling off the beach and around the rocks with a huge turtle and two smaller ones. My underwater camera's one of those old school disposable ones, so I can only hope the pictures come out ok.



From there we sailed to Devil's Crown for some amazing snorkelling among an incredible variety of fish, starfish, octupii and sharks. No brown eels from me either, which was a boon. They told us it would be like snorkelling in an aquarium, and on that evidence I'm not arguing.



Afterwards we went inland to a lagoon where we saw a few flamingoes grazing, and then on to another beach with incredible white sand.



And with that, the activities were done and we set sail for Santa Cruz, and tucked into the rum. We did have a last minute treat when we found an extra passenger at around 4am. The wildlife really is everywhere you can imagine...



I changed my flight so I've got another week here. There's a few nice surf spots around which are not crowded and have easy waves. If, like me, you can't surf to save your life, it's ideal. That the beaches are stunning, with white sand and amazing water, is a bonus too...