Thursday 14th April:
If a transfer could go more smoothly then it would be hard to find. Casual breakfast at 5.30am, and picked up by Jorge at 6.30am on the dot. The drive to Guayaquil airport takes all of five minutes, and we wait while Jorge checks us in, job done. Guayaquil airport is superb, every bit the modern airport, light, airy, comfortable.
We hook up with the fourteen other passengers at Seymour Airport on Baltra Island, and then, bus, ferry, and bus again get us to Peurto Ayora, the main town on Galapagos, with a population of 20,000, nearly three quarters of the complete population of the islands, and where over 70% work or are supported by the tourism industry.
By the time we reach Peurto Ayora, we've met Tom & Julie, from Sydney, he's a lawyer specialising in cases relating to traumatic injury, and travels all over the world. They we're in Iguazu before Christmas for the wedding of their son and a Brazilian girl.
The beautiful Mira is our guide for the next six days, and she promises she will look after us 25/7, they even have an extra hour in the day out here in Galapagos, wonderful. Lunch is a pretty mediocre affair, and then we're off to the Charles Darwin research centre to see the giant tortoises. Sadly Lonesome George is no longer around, he was the last of a pure species, and died in 2012. Mira is an excellent guide and does a great job explaining all about the work here. I get some great images of a Land Iguana, as the new Panasonic shows it can take photos before the shutter is pressed.
Lorna buys a hat on the way back to the boat, and although she hates hats, everyone compliments her on my choice. A beer with Joanna & Steve completes a pleasant afternoon. Steve is a boyo, well 63 actually, from the valleys, and Joanna is from Richmond in London, they make an unlikely couple, but good fun.
In the evening we meet the crew before dinner, and they get to meet us, and everyone tries to remember everyone else's name, I bet I've got most of them including the crew. Dinner is a little better than lunch, but it's a close call, and then we're all in bed by 9pm.
We settle down for a good night's rest, and then all hell breaks loose, they start the engines for the overnight relocation to Islabella Island. I guess on a boat this size it's difficult to be too far from the engine room, we must be right on top of it.
If a transfer could go more smoothly then it would be hard to find. Casual breakfast at 5.30am, and picked up by Jorge at 6.30am on the dot. The drive to Guayaquil airport takes all of five minutes, and we wait while Jorge checks us in, job done. Guayaquil airport is superb, every bit the modern airport, light, airy, comfortable.
We hook up with the fourteen other passengers at Seymour Airport on Baltra Island, and then, bus, ferry, and bus again get us to Peurto Ayora, the main town on Galapagos, with a population of 20,000, nearly three quarters of the complete population of the islands, and where over 70% work or are supported by the tourism industry.
By the time we reach Peurto Ayora, we've met Tom & Julie, from Sydney, he's a lawyer specialising in cases relating to traumatic injury, and travels all over the world. They we're in Iguazu before Christmas for the wedding of their son and a Brazilian girl.
The beautiful Mira is our guide for the next six days, and she promises she will look after us 25/7, they even have an extra hour in the day out here in Galapagos, wonderful. Lunch is a pretty mediocre affair, and then we're off to the Charles Darwin research centre to see the giant tortoises. Sadly Lonesome George is no longer around, he was the last of a pure species, and died in 2012. Mira is an excellent guide and does a great job explaining all about the work here. I get some great images of a Land Iguana, as the new Panasonic shows it can take photos before the shutter is pressed.
Lorna buys a hat on the way back to the boat, and although she hates hats, everyone compliments her on my choice. A beer with Joanna & Steve completes a pleasant afternoon. Steve is a boyo, well 63 actually, from the valleys, and Joanna is from Richmond in London, they make an unlikely couple, but good fun.
In the evening we meet the crew before dinner, and they get to meet us, and everyone tries to remember everyone else's name, I bet I've got most of them including the crew. Dinner is a little better than lunch, but it's a close call, and then we're all in bed by 9pm.
We settle down for a good night's rest, and then all hell breaks loose, they start the engines for the overnight relocation to Islabella Island. I guess on a boat this size it's difficult to be too far from the engine room, we must be right on top of it.
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