Days in the Galapagos by Kaelie

Days in the Galapagos

By Kaelie Stainwright

In the Galapagos we went to 2 big Islands called Santa Cruz and Isabela.

In Santa Cruz we were there for 7 days. On three of the days we went to the islands Santa Fe, South Plazas and Pinzon.

At South Plazas we walked on land and saw land iguanas. Their colours were yellow, black and multi-coloured (yellow, black, white and green). There were sea lions in the water and there was a sea lion that was only 2 weeks old and it still had its baby fur. There was another sea lion that had a shark bite on its back. We went snorkelling once and saw sting rays and reef sharks.

At Pinzon we went on three snorkelling trips and we saw sting rays, reef sharks, fish and sea lions. The sting rays were playing in the sand at the bottom and all the other animals were in the deeper water.

At Santa Fe we saw sting rays, sharks, lots of sea lions, fish and other animals. We went on three snorkelling trips and we saw all of the sea lions on the second one.

On the other days we went Tortuga Bay, Los Grietas, Garrapaterra Beach, Estacion  Beach, Darwin Center, Giant tortoises, lava tunnels and then Gemelos.

On the first day we went to the Giant tortoises, lava tunnels and Gemelos craters.  At Gemelos Craters we did a walk to both craters. They were formed by magma tunnels that collapsed and made big Craters (holes). Next we went to the Giant tortoises and they were so big. We saw some in the lake, some under the trees and the others walking around. The lava tunnels were rock that had fallen from the roof and we had to climb over it. There was a part were the roof went so low down we had to crawl.

When we went to Tortuga Bay, it was a long walk. We finally got to the Laguna and we went snorkelling. When we were walking on the beach we saw a shark and it was very cool!! We saw the marine iguanas and Daddy lay down next to them. We played on the beach on the way back, we saw the turtle nests and saw a baby turtle.

Another day we went to Los Grietas and it was a big Gorge that you could snorkel through. We saw fish only Garrapaterra and it was really fun but the water was cold.  After that we went to Beach and went kayaking to another beach and wrote GALAPAGOS on the sand. We went back and built sand castles. Soon we wanted to go back but our taxi wasn't there. There were mozzies so we went in the back of a Ranger's truck until we found our taxi.

When we went to the Darwin Breeding Center and saw so many tortoises, there were big ones, small ones and baby ones and they were so cute. We read some signs and saw mostly tortoises and once we saw a yellow iguana.

We went to Isabela on a boat and in the afternoon we got some bikes and went to the Breeding Center but I liked the Darwin Breeding Center better. We also went to the flamingos and the Wall of Tears. When we left to go to the flamingos, I fell off my bike and got a big crack on my knee and it hurt. To get to the Wall of Tears we had to ride a long way. We saw wild tortoises and it was a long day.

Another day we did a tour to Tintoreras and we saw penguins, iguana’s bones, sea lion, reef sharks, iguanas, fish and other animals. We did one snorkel and we saw the turtles swimming and eating plankton. It was so much fun.

The next day we went to Los Tuneles and it was real lava tunnels under water. We saw fish, blue footed bobies and turtles and the best thing was seeing the sea horses. One was pregnant and their tails were wrapped around a tree. We looked in shark caves and it was awesome.

On our last day on Isabela we climbed a volcano and it was so cool. We went all the way to the top and it was shorter going up but it felt like there was no end coming down. We saw these rocks that were colourful because of the lava. In the afternoon we went to a beach. Well what we thought was a beach but the complete opposite a "lase" half lake, half sea. So we went to the real beach and a sea lion chased me and freaked me out.

On our very last day we got a 3 packets of m&ms from the Easter Bunny and got the boat back to Santa Cruz