Galapagos Islands

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We flew from Quito to the Galapagos Islands, we had been looking forward to this trip and it certainly was not a disappointment.  We started our trip with a 5 day cruise, the boat Amigo I was a lot nicer than we thought and we had a private cabin with bathroom.  There were 13 of us on the boat and we visited several of the islands during the days and sailed by night.

During the days we went on a morning and a afternoon trek to see various wildlife and landscapes, we usually had a snorkeling trip every day before our 3 course lunch (The food was great, lots of fresh fish an shrimps, bad news for becky who had cheese with something for breakfast lunch and dinner). Our favourite animals were the sealions who are very friendly and curious and enjoyed swimming with you, and also the giant land tortoises.

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The crew were really nice and baked John a cake for his birthday

90% of the tourists fly into the Galapagos Islands, do a cruise and then immediately fly back to the mainland, however we wanted to stay for longer and visit a few of the towns on the islands and so after our cruise we headed to Isla Isabela for 6 days and really enjoyed it.  It is a very small town with beautiful beaches, sand streets and very friendly locals.  There are also a lot of activities to do including trekking, mountain biking, snorkeling with sea turtles, sea lions and a few sharks (We only saw one in the water with us though).

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This has been a real highlight of our trips o far and we are glad we decided to stay longer then for just a cruise and get to know the islands better...Back in Quito now and getting ready to fly to Peru on Sunday...