Galapagos, 10 days of surprises!!!!

Hola todo!

Hereby a new update and this one is going to be a bit longer than the last.

We stopped writing in Guayaquil, there we didn´t do a lot. Mainly prepairing for the Galapagos.

But on the 15th of july the day came we were both have been looking for quite some time. We left in the morning and after a nice and calm flight we arrived on the Galapagos.

We arrived on the island Santa Cruz. On this island we would spend the first 4 nights. After arriving on the island a private taxi (yes, it was very luxurious) brought us to the hotel. A very nice place with sea view :-)! The check in went very fast and after checking the room somebody picked us up and brought us to the place where we had lunch before going to Tortuga bay. They say this is the nicest beach on the islands. Here we just relaxed and enjoyed the sun. As well we saw our first blue foothed boobie and the marine iguana. Both animals which are unique in the world. The rest of the day was very relaxt. The next day we went on our first boat trip. We booked a land based tour so every day we had a different trip. This day the boat would take us to Isla Floreana, a boat journey of an our and a half in a speedboat. Island Floreana is know as one of the greenest islands of the archipelago. On this island we saw the first of many land turtels the islands are known for. They are just massive and funny to watch. After a small trek on the island we went snorkeling and after 1 minute Eline already spotted here first seaturtle. The marine life on the islands is amazing (I think we will use the worth amzing more often in this update ;-)) and we saw some nice animals, the seaturtle was the most impressive one. After all the excitment we took the boat back to the island and our hotel.

Day 3, time is going fast on the islands, we went to Seymour. This trip we had a very nice boat with everything you can ask for. Seymour is known for the birdlife. On the islands we saw blue foothed boobies, frigate birds and swallow tailed gulls. The nice thing is that you can get very close and the birds don´t mind. After spending almost 2 hours on the islands we went for the snorkeling. Without a doubt the most favourite part of Eline and me. Because we rented wetsuits we could spend hours in the water and see a lot. Check the pictures. The next day we went to Bartolome island. This is a very dry island of which we could climb to the top of the volcano. We had amazing views over the surrounding islands and what was nice to see was the divercity of the different islands. No animals this time but nice scenery ;-)! Again after the morning programme we went snorkeling in the afternoon.

Day 5 we left Santa Cruz island and went to the largest island of the archipelago, Isabela island. After arriving on the island we went to, again a nice hotel. In the hotel we decided not to go to the Flamingo reserve (we thought we had seen enough) but go to a nearby lagoon. We rented wetsuits and the snorkeling gear in the hotel and went. The first half an hour we didn´t see a lot and we almost decided to go home when we saw something moving in the water. We jumped back and we found ourself playing with two sealions for at least 20 minutes. They come that close that they touch you while swimming and jumping around you. For us this was one of the best experiences this trip. To bad we can´t proof it because I (Tom) forgot to bring the battery of the camera!
The next day the weather was really bad and we were going to climb a volcano to see the second largest volcanic crater in the world! To bad for us it rained the whole morning and the only thing we saw was the very muddy path we had to follow. After the climb we went snorkeling, again ;-)! We went to the same lagoon as teh day before but this time there was nothing to see. Our guide told us he knew a different spot where it was possible to see pinguins. So we all followed him! He was right. After 10 minutes the first pinguins showed up. The pinguin on the Galapagos is very small and the only one who lives in the tropics. The pinguins were very playfull and circled around us for a while. Eline was very happy with this and for here this was an absolute highlight! The next the programme changed a bit and we went snorkeling in the morning. First we went for a small walk to see reefsharks, which are very cool to see. But we wanted to jump in the water again! The place we went was protected from the see and here we saw the marine iguana swimming, they move like snakes in the water. After this we went to place where a lot of people where floating and here we saw, can´t describe in on an other words, a parking lot of sea turtles. At least 20 turtles where sitting on the sea bottom. After that the programme was not that interesting to write down :-D!

The last 2 days on the island we went back to Santa Cruz island for our free time. The first day we just didn´t do a thing. We went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and the nature. We went back on time because I had to fit my wetsuit for the day after. I was going to dive, to bad Eline couldn´t join because she wasn´t certified. The dives where pretty cool. During the dives we saw a hammerhead hark, white tip reef sharks, a group of 40 rays, playing sealions and a lot more.

After the dives Eline and I booked a flight for the day after to the coast. We decided that for the last week of the trip we earned some more beach and sun. So that is what we are enjoying now.

Hope you enjoyed this update and have fun looking at the pictures. See you all soon!

Besos Tom y Eline