Mum and I had 5 nights on the Galapagos Islands. We took a land based tour which gave us 3 nights in Puerto Ayora on Isla Santa Cruz and 2 nights on Isla Isabella. Of course this was not long enough. Ideally you would want to cruise around for 10 days or more but that is all we had time for so we made the most of it.
The one thing that is quickly realised is that humans have impacted on this unique region quite dramatically. They are certainly doing everything in their power to conserve what they have but unfortunately human impact is inevitable. I was surprised to see domestic pets wandering around on the more heavily populated island.
Once again i was in the hunt for sea turtles and on our first afternoon walk to along the beautiful beach of tortuga bay I saw a green turtle popping its head out of the water! Too far to get a photo and see the shell but unfortunately it is all I can claim because apart from seeing (in abundance) the land tortoises it was the only sea turtle I saw :(
The next day we headed to Floreana Island which had a preserved tortoise sanctuary and was the island of finches. I must admit I loved collecting more tortoise facts. We wandered through a natural labyrinth while our guide spoke of the first settlers etc. The afternoon saw us in the water (which was a good temperature no wetsuit needed) for some marine life spotting. I didnt see an abundance of sea life and only a couple of species of fish i had not seen before. However, the fact that you could get so close to the sea life and they never seemed bothered by you was certainly something special. When you catch a school of beautifully coloured fish I just wanted to watch them for hours. I just loved being in the water (i was always looking out for a turtle mind you). Playful sea lions were almost a guarantee on most snorkels, but I did catch a bit of a fright when one was headed straight for me and at the last minute veered to the left!
Plazas Island was another unexpected island as we were scheduled to go santa Fe island that day. Everything seemed to go to plan except once on the boat I overheard people talking about their visit to Santa Fe island. I had a brief thought of either we were on the wrong boat or they were. As it turned out we were on the wrong boat. However, Plazas island was supposedly a better island and trip so we went with it. Later we found out that the boat we were supposed to go on had engine problems so the company changed us quickly without informing us. It was rather comical!
Plazas island was full of the land Iguana and more sea lions. All the islands are so different i dont know how anyone is able to choose which ones to go to if you can´t see them all. I did enjoy the snorkelling on this trip, bigger schools of fish with some incredible colours.
The next morning we visited the Charles Darwin centre and said hello to the many tortoises and saw poor old Lonesome George (the only one left of his species). That afternoon we jumped on a speed boat for 3 hours to take us to Isabella Island. It was the worst boat ride i had ever experienced. I didn´t get sea sick but i thought the boat was going to capsize on several occasions. The two large currents that run through the galapagos certainly cause a very choppy sea!
We reached Isabella island late afternoon and our guide said lets go to the flamingo lagoon. I was very excited as I had only seen the pink flamingo from very very far away in Africa, and not even the best camera was able to get a good photo. So here i was all excited because for sure i would get a photo. As we arrived at the lagoon our guide informed us that ´if we are lucky we might see 5 or 6 as they don´t come to this lagoon anymore´. We peered out to the lagoon and saw 1. I guess that was better than none and I did get a photo.
The next day saw us take a horse ride to Sierra Negra crater and Volcan Chico. Well it was certainly a new experience. The only advice we received was let the horses do what they want as the small ones like to be at the front. They were all raher small horses and the journey to Sierra Negra was a foggy and wet one. My horse wanted to be at the front and not behind any slow horse so every time my horse heard another behind start trotting, it took off! Everyone, 20 or so in the group, were constantly yelling out ´stop, whoa´ as the horses constantly vied for front position. Needless to say it wasn´t the most enjoyable horse ride.
The scenery once the sun came out was spectacular and walking to the volcano over the red volcanic rock and different lava flows, all solid now,gave us all a good workout! I will endeavour to put more photos on as my words will never do anything we have seen justice. It was unfortunate that we had to ride the horses back but with the sun shining and the vista it was a far more enjoyable ride.
The day on Isabella finished with a most enjoyabe snorkel and finally we saw some white tipped sharks. Unfortunately, not while in the water but we were happy to see a different animal. This was my favourite snorkel, unfortunately it just didn´t seem long enough. Our last began early at 6am for a much smoother boat ride and return to the mainland.
