Galapagos Islands -Really Wild and Wonderful

Pat & Gary at the Crater

Hola Amigos! Here we are on Isla Isabella in the Galapagos Islands.  There are five active volcanos on the Island and we are standing in front of one that erupted in 2005.  There is fresh lava down below and we were lucky as the clouds cleared right as we reached the top of the hike.  We also went to visit the lava tubes and we saw passion fruit trees along the way.  We went to the Tintoreras on Isla Isabella and saw Penguins - the second smallest in the world along with white tipped reef sharks -  4 in total and thousands of big iguanas - they were up to 20 pounds and can live up to 60 years. Everything is big here and lives a long time.   Gary got to swim with a sea lion and giant sea tortoise which was really cool.  Our guide Jhover was really great and we would like to recommend him to other folks who are thinking of visiting the Galapagos Islands.  He does land based tours and you can check out his info at Galapagos Options.  Here is the link to their site  www.galapagosoptions.com 

Gary Talking with Turtles!

We also went to visit the Giant Tortoise reserve on Isla Isabella and Gary got up close and personal with a 400lb giant land tortoise who has been bred there and is watiting to be released back into the wild.  I don´t know what Gary and the tortoise are discussing but it sure seems intense!

Blue Footed Boobies on Isla Espanola

We decided to do a 4 day boat cruise and we went to Santa Cruz, Isla Floreana and Isla Espanol.  These blue footed boobies - yes that´s their real name -let us come so close it was incredible.  We saw lots of birds up close including beautiful giant flamingos, giant pelicans, Nazca boobies, and Albatross.  We walked through the Albatross nesting grounds and saw the Albatross courting dance- talk about the funky chicken - these guys really have quite the ritual mating dance complete with wierd popping noises and lots of head bobbing.  We also saw two baby albatross chicks who were all cute and fuzzy.  As we walked back to the dinghy we had to walk by a baby sea lion that was only a few hours old.  Mama Sea Lion was not too happy that we walked by that close but we had to get back to our boat.  We stayed about the Queen Beatriz catamaran which is 103 feet long and takes 16 passengers. Check it out at www.galapagos-luxury-cruises.com/queen_beatriz_galapagos_cruise_yacht.html

We ended our Galapagos trip on Isla Santa Cruz where we visited the Charles Darwin centre to see more giant tortoises.  They had little baby tortoises that were only a month old and we also got to see Lonesome George the 100 year old turtle who is the last of his species.  When he dies there will be no more turtles of his kind left in the world. Poor George! We loved the Galapagos and were able to stay for over a week.  The weather was nice and warm and the beaches are wonderful with white sugar sand and clear turquoise waters.   We got to go snorkeling and saw tons of huge tropical fish along with a playful sea lion who was trying to nibble on one of the other gals flippers.  They are so fun and friendly. It was a real treat to see so much and to go snorkeling. We were sad to leave the Galapagos Islands which really are special.  We highly recommend that you check them out.
More to come soon.
Salud!
Pat & Gary