Andy E.



 

Galapagos Islands

 

            In October I visited the Galapagos Islands. I was, in one word, EXTRODINARY. I've never been to a place anything like it before. I went snorkeling, saw the history of the Islands, and I got to see the largest species of tortoise in the world! First, I went snorkeling at Elizabeth Bay on Isabela Island. When I first got there I looked over the bay and standing on a rock was a penguin! He was swimming in the water and having a good time with all of the other penguins. So, I went snorkeling, and there was such beautiful coral, and there was all kinds of exotic fish. I went with a group, and I saw some pretty interesting people. I saw this one guy with a rainbow bathing suit and it had a tail sticking out the back. Anyway, when I started swimming back towards the boat a turtle started swimming up next to me. I stared at it in awe. It was so cool!


 

 

http://www.discovergalapagos.com/elizabet.html

 

 



 

            A few days later, I went to the island of Isla Santa Cruz. There was an awesome museum called the Charles Darwin Research Museum. It was amazing! It had some of the worlds oldest and the biggest species of tortoise in the world. And, this guy was being pretty dumb and tried to pet the tortoise, and that didn't go very well... but he left immediately.There was also stuff on the human history, like some of the fossils and how to preserve the island well. It had and explained most of the conservation efforts. After we went to the museum, I was FAMISHED! So, we went to a traditional Galapagos Restaurant. It had such interesting and delicious food. We had dumpling with fresh fruit on the inside, and some of the best lobster I have ever had.

 

 

            On my last day there, I went to Puerto Chino on San Cristobal Island. I had heard that it was very quiet, and off the grid, so I went snorkeling there. You could access by taxi though, but I decided to walk to do some sightseeing and take pictures. Going there was the best idea EVER! The snorkeling was so cool! The tour took the group on a boat to get farther out on the ocean. The 30 min. boat ride was worth it because of the beautiful sightseeing in the ocean. It was so pretty. There were so many colorful fish, sea lions, rays, and turtles of all kinds. There was this girl who swam up close to a ray, and she got stung... BAD! It seemed like there were some pretty unlucky tourists on this trip, to say the least. But any way, it was a fantastic trip despite the incidents, and I really hope to visit it again someday.