Kathleen
Ecuador – Galapagos Islands
June 18, 2014
Less than 3 hours by plane off of the coast of Ecuador lie the Galapagos Islands. A visit to these islands is a dream come true for bird watchers, nature lovers, and the amatuer photographer in all of us. We had the great fortune to stay on a beautiful motor sailer for 7 days, visiting 4 of the islands in the chain and seeing a fantastic array of sea birds, iguanas, penguins, sea lions and turtles and countless species of fish, rays and other sea life (including an amazing sea horse!)
This experience was wholly different from anythinig we have done in the past, and certainly an amazing and wonderful experience. We were two of a total of 13 tourists and we had a simply wonderful international group of travelers. There was one other couple and a woman from the United States, a woman from Canada, a British, Dutch and Danish couple and young woman from Israel. Along with our lovely Ecuadorian guide, this group became our family and this boat our home for the week. We hiked, snorkeled, swam and ate three meals a day with this wonderful group and were sad to leave them when our time was over. As for the wildlife, I hope this sample of photos will give you an idea of the extraordinary creatures we saw. The thing that makes this experience especially amazing is the fact that most of the land animals and birds we encountered have no natural predators here, so they treat people with an indifference rarely experienced in the wild. Truly, you can get right next to these amazing creatures, which is a big part of what makes this tour so magical. The same can be said in the water, as you truly are swimming with sea lions, penguins and sea turtles so close you could touch them and sometimes you even accidentally bump in to turtles or fish as you are both going about your business.
Back on the ship each evening, we would have a glass of wine and watch the sunset and after dinner the stars were all the entertainment you needed…extraordiary!
