21 September

Wow what a day! We had an early start to the day to catch the plane to the Galapagos Islands via Guayaquil; then a short ride on a bus to catch the boat. You should have seen my face when I realised I was expected to clamber into a dinghy with the waves going up and down and up and down and up and down! It was very very scary!

The cabin is quite nice and seems a wee bit of luxury after the Amazon boat except its back to no paper down the loo! We have hot water via a button you need to keep on pushing.

That all took care of the morning – in the afternoon we cruised to Lobos Island and had our first excursion to Ochoa Beach where you could swim and snorkel with the sea lions. For those of us who did not want to snorkel we sat on the beach trying to avoid being too close to them but that was hard as they were really curious – well some were as others just fell asleep almost at your feet.

George went into the water for the first time in over a year and said that swimming with them was just amazing as they were really playful and would blow bubbles in your face. You did have to be careful of the big bulls though who were very protective and really protested if you came too close. We had piled up our life jackets on the sand and because they were bright colours they attracted one of the sea lions but one of the straps got tangled around his neck and he became quite distressed. The other sea lions were responding to his cries and were trying to get the jacket off him but it took Luis (our guide) to manage to trap the strap and kick it off him – it was a bit risky as the bulls were very close and very agitated.

Back on board the boat we had a bit of excitement when one of the downstairs cabins filled with smoke – an o ring had overheated but no-one was hurt. Dinner was a bit hilarious as George tried to explain that I didn’t eat fish – this was misunderstood to be I wanted fish every night! Luckily this was sorted out.

A 7am wake up call and great adventures in store for me trying to get in and out of that bloody dinghy!

22 September 2005

Its only 1pm but I have to start writing before I forget – what a morning! We dinghyed into North Seymour Island where it was a”dry” landing ie you don’t land in water. At the beginning and end of the walk it was very rocky but in between it was sandy overlooking water.

At first it was a whole load of sea lions just lying in your path and there were quite a few baby ones. We passed a mother nursing a baby who had only been born about ½ an hour before we arrived. Luis had guided us to the spot as he had noticed the frigate birds around the birthplace fighting over the placenta. You could still see the trail of blood on the sand and the mother was also still bloody.

The island is home to a large colony of different species of seabirds – frigates of all kinds – mature, immature and some still fluffy chicks; the blue booby mainly juvenile ones (you can tell by the colour of the feet) and a quick glimpse of a red booby which is quite rare.

Further on the walk we started seeing the big land iguanas. We had already seen the smaller marine ones and also the Sally Light foot crabs which can only be found in the Galapagos. All told we were out for about 2 ½ hours. Some went out for a snorkel before lunch but George and I stayed on the boat and relaxed – for the first time this trip! It was great just staring at the water and trying to spot the marine life – we did see huge manta rays turning somersaults in the air before diving back under the sea.

After lunch we were on the move again to Bacches Beach on Santa Cruz Island. This one was not in the itinerary at all but we are supposed to see lots of flamingos – well we did see 1! This island started off beachy bust as we walked further inland we found ourselves at a brackish lagoon where we saw our one flamingo. The water was really cold so nobody went swimming so we stayed on the beach for at least an hour.

I finally made a fool of myself with those ****** dinghies! There was no landing from which to get in from – just straight from the beach. George was trying to hold the dinghy still while everyone clambered on board – I had no one to give me a helping hand so (I still have no idea how) I sort of somersaulted into the damn thing – very embarrassing but I did get in – now I just have to count the bruises when they start appearing!

We now know what has caused all the changes in the itinerary and it will affect our next cruise too. Baltra airport is closed for renovations (and has been for months); this means that the only point of arrival and departure for cruise passengers is the airport on Santa Cruz. Cruise ships can therefore not go so far away that they cannot get back to Santa Cruz in time to pick up and drop off passengers – remember some people have opted for only 4 days while others have the full 8 days

23 September 2005

This morning we were up 30 minutes early today to beat the cruise ships landing their people on the island first. We were on Santiago Island at James Bay on Puerto Egas a long black lava shoreline which was completely different from what we have previously seen.

We saw fur sea lions which were different from the normal sea lions that we have seen. Saw another baby that had just been born, earlier this time as the birds had not been at the placenta. Saw lots and lots of babies and they were just so cute!

On the way out to the island we saw our first tortoise and later on the boat we saw lots more swimming around. This time I managed to get in and out of the boat with my dignity intact! Its quite cold and blowy today so most of us have stayed on the boat while those brave enough have gone deep water snorkelling.

This afternoon we were making our way to Bartolome Island (George and I were laying on the front deck) when one of the crew saw fins in the water. the captain stopped the boat and as we watched we began to see water rising from blowholes – boy that crew member had great eyes! It turned out to be 3 orca whales – male, female and a calf. We all watched for ages as they swam out of sight. We could spot them by watching the clump of birds that seemed to follow them; we realised why when we saw the birds bringing up large rubbery things which turned out to be the intestines of a manta ray that we had seen around the boat just before the whales appeared – hmm dinner time!

Bartolome Island was an island of volcanic rock/lava and was like a different planet with no animal life and very little plant life. We took the dinghy around the island and saw Galapagos penguins, blue footed boobies and another turtle swimming.