Back from the Galapagos Islands!

HOLA!!!!!!!!! Welll, WE´RE BACK!!!!!!! FINALLYYYY! U guys are probably wondering why u havent heard from us yet..seens as we were supposed to get back yesterday!!!!...well..funny story..we ended up staying an extra night in galapagos cos the airline overbooked its flights for sunday..so we got stuck on san cristobal island for an extra night..for FREEE!!! Yup, they ended up paying for our accomodation and three meals at a really expensive restaurant..and we got to sit first class in the aeroplane on the way back to quito today! So we are finally back in quito..after having an absolutely AMAZING time on the islands!!!!! Dont really know where to begin.... Ok, well just to tell u a bit about the islands..they are about 1000km off the coast of ecuador..formed solely by volcanic activity (so they were never joined to any land mass..)..which makes them so unique. They are about 3 million years old..so theyre pretty young..and the animals on the islands have no fear of humans cos of the lack of predators..so u can walk straight up to them and they wont move! You have to be careful not to step on them!!!!Some of the birds even come closer to you instead of flying away..!!!! There are also alot of endemic species..i.e. species which only occur on the islands and nowhere else in the world.. marine life too..23% of the species dont exist anywhere else on earth! Which is what makes the islands so special as well.. ok, here goes..we arrived at san cristobal island after flying from quito to guayaquil (30 mins) and then from guayaquil to the islands (1 and a half hrs) . There were loads of people in the airport..but we eventually made in through to find our guide (called jorge..pronounced..horge..ecuadorian guy) who took us to the docks in a bus where we got on a dinghy to our boat. Our boat was called the Floreana (16 passenger boat). The boat had actually been chartered by a university group that were doing a really great itinery of the islands..but they had three extra places (which is why rich, nate and i could go with!). So there were 3 professors and the rest were students of about 17 yrs old..and this other american guy (japanese) (called Frank) managed to get on the boat too..and then us three. So anyway, we started sailing immediately to our first island ..santa fe(one of the oldest islands). We sailed for 4 hrs to get there. There were sea lions all OVER the beach..and the water was blue as could be! We did a short walk to see the santa fe land iguana and an endemic lava lizard, but then had to return to the boat cos the sun was already setting. The sunset was really pretty..pelicans flying everywhere and sea lions swimming in the water. We then sailed all through the night (weird to try and sleep on a moving boat i might add!!!..especially given the fact that we sailed through a small storm!) to one of the outermost islands..genovesa. Genovesa is a really weird shape..because it is actually half a volcanic crater sticking out of the water(half moon)..we were taken on the dinghy to the beach (wet landing) and did a walk along the outer rim of the crater where there are loads of colonies of nesting frigate birds, masked nazca boobies and red footed boobies..we could walk right up to them which was an experience in itself! The frigate bird males were displaying so they had inflated throats which looked like huge red balloons!!! There was also beautiful swallow tailed gulls on the rocks and red-billed tropic birds with their long tail streamers flying along the cliffs. Rich also saw some finchs and we even saw a lava gull with a baby chick.Also a lava heron. After our walk we went snorkelling off the beach..and managed to find a white-tipped reef shark hiding out under one of the rocks..AWESOME, i also got a great view of a parrot fish. The sea lions were also swimming around in the small waves. The water was really clear, but a little on the cold side i must admit!!! At lunch time, we were even lucky enough to see two turtles swimming in the water outside the diningroom window!! That afternoon we were taken to some deeper waters to snorkel..and that was GREAT..loads of fish, a fur sealion and even an eel which we managed to get a photo of with our underwater camera! Afterwards we were dropped on the other side of the island..where we went up the cliff (called phillips steps). There we saw loads more frigatebirds and nazca boobies (the males were displaying..lifting their wings up and making this high pitched whistling noise)....the boobies are quite funny to watch when they are doing their mating ritual..they pick up little sticks with their beaks and put them on eachothers feet! Was great to watch! we even got to see a short eared owl. The BBC and national geographic were busy filming on the island..making a documentary which they say should be out soon. The beach was really pretty..storm petrels flying around, and we also saw the galapagos mockingbird and the galapagos dove (which has a bright blue eye patch!). On day 3 we sailed to isla bartoleme. We woke up to pelicans flying everywhere and elliots storm petrels bouncing on the water and this huge pointed rock in front of us..which is called pinnacle rock. This island had very little wildlife and vegetation..its mainly just volcanic rock..there are these large "spatter cones" everywhere which were formed from lava bursting out of the landscape. We walked right up to the highest point of the island ..where we got some great views of the surrounding islands and the beachs. We also got to see another flooded crater and loads of lava lizards running around everywhere. Also a great blue heron, an american oystercatcher and a few marine iguanas sitting on the rocks and swimming. When we came back down, we managed to see four white tipped reef sharks swimming in the shallows and so we all dived in with our snorkelling gear!! The snorkelling there was GREAT..got to snorkel with a penguin, 2 sea lions dancing around eachother (and us!) in the water..as well as a huge pacific green turtle which i snorkelled above for about 5 minutes! I managed to touch its shell which was all slimy! Also saw a stingrays tail sticking out from the rocks and loads of razor surgeon fish swimming around in these huge schools..we swam right through one school! They were quite pretty with these big yellow tails..and there were loads of other fish too! Even these fish called bullseye puffers..wow! That afternoon we headed for isla santiago..which is a black beach (black cos of all the volcanic soils). Here there were LOADS of marine iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks and also a few fur sea lions. The iguanas were busy snorting snot at eachother (they do it to get rid of the sea water which gets in when they feed on the algae underwater) ..it was hilarious to watch! Rich tried to pull ones tail..no comment! Rich saw a lot of birds on this island..including the galapagos hawk, lava heron, yellow capped night heron, grey plover, ruddy turnstone, wandering taddler, and the comon noddy. There was also a rock pool with crystal clear water where we watched some sea lions playing in the water. That night we sailed overnight (long sail) to isla fernandina which has the most active volcano out of all the islands (erupts every 5 years or so). it just recently erupted about 2 weeks ago, but we couldnt see the area where the eruption took place cos it was unfortunately too dark when we sailed past. We woke up that morning early to look for whales in the water and managed to see a HUGE manta ray (about 20 feet wide!) jump out of the water!!!!!!!! Unfortunately didnt see any whales though! Isla fernandina has some vegetation but it is mainly just these huge fields of old black lava ..we saw different types of lava like rope lava and Aa lava (pronounced "ow ow")..cos of how rough it is (difficult to walk over with bare feet!). We then went to see the flightless cormorants..the only true flightless seabird in the world. It has these short stubby wings (which dont work!!!)..cos it doesnt need to fly cos there are so few predators. One managed to pick up a piece of seaweed and came waddling toward us..hilarious to watch! There were again, loads of marine iguanas around and we got to see 3 galapagos snakes too. We also found a rock pool where there were about 7 or 8 turtles swiimming around..poking their heads out the water to breathe. While we were waiting for the dinghy..we got great views of a spotted eagle ray swimming in the water by the rocks..awesome! We then decided to go snorkelling and we managed to watch an iguana feeding underwater!! There were some sea lions around too..and one came right up to me and blew bubbles in my face and One even snorted in richs face too!! They say they blow bubbles to imitate the divers..it was great! At one stage there was even a turtle and sea lion swimming together right in front of us! That afternoon we went to isla isabella (the biggest island)..to tagus cove. Here we did a walk to a view point where we could see this huge salt water lagoon (called darwins lagoon) which has 3 times higher salt concentration than the sea. That part of the island was really grey and dry..palo santo trees everywhere, but the view was great. We then got taken to some deeper water for snorkelling where we saw these huge schools of fish..even a feeding frenzy of bonitas..all jumping out of the water (fins everywhere!). I also came face to face with a penguin who darted in the opposite direction as soon as he saw me!! Our guide said it was a good place to see hammerhead sharks, but we unfortunately didnt see any! The ride back to the boat on the dinghy was great..cos two sea lions decided to race us!! They really looked amazing..jumping out of the water in tandem..almost like dolphins! On day 5, we woke up at puerto villamil..a small port on isabella island. It was a really different day..cos we got to do a 1 and a half hour horse ride up to the top of the sierra negra volcano..which has a crater of 10km by 9km!!!!!! Crazy!!! We also walked across lava fields to visit the rim of volcan chico which last erupted in 1979, so the lava flows are relatively fresh..we could even see the sulphurous gases coming out fo the crater!!!!!! (cos it is still active). Richs horse was called perezoso..which in spanish means a sloth, or lazy..and it had a huge tumour on the side of its face!! so u can imagine his comments! My horse was really well behaved, but we had this REALLLYYY fat guy on board and he insisted on riding these small horses too..and the horse tried to buck him off and the one time he actually did fall off..tumbled down the hill almost!!!! I really felt sorry for his horse..it was like cruelty to animals!!! It was actually quite hair-raising though..having 16 horses walking up altogether cos they were all just walking into eachother!!! But it was a great experience..its not part of the normal tours to do the horseride to see into the big volcano, so we were lucky! We then came back into town and the captain of our boat treated us to a meal at one of the restaurants in town..from there we went to a lagoon to see some flamingoes (but we only saw one unfortunately!) and then we went to a tortoise breeding station for the afternoon..the turtles had been rescued from the side of the volcano before it erupted.Isabella is the island where sacha lodge is planning to build its hotel..probably by next year. On day 6 we woke up by santa cruz island..puerto ayora to be exact.Its one of the biggest towns of the islands. We went to the charles darwin research station where we saw some HUGE giant land tortoises..and were lucky enough to even see two of them mating! We also got to see "lonesome george"..a pinta island land tortoise, who, for some reason, wont breed, so they´re trying to clone him to save the species. We also got to see different morphisms of iguanas and also got to see where they breed the tortoises. We then had free time to walk around town, we did some curio shopping (SOOOOOO expensive!) and then were taken to have lunch at a nearby village called bellavista. From there we took a bus to look at the "twins" which are two huge sunken holes in the ground created by laving flowing underneath them. From there we went to see the tortoise reserve where we saw wild giant land tortoises..even one lying in the mud! rich also got to see a paintbilled crake and the galapagos crake. We then went to walk through an old lava tube..awesome!!! A tunnel about 1000feet long and 6m in diameter. it was created by hot lava flowing underground..it was really cool..we had to crawl at one stage to get out! We then went back to town..and then it was back on the boat again! Day 7 we woke up at espanola island..punta suarez. This island was really cool..here we saw loads of bluefooted boobies dancing (lifting one foot up and then the other after!) and also the waved albatross!!!!! The albatross has a wing span of about 2 and half metres..and we were lucky enough to watch them taking off from the cliffs!We also saw a different type of morphism of the marine iguana..the ones on this island had a whole lot more red on them. There were also mockingbirds on the islands which came right up close to us..even jumped on rich when he was lying down!That afternoon we went snorkelling and were lucky enough to see a whole school of about 40 cowrays gliding through the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I also came across another white-tipped reef shark and a longtailed stingray which we followed for like 5 minutes! That afternoon we sailed to gardener bay which has a snowwhite beach..here we did our last snorkelling where we saw loads more fish again..including a whole school of longfin halfbeaks..which were these long skinny fish with these weird noses..almost like swordfish! So, anyway, in case u guys are interested, heres a list of some of the fish we could identify(!): Trumpetfish reefcornet fish fantailed pipe fish finescaled triggerfish orangeside triggerfish spotfin burrfish giant hawkfish marbled goby redlight goby bravo clinid panamic fanged blenny sabertooth blenny mexican hogfish (many varieties) goldspot sheephead cortez rainbow wrasse (my favourite..was blue yellow and red from head to toe!) sunset wrasse spinster wrasse pacific creolefish flag cabrilla panamic graysby cabrilla bacalao panamic sergeant major galapagos ringtailed damsel fish (purple with bright orange on the top!) giant damselfish galapagos seabream moorish idol (WOW!) teardrop butterfly fish razor surgeonfish threebanded butterfly fish barberfish king angel fish black striped salema leatherbass barred snapper barred serrano bicolour parrotfish triplefinned blenny balloonfish blunthead triggerfish cameleon wrasse blue-chinned parotfish blacktipped cardinalfish.....and we werent even scuba diving!!! on the last night we also saw a fin come out of the water on the way to san cristobal island which we thought was a whale. Then on the last morning we sailed through a narrow gap between two huge rocks..called leon dormido (which means sleeping lion)..which was a little nervewracking! Anyway, had a wonderful trip..really a trip of a lifetime..the cabins were great, they had aircon and private bathrooms and the food was good too. We took 100s of photos, so we are going to try and send them to you guys too!!! Well, we´re off back to sacha 2moro for another three weeks..so we hope u guys are all keeping well and we will email again soon!!!! Lots of love, and keep smiling! Love us:-)

Snorkelling with turtles, seals, sharks and rays!