Galapagos Islands

Our trip to the Galapagos islands started with an early flight out of Quito. When we arrived we met our guide, boat, crew and fellow passengers that we would be spending the next eight days with. The boat was a pleasant surprise compaired to the one that I went on from Panama to Colombia. After lunch we navigated to Isla Santa Cruz to walk around and have our first snorkel.

The next day I woke up in a new location to watch the sun rise over Isla Genovese, a volcanic crater in the middle of the ocean that has one side collapsed, giving it a half moon shape.  It is known as the bird island and on our afternoon hike around the island I could definitely understand why.

The next morning I again woke up in the bay of a new island, this time it was Isla Bartolome. After breakfast we hiked up an extinct volcano to check out the landscape and followed it up with a snorkel amongst some white tip reef sharks.  In the afternoon we walked though a lava flow before we got back on the boat for the next navigation.

The next day was spent on Isla Isabella where we started off by hiking up the Seira Negro volcano to look out over the caldera. We then went to the giant tortoise breading center to see hundreds of tortoises and finished off the day with a visit to the town and a drink on the beach.

On Thursday we navigated over to the west side of Isla Isabella and started off the morning with a dinghy ride through a sea turtle sanctuary where we saw tons of turtles and eagle rays. In the afternoon we took a hike from Urbina Bay and was able to see Land Iguanas and Giant Tortoises in the wild.

Friday would prove to be the best day of the trip and it bargain with a hike from Tagus Cove for a look out over Darwin's Lake and the ocean. We then snorkeled in the bay and was able to see hundreds of Sea Turtles, big schools of fish and gigantic Rays. We then navigated across the channel to Isla Fernadina for a snorkel with the Aquatic Iguanas while they were feeding and to play with Sea Lion pups in the water.  We then walked around the Island and saw thousands of Aquatic Iguanas sleeping on the rocks.

Our last full day on the islands started off with a walk on Espumilla beach to see some Galapagos Hawks and a snorkel with some White Tip Reef Sharks.  We then went to the red sand beach on Isla Rabida and walked around and swam in the ocean.

On our last day was mainly spent traveling and by 4pm we were back in Quito in a neighborhood called La Mariscal. I was an amazing trip where I got to see and experience so many things that only occur on the Galapagos Islands.  I was so happy to share the experience with my parents and it has been a joy to travel with them in general.