The Galapagos Islands ('Nuff said really)!!

Part One...
My flight touched down in Baltra at about 12 in the afternoon and I was greeted by the second smallest airport I've ever seen, plus my tour guide for the next 5 days who I caught in the act of pulling his t shirt above his belly and rubbing his stomach as I walked through 'arrivals' (this is something all South American men over the age of 50 do in public and without warning whenever it takes their fancy, takes some getting used to I can tell you...). Also waiting for further arrivals for our boat trip were American mother and son Sis and Mark, and after about 20 mins the next flight bought in the remainder of the passengers we were waiting for and we were off to explore the Angelito. The boat was out of this world, especially when compared to the digs I've been frequenting the last few months. The luxury yacht housed upto 16 passengers, but due to some last minute cancellations from Americans too scared to travel to Equador after the recent coup (the reason for my cheekily scooped last minute spot!), we were only 13 onboard for the 5 day cruise. I was sharing a cabin with a lady called Sue who's a documentary filmaker from Scotland, whose wicked sense of humour made me warm to her immediately. We were also joined by some couples from Germany, a young American guy called Don who was great fun, and an older English couple called Bob and Vera who were the life and soul of the party regailing us all with tales of their time working at Outward Bound centres.
Once aquainted the afternoon was filled with a visit to nearby North Seymour Island, where the Galapagos really lived up to its reputation when our way was immediately blocked by a sea lion feeding her pup on the path directly infront of us. Conditioned by a lifetime of not approaching animals, the group hung back, while our unaffected Galapagos- born guide nochelantly stepped over the feeding mother and beckoned us closer. The wild animals truly werent bothered by our presence, a fact that was to remain true for the totality of my visit to the archipegilo.
That first island visit encapsulated the Galapagos full on; we saw boobies, frigates, marine and land iguanas (also can I have a little support here... that word is phonetically pronounced ig-u-anas, yes? Not ig-wanas? Is that another horrible Americanism or have I gone (more) insane?) as well as a pleantiful supply of sea lions (which I couldn't get bored of looking at if I had a lifetime of it). The photo of the land iguanas to the left is taken without zoom, just to give you some indication of how close we were to the wholly-unbothered animals. It was absolutely amazing to me how incredibly comfortable animals could be in immediate human company when they have had no experience of abuse at the hands of homo sapiens.
Later that afternoon it was time for snorkeling (which the crew of the Angleito put daily into our schedule, as the marine life of the Galapagos is almost as amazing to behold). Being the brave (read stupid and broke) Brit that I am I forwent the wetsuit hire and snorkeled just in swimmers and a tshirt. Despite being equator adjacent the sea in the Galapagos is suprisingly cold (read freezing), but the unrivalled snorkelling opportunity soon took my mind off my shivering flesh as I realised I was swimming with marine iguangas, angel fish and, about 10m further on, a stray hammerhead shark that hilariously made Don inhale about half a litre of sea water in fright and suprise as it swam under him. Waiting for us on the boat on our return was gloriously rich hot chocolate and an absolutley delicious dinner encompassing local fare with favourites from home, and as such was the menu for the whole week, nicely balancing cervicé one day with spahetti bol the next. The evening saw a short boat journey to the next islands we were to visit, Chinese Hat and Bartholemew, and then once the journey was over and we were safely at anchor we were delighted to find a sea lion catching 40 winks on the wet landing area on the back of the yacht. Everything in the islands just seemed to be magical.
We started the next day on Chinese hat, which isn't actually big enough to be considered an island in its own right but was good fun to walk to totality of, and I could happily have watched the sea lions frolicking in the surf for the rest of my life. It was here we first really got to witness the dynamic of a sea lion family as the Alpha male played chasing games with a pup in the surf and then chased off an intrusive other male from his territory with a distinctive barking. We also witnessed lots of sea lion pups left alone on Chinese hat, which we were informed was standard practise for the mothers while they went off fishing, sometimes for several days at a time (where are the fathers one might ask? Sea lion males take no responisibility for the feeding or care of young pups.).
The afternoon visit and snorkeling was from the island of Bartholemew which is much bigger than Chinese Hat but has a small colony of PENGUINS! Which we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of (the larger colonies residing on islands the boat wasn't scheduled to visit). The snorkelling in the afternoon was from the gorgeous beach at Bartholemew which reduced the visibility but meant that I had a chance to get some swimming in in this absolutely gorgous surround.
Back on the boat that night we were visited by two sea lions on the wet deck which made for the evenings entertainment along with the good company of people who were fast becoming my friends.
The next day would see us visiting Genovesa Island, which you can see from the map is something of a hike away and would take us 7 hours overnight to reach. Many onboard found sleeping while the boat was in motion to be impossible, luckily I wasn't one of them, completely dead to the world in bed linen the luxury of which I hadn't felt since leaving England.
The next day dawned lovely, and I took advantage of the fact so many others had fallen foul of sea sickness by helping them finish off their delicious breakfasts. Then we were off the the Island. Genovesa is also known as the island of the birds, the ecosystem only supporting foul and the occasional small lizard. And indeed was it a sight to behold as we walked so close to pelicans, frigates, boobies of the blue, red and masked varieties (who earned their name for being incredibly stupid- building nests in the middle of paths) and even getting within a few metres of a Galapagos Hawk. Pictured left are Male Frigates trying to attract a mate with the distinctive red pouch. The frigates are also known colloquially as 'pirate birds' and it was on this island that we got to see why as we watched a frigate steal fish from a mother blue footed boobie mid flight. The while of the islands was incredibly informative, and made doubly so by spending some time with Bob ("I'm not a twitcher, I don't keep lists") who seemed to know more than the guide about all the birds and thier projected behavioural patterns.

Part two of this post will have to be published at a later date as I've run out of internet time! Apologies, zona Cafe in columbia isnt really set up to be pro communication...

Part Two...
The next day we were away to James Bay on Santiago Island, one of the most picturesque stop- offs of our trip yet. Here we saw an abundance of marine iguanas, sunbathing carelessly next to sea lions and hundreds of pretty red crabs. We got some time to study the marine iguanas properly here as they choughed up great gobs of sea salt while they sunbathed. Then we had a fairly entertaining time here trying to get 'Galapagos' photos... ie. photos of us posing ridiculously close to the wildlife (they actually advise you when you arrive on the islands not to let the wildlife pet you, the sea lions are so interested they'll put their flippers on you to investigate if you let them). The fun however was cut short when Sue posed too close to a large male sea lion which then proceeded to bark at her scaring her half to death and causing her to fall of a handy rock. Luckily she only had bumps and scrapes, but it was a good reminder for us all that these really were wild animals and we were lucky to be invited to their world, and not vice versa. It was also at James Bay that we were able to see a galapagos hawk up close, which was amazing as these birds of prey are notoriously hard to spot. In the afternoon we were on the Rabida Island, which I think would go down as my favourite island of the journey. Here the beach is a vibrant red in contrast to the fiercely blue sea, the whole thing looks like a David Hockney painting. Because its so hot on Rabida there isn't a whole lot of viewable wildlife, apparently there used to be flamingos in the lowlands here but they moved to cooler climes in the last few years, and there are tortoise colonies in the highlands but due to the slow rate of repopulation tourists aren't currently allowed there. However we went snorkling off Rabida and were blessed not only to see sea turtles, but sea turtles mating, an impressive sight. Although my personal highlight of the trip was the swim back to the beach where we were joined by a family of sea lions swimming around us and blowing bubbles... AWESOME!! Its was so cute and just amazing to be a part of.
The final day dawned all too soon, and unfortunately we only had a few hours at the famous Darwin research station down at the South end of Santa Cruz Island... however we were off to see Lonesome George and his pals and noone minded the Navy O Clock start. The tortoises did not disappoint, just as large as promised, these huge creatures were amazing to see. And as the photos show were just as interested in as as we were in them!! We also got a glimpse of Lonesome George, who is perfectly healthy to be released into the wild but the Equadorian Government wont do it because of the amount of tourism he creates, which I felt was a terrible shame (George pictured below) .
All in all the Galapagos Islands were worth every penny that they cost (most expensive part of my trip by threefold!) and promise to be a hgihlight not just of my trip, but of my whole life. It was with a big smile on my face I boarded the airplane in Baltra ready to fly into Quito, my next stop.
Mind you this was only after Don, Sue and I had spent several hours wondering around the shack of an airport, filling ourselves with empanadas and mocking the 'local crafts' which no way had been made on the island. Oh, and finding out that the German couple had spent the whole 5 days believing Sue was my mum, and were therefore very confused about why we were flying back to different places.