Welcome to Darwin’s Islands!

This was Rich’s pick for our around the world trip….and it happens to be our last stop before returning to the VERY cold weather at home.  I am not looking forward to becoming a popsicle…but hey…every great adventure must come to an end sooner or later!

We sailed on Coral 1 (the sister ship of Coral 2) sailed with us.  There were 24 passengers in total, 12 crew and 2 naturalist guides (Lola and Jorge).  We had cabins below the main deck with only port holes.  We would be 4 nights, 5 days on board our boat!  Needless to say…I was nervous about all of this.  I don’t love being on the water….and I am worried about feeling nauseated for 5 days straight!

The good news……I did great!  The Bonine at night and the wristbands (acupressure sites) worked for me.  I ate well (too bad for my weightloss plan) and enjoyed the time with the kids and Rich on board, slept just fine (one night was really rocking and rolling….but I did ok!) and was able to participate in all of the excursions…even on the dingy and snorkeling in the water.  A great success for me…..however now that I am on terra ferma….I feel like I am swaying side to side…weird but tolerable.  I will keep the wristband on for now.  It would be embarrassing to get seasick on dry land!

Here are some great pictures.  Rich will have to post the underwater ones.  We swam with thousands of colourful fish, sea lions and turtles.  There was a good sized white tipped reef shark under a rock ledge (that I didn’t go to visit….but of course Rich did…so he has a pic!).  Wilson enjoyed the deep water snorkeling…and Lulu joined us for the snorkeling off the beach to swim with turtles!  The crew on the boat were very accommodating and let Lulu sit on the dingy while we snorkeled nearby.  We felt safe and supported.  The guides were also really knowledgable and were able to supplement the kids learnings about the very cool animals (I am sure Rich will elaborate as usual!) found only on Galapagos Islands.

Sally light crab

Lulu made a boobie in flight

Blue footed boobie

Marine iguana and blue foot boobie “nests”

Blowhole

You never know what you will find under a rock

Jumping from the boat…brave man

That night….we see these guys surrounded our boat

Sometimes they get along great..even after 6 months

So…..that brings us to the end of our MOST FANTASTIC AMAZING AWESOME TREMENDOUS 6 MONTH ADVENTURE!!!!  I hope you enjoyed traveling with us!

Flight 23!

Second last transfer with Rich attempting a different language

The Super Bowl…..go Rams