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Nazca Boobies.....
even they enjoy a spot of birdwatching! Today sees us move into our new home for the next 8 days. The vessel that will carry us around the Galapagos Islands (Abbreviated to GI here on in) It's called The Floreana and living aboard this vessel will see us bobbing up and down like we work the streets in Bangkok! Well not exactly like that I hope! I would like to apologise if either the title or that last sentence offended you......but I cant be arsed.
Island numero uno (thats number one to the non spanish speakers) is Santa Cruz, the main tourist port. Our fisrt excursion sees us heading to the highlands, where we witness more Giant Tortoises, but this time in their natural habitats. We follow this up with a walk through a Lava Tunnel. (An 800 metre underground tunnel.....very dark.....very wet and most importantly very muddy) If you´re ever in the Galapagos Islands doing this excursion and your guidse tells you its a little bit muddy....he´s lying. It was like a bloody cesspit...ideal when you are wearing flip flops. I only nearly lost them 6 times in the mud!
Life on the boat is pretty cool, the staff were uber friendly and the food
plentiful...we even had a welcome cocktail the first night, before setting sail to Genovesa in the far North East of the Galapagos.
Now words won´t really do this justice, but if you´ve ever seen a documentary on the GI (remember the abbreviation people, im not talking about soldiers or some stupid diet) you will have watched the different animals and thought ´my god that cameraman must have waited ages to get those pictures´ (of course if you are uncultured chances are you were probably thinking ´shit are we on the right channel for Celebrity Big Brother´) Well you would be wrong, because as soon as you clamber up the steps to Genovesa you are greeted by a whole host of unusual birds. (and not the type you meet in Crawley on a Friday night)
Im talking about Red Footed Boobies, Nazca Boobies, Frigate Birds and many others! All of which are only to be found in the GI. The Frigate birds are probably the most unusual as they have a large red sack under their beaks that they inflate when they are feeling a tad horny. Apparantly the bigger the sack the more attractive they are to the
Frigate Bird
Cawing away, ready for loving....´im gonna make love to you woman, im gonna lay you down by the fire!!´ opposite sex! (I´ll let you do your own jokes there, thats just too easy to bother with) One of the things that strikes you straight away, is just how calm the animals are....they dont flinch or even look at all bothered by our presence, hence you can get some cool photo´s! The reast of the day sees us at Darwin Bay, where we snorkel, check out more seabirds and get to see some Sealions chilling on the sand.
Day 2 sees us on the island of Santiago. This is a volcanic island and so whilst the wildlife is pretty sparce, you spent the whole time walking on some very unusual volcanic rock. (OK im not selling it am I, truth is after the previous days encounters, this seemed a bit dull by comparison!)
In the afternoon we head to a different bay and do some snorkelling. We are swimming through a sort of canyon in the rocks, when Caroline manages to get my attention (by using the time honoured traditional method of pointing....duh) I see a large greyish, black figure of a shark swim beneath us and to be honest it´s a lot more worrying than scuba diving
Red Footed Booby
Bet you cant guess why its the red footed version! with them! But im reassured when Chris is snorkelling in very shallow water with some Penguins and baby Reef Sharks. (Its an everyday occurence out here gang...hows work?)
We head up the Prince Phillip Steps at the top of the island to watch sun go down over the GI´s, not a bad way to cap off the day, but even better when you get back to the boat and chill on the poop deck with a rum and coke!
The following day sees us on the other side of Santiago at a place called Sombrero Chino (Chinese Hat). We see plenty of Marine Iguanas and Sally Lightfoot Crabs chilling on the rocks as the waves crash over them. The coolest thing was when we were snorkelling and saw the Marine Iguanas swimming between the rocks! Back at the boat a test of manhood has broken out between Wilmer, one of the crew and Aussie Andrew as they take it in turns to dive off the roof of the boat, much to everybodys amusement! In the afternoon we head to Cerro Dragon to see the mighty yellow Land Iguanas, they seem to have a permanent smile on their faces!
Dove Tailed Gulls
Not quite the sky rats we get in Brighton! That night we set sail for the 14 hour journey to Isabella. The waters are ridiculously choppy....funny, there seems to be a few less people around at dinner?! Cant imagine why!
The following day we check out the Wall of Tears...I think maybe the wall is something to do with pirates, as you may have guessed I wasnt really paying attention! We also check out some more Giant Tortoises (having sex, not through choice obviously) and Marine Iguanas. Back at the boat and once again a testosterone fuelled challenge has begun, you´re probably thinking ´boys will be boys'....well you´d be wrong because this time Caroline has joined in, and you should have seen how proud she was when she launched herself off the top before Chris and Andrew....ah bless. Another choppy evening on the boat is tackled well with a bottle of whiskey and some more rum....to be honest maybe it wasn´t the choppiness of the water behind my inability to walk in a straight line!
On our next snorkelling trip in Tagus Cove the water was so cold im sure I spotted a polar bear splashing about! This of course meant that most people didnt stay
mmm penguin.....
man I ´miss Penguins...all that choccy goodness in the water for too long, particularly the girls...more fool them! Even though our penises had retreated back inside our bodies though the cold, it was all worth it when we swam next to a large Marine Turtle for about 10 minutes! We also hang around by some rocks waiting for 2 penguins to dive in and just as we think they are about to, it turns out they just fancied having a crap instead. (rest easy people...my penis is back to its normal size now! And yes I know you are all making your own jokes as you read this at the expense of Sir Lancelot! And yes I also know its sad to name my own penis, but I dont care!)
Its not all animals out here though, as we all indulge in a game of spoons (a card game, not the worlds largest tessellating orgy!) It comes down rather bizarrely to Caroline and I in the final....I thought I handled the loss rather well...I was distracted by the shinyness of the spoon....shiny!!
Another day, another species and this time its the turn of the fur seals! They look exactly like Sea Lions except, wait for
Mars Bar....
sorry guys. im still thinking about my belly.... it...they are furry. A bit more snorkelling and this time even the girls get their turn to see Marine Turtles up close along with some rays and sharks.
Our time on the boat absolutely flew by and just when I thought we´d seen everything, it turns out there was still one little surprise awaiting us (No its not my penis again by the way!) We set out early on a small dingy to go and check out turtles swimming and this is when I get my highlight of the trip. Just on the horizon we can see hundreds of Blue Footed Boobies circling ready to divebomb the water in search of fish. It doesnt sound that awesome, but when we pull our dingy right up so we are amongst them, its a pretty breathtaking sight. Its like something out of a hitchcock movie...i´ll let you work out exactly which one of them im reffering to! They all divebomb the water at exactly the same time and the noise it causes is deafening....imagine machine gun fire hitting water and you´re kind of there! An absolutely awesome way to cap off our Galapagos cruise!!
For those about to Pinnacle Rock!
Get it?! No? ok, so for those about to rock is a ac/dc tune, pinnacle rock is the rock you can see over my left shoulder. I am wearing an ac/dc t shirt.....is any of this starting to make sense yet?
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