GALAPAGOS

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

Its a nice morning 4 hours south of Quito at pretty little town of Banos---it has volcanos and hot springs and jungle. Will be spending a week or two around here before moving down into Peru

Galapagos was a very special tour that was expensive, but I had to do it. Would have never have forgiven myself if I didn't go there while I was so close. I was on a 65 ft yacht and the crew were great. Food was good and guide for the naturalist stuff on the islands knew his stuff. I shared a cabin with Thommo, another Aussie guy from Sydney who was 73 and full of life and there were 7 other guests who had done 3 nights together already. I had 4 nights onboard and we visited 4 or 5 islands in the southern parts seeing some amazing wildlife. Also did a lot of snorkeling and climbed down into a cave at a place called Post Office Bay They have a crazy post box down by the beach where you can go through the cards and letters left by other people and take the ones to addresses near your home and hand deliver them!  
The animals are so unafraid and you can get really close. The stars were the sea lions especially when they played with you in the water. On one dive we saw some white tip reef sharks and big sea turtles and big rays and then had a young sea lion play with us for ages. Also one came on board for a snooze on the top deck! Heaps of birds including; blue and brown footed boobies, albatross, frigates,finches and doves and pink flamingos. Lots of huge land iguanas and even more sea iguanas but was a bit disappointed to only see the giant tortoises at the Charles Darwin Research Centre. The others saw them in the wild on a previous island but not as big as at the Centre at Puerto Ayorau.