THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS.

Once I met up with the others who were on the same trip we were taken to the tortoise sanctuary, where we met the tortoises. Some of these critters can weigh up to 400kg and live for 200yrs!! The reason their numbers were decimated was due to sailing ships taking them on board as fresh meat, apparently these giant tortoises can live for up to a year without food or water, ( they store water in their shells, a bit like camels with their humps) The breeding programme and their re-introduction back to their origional habitat means they are surviving.
We then walked through a lava cave caused by ...yip.. lava. Once the lava is exhausted there often is a blast of gas which blows out the remaining lava thus leaving a cave, this one was large big enough to drive a double decker bus through (unless you are a woman of course !). I have not included any photos of the cave as caves tend not to photograph very well ( something I have in common with them!)
Next we went to to boat to unload our kit & have our tea, at about 6.30 I am pleased to report.
After a spot of shopping for provisions for the trip ( beer mostly ) we left Porto Ayora at 12pm and began to motr toward our first site of interest. A bright starry sky with a gabbon moon and a idle sea, I stayed up for a while enjoying the moment.

Out first stop was Santiago Island one of the larger ones where we went ashore and saw some sealions and then walked over and I saw a Marine Iguana, I was quite pleased to have the chance to photogragh one, asI was unaware that they are everywhere, albeit with different colouring on each island. We then had the opportunitly to snorkle, it was a bit rough & my mask leaked so I did not stay in for terrible long, then round the point to snorkle some more , this time to see sharks, Edwardo Scotland ( for that was our guides name) told me not to touch the sharks ( what not even a playfull wrestle !) a warning which proved to be without need as I never saw any ( secretly this was not a disappointment!).

These Marine Iguanas feed off black algiae apparently and unlike their land cousins are plentyfull. The land ones have been almost eradicated due to the ravages of feral dogs ( introduced by man).

We left Santiago and motored to Bartholemew Island where we had our tea, again at 6.30. unfortunately it became very calm and the mossies came out, just as I was reducing my scratching of my flea bites I am all bitten again, the rest of them do not seem affected at all!

This is a baby sealion which is unfazed by close contact with humans.. as are most of the animals, as you can see from the photos you can walk up very near to them... perhaps it is because they have never seen a Glaswegian before... especially one which is white as snow and covered in bright red spots. I am surprised they do not consider I am the harbinger of some virulant disease from the old world.

This is the Island of Santiago again which suffered the most recent volcanic activity, only 125 yrs ago, huge areas of lava fields. As you can see there is a very strange tower on the other island just behind the boat, Edwardo could´nt explain that. The Galapagos are not on one of the cracks in the earths plates, it just seems there is a thinness of the earths crust where volcanic activity seeps through from time to time.

Great beach below where turtles lay their eggs, then when they hatch the frigate birds swoop and gobble them all up... you must have seen it on TV.

As you can see one of the turtles is desperate to get a better view of a rarely sighted "weegie"

We walked up this small volcano one afternoon, one of the few I managed. Not very interesting but good view from the top.

On the right hand bay of the island below we did a bit of snorkling which was fine, plenty of fish . Snorkling is great if you like looking at fish, seeing them up to their fishy ways, and it has to be said these chaps were particularly colourfull, unfortunately I do not have an underwater camera so you will just have to close you eyes and imagine lots off highly coloured haddock up to 3ft long in some cases. I had a nasty scare whilst looking at the fish, huge black aquatic animal surged beneath me, only a couple of feet away, WHAT THE F...... sealion that gave me a fright.

The seals will not get out of the way as we try to jump back on the tender.

In the salon of the boat Zolan ( can you guess which one he is ?) explained the history of Croatia to us all the way from 1101 untill the present day, with of course particular reference to the Balkans conficty of the 90´s. Its to long to go into here but when I arrive back in Glasgow and u would like the facts in detail do give me an email..



I wonder if any of you girlies would like to have been enclosed in a confined space with these Aussies for any length of time ? They were A bit too well dressed if you ask me ... but then again I looked like ´Man at Matalan´myself, even worse actually, I looked like ´Man at Matalan´who had shopped in a hurry!

The seals are sitting out of the shade in the bus shelter, and I would´nt be surprised if they later caught a bus somewhere.

On Monday morning ( day 4 of our 4 day trip) we were woken at 6am and on the boat to see the turtles at 6.10.am. Saw a few turtles but rather pointless trying to photo them in the water, back to the boat for breakfast and them dumped on the quay side at 8.15am ( an this was classified as a day of our trip ) Needless to say I felt I was done, so only limited tip left!!

Back to Porto Ayora for a few days, quite an attractive wee place by Ecuadorian standards and home to some 10,000 of them, The whole pop. of the Galapagos is 16,000.

Hope You enjoy the Photies. Glad to hear you made it back ok Cameron, see you soon.