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And better it got, being on the Galapagos was magical, like a dream.... the only thing that would have made my time more special would have been diving, however, the snorkelling was still amazing!!!
Here's how our time went (very much shortened from the 20 odd pages I wrote in my diary).....
Feeling suitably like lemmings on our tour now as "Great Adventure People" (GAP), all dressed in matching promo T-shirts clutching our matching promo holdalls, we embark on 2 flights to arrive at our home for the next few days The GAP adventurer 3, to cruise around the Galapagos Islands, yeh!!!
The boat and crew were amazing, definitely way exceeded my expectations. We had our own private cabin complete with en-suite, the staff couldn't do enough for you and everytime we re-embarked the boat they were waiting happy smiley with armfuls of snacks and freshly squeezed juice for us, different everyday. Our guide was very knowledgeable having lived on the islands for most of his life and brought entertainment with it. The meals were amazing and it was hard to imagine how they prepared such feasts in such a tiny kitchen. Couldn't fault anything.
Our activites were varied and every night before dinner we got a briefing about what to expect the next day, the lists of things we were going to see and do seemed unbelievable but we saw it all.
The Charles Darwin research centre was fab, couldn't believe how close we got to the giant tortoises, the creatures truly are wonderful and they were huge!! (weighing up to 200kgs). We learnt loads...
Lonesome George's story, the last tortoise of his kind found on Pinta Island in the 70's. They thought he was gay for a while, but just shy after nearly 70 years alone, he now has 2 girlfriends and eggs that are 2 weeks old. They can't be released into the wild though as it would be cross breeding, they are looking into the possibility of cloning, watch this space, but for now Lonesone George isn't lonesome anymore!
Babies, 4.5 months in the womb and then they are on their own, they hatch 30cm underground with 1 tooth they use to break out of their shell and then spend about 3 weeks trying to get to the surface, bless them. Only 5% survive.
There are 3 types of animals on the Galapagos;
1) Endemic - only exist here.
2) Native - found in Galapagos and elsewhere.
3) Introduced - brought here by us.
Currently there is a big programme to "eliminate" the introduced animals as they are killing off the endemic species. Helicopters sporting guns have actually been used to get rid of goats in more rural areas.
The only other place you can find giant tortoises is in the Sechelles so this is why it's important to give the animals every possible chance to recover their numbers and this is what the research centre is all about and so far it has been very successful! A brilliant programme, I wonder if I can come back and work here??
We visited Floreana island, where we saw...Flamingo's, Sally Lightfoot crabs, green sand beach, sting rays in the surf, blue footed boobies, seal lions, turtles swimming alongside our dingy, yellow warblers and that was just on the island. So glad to have seen flamingos after missing them in Bolivia, it's rumoured their pink colour is gained from eating large amounts of crayfish, I want to test the theory and feed them something green and see what happens!! I was quite scared of the sting rays in the surf and didn't keep paddling for long. The green sand was crazy, it gets it's colour from the presence of Olivine apparently. In case you didn't quite get it from the photo album, I loved the sally lightfoot crabs, so bright and colourful.
Snorkelling here was just as amazing, my first sighting of a shark(whitetip), spotted rays, eagle rays, turtles, loads of fish. Sea temperature only 19 degrees mind, so shorties required, I can't wait to see the disposable underwater photo's, I hope they came out!!
Espanola Island, at Bahia Garderner Bay we were greated by a party of very noisey sea lions some sunbathing on the beach, others swimming in the surf, cubs feeding from their mothers, and one in particular that was hilarious, trying to get from the water to his perfect spot on the beach, he would stagger a few steps and then dramatically collapse puff a bit, as if in need of a battery recharge and then repeat the process, I have a great video, so funny! We could get so close for photo's too.
Facts about Sealions;
They ingest stones to help them with digestion and then when done spit them out with fish bones accompanied by a nice hocking sound.
They recognise their young by smell, so if a baby is touched by a human the cub is likely to be abandoned by it's mother as she won't be able to recognise it. :-( Some mothers adopt orphans though.
As if this wasn't enough for one island, ten metres or so along the beach I hit the rocky area and couldn't believe my eyes...hundreds of marine iguana's just basking in the sun. I couldn't stop taking photo's. They all had a really bright red colour on their back, some had green algae slime around their mouths where they have just had dinner, others had just claimed a rock and were soaking up the heat. I felt like it was a competition to see how many animals you could get in a photo at times on this island.
More snorkelling off Floreana too was good, the sea lions were having a great time playing with the rope of our dinghy and taking us for a ride. I was free diving down and swimming alongside turtles, we saw puffer fish, more rays, even out as deep as we were the water was so clear that we could see the bottom, brilliant!!
Then the afternoon, Punta Surez it was time to give the birdlife some airtime (boom boom!) having learnt about it just the night before we were lucky enough to see the blue footed boobies carry out their mating ritual, which is sweet and hilarious all in one go! The female does a crazy dance like a clown lifting up and down it's oversized feet, almost with jazz hands to accompany it. Then ruffles her feathers, lifts up her bottom and beak and sings a tune hoping that the male will be attracted and respond. He does, albeit a bit shy (probably not helped by the 16 of us stood watching!) it took a while but eventually they were side by side doing the crazy dance together. Then comes present giving (really sweet) the male offers the female twigs to build the family home, The mating part only lasts 8 seconds apparently, but we left them in peace for this bit! This kind of stole the show for the rest of the birds, but I won't forget to mention the nazca boobies, albatrosses and galapagos hawks that we saw loads of. The waved albatrosses were in breading season too, we saw loads of fluffy cute babies, adults with fully spread wings @ 2.35m this was quite something, others mating which involves slapping their beaks together, which sounded like it could hurt. Oh and we also saw a blow hole, that spurted up to 30m in the air, which the birds use as a cleaning station apparently, cunning, not so cunning is the marine iguana's that have been seen on occasion flying through the air. That evening there was a fab sunset, which rounded the day of nicely with pina colada in hand.
Our last day and we didn't want to leave, some people were on the boat for twice the amount of time as us and we were very jealous! We did get to watch another fantastic act of nature before we left though, the blue footed boobies feeding. They literally fly in flocks silently and then dive bomb the water at such speed, apparently they can break their necks if they get the angle wrong. It seems like unneccesary danger to catch a fish, but it was amazing to watch! We cruised around little bay for a few hours in the early morning in our dinghy, complete silence, no engine, just us and the wildlife. A great end to a great adventure. We were sad to leave our new friends behind and really sad to be leaving the Galapagos. I will be back and next time to dive!! For now I have lasting memories of an unforgettable trip. The Galapagos was truley amazing..
ps: someone please buy me a thesaurus for christmas, I need new vocabulary I sound like a broken record with my amazing....but it was!!
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