The Galapagos, day one.

Day one was lots of travel - to Quito airport by taxi, to the main island by air, to another island by ferry, to the port by car, to our catamaran by "water taxi" (aka inflatable raft).

first sighting of the islands

"I'm on a boat!" (also pictured L-R: tourmates Emma, Theresa, Freddie and Andre)

All told it took about 6 hours. It is hot and humid, and I can say with 100% confidence that my hair, skin and camera are thoroughly bewildered by all the extreme climate changes!

Frigatebirds were gliding everywhere at the airport and the ferry port. Once we got settled and had lunch at Santa Cruz Island's port on the... I don't know, is this tiny thing considered a boat or a ship? maybe I will just refer to it as "Cat" for catamaran...

we could sit at the front in those wooden seats, or in the nets - anywhere really...

So yes, after lunch we walked a few kilometers for photo ops with marine iguanas and then went to a small cove where we could swim.

(For the first time on this trip, I did not bring my camera. It was pouring when we left Cat and I was worried about the camera getting wet. I should have known better seeing as how it survived Antarctica better than a US mailman would've.)

Along the walk we saw Galapagos finches, mockingbirds and lava lizards (pretty sure everything here has a "Galapagos" species), as well as yellow sulfur butterflies and a million little purple butterflies. And ginormous cactus trees...

otherworldly

The sand at the beach was really different - so fine it held your exact footprint in the damp area at the shoreline; very pure and white. The water was warm but not as clear as I had expected. Lots of funky seaweed tangling around our feet though. From the water we watched a Galapagos pelican dive for food.

And I just kept grinning...

I swam in the Galapagos. Neat.

Galapagos sand

After the walk and swim we stopped for ice cream - taca flavor=yum - and headed back to Cat for dinner and to hang out on the nets at the front. These serve a real purpose, I am sure, but for us they are hammocks.

There are more ships here than I expected.

{sigh}

I also didn't realize that so many people lived here (10,000 on one of the islands!). They are trying to curb population by only hiring locals for tourism. Right now more than 3/4 come from the mainland.

There are nine of us on the tour - two couples, a family of four and me. Cat sleeps 10... I didn't want to get my hopes up but upon arrival it turns out that, yes, I do have my own cabin.

My own cabin. For seven whole nights. It's a backpacker's dream! (Well, I suppose something slightly larger than a hole in the wall where nothing ever dries and everything smells like engine fuel might not be everyone's idea of a "dream"...)

the extent of the sleeping quarters

We saw absurd things like snickers bars and wifi today, so I have decided that while I am here I will try to do one absurd thing each day. Today's was doing a handstand underwater at the beach. In the Galapagos. Random!

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. We saw Leonardo DiCaprio today, he's here for some reason or another. He's staying in a small ship about 100 yards from me as I type.

Twelve years on the west coast and I had to go all the way to the frigging Galapagos islands for my first celebrity sighting. Natch!