Hotel Red Booby Puerto Ayora

... bag we want to take to galapagos and the one we want to leave locked up in hotel and we just get in a van- all too easy. And our group seem really sound- not teenagers like name 'Gap' might suggest, and not 80 year olds as we would later find to be the average age in Galapagos.<br><br>Flight stopped again in Guayaquil, this time to refuel. And they did refuel. And after that they kicked us off with no explanation an left us standing in the lounge (not sitting- that wasn't allowed as liz ...

For the last few days, we have been sunning ourselves aboard a catamaran and taking in the delights of Darwin&#8217;s Galapagos. The land of giant tortoises, frigate birds and boobies (NB the latter bearing no relation to ample chested birds of the page 3 nature!)<br> The guide book says that nothing prepares you for witnessing how tame the animals are. It was right! We jumped off the little bus from the airport and walked into a welcome party of sea lions ...

... lunch at a nearby restaurant and back to the harbor for our snorkelling trips. Whilst waiting for the boat I decided to dispense with my clothes to my swimmers, which were under my clothes, and jump into the crystal clear water to take a closer look at the turtles. They were huge, one of them was close to four feet in diameter, and unlike the turtles at Isabella, were happy to swim slowly eating at the moss that was attached to the harbor walls ...

... snorkeling anywhere before and the water was crystal clear. We explored for about 20 minutes before we returned to shore where the Penguin was still playing. Some of the younger sea lions came into play as well. Before no time at all it seemed, it was time to get in our launch and head back to the boat. It was the best snorkeling ever. <br><br>On board our lunch had been prepared and awaited us. It was a typical menu de dia, with rice, salad, fish, fried banana and we ...

... it had become cold. We had a swim nevertheless to rid ourselves of the cobwebs of the days grueling events.<br><br>When we returned to our apartment, we found our landlady preparing us a meal. It was a meal to celebrate Christie and Jody&#8217;s birthday which they had had yesterday. She had also bought both Jody and Christie presents. Christie helped Rosa prepare the meal and we enjoyed some good tucker.<br><br>We then looked forward to our day tomorrow, to Isabella Island.

... water. It took only a few seconds to aclimatise and it was very enjoyable after that. The water was salty and evidence that the water merged with the sea somewhere beyond the dam of rooks we could see at the other end of the gorge. I put on Jody's goggles and looked for any sea life. I did see some, not enough to get excited about but there were at least three fish, very colourful as well with their yellow and blue stripes. I swam to the end of the gorge ...

... Christie that I wanted to go back down the hill to the finish to see the winner cross the line.<br><br>As we waited we saw the 2nd placed man come through and break the winners tape seemingly the winner, and looking a bit surprised himself. Almost immediately he was set upon by a tv presenter and some people with recording equipment to interview the winner. We thought some misfortune must have happened to the 1st placed man, but there was something odd going on, and the winners ...

... of this you get the opportunity to live in their world briefly if you are lucky - one day I swam with sharks (only little but still...), eagle rays, sea lions and giant turtles, although the turtles are the shyest of the lot.<br><br>* The trip to Post Office Bay. This is a ramshackle of postbox-like wooden contraptions that exists in a bay. Its not a real post office. Traditionally ships would call in on their way through ...