Page 45 - Explore Magazine Autumn 2018

Our ship was the Isabella II and we had an excellent experience, better raced towards the whale. It spouted a few times and heaved itself out
than expected due to her age and the cabins, although basic, were all of the water. It was the size of a submarine and what an experience!
we needed, including our own en suite. The food was great and the Unfortunately it quickly disappeared and we returned to the ship.
staff were excellent. The ship’s knowledgeable guides and the playful We had a Zodiac shore landing each day and our guides took us
sea lion pups we encountered during excursions also made for an on walks. On one of them we visited an albatross colony and saw
extraordinary experience. We were there in August which is when the them do a mating dance and I felt as though I was watching a David
sea lions have their pups and it made for amazing snorkelling as they Attenborough documentary. We saw loads of iguanas which were
would come close; one of our group had a pup nose right up to the piled up over each other on the beach and our guide had to find a way
camera. If you are expert enough to dive down and somersault and around them so we could continue our walk. These iguanas are water-
twist and turn under the water the pups will copy you. I was waggling loving and feed on seaweed growing on rocks under the water. They
my fingers and a pup came right up to me as well.
change colour in the sun as they warm up. That day we were looking for
The Galápagos are 1,000km pelicans but were only lucky enough to see one. We also walked a lot up
quite high hills with fabulous views back over the ocean and the ship.
offshore and I was surprised to We climbed up to see red-footed boobies with their chicks and also saw
plenty of blue-footed boobies as they are quite common.
see how populated they were as I When you are in the Zodiacs you never know what you might see: we
was expecting barren islands and had sea lion pups following us, we saw penguins which was unusual at
that time of year, we saw numerous birds diving – it was just fantastic!
nothing else. I would recommend that you devote a week to seeing the Galápagos as
the more time you have, the more you can see. We only had four nights
One day we had just jumped in the water when our guide spotted but wow, what a fantastic four nights!
whale spouts in the distance. He asked if we wanted to go and get
closer, which of course we did. We climbed back in the Zodiacs and

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