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paris over many years | UK over many years | Belgium over many years | Holland over many years | Vegas over many years | Australia over many years | Canada over many years | Japan over multiple trips | Italy in 2011 | France in 2013 | Indonesia in 2013 | Japan in 2013 | Japan in 2014 | Taiwan in 2014 | Indonesia in 2014 | New Zealand in 2015 | Japan in 2015 | Costa Rica in 2015 | Singapore in 2016 | South Korea in 2016 | Japan in 2016 | Germany in 2016 | Tasmania 2017 | Japan in winter 2017 | Great Britain in 2017 | Australia Flying Safari 2017 | Philippines 2018 | Spain in 2018 | Alaska in 2019 | England in 2021 | UAE in 2021 | Poland in 2023 | Portugal in 2023 | Thailand in 2023 | Japan Snow 2024 |

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2012/06/05 Galapagos Land Excursions and Snorkeling with Galaven
π 2012-06-05 01:01 in Diving, Ntrips, Trips
This post is part of our Trip to Galapagos, with land visits and diving.

We spent our first 8 days in Galapagos on the Galaven which we boarded as soon as we landed in Baltra Island, north of Santa Cruz. Almost every day we had 2 land hikes and two snorkels, some of which were actually almost as good as dives when sea lions come to play with you, or seeing iguanas swim, boobies dive for fish, and more.





As soon as we arrived, we went for our first snorkel and land excursion: the first land excursion on the small island of North Seymour north of Baltra was arguably one of the best ones.


Day 1: Seymour Island

Their Seaguls look pretty
Their Seaguls look pretty

Seymour was a great island for blue footed boobies, and they even did their love dance for us, which apparently not everyone gets to see. We got lucky:







The blue footed boobies were awesome :)

A few cute sea lions


Frigate birds are nasty, but they look funny when the males




babies are fuzzy though :)
babies are fuzzy though :)

Even the doves look cool :)


Many marine iguanas too:




But the more impressives ones were the big fat land iguanasrescued from Baltra Island:



beautiful animals
beautiful animals



Day 2: Genovesa Island

On the second day, we went to Genovesa for 2 land hikes. It was also a very good island too:



more blue eyed doves
more blue eyed doves

masked boobies
masked boobies








this juvenile was happy playing with its stick
this juvenile was happy playing with its stick


Two more cool videos from there, boobies preening and a juvenile playing with a stick:

On the rocks, many birds, and owls that were hunting for food:




Found by the water:


For our snorkel, water was crappy, but we saw a few things and a sea lion came to play with us at the end:


bad picture of a hammerhead
bad picture of a hammerhead




During the afternoon, we hiked another portion of Genovesa:










Day 3: San Salvador Lava and Rabida Island

The 3rd morning, we started for a lava hike on San Salvador just across from Bartolome:







The snorkeling there was good:






Here's a video of a marine iguana swimming:

The afternoon, we went to Isla Rabida, nice red sand and beach. It looked a bit like Kawaii in the Hawaii Islands:







After that, we went for a quick Snorkel:








Day 4: Port Ayora/Santa Cruz/Charles Darwin Research Station

On the 4th day, we went to Puerto Ayora to pick up new passengers and visit the Charles Darwin Research Station.










They have the famous Lonesome George, the last of its kind:




Unfortuntely, the poor thing died 2 days after we got home, so its race is now gone from the planet.

As well as other tortoises:



The afternoon, we went to El Garrapatero Beach:
The cacti grow really high up there because of drought, all animals try to eat them to get the water out of them, so as a defence, the cacacti grow even higher




baby marine iguanas
baby marine iguanas



Puerto Ayora is a nice little town:







Day 5: North Santa Cruz: Dragon Hill and Bachas

The next day, we cruised around Santa Cruz to the north side to see Dragon Hill and Bachas. I spotted some dolphins from the dingy:



Dragon Hill was a nice little hike:



the cacti have hairy thorns to protect themselves from climbing tortoises trying to suck up the juice from them.
the cacti have hairy thorns to protect themselves from climbing tortoises trying to suck up the juice from them.



many crabs on each rock
many crabs on each rock








The next land hike was on Bachas, also in North Santa Cruz:

ghost crabs clean the beach sand
ghost crabs clean the beach sand






We also finally got lucky and saw some flamingos:




The snorkels were also decent:






Day 6: Floreana

The 6th day, we went to the old island of Floreana. It has one of the oldest mailboxes in the area. People on passing ships would put mail and would look for other envelopes that were already there, and see if they could help deliver some of them. In that tradition, this is what we did too :)
On the way there, we got a dingy ride to see sea lions and birds. Some were quite happy to see us and would come to our dingy.









playful biting even
playful biting even

We then went to the historical mailbox and lava tube. The mailbox is cool: you put your mail and look at other people's mail and take some of it home and try to get it delivered for them:




There was also a nearby lava tube:




The snorkel from there was great. Sea Lions came to play with us, and we saw several turtles too:












During snorkeling, sea lions came to play with us, and we saw some turtles feeding:

In the afternoon, we went hiking and snorkeling by Sting Ray City:






During snorkeling, we saw scorpionfish:






Day 7: Espanola

On the 7th day, last but not least, we got to see Espanola, the most popular island in Galapagos:


they had piles of iguanas
they had piles of iguanas

did I mention piles of iguanas?
did I mention piles of iguanas?

you're so cute :)
you're so cute :)


Espanola won on the amount of birds, especially Albatros that can't be found anywhere else:



Those lovely masked boobies kill their brothers to get all the food
Those lovely masked boobies kill their brothers to get all the food






friends :)
friends :)


They also had a blow hole:




The afternoon we went to Gardener Bay:


puppy was happy to see me
puppy was happy to see me

The snorkel wasn't bad:








Day 8: San Cristobal

The last day, we arrived at San Cristobal, the end of our trip. In the morning, we went to see the interpretation center, which has nice trails we used the next day when we came back on our own time.


The afternoon, we went to a tortoise habitat:









And that was it for our Galaven trip. After that, we stayed in St Cristobal 2 more days, waiting for our next boat, the Aggressor, to go diving.

Galaven itself was a good enough boat to get around, we had a good itinerary with them (i.e. got to see the better Islands), and the guides were good, so good times were had. We definitely got to see (even under water) many things we wouldn't have seen on a diving boat. It was well worth the trip.




More pages: December 2023 June 2023 April 2023 December 2022 December 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 June 2018 May 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 October 2012 September 2012 June 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 June 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 May 2010 January 2010 September 2009 August 2009 June 2009 January 2009 December 2008 August 2008 February 2008 January 2008 October 2007 July 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 August 2006 July 2006 April 2006 March 2006 January 2006 December 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 April 2005 December 2004 October 2004 July 2004 June 2004 January 2004 January 2003 January 2001 August 1997

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