June 2 - Part 2

Bartolome Island

In morning, we snorkeled, and this time there was a shark spotted near us! Quite an exciting moment, being an environment that assisted the strengths of this oceanic predator while limiting our abilities! While snorkeling today we watched a penguin trying to catch lunch. It didn’t catch any fish but it did swim with us. It even swam at Krystle’s face and came within a few feet of her face. We were so excited to be swimming with a penguin. We also saw 2 manta rays and more exotic fishes. Somehow, fish just don’t seem as exciting when there are sharks and penguins about to swim with and watch from surface of the water.

We got done snorkeling, returned to the boat and went to the top of the boat to look for a shark. Not this time though. There were birds flying above us and one of them had an eel in his beak. He flew right over our boat trying to get the entire eel in his mouth. Lauren and Krystle were worried that the bird was going to drop it on them, but it just passed over the boat and then dropped the eel. Then another bird snatched it off the surface of the water and ate it.

We prepared ourselves for another adventure of snorkeling. We saw a few penguins swim hastily by us. We had the a very rare chance to swim with a sea lion for about an hour. Lauren named him “Henry”. It was such a trip, one that we will cherish for a lifetime. We saw another shark!

After cleaning up from our most recent snorkeling we prepared for a short hike. We hiked up to the top of a mountain on bartolome island. It had a great view of the lava, the areas we snorkeled and the other islands nearby. It was a great reminder of the splendor of the Lord’s creation.

A Beautiful sunset greeted us that night.

June 2 Saturday - Part 1

James Island-

Our first morning at sea was quite an interesting turn of events. We were headed to the island for a short walk on the lava when our guide spotted some penguins on the shoreline. I thought a “third wheel” only existed in the human world, however nature proved me wrong. As we headed toward them, one of the penguins turned away from his companions, so as not to look as his buddies getting it on.  Our boat load of tourists was extremely content.

The lava was black. As black as a moonless night. It had such unique designs from when the lava cooled and hardened years before. We walked for about an hour or so. Along the way we saw a marine iguana blending in with the lava while Krystle and Lauren jumped in a man-sized hole and pretended to be dying.

There was a small beach near the lava. As we walked the beach we saw a bird with an extremely large neck. It could stretch it long at will.



There was another shark circling the boat as we arrived back at our ship. Beyond reason we were enamored with this shark circling our boat!

We're Back!

We just finished hiking the Inca Trail and saw Machu Pichu. Today we are recovering in our hostel and I will get caught up on posts of the Galapagos Islands.

June 1 Friday- part 2

When we arrived at our first destination there were puffer fish all around the boat. Our first discovery of fish! We would eventually snorkel everyday discovering a whole new world! Each day a different animal to swim with!

Santa Cruz Island

Before I get ahead of myself, let me introduce the people on our boat. The crew consisted of a guide, the boat captain, 3 deck hands, and a cook. The other passengers was 2 ladies from Israel, a couple from Italy, a couple from Austria(Matias and Astrid), and 4 Arizonians!!

We arrived at Sanata Cruz Island, our first site. We walked around a beautiful beach. We walked to a small lagoon and saw 3 Flamingos!



As we walked along the beach Rob and I saw a little shark (probably under 2 feet long) at the shoreline. It almost got beached! We did not tell the ladies just yet, as we were concerned they would not want to snorkel still.We did our first excursions into the water. When snorkeling we saw a manta ray and tropical fish. We had already seen a sea lion next to our boat and were quite excited about what we would see. During our trip back to our main ship we saw a sea turtle! We sure hoped to swim with one.

We all did the most unbelieveable thing!!!!! A shark was circling our boat.. and moments after it left, we jumped into the ocean from the top of our boat!!!! Crazy!!! We were going crazy! Moments after we were back in the boat from jumping in, it was back!!!

June 1 Friday-part 1

May 30, Wednesday and May 31, Thursday were spent in airports and planes. It is the cost of traveling that I will gladly pay any day of the week!

Speaking of traveling, We have now taken 5 plane trips to just arrive in the Galapagos Islands. By the time we return home we will have taken 13 separate plane trips..

We landed in Galapagos Islands, specifically Santa Cruz.. The airport is on the other side of the island. There is one runway and it is quite a sight to see. When a plane lands it must drive all the way back down the runway to unload the passengers. There are about 13,000 people who live on this island.

We boarded a bus and headed toward the dock to start our cruise around the islands. The girls were so excited to see animals that when we saw animals around the dock they were cheering with excitement! There was a marine iguana, a land iguana, a blue-footed boobie and even a CRAB! I draw special attention to the crab, because Krystle looked at it and said that can’t be real, they must have put that there for the tourists. This became more comical as the trip went on because of the sheer volume of crabs around the islands. There were bright red and orange crabs everywhere. Also, black crabs and all of them were various sizes. Just wait and see!

Some Pics from Quito-Day1

They were expecting us!

Rob was fascinated with the electrical posts! Perhaps a more organized system is needed.

George Washington street!

The ladies being silly!

Our First Step

Our first step on this trip was a difficult day of traveling.

For those that travel, and do not have to do so on a tight budget, get DIRECT flights! We had an adventure right away as we had 3 total flights in our first day, with over 16 hours of straight travel in the air and in airports.

We left Phoenix around 6:50 and arrived in Mexico City around 11pm at night.
We left Mexico at 2:15am and arrived in Bogota, Columbia around 630am.
We left Bogota at 845am and arrived in Quito, Ecuador around 11am.

The money saved was well worth it, it just makes for long days of traveling.

We savely navigated each customs/immigration within these countries. A few times, they searched our bags and we thought they might take some of our food or liquids, but furtunately they did not.

Once in Quito, we were picked up by our taxi and taken to our hotel. We checked in and took a two hour nap. Though it was not close to enough to make up for the sleep we missed, we all felt refreshed and toured the city. We found a market of tourist stuff and bought a few things.

For dinner we had some great typical Ecuadorian food. Krystle, Lauren and Rob all had a popular local drink. Rob was the only one to finish it, as Krystle and Lauren both found it a little too foreign for their tastes.

Tomorrow, we awake around 5am to head to our boat and the Galapagos Islands. We will spend 3 or 4 days on this book. I do not believe I will have internet access on the boat, but I will try to post again as soon as possible.

Here we are after arriving safely in Quito, Ecuador.

Here is Krystle and Lauren being silly.

Leaving on a jet airplane

Today is the 29th Day of the 5th Month of the Year of the MAYANS!!!!!!
Tomorrow... we leave on another adventure.


Here is the beginning of our trip into South America.

We have two main destinations.. The Galapagos Islands, west of Ecuador, and Machu Pichu, near Cuzco, Peru.

Rob and Lauren Burns are going with us!


Those of you that haven't seen this blog yet. Look in the past to see the 9 month trip Krystle and I took in 2010. We traveled to Costa Rica and Spain.