Galapagos (I) - Amazing First Few Days

So far Ecuador has given me city life and mountains, and now it's time to explore its amazing wildlife on the Galapagos Islands. I started off in San Cristobal, which is the oldest and easternmost island.

Once I arrived at my accommodation, I took a brief nap and then headed to explore the beaches and the education centre to learn about the history of the Galapagos islands.

I knew I would see animals, but I did not expect to see an abundance of them. That became very clear once I saw the first beach. Even though it was in town, seal lions were dotted all across the beach, playing, making weird sounds, walking around right in between us human-beings.

The next beach I walked to was even more incredible, as it formed a half-moon bay facing the sunset and was again full of sea lions and the odd iguana. It was just the perfect spot to lay down for the afternoon, appreciate where I was and watch the sunset - surrounded by wildlife.

The following day, I booked myself on a 360 boat tour around the entire island, which would take most of the day. The first 1.5h was riding the very choppy waves to the top of the island. But once there, we took a little dinghy to the beach, changed into our wetsuits and went snorkelling with sea turtles and white-tip sharks. I also saw blue-footed boobies for the first time (more on that in the next post).

Anyway, when we hopped back on the boat, we were greeted with some delicious Sashimi and headed to our next spot. The sea became a lot calmer and thus the boat ride more enjoyable. On the next beach, we had lunch, and then jumped back into the water to swim with more sea turtles, the odd seal and watched some red-coloured crabs live their lives.

Our last stop of the day brought us to Kicker Rock, which is essentially a big rock in the middle of the sea. It is known to have some good sea life and the chance to spot hammerhead sharks. Unfortunately, visibility in the water wasn't the best and the water temperature of just around 20 degrees made it a cold affair. We swam with some seals, saw colourful plants on the rocks and spotted a long sea turtle. No hammerheads, though.

Back on the boat, we were heading back to port, when we suddenly saw Orca whales feeding in the ocean. What a sight that was and completely unexpected. It really rounded up a perfect day exploring the more remote parts of the island and its surrounding waters.

On my last day, I headed to yet another beach that was dotted with sea lions and their young pups. I spotted one that was still connected to its mother via the umbilical cord, so it must have been a max of a few hours old. I could literally spend hours just observing them and admire how adorable they are.

What an amazing start to my Galapagos adventures it all was. So much wildlife, so approachable at times and it was just great to see them live in peace and harmony with nature and humans. I couldn't wait to start the next day, which would have me hop on a cruise to the more remote parts of the Galapagos.Read more