Ecuador

Galapagos V - Baby Sea Lions and gigantic waves

On the last day of our Galapagos Cruise the Island San Cristobal is on the agenda. The wind had become strong over night and getting to the island in the dinghy or even worse, getting on land, turns out to be quite a challenge.

Hector, our dinghy driver, has a lot of fun in the high waves and tries to surf with the dinghy - smiling pitifully at his colleague in the other dinghy, who takes the long way around the highest waves.

When we get to the island, a hearty jump onto the wet and slippery wooden platform is needed as well as a short run to the end of the platform to avoid being splashed by the big waves, that wash over it.

We all make it save and sound to the shore.

A colony of sea lions with many babies await us. Cuteness overload…

Galapagos IV - Beautiful Española

Española is one of the oldest islands of the Galapagos, about 4 million years old. It slowly becomes a rocky, barren island with few vegetation.

But the large sandy bays are a playground for sea lions.

That’s what Gardener Bay is famous for. Crystal clear water of an incredible color, white sands and cute sea lions.

Galapagos II - Genovesa and Bartholomew

The next day of our cruise lead us to the islands Genovesa and Bartholomew.

We got up at 6 am to make sure we would be alone on the island.

Tired we had a strong coffee and set off to the island in a dinghy.

Flaming red crabs covered the lava stones, when we tried to get off the dinghy.

They didn’t even move, when you almost stepped on them...

Galapagos III - Santa Cruz and Isabella

Next stop on our Galapagos Cruise is the Charles Darwin station on Santa Cruz Island.

They breed giant tortoises there, and if you don’t have the luck to see some in the wild, this is where you have to go.

There are tortoises in every age and every size in their compounds. They spent their time eating, fighting for the best piece of salad and trying to mate. And that’s also when the relaxed giants can get evil and develop an almost breakneck speed! :D

Galapagos Islands I - North Seymour in the pouring rain...

The Galapagos Islands are located about 900 km west of the equadorian mainland and were formed by uplifts of submarine lava formations.

The islands and the surrounding waters form the Galapagos National Park, which is famous for a huge number of endemic species, that Charles Darwin and his Beagle explored between 1831 and 1836.

Here's the first article of our Galapagos cruise.

But beware, contains cute pictures of an incredible wildlife...