Visiting The Galapagos Islands is a once in a lifetime trip. We booked our visit through G Adventures. A company who owns their own boats. We begun our tour in the Hilton hotel in Quito. Very nice for two backpackers. That evening we collected our wedding rings so we celebrated with some fizz in the hotel bar.

The next morning was an early start. Our flight was at 7am from Quito airport which is about an hour from the city centre. The tour company had a mini bus waiting for us which we all piled in to. There was a funny old Australian couple who were complaining and moaning about something - it was clear that these two would be the entertainment for the week. We arrived at the airport very blurry eyed but there was a G Adventures rep there to sort everything out for us - we just had to follow her like a bunch of sheep. Usually I hate that, but that morning I didn't mind.

As we begun to fly over the islands and begin our decent, excitement kicked in. After we had touched down but while the plane was still slowing down the pilot suddenly slammed the breaks on hard. Once we arrived at the gate he explained that an iguana was walking across the runway and they didn't want to run it over - welcome to the Galapagos!!!!

We were driven to the port where we boarded our boat. It was sooo amazing and perfect. We were all dying to get the animal spotting underway. Our guide for the next few days was Willow - he was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and genuinely exited to have us there. Before he begun his welcome chat he had to help the Australian couple locate one of this bags. It turns out they'd left it on a bench on the mainland!

The first activity was a visit the Darwin Centre. There we saw hundreds of marine iguanas, giant tortoises, many bird and other lizards. We also learnt about the history of the islands and their work at the research centre - oh and about George, the world famous tortoise who had died a few years previously. After the Darwin Centre we had a couple of hour until the little boat would collect us and take us back to the big boat so we took a walk into town. There was a tiny fish market in town, which not only had paying customers but had a hungry sea lion, 3 pelicons and some other strange large birds waiting for freebies. It was quite a sight to see!! We were setting sail after dinner that night and before we ate we had some more free time. Tomas and I decided to take a small boat back to the town to stock up on some essentials (chocolate, wine etc.) After shopping, while we were waiting for the small boat to collect us, we stood by the small port which had lights shinning into the water and we could see smalls sharks swimming, along with sting rays and sea lions. It was incredible.

The following morning we all climbed into the smaller boats to visit one of the islands and take a walk to do some wildlife spotting. The lava islands were covered in tiny redy orangey spots. The closer we got we realised these were crabs. Thousands of crabs of all sizes dotted across the lava. We arrived at a tiny beach where sea lions were sleeping or feeding their young. It was so incredible to see. We all kept our distance not to disturb them and had been warned by Willow that a protective mother can give a very nasty bite. This was the second of the old Australians (Gabby and Lloyd) annoyances. They weren't listening to Willow at all and were sitting, standing or pointing their camera right in the sealions space. Even the tiny babies who were waiting for their mums to return from fishing, they were all over. Later that day we went snorkelling. Now I've never been the best snorkeler but when in the Galapagos you have to leave your breathing issues at the door and just go for it. We saw a zillion fish of all colours, shapes and sizes. Most of them left you alone but the more curious would come closer to you. There was a shark sleeping under a rock - it was maybe 2 metres long!

Throughout our time there we did allot more snorkelling and walks acround the islands. Each day we were somewhere new. On a couple of occassions while snorkelling playful sea lions charged straight through us - it was truly spectacular!!

The comedy of the two old Australians wore thin, very quickly. They have zero respect for time, other peoples space nor the fact that during every activity there was a drama. Either leaving their drinking water on the boat as we were beginning a long walk in the sun. Or wanting the exact flippers they'd worn the previous day to go snorkelling. They were really really annoying.

But we couldnt and wouldnt let them ruin our time there. It is a very beautiful place with an astonishing history. We will definitely go back there and visit the younger islands in the future.