Join Us on Our Galapagos Vacation
Two Sea Lions Curled Up Together
My mother loved to travel and often took us on family vacations. She has since passed on, but I like to think she traveled with us. Too often, people wait too long to take a dream trip. We've been waiting two years for ours. Come travel with us.
Guayaquil, Ecuador Night Skyline
We arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador late at night.
Sea Lion Napping on Our Tender
This is our mode of travel, but without the sea lion.
Young Sea Turtle Swimming Galapagos Islands is considered a national park with a very interesting history. It served as a pirates hideout due to the morning mists from the currents, a whaler's paradise due to whales, a penal colony, and finally a protected wildlife sanctuary. Animals have no fear of humans since they are neither hunted or harassed. The finches will land right next to you for a crumb from your sandwich.
The Island of Floreana could be its own mystery novel. Back in the seventies, nine people chose to live there, only one remains, and she's a little fuzzy about the details about what happened to everyone else. A few of the islands have human populations, but must rely on supplies from Ecuador. Conservation is number one consideration with no plastic bottles in Galapagos. They have machines that dispense water and coffee, but a customer must provide their own container. All soda and water are in glass bottles.
The Island of Floreana could be its own mystery novel. Back in the seventies, nine people chose to live there, only one remains, and she's a little fuzzy about the details about what happened to everyone else. A few of the islands have human populations, but must rely on supplies from Ecuador. Conservation is number one consideration with no plastic bottles in Galapagos. They have machines that dispense water and coffee, but a customer must provide their own container. All soda and water are in glass bottles.
Morning Mist
There are so many incredible animals in the Galapagos including sea lions, penguins, iguanas, flamingoes, sea turtles, and gIant tortoise to name a few. (Only 1 in 1000 baby sea turtles actually reaches the sea.)
There are all sorts of birds including the famous blue footed booby, Darwin Finches, pelicans, gulls, Galapagos Hawk, and the Frigate Bird. If anyone remembers Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds movie, it will give you a feel what it was like visiting the island where all the huge, black frigate birds filled the sky crying their slightly eerie call. Thankfully, they didn't attack and there were plenty of fluffly baby frigates to ooh and ah over. A baby is anywhere from twelve to eighteen inches long.
There are all sorts of birds including the famous blue footed booby, Darwin Finches, pelicans, gulls, Galapagos Hawk, and the Frigate Bird. If anyone remembers Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds movie, it will give you a feel what it was like visiting the island where all the huge, black frigate birds filled the sky crying their slightly eerie call. Thankfully, they didn't attack and there were plenty of fluffly baby frigates to ooh and ah over. A baby is anywhere from twelve to eighteen inches long.
Fluffy Baby Frigate Bird
For those of you planning a similar trip, I should warn you about lots of hiking, speeding around in inflatable boats and wet landings. Wet landings are where you jump out of the boat and wade to shore. Dry landings are where you jump out of a rocking boat and hope you hit land. We fared well. No sun burn, no bug bites, and over six hundred photos.
The Yellow Warbler
Scott planting a tree. Our bucket list trip to Galapagos really stretched our horizons and forced us to remember our high school Spanish. We saw animals up close, snorkeled, and kayaked. We planted trees to help rebuild forests crowded out by invasive species. One of the invasive species was surprisingly blackberry brambles. The blackberries were brought by immigrants from Ecuador hoping to grow familiar berries.
It's an amazing experience to walk through a field of migrating giant tortoises. Our guide told us once a tortoise reaches a hundred years, it refuses to migrate since they always come back to the same place in the spring. Wisdom comes with age.
It's an amazing experience to walk through a field of migrating giant tortoises. Our guide told us once a tortoise reaches a hundred years, it refuses to migrate since they always come back to the same place in the spring. Wisdom comes with age.
Turtle and Me
Here is Galapagos Most Photographed Resident
The Blue Footed Booby
Color is very important to attract a mate. Boobies with the bluest feet attract the most mates. It's the same with the Sally Go Lightly Crab. The brighter the color, the more chance a female crab will notice it.
Sally Go Lightly Crab
Galapagos Islands Park allows only so many visitors per year, so we feel extremely lucky to visit in our lifetime. We were on a small craft with only ninety-four guests. Most everyone flew in from Quito. We were the only ones to fly in from Guayaquil. For a few hours, we were the only guests on the boat. :)
Enjoying being the only people on the boat. LOL
Some of the Islands are still forming, which explains the lava fields. This one is 130 years old, but we did witness a smoking vent.
Standing in the Lava Fields
Galapagos is on the West Side of Ecuador, which makes for Great Sunsets.
Sun Setting over the Sea
Hope you enjoyed your trip to Galapagos.
San Cristobal Sign
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