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Published: March 9th 2012
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We have just got back to mainland Ecuador after spending just over a week in the Galapagos. Its a pretty amazing place with wildlife everywhere, as you would expect.
We first flew into San Cristobal island, where we spent the majority of our week. We organised a taxi to take us to some of the sites around the island. First stop was El Junco, a lake at the top of a volcano. It was a bit of a mission to get up there in the humid heat but a great view nonetheless. Then we went to visit the Giant tortoises. These animals grow so slowly but some of them are massive, 80-200 years old!! The final stop was a well earned swim at a nice white sand beach, Puerto Chino. All in all, it was a great day out.
The following day we had organised to do a snorkeling trip that everybody had recommended. It was a day out on the boat, stopping off at various spots around the island to go snorkling. We jumped in the boat mid morning and started off on our tour. We noticed the boat had a bit of a lean and figured out
that one of the two engines wasn't working. So the crew worked at getting the other motor started as we putted towards our first stop. They managed to get the engine running eventually but the fuel pumps didnt work and someone had to sit at the back next to the engines and manually pump the fuel for the whole journey. Good start!! We got to the first spot, Isla Lobos and the water was crystal blue and teeming with wildlife. There is no coral though, which we were supprised by. The second stop was a place called Kicker Rock, which is situated in deep water in the middle of the ocean. It is very tall and split into two by a narrow channel. The first task was to snorkel through the channel. Dini was being a chicken and wanted to stay on the boat but i convinced her to come in. When she jumped off the boat she wouldnt put her head under the water because she didnt want to know what was below. Turns out we couldnt see much anyway! Then our guide took us around the corner and we bumped into a bunch of turtles, then we went
on further and came to a narrower gap between the rock. The swell was pushing through the gap and it looked a little dangerous but we followed the guide because he knows best. The guide said that this is where sharks are normally spotted. Sure enough, straight away he yells "Shark" and everyone swims over to have a look at it. I know if someone yells that in Australia you definitely swim the other way. The sharks came right up close, they were only about a metre long but very cool to see so close. A sea lion joined in on the action too. After kicker rock we headed to a calm cove for lunch, had a bit of a snorkle and then cruised home. On the way back we saw, a massive fin coming out of the water. It was a pod of Killer Whales!?!? Apparently, its not very common to see them. Our guide said he'd only seen them once before. So that was cool to see. In the end our bunky boat got us home safely.
The rest of our days on San Cristobal revolved around a surf in the morning, siesta during peak sun, beach
in the arvo, watching the seal lions playing around (which Dini insisted on watching for hours on end!) , a few beers at sunset with some guys we met and then out for some local grub. Very chilled!!
We had to leave San Cristobal and spend a night on Santa Cruz island so that we could fly out from another island close by the next day. We got an early water taxi to Santa Cruz which took a couple of hours. On the way we saw Eagle Rays jumping out of the water and trying to fly. Same with some flying fish too. Since we got the early taxi we had enough time to spend the afternoon at Tortuga bay. I had a little surf at the surf beach and then we walked up to the mangroves and had a swim in the calm water of the bay. The water was amazing and it was very picturesque! It was a great way to top off a good week.
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