Cruising in the Aida Maria

We had a great time getting to know the Galapagos Islands via the Aida Maria for 5 nights! The cruise we ended up booking was an 8 day deal, but we hopped on in the evening when the boat stopped in Puerto Ayora. Our boat was deemed 'tourist superior' which turned out to be right for us, although we can't compare it anything else.

Aida Maria

We really liked our itinerary which took us to the northwest side of things: we visited Isabella Island, Fernandina Island, Rabida Island, and islands Santiago and North Seymore. We ended up back in Baltra at the airport for the finale, which was a bit of a nuisance since we were planning on heading back over to San Cristobal for 4 days which would entail a bus from the airport to the canal, a ferry across to Santa Cruz, a bus ride to town, and then another ferry ride from Santa Cruz to San Cristobal. After standing in the heat for a while waiting, we decided maybe we had seen a good portion of the Galapagos and tried to change our flights to leave then and there seeing as we were already packed and ready to go.Turned out we could, so we left a few days early and arrived back in Guayaquil. Overall, the staff were professional and hospitable and our guide really knowledgeable, the food was great, and we got to hang out with some interesting people. Usually the day consisted of a walk and a snorkel--the walk being the tedious part and the snorkel being the fun bit. We got to see so many animals, reptiles and birds there it was an incredible experience. Not only was the wildlife easy to view, it was ridiculous how close we were able to get. Mostly they just don't seem to mind people around in the slightest so we were in the mix with all of them. We were able to see turtles, dolphins, white-tipped reef sharks, eagle rays, sting rays, crabs, loads of fish, penguins, flightless cormorants, fly-catchers, blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, flamingos, the Galapagos hawk, finches, marine iguanas (Iain's favourite), land iguanas, lava lizards lots of sea lions and fur seals and too many more creatures to name.

flamingo at a distance

Tortuga Bay in Santa Cruz

Iain sharing

2nd largest crater in the world

baby tortoise  

witnessing a tortoise 'fight'

lava on Isabella 

herd of tourists 

sea turtle taking a breath

Quick! Get a picture!

Everyone is happy living together

Lava Lizard

Marine Iguana 

Bird watching at its best

Iain reconnecting with iguana friends

Early Riser

Boobie

Frigate searching for a mate 

Baby! 

Back in Guayaquil we checked up on the trooper and set of for the town of Banos in the Central Highlands. We spent yesterday and today wandering a bit and are leaving tomorrow to head for Misahualli in the Northern Oriente to get a small taste of the Amazon. There is an indigenous community nearby that has been recommended to us to visit. We will keep are eyes peeled for blow-darts (as suggested by Tony), ocelots, monkeys, butterflies, insects, plants and trees.