The Galapagos Islands

 

We arrived on Isla Baltra, and paid our entrance fee with a crisp U.S. one hundred dollar bill (that’s all they’ll take) and set out for Puerto Ayora, the main town on the island of Santa Cruz. That’s where we ran into our stalker travel agent, Geocanda, as we exited the airport bus. She followed
us around town popping up all over the place until we finally booked our trip with her.
Our first full day took us to Espanola to see the Galapagos penguins. There are only about forty-five of them all together and they are endemic to that one island. So, you’re not going to see them anywhere else. We only saw one of them, but he seemed to be waiting patiently on a rock to give us tourists a photo-op because as soon as everyone had put their cameras away he jumped into the water and was gone. Much of the wildlife was like that. It was almost as if someone somewhere was in front of a control panel saying, “Cue the penguin. Cue the falcon. Cue the school of marine iguanas.” As soon as they were mentioned, there they were.
The next day we set out on the Angelique, a sail-less sailboat
, except for the jib. It was something of a ratty little boat and Carey hated it at first. I became afraid of it later. The porthole in my room leaked, so my mattress was taken out to dry in the sun every day. I wasn’t that scared until
our second night when our captain told us something about letting toilets run and that we might sink. I didn’t sleep too well that night. I have a terrible fear of being trapped under water and being as my bunk was below the waterline, I was nervous.
You don’t get a lot for eighty-five dollars per person per night in the Galapagos at least as far luxury goes, but that did include our guide, housekeeping, three meals a day, and a fantastic crew.
One of the highlights was Florencia and its sea lions. All the islands have sea lions, but these were the best. We swam with them just feet away. One especially curious female, with whom I had just shared a wave, came within two feet of me in waist deep water barking what I hoped was playful. I splashed her in the face, not sure what else to do. She came up out of the water and splashed me back, with a much larger volume of water than I had splashed her, and clapped her flippers before diving sideways and disappearing under the water. I couldn't believe I was actually having a play date with a wild sea lion.  I smiled until my face hurt that day. Later our guide would tell us that the area where we were swimming was where the bull sharks like to hunt. Thanks for the heads up.

While I was swimming with the adult females, Kenn was watching the babies on the beach. One even climbed into his lap. They group together and flop around on each other and occasionally come to investigate the strange animals visiting their beach. You're not supposed to touch them, but you just want to pick them up and love them.

I was amazed at how none of the animals really cared that we were in their territory (except for the male sea lions). The iguanas will walk right over your feet, the blue footed boobies (you know how much I love boobies) will land right next to you, and I even had a yellow iguana try to pick me up. I was wearing bright yellow shorts and they think yellow is pretty sexy "He likes you," our guide told me. I felt pretty.

The Galapagos is definitely more of a travel experience than just a vacation and you'll never forget it.

 

Tyler Thrash has lived on St. John for ten years.  His travel motto this year is: if I don't get a passport stamp, I'm not going.