Evolution baby

There had been a lengthy debate leading up to this year-long jaunt; if we were to allow ourselves one big ticket item, out of two very special places – The Galapagos Islands or Antarctica, which would we choose?

Both had pretty compelling cases – the home of evolution vs perhaps the world’s final frontier? In the end – timing and the equivalent cost of a decent car ruled out our quest to the South Pole behind a pack of huskies (aka on a comfortable 10 day cruise).

Even so, the Galapagos had seemed like a pipe dream right up until we got on the plane. We locked in 12 days, with eight of those spent on a cruise, island-hopping.

Before getting on the boat we had a day in Puerto Ayora – the ‘big smoke’ of the Galapagos, which is tourist mecca – launch pad to the islands and where you can pick up your ‘I love boobies’ (of the blue-footed variety) paraphernalia. A stroll to the nearby Tortuga bay whet the appetite for what was to come; weird and wonderful animals including marine iguanas, pelicans, sharks and of course numerous khaki-clad Americans wielding enormous lenses.

Marine Iguana

Pelican aka 'Teradactal'

Lining up for a taste of day's catch

The next day we embarked on our tour with 10 other backpackers from Spain, Germany, Norway, England, Switzerland and Chile and friendly crew of five lads and our hard-case guide, Ivan - the environmental warrior. We were grateful for having stocked up on seasickness tabs as night one was almost as violent as an overnight bus in Bolivia sans the live chickens.

Our trusty ship: "King of the Sea"

For the unacquainted – the Galapagos is a bunch of volcanic islands 1000kms off the coast of Ecuador. The reason that the environmentalists, animal lovers etc get so excited about it, is due to a bunch of factors – isolation, cold-water current and the volcanic land make for a unique and perfect place for wildlife to adapt and thrive. This combo makes for tourism-mecca, with hordes arriving every day (mostly in camo and more often than not, Americans).

It's fair to say, the hype was warranted – the landscapes were otherworldly and the animals awe-inspiring and incredible to get up close and personal with. We spent our days on a eat/sleep/snorkel/walk schedule and even Hayley caught the evolution bug – graduating from snorkeling-phobe to snorkeling-fiend. Oh how Darwin would be proud.

It was a snap-happy few days so we will let the pics do the talking and the superlatives simply don’t do the place justice… (and thanks to Aritz Ranero Gulliver aka "España" for lending us some of his fabulous pics to include in this blog). Also - if you make it to the bottom, there will be a video as reward for your efforts!

Isla Sombrero Chino

Blue-footed boobie (photo credit = Aritz)

Sealion

Frigate

Iggy the marine Iguana

Hawk (photo credit = Aritz)

'new lava' - its only 125 years old!


Lava lizard

Norwegian lava lizards

Aritz, Hayley, Sophie y John

Oyster catcher (photo credit = Aritz)

Our cosy cabin

Scared turtle

Street furniture is made for sealions in the Galapagos

Being taken for a spin by the Captain

Hayley, Sarah, John y Sophie

Turtlehead (photo credit = Aritz)

Got something on your face mate

Tortuga


The famous finches

Frigate trying to woo the babes

Flamingos


HPL's birthday cake

30th party celebrations


One of these things just doesn't belong here

Team shot

Paparazzi

Lady frigate on the move

As a lot of the action was underwater, check out this moving-picture of our antics!

Thanks for making it all the way to the end. . .