Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Islands

We just finished a week of sailing around the Galapagos Islands! We started in San Cristobal, and sailed to Espanola, Floreana, Santa Cruz, Santiago and Genovesa Island, before finishing on Baltra, where we disembarked this morning.

Each day on the cruise was jam packed with activities and felt like you lived multiple days within a single day - we often started with a 6am walk or snorkel, followed by breakfast, a mid-morning activity (walk or snorkel), lunch and siesta, and then afternoon activities (again, usually a walk and snorkel/water sports).

Highlights of the trip include:
- 3 three course meals a day and snacks after every excursion
- Spotting flamingos and being super close to them (less than 2m!)
- Swimming with sea lions, turtles, eagle rays, penguins, galapagos sharks and hammerhead sharks
- Making a quick escape from the water when one of the sailors on our boat saw a bull shark (bigger than our dinghy) in the same area we were snorkelling in
- Watching galapagos sharks hunting fish right off our boat
- Visiting the giant tortoises
- Watching the courtship of frigate birds (the ones with the big red pouch)
- Being chased by sea lions (an alpha male was chasing two males from his beach, those two males ran after us)

We're now in Puerto Ayora (the biggest town in the Galapagos) where we will relax for a few days before we fly back to the mainland.Read more