Life on a Boat

Laura and I have been exploring the Galápagos Islands this week on a cruise of the central / eastern islands. We are on a boat with 16 tourists and 6 staff members. We have a small cabin and private bathroom, but a communal living and dining areas. We are travelling with two Germans, two Canadians, two Brazilians living in the UK and 8 Americans with ages ranging between 7-70 years old.
Living on a boat has its challenges. The cabin is very small with little space for our luggage. You also have a limited area you can walk or stretch your legs! When moving between islands at night, the rocking motion has left me hanging onto my bed for dear life…nothing soothing about it! But, the people we have met have all been friendly and have had many interesting mealtime conversations about travel, life at home, etc. Also boat is definitely the best method for seeing the islands due to the vast geographic distances between the islands and each island is known for a particular animal(s). 

We have visited 8 islands with snorkelling usually twice a day and two shore excursions. The snorkelling hasn’t been fantastic as the clarity of the water has been poor, but we have seen multiple turtles and sea lions in the water which is very cool! Shore excursions have been successful with LOTS of animal sightings. Highlights include: 

• Many bird sightings including frigates, three types of boobies, finches, stalks, harks, albatrosses, and owls to name a few. The birds are very tame and have been within a meter of mothers and their days old chicks! 
• Turtle mating season is currently underway. I have never seen so many turtles mating! A female can mate up to four males in a row, with each session lasting up to 4 hours. We have observed this both from the boats and whilst snorkelling. Also seen 30 turtles waking for dark to fall to come and lay their eggs on the beach, turtles on the beach returning to the ocean and mating in the surf. Surreal experiences! 
• Iguanas for a reptile are actually kind of cute! We have seen multiple marine and land iguanas. When walking in town you have to be careful not to step on them as they blend into the sidewalk! 
• One afternoon when travelling between islands we were joined by a large pod of dolphins who gave us a show. I reckon their were at least 20 dolphins in the pod. They were racing the boat, jumping out of the water and generally acting in a playful manner. I do love dolphins! 
• We have also had multiple sea lion sightings. On land when they are sleeping they look so peaceful. In the water they are showmen! Went snorkelling with two sea lions which was pretty special! Also they have frolicked in the water and showed off their acrobatic skills when we have been watching from land or the boat. Lots of playful, frolicking babies around …. They are very cute!
• Diving in the Galápagos is renowned for shark sightings, in particular hammerheads. No hammerhead sightings, but did see a white tipped reef shark twice, which was probably about 1.5-2 meters long. A pretty incredible to see a decent sized shark in the ocean when snorkelling (have seen multiple smaller – less than one meter sharks from the boat)! 
• Lastly we have of course seen the Giant Tortoise! They look like E.T! Whilst they aren’t on many islands, we visited a farm which had been returned to natural area for the tortoises and there were LOTS of them around!  

I am having problems uploading pictures so check them out on Facebook instead if you haven’t aready!