Floreana Island – two stops.

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Morning: Hike at Cormorant Point.

Terrain: Wet landing on the beach, (meaning you hop out in shallow water and wade in); 1 mile hike through vegetation, up and downhill to another beach.

Guide: Giovanna

Sightings: Finches, Sea Lions, Sea turtle hatchling tracks, ONE flamingo. The Flamingos in the Galapagos seem to be moving out of sight of the trails.

Late Morning: “Advanced” snorkel, Champion Island.

After the first stop, those that wanted a chance to do deep water snorkeling went back to the ship to change into gear. Then we boated out to a small rock/island to snorkel. Mike and I didn’t really see anything… but it gave us a chance to get used to the equipment. It was COLD. Cold.

Afternoon: Floreana, “Baroness Lookout.”

Guide: Fred

Wet landing on another side of the Island. Steps lead to a lookout that a former resident used to use in the 1920s. Afterward we took a long zodiac ride along the shore to watch sea turtles and look for penguins.

Sightings: Many sea turtles, one penguin, a couple of sea lions.

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Monday, also known as Cortny’s 31st birthday. (Sorry, Mike, your 31st birthday was probably very boring compared to this!)

Monday was a very busy day, with three excursions.

Early morning, Kicker Rock.


Zodiac (small boat) ride around small land formation/rock. It’s Spanish name — Leon Dormido — means “sleeping lion,” because it supposedly looks like a sea lion’s face from the sky.

Guide: Juan Carlos

Sightings: Birds including Blue Footed Boobies and American Oystercatchers; Sea lions; Sea turtles; Sally Lightfoot crabs

Late morning, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

Visit to the “interpretation center,” (a museum) and town. Pier for boats, shops, food, etc.

Guide: Fatima

Sightings: Sea Lions all over town!

Afternoon, Española.

AMAZING.

Terrain: Rough, uneven; Lava rocks, some vegetation. 1.9 mile hike.

Guide: David

Sightings: Waved Albatross (rare!), Blue footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Sea lions, Hawks, Owls, Red Marine Iguanas, Mocking birds, Finches.

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I can’t possibly explain everything we saw and did on our Galapagos trip, so I have to keep it simple!

Technically the first day of our trip (Saturday) was spent in Quito, Ecuador. We flew in late the night before, and the next day had a city tour and a couple of meals, all with our Celebrity Xpedition tour group.

On Sunday, we were taken as a group to the airport, then took a flight from Quito to Baltra on the Galapagos. With one stop (for fuel and to load and unload some various passengers) it took a couple of hours.

Sunday afternoon we were on the boat! It’s a beautiful boat for 100 passengers. Not as fancy as a standard cruise ship, but with the same service and many of the same amenities. This cruise was all inclusive, so none of our drinks or excursions or anything came at an extra expense.

There were six naturalists on board with us, and have to be from the Galapagos by law. These naturalists would lead us on the trails and explain everything we saw and answer questions. (One naturalist for each group, groups were usually about 12 people.) Most islands are uninhabited, and on every island you have to remain on the trail.

No touching, no taking, no leaving anything. You can’t pet sea lions or bring home shells or anything.

Day 1 we only had one stop in the afternoon.

Island: North Seymour

Terrain: Boulders, rocks, sand. Mostly flat. One mile hike.

Guide: Fred

Sightings: Sea Lions, Blue Footed Booby adults and babies, Frigate (nesting area) adults and babies, Marine and Land Iguanas

(Click on a photo to see more.)

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We’ve been back from the Galapagos for a week. Where could I begin? The trip was amazing, and we’re nearly done organizing our photos and videos from the trip to post.

My Galapagos playlist is on youtube. I’ll be continuing to add videos as I go through them. There’s only a couple there now.

Update: Pictures are now available here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.helmick/GalapagosOctober2010#.

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Last weekend we flew to San Fran, because we could. (Virgin America was having a flight sale — why not go to San Francisco?)

Just one night, but we had a great time. While we were there, Mike discovered the “Go Car.” It’s a tiny car (basically, its a scooter) with a talking GPS that takes you around town. Super fun. Probably a death trap, but we didn’t find a lot of traffic, and Mike is my super-safe driver :) — Thanks, hubby!

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