Tales from the Galápagos Islands
Sea lions on Isla Seymour
Sea lions bask in the sun on Isla Seymour.  They seemed to lead a relaxed and easy-goig life, and didn't  appear to mind the tourists in their midst.
March 30 -- We flew into the Galápagos Islands this morning from Quito and are comfortably settling into our new home, the good ship Guantanamera.  There's Jorge, our naturalist guide, plus seven crew members, and then 16 passengers:  six Swiss, three Brits, three Canadians, two Swedes and a couple of Australians.  It seems like an interesting gang, and hopefully we'll manage to remember everybody's names.

Two of our shipmates are Lisa and Michelle, who accompanied Carol and John and I up to Machu Picchu nine days ago.  We ran into them yesterday morning at our guesthouse in Quito and it turned out they had booked onto the same boat.  Perhaps there aren't that many international travelers out there:  we just follow each other around.

We'll be visiting about ten islands altogether this week, doing most of our sailing at night.  The Galápagos Islands lie about 1000 kilometers of the coast of Ecuador, straddling the Equator.  They're isolated, rocky, volcanic and hot, an ideal tourist destination.  They're also inhabited by unique and colourful wildlife.  This is the place where Charles Darwin came in 1835 to confirm his Theory of Evolution.  There are animals here that are found nowhere else in the world.

Sea lion on the beach at Isla Espanola

Not all sea lions lived on the rocks.  This colony on Isla Espanola had nice soft sand and surf to frolic around in.

Stalking the wiley land iguana:  Michelle, an Aussie whom we first met last month at Machu Picchu, goes for the ground level close-up shot.
Land iguanas on Isla Espanola
Land iguanas on Isla Espanola.  The iguanas of the different islands had different and distinct colours and markings, a feature that caught the attention of Charles Darwin during his visit to the islands.
Masked boobie chick with its mother
A masked boobie chick with its mother, asking for food.  Not all boobies had red or blue feet.
The yacht "Guantanamera"
The good ship Guantanamera, our home base for our eight day cruise around the Galapagos Islands.
Join us as we explore Machu Picchu
Visit Peru and the Andes
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