We stood at the bow of the Amigo and watched on as the sun began to rise. In the west, pinks melted into baby blues and the moon, still riding high in the sky, began to fade. The first golden rays illuminated the underbellies of the clouds, turning them a deep, almost angry, purple in colour. A turtle swam lazily by as the huge black silhouettes of the ever present frigate birds circled the boat looking for an easy meal. A sealion surfaced nearby, scrutinising the newcomers before rolling effortlessly away in search of something more worthy of it's time.....we had arrived in the Galapagos and already we were stunned.
Twenty four hours before being treated to our first Galapagos sunrise we had just finished a rather odd breakfast of tuna and peas on our flight and, having collected our bags from what loosely passed as an airport, were standing outside in the searing heat marvelling at the fact everybody else seemed to have tour guides collecting them. Not for the first time we seemed to be the only people going it alone! Thankfully, as is usually the case somebody is up for making a quick buck and within a few minutes of looking confused a chirpy chappy approached us with an offer of a spot on a boat sailing immediately. Luckily for us he went on to explain...the recent earthquake in Chile and the resulting Tsunami warning for the Galapagos islands meant lots of people had cancelled and lost their deposits so we could get a better deal. Mmmm, Tsunami warning we thought, that one passed us by! By now everyone else had left the airport and since we figured the safest place to be in a Tsunami (apart from elsewhere) is out at sea we entered into a brief spell of haggling, agreed a decent price and sealed the deal, praying all the while to the patron saint of backpackers that we had made the right decision....
After parting with a big stack of our hard earned cash we were picked up in a small dingy and shuttled out to our boat.  We spotted it almost immediately, standing out as it did against all its swish and swanky counterparts....glances were exchanged, reassurances given...'looks aren't important' we nervously chuckled....
We needn't have worried though. Despite looking like Captain Pugwash's tug boat from the outside, inside everything was perfect. Our cabin had a huge double bed, two massive windows and a steaming hot shower.....better than most hotels we have stayed in! After dropping off our bags, meeting our fellow ship mates and polishing off a tasty lunch we were whisked back to dry land to visit the Charles Darwin Research Centre and the famous Giant Tortoises who call this place home. After saying hi to Lonesome George who is the last of his species and therefore doomed to extinction (unless they clone him or find a suitable lady wandering about the islands) we moved on to Super Diego, aptly named given he was found hiding in San Diego Zoo and since his return has pretty much single handedly kept 12 lady tortoises in fertilized eggs. The Don Juan of the tortoise world!
Back on the boat the Chef was serving up another huge feast....how he rustled up such fantastic meals in a kitchen the size of a broom cupboard whilst the boat was rocking from side to side was beyond us! One thing was for sure though, we would be gaining a few extra pounds
Late that evening whilst everyone slept we set sail for Isla Floreana, our first real stop. Bright and breezy we were dropped off by the dingy on the beach of Punta Cormorant which, strangely enough, didn't appear to have any birds from which it's name was derived. After seeing the reason we came to the island....Flamingos of all things, we headed to the beach, picking our way through scores of small stranded electric blue jelly fish and bright red crabs, down to the shoreline to spot stingrays in the surf.
We were eager to check out what was hiding beneath the waves and soon enough we were donning our masks and fins and heading off around Champion Islet. Along the way we bumped into several small White Tip and Galapagos Sharks, a couple of huge turtles, thousands of brightly coloured fish and several large Sealions. There was also one curious baby sealion who, under the ever watchful gaze of mum, swam playfully with us for a while, blowing bubbles and generally showing off for the camera. Even a juicy jellyfish sting around the neck couldn't dampen our spirits, it was fantastic!
 We ended our first day with a visit to Post Office Bay, an old whalers station where traditionally sailors would leave letters for their loved ones and returning sailors would collect and hand deliver them. The tradition still survives today, only now it's tourists leaving postcards for other tourists to ferry home. Most of the cards were destined for America and all sported lovely, tasteful pictures of the wildlife....well at least until we added a few of our own to the pile. Ours included several crass cards we had picked up in Los Angeles but had never got around to posting...well at least we saved on stamps! If a stranger knocks on your door with a postcard you will know why!
Back on the good ship Amigo and yet another dinner put to bed we set off on the long voyage to Isla Espanola. The crossing was very choppy and everyone retired to bed early, most feeling a little green. We had our first important maritime lesson that evening....it is best to take a shower when the boat is not moving, unless of course you enjoy ending up in a soapy pile on the floor outside the shower.
We woke early the next morning to sparkling views of Isla Espanola and were soon disembarking at Punta Suarez where we carefully picked our way through lazy Sealions and tons of Christmas Iguanas. It was impossible to take a photo without any wildlife in it and you had to pay real close attention to avoid standing on a baby sealion, they were everywhere! Like London pigeons! After heading to the cliffs to check out the nesting Nazca Boobies and their rather ugly chicks we spent half an hour trying to get a photo of a blow hole before heading back to the boat and off to Gardner Bay.
Gardner Bay has to be one of the most amazing beaches we have ever been on. Not only is it perfectly clean with silky soft sand that goes on forever, you actually share it with a huge colony of stinky, belching Sealions. Most of the time they don't mind sharing, however get too close and they will give you a quick bellow resulting in yet more girly squeals from yours truly. After taking far too many photos we found a baby sealion who wanted to play chase and copy cat....strictly speaking you are supposed to stay two meters away from all the animals but this little fella was determined to break all the rules....it was priceless! We could have spent days on this island, but park rules gave us three hours....we loved every second.
We somehow survived another bumpy overnight steam to San Cristobel although everything in our cabin ended up on the floor, with the exception of us....that, and the fact we managed to sleep through most of it, was a small miracle in itself!
Another early start saw us circling Kicker Rock in the boat spotting Manta Rays, and Turtles before we headed to Isla Lobos. Here we got up real close to nesting Frigates and their fantastically red-coloured inflatable throat pouches. A quick snorkel with more Turtles and some rather indifferent Marine Iguanas and we were off to port for a visit to the Interpretation Centre and some free time for shopping. It actually ended up being a bit like a school trip to a museum, the minute the teacher turns their back everyone scarpers. Being the proverbial science nerds though we of course read every exhibit, seriously eating into our shopping time....not to worry though as we saved just enough time to squeeze in that all important beer...
After another evening of sailing and rolling around our cabin we reached Isla Seymour Norte where yet more Frigate birds, Land Iguanas, and Boobies awaited us. We were even lucky enough to see a Blue Footed Boobie mating dance which really does verge on the comical....it involves plenty of whistling and honking interspersed with odd overemphasised slow motion walks and the exchange of completely useless twigs...Boobies....you gotta love em! As we were returning to our boat three huge sharks began circling us....we tried to persuade the guide to let us get in but to no avail, unsure as to whether he was more afraid of us being eaten or of our timetable slipping! Either way we resorted to dangling the camera underwater in an attempt to get a good photo, all the while slightly nervous that a flapping hand might be a tempting morsel for a hungry shark! | 