Travel trivia: Is less more? Yes, less is more. I met a couple on the larger National Geographic Endeavor. They did a smaller cruise to Alaska with NG and said it was more personal, and they wish they had booked the smaller Islander. Glad we did. Two final dives today before I fly to Quito tomorrow and hookup with Liz and Celeste. I am leaving the Galapagos without having seen hammerheads with my own two (or one) eye(s). Disappointing, though I did dive with a g...

Travel trivia: Galagagos is home to marine iguanas. Where else in the world do you find marine iguanas? Nowhere. So how did they get here? Not sure. It's either evolution or they made a long, long journey on some kind of raft or floating tree to get here from mainland (what is now known as) Ecuador. This is actually a serious theory. Two good dives today. Pretty easy. Strong currents, but shallow enough to make it two long dives (55 and 50 minutes) with many lar...

Trip trivia: Why is the water in Galapagos so cold (65F/18C)? It comes from the north, the south, east and west, but it's on the equator. Wouldn't it have had enough time to warm up? Actually, some of the water comes from Antartica, from deep down. As it gets to Galapagos, it's pushed up the shelf and comes to the surface. That water never had a chance to warm up by the sun. It does, however, make this a very nutrient-rich environment. It doesn't just bring plank...

Today started with diving. At the shop at 7:15, and in the water at 9:00 for a brief checkout dive amongst the three of us. Choppy and decent currents, but apparently that's normal this time of year. The first spot was Seymour (pronounced "see-more") and as the name may suggest, you would expect great visibility and fantastic aquatic life there. Alas, my friends, strike out on both. Visibility changes daily here, with all four main currents in the pacific ocean ...

Landed in Baltra this morning, all on schedule. First official action was to confiscate my passport (for those who know my Greyhound story in Boston 25 years ago, this doesn't really bother me). I needed to pay a $100 entry fee, cash only, and no ATMs. I only had $90 because I bought some elderly Aussies water and didn't realize I was pushing the wallet below $100. Anyways, I got here just fine, and now I don't have to worry about loosing my passport, so all's w...