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Best Shot
I think this is the best photo I´ve ever taken. After a three hour flight from Quito we finally arrived in Galapagos and were met at the airport by Peter our guide for the week. With the rest of the group we were taken to our home for the next 8 days, a Catamaran called Nemo 2. At the docking point we were greeted by 7 or 8 sea lions which were just lazing about shooting the breeze. We were then taken on board where we met the 8 crew members which were there to assist 14 people and told we could look around the boat. The boat was special, very special, so special in fact me and Colm thought that there must be a mistake. It was way above the backpacker specials that we have become accustomed to over the last seven months. On the top deck there were four sun beds for us to lounge about on, the main area had a plasma screen and massive leather sofas, outside was the dining area and bar and there were seven rooms all with en suite. Every day, and perhaps one of the highlights, the towel would be folded in some special design that I´m sure must have taken them an
hour to do. When I saw the towels I knew we´d hit the jackpot.
After introductions to the rest of the group that included a mix of people from Germany, Italy, France and America we made our way to our first island. This was our first taste of what we were to see for the next 8 days. We went for a tour of the island followed by snorkeling. Unfortunately the first day Colm sneezed twice so he declared he had the flu, perhaps it was more of a cold but either way he didn´t feel well so had to take a cocktail of drugs to make himself feel better. To be honest I actually think he had a severe case of lens envy as other people in our group had extremely big cameras with even bigger lenses.
Anyway he got better and over the next eight days we followed a similar pattern to that of the first day. We got up in the morning for a massive buffet breakfast, followed by an island tour, after the island tour we´d have a snack, then into the water for some snorkeling, followed by another snack, then lunch, followed by
another island tour, snack, snorkeling, drink at the bar and last of all dinner. Every evening we would get a power point presentation from our guide on what we saw that day and also a bit of the history of the island. I felt very learnt after the 8 days
During the course of the trip we got up close and personal with the following animals, Iguanas, lava lizards, giant tortoises, marine tortoises and marine Iguanas, penguins, Albatrosses, Frigate birds, tropic birds, yellow warblers, Blue footed boobies (my personal favourite), Nazca boobies and Masked boobies. We snorkeled with sea lions most days who liked to get intimate. One day Colm got a kiss off one of them and he´s just lucky I didn´t see that little slut. While snorkeling we also saw rays, reef sharks and Galapagos sharks that sometimes came a bit too close for comfort.
The food was amazing, which made it hard to say no to second and sometimes third helpings. On the seventh day the guide told me I was looking fat and he was going to have a word with the cook. I took him to mean that I was ´phat´ which is
cool, so I continued to consume food at the accelerated rate. After eight days of luxury we had to leave the boat, but luckily we still had another five days to spend on the island.
We checked into a hostel on Santa Cruz (the main island) which was a serious downgrade to the accommodation we had become used too, nevertheless it was nice and clean. We booked our scuba diving hoping (kind of) to see hammer head sharks and off we went to Floreana Island. The current was really strong and we spent most of our time hanging onto rocks, so furious in our endeavours to hang onto rocks that we missed the hammer head shark. Apparently everyone else saw one. Anyway one day scuba diving was enough for me so I threw in the towel, but Colm persisted. The next day he got to see the elusive hammer head shark when he went diving at Gordon rocks.
The last few days we spent wandering around the town and we also visited Tortuga bay, one of the nicest beaches on the islands. We had a few light ales and of course a few too many with our friends
Louise, Jon and Constantine. Unfortunately after two weeks in paradise it was time to return to Quito, not one of the nicest or safest places in the world.
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