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Galapagos Islands
-CHAPTER ONE: DECISIONS-
It was a big decision choosing what boat, how many days, what islands to sail around and so forth. We always dreamed of coming to the Galapagos one day, maybe when we are retired, when our skin is wrinkly and we are ready to wear the typical floppy hats, shirts and cargo gear. But fortunately we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and make the decision to venture to the almighty Galapagos! We must let you in on a little secret.....we did have to take a 28 hour bus ride from Peru to get to Guayaquil, Ecuador, the last stop to make a super hot last minute deal on a First Class Cruise Ship to the Galapagos. Yes, you heard right a FIRST CLASS cruise ship!!! We know how to shop well in South America. After much thought we made the big decision to choose the glorious Voyager ship and sail to the southern islands!
-CHAPTER TWO: EXPECTATIONS-
What are we going to expect of the Galapagos Islands, our cruise ship the wildlife etc? After a plane ride to Santa Cruz Island, a bus ride, a ferry ride followed by another bus ride, we finally take the last dinghy ride to the very gracious Voyager! And already these events and the environment we have seen in this very short time has exceeded our expectations!! We knew as soon as we touched down on that airstrip we were in for the adventure of a life time. Within a few hours we had already seen lizards, blue-footed boobies, crabs, fish, variety of birds, tortoises and array of seals who immediately take on the role as our tour guides greeting us all the way from the main land to our cruise ship! We expected this place to good but we never imagined it would be this great and its only day one! Definitely exceeded our expectations for sure!
-CHAPTER THREE: THE UNTOUCHED BEAUTY OF THE GALAPAGOS
We have been sailing around the islands for the past few days and we can honestly say out of all the places we have seen in the world, this place is the most untouched! Protected and respected in every possible way so the Galapagos can reserve its natural beauty for at least this lifetime and hopefully forever. We hope it never changes, we hope the islands with its unique wildlife and the marine life will always be safe. The range of wildlife is certainly immense but it's not how many kinds or species that is amazing, it's the way the animals go about life that is really something special special. Living in their little peaceful place on earth going about their day. Seals relaxing on the rocks after a dive in the water and a fish for lunch, baby booby-footed chicks snuggling into their mums tummy's, male iguanas bobbing their heads at a female iguana they fancy or the millions of colourful fish swimming in schools shooting past the turtles who graciously glide through the shallow blue waters. Like we said this place is truly an untouched beauty in every way!
-CHAPTER FOUR: GALAPGOS DREAMS-
The Galapagos is certainly magical! It has this mysterious way about it where it casts a spell on you and takes you off on a dream. When you are back on board the cruise ship after exploring the islands and the sparkling blue seas, you have to pinch yourself several times just so you know you are not dreaming. You seriously need to just stop and relax for 5 minutes and think about the amazing things you have just witnessed. It really does feel like a dream. Maybe it's because you have just snorkelled with hammerhead sharks or danced under water with seals or viewed turtles mating from the dinghy! You would never know you would be swimming with penguins at noon after you had watched them coming out of their caves early that morning or sitting by a baby seal less than a metre away as its sucks on its mother's nibbles. We didn't think we would ever wake up from the Galapagos dream but at some point you need to open your eyes and say farewell to this beautiful place and maybe one day in the future say 'Hola' to this very special dream again!
- comments
Margie Your description of the Galapagos is breath-taking! I loved every chapter and it wasn't hard to picture the beauty and your total immersion into what others only dream of being part of. LOVED IT DAN AND ABBS!!!!!