I´m hopeful that tomorrow I´ll actually be able to post some photos on this thing since it will save on a few thousand words. Suffice to say the Galapagos Islands didn´t disappoint in offering an entertaining assortment of fearless creatures (except the crabs - they were the only shy ones). So much so that Jason´s casual warning to Ed of "don´t step on the albatross" was applicable to many other species. While I was quite smitten by the prehistoric iguanas (both marine and land), the millions of sea lions (more affectionately called lobos locally) won a strong place in my heart, especially Bitey, an adolescent who was supremely entertaining at first (although the teeth were unsettling), became vaguely annoying (especially when he chased away a penguin so attention wasn´t diverted from him) like a child who doesn´t know when their audience has tired of their cuteness.
Our ship was the Sulidae, a 110 year old sailing boat which looked like a pirate ship and came complete with pirate flag. It really was lovely, and I´m sure others on other vessels were jealous. One thing I wasn´t quite expecting was how far apart the islands actually are, and how much time it takes to sail between them. Fortunately a lot of the travelling happened at night, which left the days free for exploring, and the nights for trying not to fall out of bed. No vomiting was experienced within our group or on our boat however, which was to be commended.
Our guide was certainly friendly, if a little unable to ascertain when the group wanted to move on to the next site. We did find ourselves stranded at one point on an island with no food, water or radio when the scuba group didn´t return (their fates took second place to our own survival concerns) but apparently Kate has a good photo of me flagging down another boat (I´d recently watched Open Water, and thus had learned the stupidity of watching any nearby boat casually depart). Apparently the dinghy lost the scuba divers (who spent half an hour floating in the middle of nowhere - so they really were having an Open Water experience) for a while.
The crew were an entertaining bunch, with a great cook (in a tiny kitchen) and a bartender/all-rounder who saw himself as the Arthur Fonzarelli of the group. Tune in again for more info on our travel mates, who were an entertaining assortment of stereotypes from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, UK, USA, Canada, Israel and Italy.
