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The only word I can think of to describe the Galapagos islands is..... Magical! We did a group tour of the Galapagos islands with GAP. The 7 day tour involved a couple of nights in Quito along with a cruise of a number of the Galapagos islands and the experience is one that neither of us will ever forget!
On the first day in Quito we arrived early, checked into our hotel and later that evening met with our group. Our group was a great mix of ages and nationalities from early twenties to sixties with people from Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada, the US and New Zealand! We went out for dinner as a group on our first night in Quito and everyone had a great laugh :-)
The following morning we went to the airport for our flight to the Galapagos. Unfortunately our flight was delayed by about two hours which meant rushing things a bit on our first day but even with the hold-up our first day was great. We visited the Charles Darwin centre to see the giant tortoises. We couldn´t get over how big they actually are!!! Most of them were asleep and we were
The new group
At the end of our uphill hike.able to wander around them. I can´t image how they actually lift themselves up! We didn´t get to see much of Lonesome George, t he most famous reptile in the world (apart from Godzilla that is.... who doesn't really exist). We did however get to see the tortoise nurseries where all the baby giant tortoises are kept until they are the right age.... very cute.
Later that night we were introduced to the crew, our guide Hans (really funny guy) and some other members of the group. Our guide Hans was pretty quirky. He was very intelligent and knew loads about all of the wildlife in the Galapagos. He was also filled with weird and wacky stories which he would share each evening.... very entertaining :-) The setup on the ship was really cool too, the staff were wonderful and the food each day was like a banquet fit for a king!!
For the next few days we visited a number of islands, hiking and learning about the wildlife in the Galapagos while snorkeling up to twice a day :-) We got to see so many amazing things. Blue-footed boobies with their young, frigate birds, swallow-tailed gulls, pelicans,
sea lions, marine iguanas, sea turtles and even sharks. One of the most amazing parts of our visit was how we could just freely walk beside birds, sea lions, iguanas, etc and they didn´t move. They weren´t afraid of us. They just went about their business.... playing, scratching, eating, etc.... without a care in the world.... amazing.
The snorkeling was amazing too. We got to swim with a white-tip shark and with loads of penguins!!!! Can you believe they have penguins in the Galapagos! But we have to say that our favorite experience has to be the sea lions. They were so playful... like little puppies, some as young as 1 week old. Again we were able to walk around them, lye beside them, etc. I had to resist the temptation to smuggle one home with me :-)
On our last night on the boat the crew got dressed in their white uniforms (think officer and a gentlemen ladies!), presented us with cocktails and thanked us for our visit! After our last dinner a few of us went to a local bar for some cocktails, salsa and meringue with none other than the boats chef! Almost didn't make
Hello little fella!
They might be small now but these guys are going to be huge! it back to the boat as we couldn't contact our boat taxi driver. Got home eventually at about 4 in the morning! It was a great laugh!
We´ll definitely return to the Galapagos! It´s the type of place you could visit a million times and each time it would take your breath away......
- By Karen & Paul
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