Galapagos Part II (by Mitch)

Emily´s Note: I am trying to upload pictures to go with Mitch´s posting, but for some reason I can´t move them around right now....so all the pictures are up here, and you will have to keep reading to figure out what they are of! ]Also, I can´t figure out how to turn them around...sorry!

Here is Kicker Rock, where we went snorkling:

Here is Mitch and the ladies before snorkling, on the catamaran:

Here is a shot of our boat:

Here is a picture of a marine iguana. I think it might be fuzzy but I can´t tell on this computer. It was actually from Sunday:

Monday - San Cristobal Island

After getting only a couple hours of sleep because of the massive waves that rocked our boat, and the tight sleeping area it was time for breakfast. We had a great start with chocolate cereal, papaya and a good cup of coffee, probably the best i have had in ecuador..followed by an omelet, toast, cheese, and juice. Today we were going snorkeling so everyone got a wetsuit because the water is a bit cold this time of year. The first one they gave me barely fit and my balls were in my stomach again as i put it on so i told the crew member that this wasnt going to work and i would bare the cold, but luckily he found a bigger one somewhere. I am glad he did because the water was cold without one...

We then took the dingy into land, and then from land took a faster boat that had 300 horsepower to isla loba for snorkeling..Before our snorkeling adventure the two older ladys we were with were very excited to come snorkeling, on the boat when the guide said to get ready they took about 30 minutes in their room..finally they both walk out, decked out to the max in the newest snorkeling equipment possible, their flippers were made in Italy and they even had fog liquid for their mask...Other items were a TWO wet suits, feet warmers, hand warmers, A floatation device that had a plastic clearing in it because one of the ladys could not put her head in a mask and underwater, this floatation device also had a whistle on it - god knows why anyone would need to blow a whistle while using this...Please see picture attatched with me and the ladys, i had to get one..They also wore hats and layered on a ton of sun tan lotion, even though it was not sunny...and also had neck coverings. All the passengers hoped in the water and started swimming away from the boat...I looked back and saw the ladys get into the water a very slow pace..i think they thought it was too cold...I continued on my snorkeling and looked back 5 minutes later and both the ladies were back on the boat..I checked with them after why they got back on so fast and they said that they had seen enough...haha why the hell they bought all the gear for 5 minutes of snorkeling is beyond me, the best part was that one of the ladies put her hot tub to 72 degrees before the trip to try on all her equipment to make sure she was warm enough...anyways we have been laughing about it ever since...

The boat arrived at isla lobas which had sea turtles, a ton of fish, coral, crystal clear water, and of course sea lions...This was our first encounter with sea lions in the water...Our guide said to us before the snorkeling that if a male sea lion ( a lot bigger then females and had a big head) approaches you it is because they want to bite you and are protecting their children and wife. So we get in the water and everything is going well...We approach two female sea lions that are just out of the water looking at us and there is a male that is in the water infront of the females...Everyone is looking at the male from a distance but doze ball emily has her head above water asking the guide where the male is..At this time the male starts swimming directly at emily, and everyone is watching this as this happen except for emily...Emily finally puts her mask back under water only to be face to face with the male sea lion...she immediately gets into a panick and starts screaming and tries to grab the guide for help who is next to her...the guide thinks she is a psycho and tells her it is not a big problem...anyways it was damn funny to see her freak out..the snorkeling then continued as i swam around with a female sea lion and one of the babys which was very fun..hopefully the underwater pictures turn out.

We then got back onthe boat and went to Kicker Rock which is probably one of the biggest and most beautiful rock I have seen. Very cool shape. Here there was beautiful coral, manta rays, star fish (blue, red, yellow), lots of fish, jelly fish, turtles, baby sea lions that swam right up to your mask. Very cool. After snorkeling we got back on the boat for snacks and headed to a private beach for lunch and to relax..very good lunch of shrimp and brown rice. Walked around the beach for a bit and had a little siesta...The ladys did their bird hunting and reptile hunting which you will hear more about later on..Got back on boat to tour around some of the smaller islands which had red footed bobbys, maksed boobys, blue footed boobys, friggate birds mating, and many other cool things.

The power boat then took us back to the port where we got on the dingy to go back to our main boat..I had the honour of rideing in the dingy with one of the ladys and not only did she wear one, but TWO life jackets on the way to our boat...I asked her if she thought that the dingy might flip (even though it was going 5 mph) and then she claimed she forgot she had two life jackets on...how you can forget that is beyond me...anyways it was another good laugh...

Got back on the boat had pizza and a tripcal drinking waiting for us...Then got in the shower, which are very small and cold, but they get the job done...luckily we didnt get screwed into the room at the back of the boat because their shower was ontop of the toliet...They werent happy when they found out that we had a shower with a curtain and a toliet and sink. Their sink was their shower head...I guess they had no problem pissing in the shower though..unfortunatly their toliet paper got very wet haha. Slept on the boat this night but was still in the port so actually got some sleep...That is all for day 2 on the boat...more to come...I am writing this from the hotel so i am enjoying the hot water showers and my own bed!