Galápagos is an archipelago of volcanic islands that never been merged with the mainland...hence its individual character.
Galapagos lie on "90' North longitude and 0' latitude".
Positioned 926km from the Ecuadorian coast on Pacific.
Galapagos were created
from underwater volcanic eruption that over milion years ago
eventually emerged on the surface. There are 16 islands and all of
them are with many volcanic craters. The land is specific, volcanic
and any life here had to adjust to raw survival conditions.
Charles Darwin got interested in them and proved his evolution theory ("Theory of the Evolution of Species", 1859) using the flora and fauna from here...
All the reptiles:
iguanas and tortoises arrived on somewhat natural materials like
pieces of wood, grass...swept by the sea and sail accros the ocean.
Reptiles can survive even months without water or food, hence they
made their way to the archipelago.
Galapagos lie on "90' North longitude and 0' latitude".
Positioned 926km from the Ecuadorian coast on Pacific.
We have "only" 11 days of fun on the Islands, out of 18 Islands and many more islets, we tried to visit many and either by boat cruise or by diving expeditions...
1) Bahía (Bay) Tortuga, Santa Cruz Island
A beautiful bay with big waves, a great spot for surfers. We consider to rent surf boards and have a go on the waves, but eventually we decide to just have a swim and play with waves. It's a long beach with a sand texture close to the flour, light whitish color and very soft....
There is also a mangrove-fringed lagoon where in calm water swim baby sharks, exciting to have them around my feet...2) Floreana Island - 2 dives
Water is a bit murky but we still manage to see: Galapagos shark, white tip shark, turtles, eagle ray, morays.
Sea lions are like water puppies, willing to play with us. 
There are a few Rays that one can see here in Galapagos: Sting ray lies in the sand (on the photo). Eagle ray has white spots on its back. Mobula ray has eyes on the two protruding sticks
Our first meeting with sharks is creating underwater thrill....they are supposed to be nice and not interested in human red flesh... lets see?
3) Seymour Island - 2 dives
After the first dive in Floreana Island we want to dive more and more... trying to forget that dives here are pretty much twice more tan everywhere else we dived!
There is extraordinary abundance of wild life underwater, we see: Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, sleeping in caves white tip sharks, turtles, eagle and sting rays.
There is extraordinary abundance of wild life underwater, we see: Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, sleeping in caves white tip sharks, turtles, eagle and sting rays.
Creatures are very tame, little fear of human on land and in water.
4) Boat Cruise - 3/4 days
Visited Islands: Baltra, Seymour, Santa Cruz, South Plaza, Santa Fe, San Cristobal, Kicker Rock.
Additional islands not visited: Isabela, Ferdinanda, Bartolomeo, Genovesa, Darwin Wall, and some other smaller islets.
On inland expedition of Santa Cruz we see two massive sinkholes in the ground, that are called Los Gemelos (the twins). Formed by collapse of the ground above the empty magma chambers, collapsed due to tectonic movements. So the whole looks like a volcanic crater but it isn't.Los Gemelos is the only place where Scalesia forest (looking like brocolis), endemic to Galápagos, can be observed.
Animals:
We go to Tortoise to see Giant Galapagos tortoise, they are up-to half a ton, live up-to 150 years, and live only on Galapagos Islands. The biggest tortoises in the world.
We have a go to check the view from the tortoise perspective :)
Galapagos Cormorans lost the ability to fly, they don't have predators, live on land like other animals.
Pelicans are everywhere on the islands,fish hunting drop is quite spectacular!
Red Crabs are everywhere...Looks like a good dnner :)
Sea lions are like sea dogs or rather puppies! They are easy to find almost everywhere, on the bank sides in town and of course on the rocks in the ocean. They come very close and especially juvenile want to play, but may bite too not for fun.
Landed on Santa Fe island.
San Cristobal is the capital of Galapagos, we arrive to Punta Pitt in the early morning and go for a little expedition inland on the hill. We landed on the "green" and very shiny beach where the sand is greenish due to basalt mineral.
Another snorkeling in the bay near the Kicker Rock was fun as we see a school of eagle rays, some sting rays and a few turtles.
We are on the San Cristóbal island very briefly where we landed after a dive at the Kicker Rock meet up with sharks!
We have a few treat nights with fancy cocktails...the Budget in Galápagos s broken completely...sniff snifff...
On our last morning of the boat cruise we get picked up by dive boat! That was a super cool way to leave when everyone goes to boring museum and we go to dive with sharks, hehe ;)
PS. See Francois with his shorts over the wetsuit...
OH YES... he looks so cool :) Fashion victim!
6) Gordon Rock, Santa Cruz Island - 2 dives
Getting the gear ready on board...
Supposed to be the most exciting dive due to abundant amount of sharks. Very strong current in any direction and sharks like it strong!
7) On our last day we go to the Charles Darwin Station that is dedicated to help animals: tortoises,various iguanas to breed, especially when some spieces are at risk of surviving due to limited number.
The Little bit of our staff we have...
We have a go to check the view from the tortoise perspective :)
Galapagos Cormorans lost the ability to fly, they don't have predators, live on land like other animals.
Cormorans wings over
time shrank as the birds did not need to fly, lack of predators made
them comfortable on land. They are excellent swimmers that look more
like a sea lion than a bird.
Pelicans are everywhere on the islands,fish hunting drop is quite spectacular!
Red Crabs are everywhere...Looks like a good dnner :)
Land Galapagos Iguanas eat cactus water rich leafs, especially endemic Opuntia cactus (tree alike) and so the cactus leafs are far to reach from the ground. Different islands have different spieces of Land Iguanas, and normally they don't mix.
Marine Iguanas take advanatages of both sea and land. The lizards get the temperature rise on land on the rocks and when their body temperature rise they get themselves in the sea and feed with vegeterian sea weeds. Moving between islands on now submerged rocks.
Hybrid Iguanas are mixture between female terrestrial and male marine iguanas. These are recognised because of their black and grey skin, like a terrestrial iguana, but head and tail like a marine one.
Marine Iguana is warming up on the rocks before heading to chill in the sea...
Our cruise has planned snorkeling expeditions! Thank God as the water is so calling :)
We snorkel in Santa Fe we see: turtle, sea lions, sting ray and eagle ray.
Seeing various Rays from the boat was the nice ut usual view... so spoiled :)We snorkel in Santa Fe we see: turtle, sea lions, sting ray and eagle ray.
Sea lions are like sea dogs or rather puppies! They are easy to find almost everywhere, on the bank sides in town and of course on the rocks in the ocean. They come very close and especially juvenile want to play, but may bite too not for fun.
Sharks and orcas are their predators, so tide-pool is a sheltered nursery for sea lions to play in a protected environment off shore.
Landed on Santa Fe island.
San Cristobal is the capital of Galapagos, we arrive to Punta Pitt in the early morning and go for a little expedition inland on the hill. We landed on the "green" and very shiny beach where the sand is greenish due to basalt mineral.
Another snorkeling in the bay near the Kicker Rock was fun as we see a school of eagle rays, some sting rays and a few turtles.
Behind us is the infamous kicker Rock - a diving super spot.... we go there diving the following day!
Chilling out on our cruise was a great treat!
The Sun Deck was a great treat during the long boat rides between islands...
Somewhere on the Punta Pitt on the San Cristóbal island...
Blue feeted and red feeted Boobies are big attraction on the Galapagos! The name is ironically coming from the Spanish word "bobo" meaning stupid. That is what Spaniards were calling these birds because they were so silly to be taken on the hands and didn't fly away. They are very tame and fearless like many animals on these islands, not scared of humans.
Scientisct were trying to discover why the birds have blue feet and after not finding the reason they realised that why not? Male use the colour to attract female while mating they dance and whistle. Females choose their partner based on intensity of blue feet (most blueish), which is linked to the energy saved in the year.
Boobies fly very well,
once they spot the fish in the water they can dive with up to 60
miles per hour spped. Their head is adjusted to the hit of the water
as other bird could kill itself.
Frigatebirds with red inflatable throat pouches are males which inflate that as a baloon to attract females for mating....
Pinguins arrived here
from Arctica with cold current, they could not expect more different
environment that at their home. The warm weather made them evolve and
so they are much smaller, only c.half a meter height. They stay in
part of the archipelago that has the cold current, tunnel between
Ferdinanda and Isabela. We didn´t make to see them here...boooo!
The boat cruise friends!
Nevermind where we are Francois is daily doing his push-ups...!
We are on the San Cristóbal island very briefly where we landed after a dive at the Kicker Rock meet up with sharks!
We have a few treat nights with fancy cocktails...the Budget in Galápagos s broken completely...sniff snifff...
5) Kicker Rock, San Cristobal Island - 2 dives
On our last morning of the boat cruise we get picked up by dive boat! That was a super cool way to leave when everyone goes to boring museum and we go to dive with sharks, hehe ;)
So, we ride to Kicker Rock (the lion shape rocks emerging from the sea), massive rock out from water made of soft material that falls of in the rain season, so need to pay attention! It's dry now, though.
Sad news... :( on the shore I realised that my super cool pink Asics heart rate watch detached from the backpack and fell into the Pacific...! R.I.P. let it be eaten by some nice sharks ;)
We go down along the wall into the blue.... Swim into the channel between the two rocks, like a valley, just underwater one! We see a few Hammerheads, Galapagos and plenty of White Tip sharks. Looks like we didn't get lucky with the day, we saw many sharks but not like hundreds as there are sometimes.
Sad news... :( on the shore I realised that my super cool pink Asics heart rate watch detached from the backpack and fell into the Pacific...! R.I.P. let it be eaten by some nice sharks ;)
PS. See Francois with his shorts over the wetsuit...
OH YES... he looks so cool :) Fashion victim!
6) Gordon Rock, Santa Cruz Island - 2 dives
Getting the gear ready on board...
Gordon Rocks is an under water inactive volcanic crater, with 3 walls of rocks sticking above the sea level you can spot the circular shape while still on the boat. The current gets inside and circles around making the effect of "washing machine"! We get shaken in each way every couple of seconds, quite mental experience.
We see dozen of white tip sharks, especially when a school of 9 pass in front of our eyes. Plenty of Galapagos sharks - only exhisting here. Those guys are big! Up-to 3-4 m long. The most exciting are
hammerhead scalloped sharks that are not seen in many places in the world, here we see plenty.
Naturally Francois has a nap between dives :)
Our favourite friends... Hammerhead Shark and Galápagos Shark below...
hammerhead scalloped sharks that are not seen in many places in the world, here we see plenty.
Naturally Francois has a nap between dives :)
Our favourite friends... Hammerhead Shark and Galápagos Shark below...
7) On our last day we go to the Charles Darwin Station that is dedicated to help animals: tortoises,various iguanas to breed, especially when some spieces are at risk of surviving due to limited number.
On different islands are different spieces of reptiles that are not mixing between each other and therefore are unique to that island.
Onthe way back we go through the fish market open 24/7! The pelicans and sea lions are trying to get their share :)
Onthe way back we go through the fish market open 24/7! The pelicans and sea lions are trying to get their share :)
The Little bit of our staff we have...
Francois got his Polo T-shirt (lost in Bolivia at Salt desert) replaced with fancy "Dive Crew" red Polo :)