Galapagos
We've been in the Galapagos now for about 5 days.
Life has been very
busy doing lots of trips to explore the huge amout on offer here. We've been
diving, surfing, cliff jumping, snorkelling, hiking, biking, shopping and
somewhere in there relaxing and recovering from the 8 days at sea, and preparing
for the next leg which is a big one! Although based on Santa Cruz, some of
us have been able to explore Floreana, and Tuck is due back from Isobella
tomorrow (the biggest and much newer, volcanic island).
The wildlife here
in particular is pretty mindblowing and takes some time to get used to. They are
all remakably tame and let you get pretty close. The sealions are everywhere and
very playful when you're in the water (with the possible exception of a huge
male sealion that had to discourage Ewan and Jem from having quite so much fun
swimming with his hareem of females and babies). We've seen several sharks on
various diving and snorkelling trips, and even one hanging around near the boat
(which is going to make getting in to clean up the waterline just that little
bit more spicy tomorrow!).
And of course the Galapagos specialties of giant tortoises, mairne iguanas and blue footed boobies - all of whom seem pretty relaxed about people. An example was at the fish market this morning as Jem and Ewan were waiting for a dive trip - about 10 pelicans queued up with a sealion for wahoo offcuts. One of the pelicans picked up the whole head and at one point tried to swallow it - not happening!
Sadly we've said goodbye to Jurrie (back to work in New York) and Nicole (back to travelling and Seattle) but have welcomed Jemima and Colin, so we're still at 5 for the next leg which should work nicely again.
Pictures from the passage and our time in the Galapagos...