Well this was a bad trip for a travelogue it turns out. Between having a moderate cold, and that they kept us quite busy between the hikes, snorkeling and other activities that most of the time not spent on something scheduled was spent resting. This combined with the internet that would only work in 5 minute spurts, made me focus on getting flickr updated in the time I did have online instead of writing about our experiences. I have a few location logs still to post but I think I'm gonna let the pictures and video speak for themselves this trip.

Galapagos set on Flickr

Youtube videos

In closing the trip was simply amazing. The wildlife was not the least bit afraid of humans so we could get close to everything, the ship was great, the food was excellent, the only real trouble we had on the trip was the fact that we flew American Airlines who screwed up pretty much everything they possibly could have. The hassles were worth it for the experience though and I would recommend anyone who has the oppurtunity to visit the Galapagos Islands should do so.

Equator Crossing Party
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We opted to be woken up early at 6 this morning for the crossing of the equator. We all went up to the bridge to watch the GPS tick down to 0.00000 The step size on my GPS was updating too slowly to read all zeros and get a picture of it but I managed to snap it as it hit 0.00001. Encountered some blue whales surfacing near the equator. Whales have amazingly bad breath. We had breakfast as we continued to sail to Fernandina.


Fernandina Island
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We encountered some dolphins and sea turtles as we took the zodiacs to Fernandina Island where we hiked the beaches and lava flows. Saw sea lions, iguanas, lava lizards, stingrays, crabs, flightless cormorants and a great blue heron. Sections of the hike sheltered by foliage were very hot over the lava.



Isabela Island
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Much longer hike. Saw penguins, much larger iguanas, flightless cormorants and more boobys on the rocks on the way in. It was overcast thankfully as a long hike over black, jagged lava flows would have been very hot. Saw a single flamingo at the end of the hike in one of the brackish pools.

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Went on a half mile walking tour of North Seymour Island after we got settled aboard the ship. The animals out here are amazingly uninterested in us, could get very close to sea lions, birds and lizards without them paying us much attention. Uploaded a few photos to flickr, more to follow as I process things.

Galapagos Set on Flickr

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We finally arrived in the Galapagos today, we're all ready for a few days without getting on a plane. We'll be sailing aboard the Yacht LaPinta for the next week, stopping at different islands each day.

We flew in to Baltra Island where we met our ship, and we'll be sailing to North Seymour Island for a late afternoon hike to see the island.

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Its good to be in a hotel with standards, rather nice ones in fact, and the addition of my luggage with clean clothes makes a shower more meaningful. Complimentary juice while we checked in, and welcome drinks at the bar after we unloaded our stuff and cleaned up.

Tomorrow makes 3 days in a row of flying, we're all getting tired of airports. We get up at 4am tomorrow to catch the flight to the islands themselves where we get on the boat for the 7 night cruise, finally several days in the same place again, or at least the same bed, even if the bed is moving around at night.

Dinner at the hotel was decent, first full meal we've had since hamburgers in first class heading out of logan...I'm not counting the chicken/rice thing that was called dinner on the attempted flight to Quito.

Played $2 worth of slot machines at the hotel casino with Ryan's money, walked out handing him $1.70, not bad for a bit of play but I don't see the appeal of spending entire days at the slots.

(edit: GPS coordinates above are now clickable google maps links)