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Published: January 23rd 2006
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crazy crab
apparently they taste nice by caroline
Day12 today we fly to the galapagos, the flight takes us via Guayquil it only a 20 min stop just time for a coffee. On our way to baltra the pilot takes a short detour and flies us passed the worlds biggest vocano. Baltra is a small military airport, its a 5 min bus ride to a ferry across
to Santa Cruz then an hour bus to Puerto Ayora where we join our boat. Lunch was served as soon as we arrived. 3.00pm we had a tour around the Darwin centre home to some giant tortoises and iguanas. Back on on board at 6.00pm. After dinner we thought we´d have a few drinks but it seems the crew had abandoned ship, so we had to make do with coffee, and was in bed at 8.30pm. The boat set sail at 11.00pm heading for Isle Floreana approx 6 hrs
Day13.
This morning we take a walk on to the Isle of Floreana, the beach is covered with loads of basking sea lions. Going on from the beach we pass a lagoon with pink flamingos,on the other side of the island is another beach this time we find a turtle
heading back down to the water after laying her eggs. The shallows have hundreds of sting rays, not paddling here.
Back on board at 10.30 we´er now going snorkelling, we get taken out to a crown of rocks the current is very strong and the water very cold making it really hard work but well worth it,seeing sting rays ,golden rays, a white tipped reef shark, cornet fish, star fish and many more. back on board for lunch. This afternoon we visit post office bay. This historic site was set up by a man called Hathaway he set up a barrel in 1793 and it was then used by passing ships. Also on the island in 1926 the Norwegians set up a fish canning factory unfortunately this only lasted 2 years . Back on board at 5.00pm for another early night I slept from 8.30pm to 5.30am. During the night we sailed on to Espanola aboat 5hrs.
Day 14
This morning we have a dry landing onto Espanola. More sea lions with pups,a galapagos hawk,nazca boobies,swallow tailed gulls,the tropical gull, marine iguanas,albatross doing there mating dance,blue footed boobies and frigate birds. Back on board at 10.30am,more snorkelling in a small
albatross mating dance
cheaper than taking her to mcdonalds cove not as much to see this time but I had a young sea lion pup swimming right up to my face, really cool. After lunch we took the pangas {dinghys} to the beach for some sun bathing I ended up with 4 mocking birds sitting in my lap they were after my water bottle, really strange. Further down the beach we came across a BBC film crew they´ve been here for 6 months filming sea lions. Back on board at 5.00pm, After dinner we sat up and had a few drinks tonight we sail for Santa-Fe.
Day15
This morning its a wet landing, looking for land iguanas,we manage to find 3, I suppose they are about 3 foot long. Back on board at 9.00am another snorkle this time straight of the boat. The water is much warmer here we see a lot more fish and sea lions and this time a turtle. Back on board we sail for South Plaza here there are a lot of large groups of sea lions.
Each group with 1 dominant male. Each territory is about 500 sqm.
The male spends most of his time in the water while the pups and females bask,the
tim & caroline
spot the pelican female will go and feed leaving the babies in small nursery groups. If the female is killed the pup will unfortunatly die as well, as the others will not adopt. On the other side of the island is the bachelor pad. Here they stay until they are ready to fight for a territory. The cliffs are very steep on this side but they manage to climb with suprising agility. Also on this island are land and marine iguana´s. Sometimes they will cross breed creating a hybrid, however these are unable to reproduce as is the case with mules.There are also a lot of sea birds nesting on this island, it´s still strange how close you can get. Back on board at 4.00pm sailing to North Seymore. After dinner we say our goodbyes to the crew they´ve made us a chocolate cake for pud lovely.
Day16
Dry landing this morning this time we see the frigate birds nesting there are 2 types the great and the magnificent. Back on board at 9.00am, we sail on to Baltra. Here we say our goodbyes to Gigi and Chris who had been with us since the jungle, they are staying on for 4 more
days.
We fly back to Quito arriving back about 600pm. Before dinner we go back to the karaoke bar to see Manolo.
This has been yet another fantastic experience; it was great living on board the boat ,and the wildlife is just breathtaking.
By tim
We flew from Lima to Quito, we met an Ecuadorian guy called Manolo in a karaoke bar. His english was very good, he reckoned he´d been studying it for only a month. He told us
his life story, of how he used to be rich and how he´d been ripped of by his friends in a buisness deal leaving him penniless. I was waiting for the sting but it never came.
We flew to the Galapagos the next day and got on the boat about lunchtime. In the evening we had the option of going back on to Santa Cruz where there were a few bars, restaurants and a shop, or stay on the boat where there was a small bar. We decided to stay on the boat with Chris and Gigi and have a few beers, however after waiting for an hour for a drink we realised everybody else including the entire crew
had taken option one. Worryingly we´d been left in charge of a whole ship. The next day after a trip around one of the islands we went snorkelling around the submerged peak of a volcano. The first ten minutes were ok then my goggles steamed up. With every effort to clear them I would sink a few feet, drink a bellyfull of sea water, put the goggles back on only for them to steam up again. The more I tried the further behind the rest of the group I became. In the end I just waited for Luis the dinghy driver to pick me up before it became really embarrassing. That afternoon I laid on a sun lounger. Everybody else went off to see another part of the island, heaven. I decided from now on the afternoons would be sunbathing time for me. I´d do the trips around the islands in the morning then veg out in the afternoons, perfect.
The day before we were due to leave we went snorkelling off the boat. I lasted about fifteen minutes when a stingray came up from the bottom towards us, I panicked, half drowned then decided to call it a day.
sea lion on bench
sometimes its all a bit too much Luis picked me up again. He suggested I stick to dry land, I think he´s right.
The next day we flew back to Quito. I bumped into Manolo in the internet cafe. He gave me some more tales of woe but still no sting.
Tomorrow we fly to Margharita Island { Venezuela}
Hasta Luego
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LOOKING GOOD