The Galapagos Islands-Ecuador

!Buenós dias¡ Today dad and I finished our 5 day trip through the beautiful Galapagos Islands! We went on a boat cruise that took us from Santa Cruz island to Bacha Beach, North Seymour Island, Santa Fe, Española Island, Floreana Island and then back to Santa Cruz Island.
It was a fantastic trip even though I feel like I´m still on the boat from all the swaying over the last 5 days. The flight over to the islands went smoothly and I remember my first reaction when we first saw the islands as we flew over. Is this the Galapagos Islands?! It looks like a desert! I had expected the place to be overwelmed by luscious fouliage and trees!

We entered Baltra airport which used to be used for US military base. However most of the islands we visited were quite barren as this time of the year the trees lose their leaves even though the rain was well and truely present almost everyday we were there.

Some of the best highlights on this trip would first and foremost be witnesssing nature and the beautiful animals that can only be seen in the wild there. We saw blue-footed boobies, magnificent Friggate birds, many sea lions, land & marine iguanas, hawks, penguins, mockingbirds and much more!

As we walked through the Islands it was amazing to witness how natural everything is, we saw a baby sealion that was dying from a shark attack and it will be left to die in order to keep up with the circle of life. It was very saddening at the time since it was only a baby.
Snorkelling was also fantastic! Marine life we saw included many colourful fish, star fish (yellow, red, blue), sting ray, white tip (vegetarian) shark, turtle, jelly fish, and the best of all the playful sea lions at Española Island at Gardners Bay! I hope the photos we took come out! I really regret not buying another underwater camera on the boat we took because the last time we snorkelled it was so shallow and the colours of the fish and the coral were breathtaking! I´m going to try and get some shots from the people we toured with.
The tourists on the boat were really nice and many were again from Australia! More than half in fact! There were 5 that were about 18 years that were volunteers staying in Ecuador. They worked in local schools and one worked in a juvenille prison as a baker! Unfortunately he got his headphones stolen as a going away present! :(

We also played soccer on the 2nd last day but unfortunately the boat crew were too good. We played pretty hard on the sandy soil and didn´t do too badly condsidering we´d only got the team together that day. I was the only girl on the team.
Today the last day of our trip we visited the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz Island and saw the Massive Galapagos Turtles in captivity as well as the breeding programs with all the tiny Galapagos turtles that were only 2-4 years! So so cute!
The weather was quite warm and mostly cloudy on the last three days with patches of rain and shine coming through parts of the day. The average temp was 30 degrees.
The food on board the Floreana boat was yummy all round! With the crew being very helpful and friendly.
All round we had a great trip and met some friends on the boat and our animal friends on land too! Absolutely amazing! I´ll definately be returning again soon! I hear May is the best time to go, according to our guide since it´s in between the two seasons.