The Galapagos Islands: Booze, boats, and boobies!

Flew from Quito to Baltra island in the Galapagos.... all the way out in the middle of the ocean! Made my way to the tiny boat that we would call home for the next 4 days (Mars and mom - you would have been mucho sea sick.. about half the boat was, but not me and my iron stomach). Even on the short journey to the boat, it was evident why the Galapagos Islands are truly unique in the world. There was exotic wildlife wandering around EVERYWHERE.... completely unconcerned with the human activity around them. Within my first few hours around Santa Cruz Island, I walked by massive marine iguanas catching some sun on the sidewalks, bright red crabs on the rocks, blue-footed boobies dive bombing for fish, and a few sea lions taking a nap on the park benches!

The next four days consisted of island hopping on the boat to see different islands that each had its own individual landscapes and resident animals, then going back to the boat each night for drinks and sleep. It was amazing to see how each island was so different given that they were all in such close proximity to one another, and also amazing to see no human inhabitants, as all but 3 islands are deemed national park reserves. Through our travels we saw giant galapagos tortoises (in the Darwin research centre), reef sharks, huge eagle rays, frigate birds mating, sea turtles mating (tis the season!), fur seals, dolphins, giant iguanas, star fish, and about a billion species of birds, fish, and plants. In the Darwin Centre, we saw a turtle named ´Lonesome George´who has now become the symbol of animal extinction. Hunters and pirates hunted all of the turtles on these islands, and most have been brought back from the brink of extinction. However George´s species only lived on one island and they were completely wiped out. George is believed to be the very last one of his kind and has been alone for the past 30 years and refusing to mate with other closely related species. Thus, once he dies, his kind will be extinct... very sad but a great lesson in conservation.

But by far and away the highlight of this trip for me was getting to snorkel with the sea lions. As I said, the sea lions have no fear of humans and we can just (respectfully) walk up to them on the beaches and they just stare at you then go back to sleeping or playing. Twice we had the opportunity to snorkel near the rocks where they lay out in the sun. On the first snorkeling trip, one sea lion jumped into swim with us and he just danced around the water and was curiously looking at us. It was quite an unreal experience, but the best one came the next day... A few of us went snorkeling and there were about 3 sea lions playing in the water. After exploring the reefs for a while, I went back to the are where the sea lions were and was swimming alone when 5 or 6 of them came swimming up to me. The water here is very shallow (about 2.5 feet max) and the tide was coming in which created waves. I swam with them and they floated around me and swam right up to my mask... one even put his nose and whiskers to my hand underwater! Once the waves picked up, a started body surfing the waves and had them all joining me on either side (thanks Dave for teaching me how to body surf)! It was completely unreal that humans could swim with these animals in the wild in their natural habitat, within inches of your face and flippers. Totally worth every penny for this trip... you should all make a point to go here on your travels before you die!