Blogs from Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 3

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Dear All Greetings once more from the Galapagos Islands! These little gems of land in the Pacific Ocean are just stunners, and I’ve really had the most amazing time here. I am currently writing this one from my fantastic eco-hostel I’m staying in here, about 2km outside of the main town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on the island of San Cristobal, the Cucuve (Mockingbird) Eco-Hostel, surrounded by lovely Galapagos nature and overlooking a beautiful garden with fruit trees. I have indeed found an idyllic lodging in which to spend my four nights on this other main island of the Galapagos, purposefully chosen for its serene and back-to-nature setting. I plan to upload this text onto my blog and publish it when I’m back in Guayaquil tomorrow, however, as the Internet connection here is really not good. ... read more
Blue-Footed Boobies
Waved Albatross In-Flight
Me, Swimming with Sea Lions

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santa Cruz Island August 5th 2019

Dear All Greetings from the Galapagos Islands! I can’t believe I’m writing that! I’m actually here on the amazing, stunning, unique and mysterious Galapagos Islands. There have been many highlights of my trip so far, and being here is certainly one of them. I’ve read and heard so much about these islands, and in preparation for this trip, watched three separate nature series on this amazing archipelago. And now I’m here! In actual fact, I was quite emotional upon landing at Baltra Airport here on Friday afternoon, I nearly cried if I’m honest! These islands are just so special. I’ve had the most amazing first few days on the islands, basing myself in its main settlement of 20,000 inhabitants on the main island in the centre of the archipelago – Puerto Ayora, on the island of ... read more
Giant Tortoise
Marine Iguanas
Flamingo Asleep

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Isabela Island June 17th 2019

Another early morning and a day packed with adventure. Kirsten as always sets an alarm on her phone and we were set to get up at 6:30. This was not a shower day for Chester, so 30 minutes is all that is needed to get ready. Except, the alarm did not go off this morning, and Kirsten woke up at 6:40. No matter, we were both ready by 7 and had 15 minutes for breakfast before our first pick-up. Today we were hiking an active volcano. The hike was 16 KM, which is about 10 miles. We had all our gear: hiking boots, rain jackets, water, sunglasses. Thankfully, there were only 8 of us on the hike with our guide. Everyone was young and fit, except of course the two of us. We get shuttled every ... read more
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Today was the day Kirsten has been most looking forward to and Chester has been dreading. Diving day!!! Kirsten loves to dive and Chester tolerates it in exchange of making Kirsten go to a soccer game when we get home. The day started like most others with breakfast, and then we headed to the dive shop. The dive company was very efficient and organized which is not always the case in some countries. We met our other diver partners and good news there was only 6 of us diving. Large group diving is not fun. We started with introductions and an overview in the office. Then as it seems with everything here, we loaded into trucks and drove 45 min to the dock. This is the same dock we were at yesterday and the same we ... read more
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South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Isabela Island June 15th 2019

Kirsten was complaining that we are do not get to sleep in at all on our trip. Today we were able to set the alarm for 7 am! For us, that was sleeping in. Chester was in bed last night early with her ear all jacked up, and Kirsten stayed up watching horrible television. We both still got plenty of sleep and were up and ready to go! Today was a travel day to another island after our morning excursion. That meant we needed to pack up everything before we left. Packing up everything didn’t mean the little lizard that was crawling around in Kristen’s suitcase before she finished packing. We definitely have some little creatures in our bags that are probably coming home with us. Jorge, our guide, picked us up at 8:30 for a ... read more
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South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Puerto Ayora June 13th 2019

Our day started off early with lots of travel ahead of us. We were up, ready and fed by 6:50 when Ramiro picked us up and took us to the airport. Traffic was pretty brutal but we made good time. And just like in the states, by the time we got to our gate, the flight was delayed. It wasn’t as bad as when we left Houston, only an hour late. We flew from Quito into Santa Cruz Island which is the most populated island We deplaned and made our way through their customs and had to pay $100 each to get into the Galapagos. It was fast and painless. Waiting for our luggage wasn’t as bad as it could have been either, plus we had great entertainment. Some dude had on quite the disarray of ... read more
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Waking up in paradise is always an eventful morning. We were up and ready to go by our 7:30 pick-up time for a day of snorkeling and hiking. As it always happens to us when we are in a big tour, we were the first ones picked up by the bus, with many stops after picking up 10 other people. The last group to get picked up were at least 15 minutes late to board the bus, and then when they finally showed up they were four hot, skinny bitches and one old lady. It just gave us more reason to hate the last group. At least in the Galapagos, we were able to limit our excursions to a smaller group of under 16 people We are too old and just can’t handle the large group ... read more
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Land Iquana
Sea Wolves

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos April 27th 2019

Galapagos has no Wifi and very limited cell service so this blog is being posted from Quito. The Seaman Journey catamaran was our floating hotel for the past week as we navigated our way with 14 other passengers around the Galapagos archipelago. Days were filled with hiking and dingy tours along the coast to see the marine iguanas,seals, and ,of course, the famous blue footed boobies. Snorkelling with sea turtles, penguins, and hundreds of colourful fish. Sandy was wide eyed when a White tipped shark came within touching distance. Frigate birds follow the catamaran. The adventure of a lifetime!... read more
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South America » Ecuador » Galápagos January 24th 2019

I am struggling to find words to describe our Galapagos experience. It is something we have wanted to do for many years; now it is over but we have unforgettable memories. After months of research we decided on a "10 day" cruise aboard Yolita 2. !0 days is really 8 days and 7 nights aboard! The rest is getting to and from the islands. Our guide, Omar Medina, was absolutely superb. He was with us every minute of every day. He guided snorkelling and land based activities. In the evenings, he provided additional information and showed brief videos to enhance our experience. He made a video of our 7 days aboard and provided us with a copy. If you look at the agenda for one of the days you'll see not much time was wasted. Typically ... read more
Landing on Baltra
Our itinerary
Ready to snorkel.

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos » Santiago Island December 2nd 2018

As we had gone to bed very early we both woke up early and had showers before the usual 07:00 breakfast. We were now at Puerto Egas, Santiago Island. Daisy was feeling better but not good enough to be able to jump off the zodiac for the wet-landing, so instead, the Captain offered to take her on a personal zodiac ride around the island. The walk was onto black sand and a sea lion was resting on the rocks. We walked along the coast and saw iguanas, lizards and most all lots of baby sea lions who were really cute. When we got to a cool blow hole, Rob was looking down when his sunglasses fell off, then his cap followed. We could see the cap floating around so Fabian allowed him to jump in but ... read more
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