Blogs from Galápagos, Ecuador, South America - page 96

Today we took another field trip, this time to Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido) and Isla Lobos. Kicker Rock is a large rock in the ocean off the shore of the island and is said to look like a sleeping lion which is Leon Dormido in Spanish. Kicker Rock is known for great snorkelling and scuba diving. We all got on boats and sailed out to the rock and went snorkelling. Just as I jumped into the water my professor came swimming over to me yelling that there were sharks directly beneath. Unfortunately I didn’t see those sharks but I saw many others on the trip. Our professor said it was possible we might see hammerhead sharks because they are common around Kicker Rock but we saw none. The water around the rock was very deep and ... read more

Today we took a bus up into the highlands of San Cristobal. The vegetation in the highlands was very different from the lower areas in the Galapagos. In the highlands, it is wet and lush with lots of ferns. The lower parts of the islands were very barren with lots of cacti. Our first stop was La Galapaguera, a reservation for giant tortoises. There was a little pen where they kept the baby tortoises. We walked a trail through the reserve and giant tortoises were everywhere. They really are giant. We then climbed some stairs and got an amazing view of the coast. Our next stop was Laguna El Junco, the largest fresh water lake in the Galapagos. We climbed up to the top of a hill. Once at the top we couldn’t see much because ... read more

The Galapagos Islands are a true wonder... they are really spectacular! I have spent the past week sailing around the islands, swimming with seal lions, penguins, turtles, iguanas, sharks. They are all really friendly and come right up to you. I had a few special moments with a penguin.. who was looking at me with the same fasination I was looking at him! . The sea lions would swim to me as if they were coming right for me, then gracefully swim above or below me! On land it was really special too.. we saw blue footed boobies and masked boobies! The blue footed boobies do look as if someone has painted them! I saw flamingos, albatross and frigets.. loads and loads of birds. Got treated to a few mating sessions too! The flamingos were the ... read more

So far on our trip we've found travel by boat to be the most fun and relaxing method of transport, so when the chance arose to take advantage of a last minute deal to the Galapagos, we didn't have to think about it for long. Having been so lucky with the people we met on the Antarctica trip, we were fully prepared to have to put up with a boat full of American pensioners this time, stocking up on books and fully charging the ipods, just in case. However, lady luck shone on us once more when we met our 7 fellow passengers for the first part of the trip, three couples our age from Holland, Italy, Switzerland, London and Australia, plus a Swedish lady in her fifties. All had been travelling independently in South America ... read more

There is just one word to describe the Galápagos Islands which is either AwesomeHasToBeSeenToBeBelievedKindOfPlace or simply wow. Hope you understand that I had to add a million pictures I simply could not decide which to let out. The history of the Islands is the reason why this place is so amazing. The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic islands which were created over a couple of million years through a static hotspot in the earths crust. The tectonic plates over the hotspot shift and new Islands are created every now and then even today. Therefore the island the furthest away from the hotspot are the oldest. The last proper volcanic eruption was in 1998. The Islands where never connected to the mainland and the animals and plants migrated at one stage to the Islands but ... read more