Galapagos Islands
Located 1,000 km from the Ecuadorian mainland, the archipelago consists of 13 major islands,5 of which are inhabited. Scientists are still faced with the mystery of how such a large diversity of species could develop in a remote location like the Galapagos Islands. Charles Darwin was one of the first to visit the Galapagos Islands as he was fascinated by the natural History of the archipelago. His stay gave him the impetus to develop his famous Theory of Evolution.
Map of the Galapagos Islands
Our flight from Lima was none eventful, from the second we stepped off the plane the wild life appeared. Iguanas where on the runway waiting to greet us. We had booked accommodation on Santa Cruz for the first few nights. On the drive from the Airport to Santa Cruz we saw a number of very large tortoises on the road. I am already impressed.
Very quickly we booked our boat tour, we had been told to wait until we got to the island to book the tours as other travellers had picked up last min boat tours for half the price. We were lucky and got our tour for a very good price at least at a 30% discount. The tour included three nights, four days out on a catamaran visiting a the islands it alsoincluded two days on Isabella Island.
We had a wonderful time on Isabella, we went to a breading centre for Tortoises, saw flamingos in their natural environment. Went snorkelling out at shark island (Tintoreras) saw lots of fish, swam with the seals and saw hundreds of iguanas plus a large number of baby iguanas. The bird life was plentiful, Great Blue Herons, Darwin Finches and Cormorants to name a few. We trekked out to the wall of tears, from 1945-1959, a penal colony hosted prisoners who were forced to build this wall, stone by stone, in isolation. This now historical site (El Muro de las Lágrimas), towering at 65 feet (25m) high, took the lives of thousands during its construction. Locals claim to hear cries emanating from the heavy energy surrounding the site. There are a number of different walks you can do on Isabella island, you can also visit Ecuador and Wolf Volcano. We had a great few days on Isabelle island. Oh and the Pina colada’s were very nice.
Some of the wildlife we saw
One of the evening when we were on Isabella Island all the locals took part in the local Christmas parade. Everyone went to a lot of effort to dress up.
Our boat trip was fantastic, the boat, the crew, the other passengers the food and the daily itinerary was all wonderful. Each day we did at least two snorkels or dives in different spots, we also had a daily trip onto each islands. Our boat took us from Santa Cruz island onto Santa Fe, from here to Floreana Island, then San Cristobal to Baltra. Each day was amazing and brought more exciting things for us to discover. The wild life on land and sea is the best I have ever seen anywhere in the world. Here is a list of everything we saw.
Bachelor Sea Lions, Darwin Finches, Yellow-crowned night-herons, Galapagos Penguin, Blue-footed Boobies, Flightless Cormorants, Sting Rays, Green Sea Turtles, Marine Iguanas, Pelicans, Giant Tortoises, Land Iguanas, Great Blue Herons , Flamingo’s, Galapagos Hawks, Albatross, Frigate Birds, Hammer Heads sharks and white tipped reef sharks. It truly is a wonderful place. I hope my pictures can give you some idea of how amazing it was, mind you a picture can only tell so much.
We had a few days left in Santa Cruz before the end of our time in the Galapagos. We went to the Charles Darwin research station, it is an interesting place but is a bit run down. One of the most beautiful beaches in the Galapagos is Tortuga Bay, the water is turquoise and the sand white, we had a beautiful day here.
We had a lovely meal with Rhiann and Cinthia at a restaurant called Angermeyer, it is on the water and the food was very good. Our other favourite eating place was Galapagos Deli, fresh bread is baked here every day and every meal we had here was great.
The Galapagos Islands are absolutely amazing and I would encourage everyone to visit if they can.