Land of Volcanos, Turtles and Sea Lions

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We arrived in a rain swept Galapagos and Mel got very upset, not listening to my explanation that the weather would soon clear up and we would have lots of Sun. The start of our trip was a 4 day padi course (diving for those who dont know) and we arrived at our hotel (the most expensive so far) to find a twin room which ended up leaking all night. After the manager very helpfully explained that this was because it was raining we managed to convince her to give us another room explaining that when you book a hotel you expect the rain to stay outside! We did get a bottle of their finest wine for the trouble.

Despite this initial hicup, the scuba diving was excelent. We had a brilliant instructor (Marie-Lou at Scuba Iguana) and even though we had to do some studying it was well worth it. At first Mel was a little bit scared and kept panicing even in the pool. On our first dive she was very nervous and after descending to about 8m she ended up floating to the surface while resembling a dead sealion. Obviously at this point I also paniced and surfaced also. As it happened Mel was fine and didn´t understand what all the fuss was about. However this caused Mel to remain nervous until the instructor and I managed to convince her that once we get deeper (and if she stopped kicking her flippers like she had just seen a shark) she wouldn´t float uncontrolably to the surface. By the last 2 dives Mel was a pro and we managed to swim with the sealions (Mel even thinks she saw a shark which was possible as there are plenty in Galapagos even though they are quite shy).

The next part of the trip was a 4 day cruise exploring some of the islands. Although the guide books informed us that it would be easy to pick up a cruise last minute we found it almost impossible. In the end we managed to pick up the last 2 seats on a Boat called the Free Enterprise. There were 18 other people on board and two guides...luckily everyone was really cool and of a similar age group. The boat itself was a bit creaky and smelt of fish and gasoline but the food was ok apart from one desert which tasted like fish paste and almost resulted in a mutiny. The islands we saw were fantastic, all volcanic rock and wildlife. Our favourite was Bartolome which has a great Lava Cone which can be climbed for fantastic views. The beaches were pristine and we managed to see sealions, turtles, rays and even sharks while snorkeling.

After complaining about the lack of sun we ended up with severe sunburn on the boat resulting in a couple of days of painful walking (particularly for me which amused the rest of the passengers greatly)

After the tour we spent a couple of days relaxing and eating (mainly eating). Now on to Peru...

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Photos

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Too cute for words