Galapagos Islands

We had no internet availability in the Galapagos, and were quite busy when we returned home, but I wanted to comment on our trip.  We toured with Ecoventura, a company that has won conservation awards.  Our ship, the Flamingo I, had room for twenty passengers and ten crew members.  The group was small enough that we enjoyed getting acquainted with everyone.  Our tour guides, Karina and Ivan, were excellent, very knowledgeable and conscientious.  We visited Genovesa, Ferdinandina, Isabela, Santiago, Bartolome, North Seymour, Santa Cruz, Espanola, and San Cristobal.  I was able to do a watercolor sketch almost every day.  We saw frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, waved albatross, flightless cormorants, Galapagos penguins and many more species of birds.  One had to be careful not to step on the marine iguanas, they were everywhere.  The land tortoises were not so common, but we did see some in the wild.  We also saw "Lonesome George", the last Pinta tortoise, at the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz island.  Did my first snorkeling and saw amazing marine life, including sharks, rays, moray eels, green sea turtles, and many different kinds of tropical fish.  The days flew quickly by, and now it all seems like a wonderful dream.