A week in the galapagos is like living in a live action wildlife documentary! It was amazing. We did an island every day and saw every animal on the list. I swam with turtles, sharks and sea lions. We saw penguins, flamingos, fur seals (still technially a sea lion though), giant tortoises (literally 200 years old - some probably met Darwin himself), land iguanas, marine iguanas (by the hundreds on top of each other) and the entire bird population. Each island has its own species so each day we would see something new. To be honest the scenery paled in comparison to what I had just witnessed in Africa but the proximity of the animals and their care-free, tame nature is incredible.
My best experience is when I snorkeled with the sea lions. They come so close to you it looks like they´re going to kiss you then they swerve around at the last moment and play a game similar to tag. They´ll swim up to your face then speed away, twirling and looping around you. The ease with which they swim is incredible, its like they are constantly dancing and the water offers no resistance. It is right up there with my Gorilla trekking experience.
The cruise ship we were on, the Celebrity Expedition, was superb. The service, food and naturalists were great. It was a relaxing atmosphere, no formal nights or massive stage shows. Just a small boat of 90 people. We would take zodiacs into the island as the ship could not pull into any ports and most were beach landings or dry landings onto natural rock. We would go on a walk in the morning and then again in the afternoon, with the option to snorkel whenever possible. The great thing about the Galapagos is that it is so well preserved and they are taking every effort to keep it from getting damaged and to save its wildlife from extinction. When the first people settled on the islands they used to kill the tortoises for food or keep them as pets and it almost destroyed their existence. There is only one saddle-back tortoise from Pinta island left and his name is Lonesome George as he has no one to mate with to rebuild his species.
It was a great week to detox from the fast-paced 4 months I had just gone through and to prepare me for the next 4 months in South America.
I meet my tour on Thursday, which I am very excited and partly nervous about. Another new group on a new truck in a new continent. I´m hoping I´m as lucky as I was in Africa!
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