"Jurassic Park, Eat your Heart out"

The Galapagos welcome committee!
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We have just got a few minutes to spare to write a couple of lines as we have hopped off of our boat for a couple of hours to buy some more sun tan lotion, camera batteries and check emails - how sad are we!

We have been in the Galapagos for a couple of days now and really what an amazing place. This is our first organised tour on the trip and so far it was worked great. The GAP Adventures tour of Galapagos has brought together 16 very multinational individuals for a hard core agenda for the week - we have British, American, Canadian, German and an Aussie all sailing together around the islands.

the agenda has meant getting up around 6-7am in the morning, taking an hour hike, then breakfast, then another 2 hour hike, then snorkeling, then lunch, siesta (phew)...

Blue footed boobies
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So far the agenda has meant getting up around 6-7am in the morning, taking an hour hike, then breakfast, then another 2 hour hike, then snorkeling, then lunch, siesta (phew) then more snorkeling/walking, briefing for the following day, dinner....bed by around 9pm or earlier and that is through choice and pure exhaustion!

We have seen loads already though - the place is truly beautiful and there is so much to see! We´ve seen white tip reef sharks, lava lizards, marine iguanas (swimming with you whilst you snorkel!!), Galapagos sea lions, Boobies (of the blue-footed variety), herons, penguins (also swimming with you) and so much more....I need to have my journal with me to record exactly all of the wonderful experiences just from the last couple of days and we still have 5 to go.

Galapagos crab
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Today we also went to the Darwin Centre National Park to see the infamous "Lonesome George" the only pure species of his kind from the island of Pinta. He is currently in with two other ladies of a different species and whilst they don't normally like to breed hybrids it has been considered essential to keep a George line continuing. However we aren't so sure about how much luck he will have as today he was trying to mate with one of the ladies but he was also biting her head and pushing her around. She had recoiled into her shell and seemed to be in shock - we weren't too suprised about this scene though as I'm sure I've seen worse mating dances on a night out in Leicester!

Sunset by Bartolome island
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Once we return to Quito then we´ll detail much more and upload the photos so you can truly appreciate the beauty of this place - 30 degrees every day, turquoise waters and sandy beaches certainly helps too!ª

Nath, if I win the lottery then I´d definitely pay for you to come because you would absolutely love it.....