Galapagos Islands – Diving

Posted on 17. August 2014 by FroeWi

Early in the morning Eva got picked up. The first dive site was north Seymour with a smooth current and a good visibility. We only ( 😉 saw a few hammerhead sharks, black tip reef shark, white tip reef shark, galapagos sharks, turtles, schools of barracudas, eagle rays and a variety of other fish!!! What an amazing first dive! The second dive site was Mosquera. While going down I realized the very strong current already. We had to hold on to rocks and crawl on the ground to get forward. Behind a rock we discovered two sleeping white tip reef sharks which we were observing for a while. The moment we let go all of us were washed away by the current. It felt like in waterslide!

The next day a dream came true when I (Eva) dived at Gordons Rock. The first hammerhead shark appeared on our way down, followed by a huge dark shadow at the surface. After a few more minutes a huge shadow showed up directly in front of me: a 5 meter manta ray! I always wanted to see one but I haven’t expected it to be so enormous. It was amazing. But as if that’s not enough – a school of approx. 30 hammerhead sharks came straight at us just to turn left and right directly in-front of us. We were surrounded by a huge school of hammerheads! The dive went on like that and we saw everything a divers heart can dream of: more hammerheads, manta rays, galapagos sharks, white tip reef shark, turtles, reef fishes, sting rays, eagle rays, barracudas, etc.

Diving Gordons Rock

Diving Mosquera and Seymore

Some impressions in pictures

Galapagos Islands – Sea Lions

Posted on 16. August 2014 by FroeWi

Sea lions are everybody’s darling – and we found out why! Especially while playing in the water but also while relaxing on sandy beaches and benches they are just super cute. On the Galapagos Islands there are about 50.000 of them. We were lucky because they seemed to have some special interest in us – several times they were playing with us in the water while we snorkeled. On San Cristobal we swam for about 15 minutes with one who started playing “catch the coral” with us (exactly like a dog would do it). He took the coral in his mouth and swam around us, dropped it and caught it again. After a while Niels picked it up, showed it to him and dropped it. The sea lion dived down and got it again. That game went on for quite a while – just amazing. An absolute highlight

Sun bathing

Playing shark

Galapagos – San Cristobal

Posted on 15. August 2014 by FroeWi

Spending 5 days on San Cristobal is not enough the see everything but you get a good idea why the locals call the island the capital of paradise. It is a perfect place to relax and most of the sites are accessible by walking. We did a snorkeling trip to Kickers Rock and visited the Interpretation Center (where the history and significance of Galapagos is explained, etc. bla bla). To be honest, we only went to the Interpretation Center to met Pepe el Misionero – a giant tortoise who was partly brought up by our host Nelly. She runs the hostel of the same name (Casa de Nelly) and is owner to one of the nicest accommodation we had on our trip so far.

Our cute little villa

Niels riding a wooden version of Pepe

Snorkling trip to Kickers Rock

View while hiking

Charles Darwin monument

Goodbye Galapagos … IMG_20140814_190347

Galapagos – Floreana

Posted on 12. August 2014 by FroeWi

Visiting Floreana (also known as Isla Santa Maria) for a day trip. It’s a small island with less than 100 inhabitants and only one hostel. Therefore, a day trip was perfect to see the giant tortoises, the highlands and some snorkeling.

Impressions of the highlands

Galapagos Islands – Isabella

Posted on 10. August 2014 by FroeWi

What a wonderful invention: seasickness pills!!! After taking one we had no trouble at all and slept trough the 3 hours boat ride from Santa Cruz to Isabella. The welcome committee was awaiting us: some lazy sea lions lying around everywhere. Isabella is a lovely island with sandy roads, small houses and beautiful white-sanded beaches. On the way to the hotel we drove by a lagoon with flamingos and marine iguanas. The island has 7 volcanoes and 5 out of them are still active. Therefore, it was a must to hike at least one 🙂 We choose the Sierra Negra – a large active volcano. The landscape was one of its kind. The surreal surrounding was created by the last eruption in 2005. Later this day we had our first unforgettable swim with some sea lions in the bay of Puerto Villamil. Its amazing, they are wild but like to swim and play with humans (we´re not sure who kept whom entertained). The rest of our stay on Isabella we explored different sights of the island: the wall of tears, the breeding station for the giant tortoise, snorkeling at Las Tintoreras, and also did some wildlife observations. The evenings we enjoyed the sun set at diffrent bars and restaurants located directly on the beach.

Some impressions of Isabellas beach and the town

Marine iguana – relaxing in the sun

The volcano – Sierra Negra IMG_20140810_133552

Find the galapagos land iguana in the picture

Hugh weired caterpillar

The famous blue-footed booby´s (do not confuse with boobies)

Las Tintoreras, a nearby island cluster with …

… marine iguanas all over the place

Two pinguines in love, you dont want to know what happend before 😉

Flamingos hidden in the langoon

Wall of tears: Isabela was once used as an exile for prisoners, who built the devastating Wall of Tears as part of their punishment

Galapagos Islands – Giant tortoise

Posted on 7. August 2014 by FroeWi

E.T. is back! See yourself. We found him on the Galapagos Islands. He hides himself in a shell which he always carries around. His species can live up to 170 years (at least) and weight more than 400 kg. We found him and his friends on Santa Cruz, Isabella, Floreana and San Cristobal. He is native to seven of the Galapagos Islands.