Galapagos!!

Another week, another extreme wildlife experience... fortunately this time they were a much more cuddly and less poisonous bunch, it being the Galapagos Islands, home to many endemic and and extremely tame animals. We were lucky enough to get a good last minute deal on the good ship GALAXY, a first-class yacht complete with proper beds (no bunks!), hairdryer, swan-shaped towels, 5 meals a day, tv and dvd player, and Boggle! It was a 16 person capacity boat but there were only nine of us plus crew and guide Polo. Us two Brits, four Americans, two Germans, and one Peruvian via Long Island. We had four days sailing around four different islands. On arrival on Santa Cruz island I got excited at seeing iguanas, crabs and pelicans and our first sighting of a sealion splashing around in the harbour... little did we know we would soon be suffering sealion fatigue... no not really. But they were certainly the most frequently seen animal on the trip, we even had a little stowaway sealion for one day who lazed about on the deck before hopping off when the engines started. The first day we saw giant tortoises who could actually move pretty fast when they wanted. Then down to the dock to board our yacht which definitely looked a cut above the rusty rest. My sea legs were a bit slow in coming as I felt a little queasy the first night down in our little cabin, as we sailed at night on to our next destination. We arrived the next morning at Floreana Island and disembarked to see flamingos, sealions, sea turtles, and lots of little birds. Then back to the boat and off for a snorkelling trip where we saw lots of fish and some sealions. Then back on board getting ready for lunch and an announcement comes over the tannoy - "Ladies and Gentlemen this is your guide speaking, just to let you know we have dolphins circling the boat", we go running outside to see tens of dolphins swimming along with the boat, including about 6 in a row right under the bow. In the afternoon we visited a look-out point and saw a little Galapagos penguin! Which I was convinced we were not going to see. In fact if our guide had not informed us, I would have just thought it was a duck. On the second day we went to Española Island and did more snorkelling, the first part with sealions, which were supposed to be really friendly and would come up to us and play with our flippers etc, according our guide, but we only had one come up really close, which Tanya promptly scared off with a scream of surprise. The second time we got into the water I looked down and saw two Galapagos sharks right below our feet... I even had my underwater camera with me but I was too scared of potentially kicking the sharks and angering them to take any pictures! Saw lots of pretty fish, more sealions, and a few spotted eagle rays. It was cold water though even with a wetsuit. In the afternoon we visited part of the island with huge marine iguanas, yet more sealions, and lots of birds - the famous blue-footed boobies, albatrosses, nazca boobies, all nesting right on the rocks and you could walk right up to them. We were sitting watching the waves crashing around the rocks when our guide points out a Galapagos Hawk just hovering a metre over our heads. On the last night we sailed all evening to the next island, either the sea was very choppy or our captain was in a hurry or drunk as we hurtled along at full speed with the boat rocking madly. Unsurprisingly everyone started to feel a little seasick, fortunately they waited until we had anchored before serving dinner otherwise none of it would have stayed down. The next and final day it was back to the airport via an uninspiring trip to a visitor centre. Only consolation that we were leaving this animal paradise after four short days was that it was grey and rainy.