The unique and magical Galapagos islands

The most uniquely magical place we have been to on our trip, and perhaps our favourite! We had such an amazing time on our 4 day boat trip through the Galapagos. We had another early start leaving our hotel in Quito at 5:30am to get to the airport where we flew to Balta on Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos via a stopover in Guayaquil. We were met by the crew from our boat, taken for lunch at a restaurant on the island before visiting the Charles Darwin visitors centre in the afternoon. At the Charles Darwin centre we were given the low-down of how Charles Darwin came up with his theory of evolution, based on the creatures he had discovered in the Galapagos islands and witnessed the way they had evolved to adapt to their surroundings. We saw the tortoise conservation project and met Lonesome George, the only tortoise left of his kind that scientists have been trying to get to reproduce with similar species, but to no avail. I queried whether the scientists considered the fact that George might be gay, which would explain his resistance to reproduce with the female tortoises, but no one was sure whether they had tested this theory or not.

After the Charles Darwin centre, it was time to board the boat that was to be our home for 3 nights. We were on a boat with 32 other people and meals were served in a dining room with shared tables, so you got to know everyone on the boat quite quickly. We were very lucky to have met a bunch of lovely people on our boat, and some slightly quirky ones, who helped make our trip so special.

We made two excursions a day visiting a total of 4 of the southernmost islands. Our first excursion consisted of snorkelling with sea turtles, stingrays, reef sharks and even hammerhead sharks about 4 meters long! The sea was warm and various gorgeous colours of blue and turquoise. What a thrill and fantastic experience. On the second excursion of the day we went to a tortoise breeding ground on Floreana island but didn't see any tortoises as they come out at night. However, when going for a swim in the sea afterwards, Joost was quickly joined by a playful sea lion.

We thought that was special until our excursion the next morning where we went to visit a beach known for its sea lion colony. There were sea lions spread along the beach, happy for us to wander around and they even playfully swam with us in the sea. We made sure we kept our distance as we were not allowed to come into contact with any animals, but they didn't make it easy when they curiously wandered up to us, often from behind. We went on another snorkelling trip and managed to see more varieties of sting rays (the spotted and the diamond sting ray) and sea turtles in addition to all the fish and coral of course.

That afternoon we went on a 3 hour hike around the Isabella island and got to see the famed blue-footed booby (a bird) and many other birds, the multi-coloured iguanas, a rock pool that the sea lions had turned into a baby sea lion paddling pool to teach them how to swim, and the beautiful island scenery. Upon returning to the boat, the teenage kids on the boat, as well as a few of the adults were allowed to jump off the top of the boat into the water, and of course Joost gave it a good go!

On our final evening, the crew on the boat hosted a BBQ party for us on the rooftop where we spent the evening drinking chatting to our new friends and enjoying the beautiful sunset.

The days passed far too quickly, the only downside was the seasickness I suffered on day two of the trip. Some friends on the boat gave me some of their prescription seasickness medicine, which helped me enjoy the rest of the trip without any further trouble.

It was a memorable experience, definitely a place we would recommend visiting at least once in a lifetime!