Saturday, May 22, 2004
Gorgeous Galapagos
The ghastly English palour has gone and a much more healthy South American colour has taken its place. We´re just back from a day diving in the Galapagos. The diving itself was not too great and this is probably the only place I have dived where the snorkelling has been far better than the diving. But as we were getting out from the second dive we saw the most amazing site...4 killer whales alongside our small boat! They were spectacular. They were very very close indeed and one came up about 3 metres away. No time for cameras, only time to watch in awe at these superb animals.
We have spent the last 2 weeks in the wonderful islands of the Galapagos. It has been like living on a David Attenborough programme. I never expected to see the things we have seen and we have been so lucky as it is mating and hatching season right now. It really has been magical. We spent 8 days on a cruise around various islands with a great guide. The were about 20 of us on the boat and we were superbly looked after. The are too many things to mention, but some of the highlights include seeing baby sea lions suckling from their mothers, frigate birds blowing up their huge red chests into enormous balloons to attract females...the females check out the male with the biggest balloon and choose him. We swam with sea lions which was so much fun; they really are very playful creatures. We found some giant tortoises in the wild..huge things.. about 5 feet long by 3.5 feet wide. Big schools of cownose and eagle rays, a pod of dolphins, white tip sharks, and blue footed boobies rearing their chicks, penguins fishing for food inches from my snorkel mask, albatrosses performing their mating rituals...to name but a very few. One of the staggering things about the Galapagos is the fact that both land and sea animals are not afraid of humans so you are able to walk right up to birds and sea lions..in fact some of the birds nest on the paths and you have to be careful not to step on them.
Another amazing thing is that a lot of the wildlife here is endemic..i.e. it has evolved once it reached the islands, so some of the creatures you see here cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The marine iguanas are only present here, the penguins are the only penguins to be found in the Northern Hemisphere etc. The islands themselves were never part of another land mass. They have all been formed by volcanic action, so that every animal here has arrived from somewhere else and a lot of them evolved to survive the conditions here. The islands are surprisingly varied given the fact that they are all formed by volcanic action. Some are very barren (the most recently formed) with only a few scrubby saltwater shrubs. Others have more lush interiors and fresh water, cacti and beautiful white sand beaches. All this means that every day is different.
The only dodgy incident so far was on a snorkelling trip...Nick and I entered the water in a back roll. I was fine and swam over to Nick, only to see his head absolutely covered in bright red blood - a very big shock all round. Nick was obviously saying everything was OK, but then he couldn`t see that he looked an extra from a horror movie. He managed to get back in the boat to sort out his head (which he had hit on the boat) leaving us to the mercy of the shark infested waters and his blood baiting them in!
We´re off to the Galapagos highlands tomorrow to do some walking then we return to Quito to start our Spanish course for 3 weeks. Quito is spectacularly situated in the middle of the Andes meaning that although it is very close to the equator, the climate is springlike all year round. There is a lot to see around Quito so we´ll be kept busy while not studying.
Hasta luego .. be sure to check out Nick´s report too. See the link to his site from mine.
We have spent the last 2 weeks in the wonderful islands of the Galapagos. It has been like living on a David Attenborough programme. I never expected to see the things we have seen and we have been so lucky as it is mating and hatching season right now. It really has been magical. We spent 8 days on a cruise around various islands with a great guide. The were about 20 of us on the boat and we were superbly looked after. The are too many things to mention, but some of the highlights include seeing baby sea lions suckling from their mothers, frigate birds blowing up their huge red chests into enormous balloons to attract females...the females check out the male with the biggest balloon and choose him. We swam with sea lions which was so much fun; they really are very playful creatures. We found some giant tortoises in the wild..huge things.. about 5 feet long by 3.5 feet wide. Big schools of cownose and eagle rays, a pod of dolphins, white tip sharks, and blue footed boobies rearing their chicks, penguins fishing for food inches from my snorkel mask, albatrosses performing their mating rituals...to name but a very few. One of the staggering things about the Galapagos is the fact that both land and sea animals are not afraid of humans so you are able to walk right up to birds and sea lions..in fact some of the birds nest on the paths and you have to be careful not to step on them.
Another amazing thing is that a lot of the wildlife here is endemic..i.e. it has evolved once it reached the islands, so some of the creatures you see here cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The marine iguanas are only present here, the penguins are the only penguins to be found in the Northern Hemisphere etc. The islands themselves were never part of another land mass. They have all been formed by volcanic action, so that every animal here has arrived from somewhere else and a lot of them evolved to survive the conditions here. The islands are surprisingly varied given the fact that they are all formed by volcanic action. Some are very barren (the most recently formed) with only a few scrubby saltwater shrubs. Others have more lush interiors and fresh water, cacti and beautiful white sand beaches. All this means that every day is different.
The only dodgy incident so far was on a snorkelling trip...Nick and I entered the water in a back roll. I was fine and swam over to Nick, only to see his head absolutely covered in bright red blood - a very big shock all round. Nick was obviously saying everything was OK, but then he couldn`t see that he looked an extra from a horror movie. He managed to get back in the boat to sort out his head (which he had hit on the boat) leaving us to the mercy of the shark infested waters and his blood baiting them in!
We´re off to the Galapagos highlands tomorrow to do some walking then we return to Quito to start our Spanish course for 3 weeks. Quito is spectacularly situated in the middle of the Andes meaning that although it is very close to the equator, the climate is springlike all year round. There is a lot to see around Quito so we´ll be kept busy while not studying.
Hasta luego .. be sure to check out Nick´s report too. See the link to his site from mine.
