Santa Cruz Island
- Comments: 2
Wow! What a few days we have had! We´ve swum with sea turtles the size of VW Bugs, played with sea lions in the ocean (or were they playing with us?), seen loads of sea iguanas, some land iguanas, black and white tip sharks, Galapagos penguins, magnificent frigate birds, blue foot boobies, nesting pelicans… in short, our trip has been everything we dreamed it could be so far, and it´s not over yet!
Tomorrow we are going to the Charles Darwin Conservation Center to see the giant land tortoise breeding center, and then we´re going to see them in the wild.
You really start to understand that people are second class citizens to the animals here when your boat is accosted by a bull sea lion protecting his harem, and you´re dive – bombed by blue foot boobies and frigate birds in the water. Penguins whiz by you as you´re watching enormous florescent fish, and turtles forage for sea weed under you, entirely unconcerned by your presence.
The volcanic landscape of these islands is unique (how´s that for understatement?). We´ve walked up and down cinder cones, on black, red and white sand beaches, over smooth lava, porous lava, through tunnels in rock eroded by waves and wind, and over boulder-strewn landscapes that support cacti, mangroves, sandalwood trees, and a variety of flowers, grasses, sea weed, lichen and shrubs that feed the iguanas, lizards, birds and other wild life that exists in abundance here.
Life on the boat has been great – we´ve made some great friends, and we havn´t felt sea sick (yet – knock on wood). As a matter of fact, as we sit in this internet cafe, it feels more like we have land sickness right now – like the floor is heaving with waves underneath us. The crew and guide on the boat have been fantastic – informative, efficient and they keep us well fed. It´s a good thing we go snorkeling every day.
We have 4 more days here before we´re off to Peru. As usual, we miss our families, friends and doggies. It would be great to hear from people at home…
Noel & George
July 13, 2004
22:56:01
Ruth Schwantz
Sounds fabulous!! I’m curious. I know that Quito is the only capital city on the equator and that the elevation is high. So … what is the weather like? Hot because of the equator, or cool because of the elevation? My atlas says cool – is that right? Enjoy – I’ll be following you.
July 14, 2004
22:19:13
http://geotravel.ca
Geo
Well the temperature in Quito is like Marathon weather, quite cool. The elevation is 2850m above sea level. Thanks for the feedback.
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