galapagos one

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of all the places we visited on our around the world trip, i think the galapagos islands was the one destination i did the worst job capturing in photographs. i think that is because of a combination of a) i was quite tired of taking pictures after having been in so many photogenic places pretty much continually over the course of nearly three months, and b) the islands are just too stunning to be caught on film (or a digital file :) ).

there’s no place on earth like galapagos. the islands are just teeming with incredible life – lush plants, surging waters, biting and stinging insects, wildlife unlike that found anywhere else on the planet, and golden-hearted humans.

galapagos was the perfect place to end our eighty days of international travel. our time there was just the right mix of exciting and relaxing and we felt secluded, engaged, rejuvenated, and alive.
here’s some photos from our first couple of days, which we spent on isla de san cristobal  and scuba diving near kicker rock!

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^^ we had the sweetest tour guide from our hostel bring us around to some points of interest on the island our first foggy afternoon. this random treehouse made the cut as a point of interest. ^^
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^^ the path to a crater lake atop one of the island’s volcanoes ^^
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^^ our first encounters with galapagos giant tortoises (more in the next post!) – such fascinating animals! ^^
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^^ and with baby giant tortoises! because these creatures are endangered, there are many breeding/caregiving centers on the galapagos islands. ^^
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^^ our tour guide took us to a specific beach to see iguanas. it took some searching, but we found a few. they were pretty camouflaged on the black rocks! ^^
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^^ we watched them for a half and hour or so – mesmerizing! ^^
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^^ we were getting eaten alive by mosquitos while this picture was being taken! ^^
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^^ we saw so, so much different wildlife, but my favourite animal we saw in the galapagos might have been these bright red crabs scurrying around everywhere. i just love them! ^^
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^^ on our boat ride out to our dives. ^^
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^^ this is kicker rock. we dove right through that channel between the two cliffs, and then around the perimeter. ^^
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^^ i need more practice on using the gopro while diving! ^^
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^^ but here’s a not terrible photo of one of the probably thirty galapagos sharks we swam alongside! ^^
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^^ we swam through huuuuge schools of fish…with sea turtles! ^^
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^^ views from hanging out on the boat during our interval between dives. ^^
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^^ scuba selfie! had to. ^^
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^^ within a couple minutes of descending for our second dive, my mask fogged up really badly :( our dive master and ian saw dozens of hammerhead sharks. i saw the tail of one. i can’t believe i missed it!! at least i got this sub-par photo of a random sea star! :( oh well. we’ll have to just dive with hammerheads again some day! ^^
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^^ watching pelicans dive for fish food before we got off the dive boat for a secluded beach visit after our scubaing! ^^
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^^ ahhhh this beach was so amazing and these pictures just do not do it justice. it was on a tiny random island between kicker rock and santa cruz and our little dive/snorkel group had the whole thing to ourselves! it was so pristine, so untouched, so fresh and beautiful. ^^
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^^ after our dive adventures, we took a boat to santa cruz island, where we stayed for our last couple of nights. here’s where we ate dinner two evenings in a row. delicious, fresh food in such a fun atmosphere! aaaaand our dinners were followed by chicle (for the boy) and coconut (for me) ice cream. sooo yum. ^^

to be continued…!

Comments

  1. Beautiful Pictures!!! I would love to have experience that.

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