Galapagos

We flew into Quito, Ecuador last week and encountered some rough weather which was a shock to the system and was a sentimental reminder of England! Despite a weather induced brief flight delay to the Galapagos we had the most amazing week in the Galapagos in glorious sunshine. It is a truly unique place and almost impossible to describe our fantastic experiences there. In terms of wildlife we saw so many beautiful, unusual and unique animals it was spectacular. The animals let you come to within inches of them (no touching allowed obviously, but they were so close you could). We saw giant tortoise, iguanas, lava lizards, sea lions, fur seals, dolphins, penguins, turtles, hammer head and reef sharks, sea snakes.... We even swam with the penguins, sharks and playful sealions. Snorkelling was fantastic and Penny had 4 great dives with large schools of sharks and rays. We seemed to act as an aphrodisiac since we saw turtles, penguins and giant tortoises mating. Underwater we saw birds, turtles and iguanas diving and feeding.

The birds were amazing too - blue footed boobies, red footed and black footed Nazca boobies, hawks, cormorants - which dont fly. We even saw the blue footed boobies nesting and sitting on their eggs right in the middle of the path! We saw their mating ritual - a bizarre dance with spread wings where the male presented the female with sticks (boobie equivalent to large diamond rings, apparently).

Our boat, The Lammer Law, was a beautiful trimaran with 8 cabins but there were only 11 of us on board. The other passengers were lovely and we all got on really well which is always a relief! The boat was luxurious (definitely much nicer than most hostels we have been staying in since leaving the UK!) and the crew were really friendly and helpful. Our guide, Jorge, was born and bred in the Galapagos and his genuine enthusiasm for the islands and wildlife was truly infectious! We are sure he is the King of guides and his knowledge was amazing! It was an active cruise with long island walks, snorkelling and kayaking so we saw lots of the different islands too. We covered 500 miles in all on the boat. Needless to say we never had a lie in past 6 am, but did see some beautiful sun rises!

We are now back in Quito and are pleased to report the sun is still shining!

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