Hotel Ninfa Galapagos Puerto Ayora

... most at least 5 feet long and broad, white tipped sharks we were told which meant they were not likely to eat us, at least not today. They probably already had breakfast anyway. I asked if we were snorkeling here, and the horrified response was "no, not here". I paused for a moment, I thought these were harmless, and what a great opportunity, I was disappointed but not for long it seems. Our boat maneuvered backup the bay to a rocky barrier surrounding the bay ...

We rose later than I would have liked, Jody and Niamh were very tired and I couldn't muster them up to go to school. We finally got them on their way about 9-30, school started at 8am. I went with them and our landlady whilst Christie went for a jog, she is really getting back into it now, maybe I should start too. My running gear is in Quito. We arrived at school at break-time, I was introduced to the Principal and the class teacher. The ...

Today we got up about 7am, had a simple breakfast, packed our day bags and left for the dock arriving there at 8am. For some reason there was a delay and our boat didn't turn up until about 8-30am. While waiting, Jody and Niamh went to play with the Sea Lions who were lounging on the harbor stairs while Christie and I watched a wonderful display of aerobatics by three blue footed boobies. These three birds would circle above the boats and then dive in ...

... island was almost entirely lava rock where there had been frequent eruptions with one as recent as a century ago. There was a walkway to the highest point on the island where our guide took us and gave us plenty of talks about the different types of volcanic craters that could be seen, the lava lizards and the strange cactus plants that somehow grew out of the rocks. From the top we could see directly down and anunderwater volcanic crater could be seen, about 30 metres in diameter ...

... a large selection of wellington boots that you could borrow for free. So we took off our trainers and exchanged them for wellingtons. It was an extremely muddy place and it was fortunate that they did supply boots. We were there probably about 20 minutes, enough time to look at the tortoises and a coffee at the restaurant. We exchanged our wellingtons for our trainers, grabbed our bikes and returned up the road to where the lava tunnel turn off was. Fortunately this section ...

... to over 200kg and live as long as 150 years. That&#8217;s as long as the population is decimated by whalers for meat and oil and almost made extinct as it was at the end of the 19th century. Now they are happily breeding and well protected due to the concerted effort of organizations like Charles Darwin, locals, and the Ecuardorian government. <br><br>After we had had a good look around the research centre we returned along the harbor ...

Today we decided we would not do any tours but we had struck up a good relationship with the nearby tour operator. We opted for seeing what tours we could do and compared prices with a few operators. All the operators had similar prices although it was sometimes possible to knock off $5 here or there. Also, we were able to bargain for some tours and get Jody and Niamh at a much discounted price if we persisted. We also struck up a good relationship with a tour guide who was staying ...

... she was in deep discussion with a young man at the ticket desk and she then gave the thumbs up. She ran over to us and dragged me to the sales desk, where she had previously been. Apparently the girl at the sales desk had said to her that if she could convince the guy at the check in desk she would sell us the tickets, and so it proved. I parted with $1000, $360 each for adults, $180 for children. We ran back over to the check-in counter who told us then we had to go to ...

... rooms, kitchen, dining, bar and communal lounge, and a top deck with a total of 3 deck chairs... granted there were only 16 passengers which I think made a good number and the boat turned out to be fine, but it just wasn´t what I imagined in my dreams.<br><br>And the water wasn´t either - it was freezing, 18 or 19 degrees and necessitated wetsuits!!<br><br>Added to that we had a crazy mad professor as a guide, who ...

... It was so appropriate for the moment, kind of like this momentous event, transitioning from my independent trael time on mainland Ecuador to what is going to be my new life on Isabela for the next 4 and half months. So it felt only appropriate to wrap things up about the mainland before the next segment of this blog begins.<br><br>One of the most fun things about being back after 2 years and I quote: <br>There is nothing like returning<br>to a place that remains unchanged ...