Galapagos Islands, an unique place

The morning Anne and I had to fly to Galapagos it felt like Christmas! It was always on our wish list to visit Galapagos as the big animal- and nature lovers we both are. And now time has come - finally!

After so many years of dreaming of seeing Galapagos the risk of disappointment was high. I'm happy to say the trip fulfilled our expectations and even more. It was two absolutely amazing weeks!

First evening we walked to the little harbour in town, and our excitement raised fast as we saw small sharks and rays swimming in the water just 1,5 meter below us, while we were walking between sea lions sleeping on the benches like homeless people.

Our first week was spend on Santa Cruz- and San Cristobal island, and second week we lived on a boat cruising around Isabella island. Living on the boat was a great experience and I truly enjoyed being at sea day and night, and the company on board was brilliant. I spend many hours on the deck gazing out over the blue ocean, enjoying a book, cup of tea, good conversation or letting the thoughts drift away. And out of nothing dolphins would jump around the boat or we would see manta rays flipping in the air. Amazing!

I managed to dive 6 times within my first week and enjoyed it so much. So beautiful and the animal life so rich! And I even got close to two hammerhead sharks which I really wanted to, appreciating my luck, as I met a girl who dived 10 times in Galapagos without seeing a single one. Of course it's the nature of "wildlife" that you never know what you will get, still I would have offered her one of my hammerheads if I could.

Walking the islands we saw many iguanas, these reptiles with a touch of a dragon look, who lives both on land and in the sea. Very impressive animals! They camouflage well and sit totally still in the sun to gain energy and extract salt water, before jumping into the sea to find food - and repeat. The life of a iguana!

And we saw a bunch of sea lions. So many sea lions that within our two weeks, we stopped pointing them out. We even went snorkelling with some as they can be quite playful. We visited breeding centres for the Galapagos turtles and they are really cool animals. Giants with a jaw that easily could bite of a finger and strong legs, so they can crawl over each other, which we found out isn't uncommon to see. There used to be 14 different species but 5 is already extinct, unfortunately. Therefore the breeding centres are helping the population of the remaining species. And yes, they can get more than 100 years old!

There was so many birds that were also exclusive to Galapagos like the land turtles and iguanas, among other the blue footed boobie which has totally blue feet, no photo manipulation! Going snorkelling I tend to believe someone had set a filter on my googles, as all the fish were beautiful and had intense colours. Once in awhile a white tipped shark would come by, with its elegant movements, making everything look like slow motion - except what would be escaping from it.

Walking around some of the unpopulated islands, there was special animals everywhere, even the rare Galapagos snake crossed our path - literally, and we looked at small red crabs to big sea lions, to swimming turtles and flying pelicans. And in this paradise of animals I missed my father so much. The man who taught me so much about nature and not at least to respect, enjoy and preserve it. Standing there I would have wished to share this experience with him - of all people - well knowing that exactly he, will never get to Galapagos in his lifetime. And once again, as several times during my travels, I felt fortunate by being able to travel the World. See, do, try, hear, smell, taste and experience the World with all its wonders and weirdness. Galapagos belongs in both categories as weird and wonderful at the same time in a very unique way. And I loved it!