22 - 28 Sep - In the Galapagos

I will not do a day by day account of the Galapagos neither will I do an animal by animal account cos then I would be here forever we saw so much.

Would you believe it, I come half way round the world to sail in a tiny boat only for there to be another person on board called Flora. Yes two Floras in one boat in the Galapagos what are the chances of that. She is English and has a very good right hook from hitting all the idiots who made fun of our fabulous name.

The 7 nights of the cruise were spent sailing between 8 of the Galapagos islands. We saw lava fields, mangrove lagoons, tropical beaches, Volcanoe craters, the highlands with forrested areas and lots of mad cactii all over the place.

Each day we would have two shore visits at different locations on the various islands. The first day was spent on the main island Santa Cruz at the Darwin Centre, which luckily they stopped their strike for one day, for us to go (well I like to think it was for us to go but probably completly unrelated).

The museum at the Darwin Centre gives you a feel for what you are about to see, giant tortoises, green and yellow land iguanas, and many birds flying around.

The town Porto Ayora wasn`t what I expected. There were tourist shops but they were really tasteful, full of really nice ornaments, jewelry and fantasic wooden carving of the animals some 3 feet tall - couldn`t carry, or afford such luxuries so had to leave the giant wooden tortoise behind calling after me to give them a home.

That afternoon we went to the highlands where we saw the giant tortoises in the wild, just munching on some grass. Obviously they didn`t run away from us but neither did they hide in their shells, I suppose at nearly 5 feet long and 4 feet wide, weighing up to 600 lbs it would have taken a lot to shift one of these things.

They are prehistoric looking, watching then walk is hilarious cos not only do they go so slowly but they also make amazing noises. The grunts are expected but the creaking of the shell and the leathery skin is somewhat of a surprise. Then exausted, after walking at least 2 steps they flop onto the ground with a heavy sigh.

I had to appologise to one that I wasn`t laughing at him I was laughing with him.

We spotted the red vermillion fly catcher a tiny bird with a bright red chest, and the yellow wareller as the name suggests bright yellow.

Other bird watching trips we watched the mating dance of the albatros. These are huge birds in flight are very elegant, however on the ground prancing around, slapping beaks and ducking and diving they aren`t so glamerous. We watched numerous boobie species, the blue footed ones with mad bright blue feet, Nasca boobies which have green feet but alas we didn´t see the red footed ones.

Following the ship, and perched upon the mast were magnificient friggate bird, huge black birds, the male with a red pouch under it´s beak. When flying it`s wings resemble a teryadactyl - quite frightening the first time you see them.

One evening sail the boat crossed the equator twice, once going from South to North then round the island and back over again (I put that in just in case you thought the captain was a bit drunk on the cocktail we enjoyed while crossing the equator). We all crammed into the bridge to watch the GPS go to down 0.00.000 and then back up to show us crossing the great divide. We even got a wee certificate, signed by the Captain, to prove we have crossed the equator - I`ll treasure that forever.

For me the highlight of the trip was all the snorkling - most days we got to snorkle off a beach or the pangas and each time we saw completely different things. The coral, brown, pink, yellow, orange and purple was amazing, so amazing that I banged my head on an overhang as I gawped at brightly coloured coral on the other side.

Hundreds of different fish of every colour swam past. Shaols of tiny silver fish glinting in the filtering sunlight like a massive glitter ball. Fantastic black, blue, purple, orange, pink and that`s all on one fish swimming by. I got a bit excited at one particularly ugly green bladder fish with spiky teeth I nearly choaked on water pouring in.

There were many different star fish and sea urchins. One star fish was yellow with brown blobs on it and is imaginatively called the chocolate chip star fish. The sea urchins were as varied as the fish, white, green, brown and my favourite the black pencil urchins, which have 8 inch long spikes which take on a bluish colour in the sunlight.

The sea lions would positively frolic in the water with us, getting really close and actually nipping the other Flora, fortunately she had a wetsuit on so no damage. We all wore wetsuits cos it was really cold in the water. I don`t know why but I thought islands on the Equator would be boiling, not so as for 6 months of the year the ocean currents are from the Antartic and the water is cold - it`s not cos we`re big girls.

The highlights must have been the giant sea turles, as big as the tortoises on land, swiming past us unconcerned by our presence, chomping on the coral. If you got too close they would, with a flick of a flipper, zoom away far too fast for us to follow.

The first time we saw a shark was really quite scary. Monica, the guide, took us to an area known for white tipped reef sharks (they are about 5 feet long and look pretty menacing), she went into the water first and told us there were two. Matt one of the guys on board was worried that he had cut his finger on his flipper and the shark might smell the blood - none of us could see the cut! However, into the water we all went and the sharks were hidden under some rocks - a safe distance for me. However Monica dived down to them and frightened them into storming off towards us sending us all into a panic. Fortunately they were more scared than us (if possible) and they swam around us and off into the deep.

We got to see many more sharks both snorkling and from the pangas - they are so cool I must have taken hundreds of photos.

A mention has to be made of the Galapagos Penguins - they are tiny only 2 feet tall and out of the water very timid running (or rather waddling) into the caves in the lava formations when we approached. Quite a different story in the water, they pecked at our flippers and caused quite a storm. While snorkling back to the beach round a rock outcrop, I turned the corner only to be met by 20 pengiuns swimming past. These guys can really move and those wee sharp beaks zooming towards you at speed are really quite scary.

On our last morning we went for a panga ride in a Mangrove Lagoon and as usual saw sharks and turtles lounging in the warm shallows, however we also saw an Eagle Ray which was small, with the square ray shape, it was black with tiny white spots all over it`s back - it was really graceful and beautiful a lovely end to our cruise.

The cruise had been fab, the crew were really nice, Richard the waiter and general attendant kept the place really nice making oragami animals out of the napkins and our towels. Monica the guide was great, she really knew her stuff and all the best places to snorkle and see wild life. I also must mention that we were really fortunate in the others on board. They were all really nice, one day we bumped into a group of really loud hideous Americans and we all counted our blessing that we didn`t end up on that boat - I would have thrown myself overboard rather than go through all the group photos they insisted on taking.

If you have the chance go to the Galapagos they are the best.