Written Saturday 5 April
You know when you step off the plane and you can smell that you're abroad? The sweet scent of heat and humidity topped up the excitement levels - which were already at a peak after seeing bright turquoise waters and white sands from the air. Bienvenido a Galapagos!
You know when you step off the plane and you can smell that you're abroad? The sweet scent of heat and humidity topped up the excitement levels - which were already at a peak after seeing bright turquoise waters and white sands from the air. Bienvenido a Galapagos!
I saw my first sea lion within 5 minutes of leaving our homestay - something I've been wanting to see for years. There are so many of them, it's amazing! San Cristobal (one of the 3 main islands) is known as 'sea lion island' and for good reason - these cuties are everywhere; on the beaches, lying on benches, across the walkways...our guide says they even lie in the middle of the road sometimes! Sea lions are king here - they've even taken over a water slide into the sea originally built for kids who inhabit the island.
They are hilarious - could sit and watch them quite happily for hours! We even saw a few month-old pups (mega cute). Walking along the waterfront at night, we saw a tiny pup feeding, something our guide (Blanca) got very excited about. To do a job for 10 years and have lived on the island since you were 2 and still get excited about sea lions says it all; the Galapagos is an incredible place. I can only hope I'll be as passionate about a job one day!
The one fact out of everything I learned today that really stood out is that the islands are all tops of enormous mountains that were formed under the sea - pretty damn cool. Although very glad we arrived today and not 4 days ago when all 3 main islands had to be evacuated after a massive quake in northern Chile sent a tsunami their way...!
It felt a bit rushed today tbh when I'd rather have taken it slow, but we packed in a lot - did a spot of snorkelling in a little cove (although I totally freaked out when I saw a huge school of fish swim past my face and doggy paddled my way sharpish back to shore!). Some people saw turtles right up close while others had sea lion pups swim round them. This is also the place where I saw my first blue footed booby, one of the big 5 I want to see in the Galapagos (giant tortoises, sea lions, green turtles, Galapagos penguins and blue footed boobys).
Got taken to a nearby beach then where we watched the sunset...beautiful pics which I'll load when I get back but here's my fave:
Dinner at a local haunt and then bed at 11 - a bit more rock and rollington than yesterday (just). There are tour options for tomorrow but tbh I quite fancy a free day where I can explore at leisure rather than being herded from place to place. My roomie (Daria) are I are going to hire bikes and head to 'sea lion beach' where we're hopefully going to snorkel with them (provided I can put a lid on the freakouts). First beach day of the travels...start as you mean to go on I guess!
