Galapogas - Day 3

Top deck of the boat

Leaving the harbour

Boat in background - lots of tender rides!

Pelican watching out for fish

Seals

Land Iguana

Lava Lizard

Today we had a boat trip to Santa Fe island.

Another wet landing to see the land iguana, rock lizards, a pelican and lava lizards. We walked around for just over an hour on land. We also saw sea turtles, sharks, and even a whale!

We returned to the boat for some swimming and lunch, then back to the landing for a bus journey back to the hotel.

In the evening we had a meal out at a local restaurant.

Galapogas Islands - Day 2

Our Hotel Silberstein

Hotel

Boat

On our way

Barthomelew island

Swimming beach

Today we took a boat trip to Barthomolew (who was on the Beagle with Darwin) island.
An early start at 6.15 AM, a bus ride to the boat, and semi rigid to take us on board where we had breakfast and a two hour trip up the Itabaca canal.

We landed and went up the volcano, then back to the boat, had a lunch and back to the hotel by 5.30 PM.

**More pictures will be added when we are back on boat**

Flight to the Galapogas

Lima Airport VIP Lounge

Giant tortoise

Chilling

More chilling!

Quito airport - waiting again!

Up at 4 AM for our two flights. We were at the airport early at Lima so took to a lounge for some relaxation.

We then took a flight to Quito. where we changed for another flight to Galapogas. Then on to a ferry to the main island, and on to the hotel. We stopped at a farm with giant tortoises on the way.

Got to our hotel for 6 PM and supper at 7.30 PM. Charles lost his kindle!

Paracas - Peru

Fast boat tour ...

Candelabra

Speedboat

Crab

Ballestas Island

Paracas Town

Old Guano works

Waves!

Our first port in Peru. The port is 40 km from the town, not much here except for a ship loading gravel, and containers. One of the exports is road salt!

Our tour today took us on open boats to see the small Ballestas Islands with sea lions, birds, and a few penguins. Also crabs and Starfish on the rocks.

We also saw El Candelabro - from about 200 BC they think. Like a giant cactus

Arica - Chile

Morris Dancers in the Desert

Rock Glyph!

Arica from the ship

Band when we were leaving

Animals on the hill - Llamas

Monkeys

Pisco Sour!

Mummys

Mummys

Beer and Chips ...

Cathedral inside

Cathedral in Arica - Prefab designed by Eiffel of Tower Fame!

Our last port of call in Chile, just a few miles from the Peruvian border.

We took a tour around the city and into the desert. There we saw the Chilean equivalent of Morris Men (bells, but no hankies!) Then on to see some Geoglyphs on a hill.

Then on to the museum to see some more rock carvings and Mummys. The Cathedral of St Marks was a pre-fab metal structure designed by Eiffel and erected in 1876 (of Tower fame).


Followed by a visit to the City for Beer, Pisco Sour, Chips and Ice Cream!!

On leaving Port we had bands, dancers, and dolphins leaping as we were having supper!

At sea to Arica Chile

Last night we opened our Champagne from Southampton, and Helen got a good picture of a dolphin today by the side of the boat.

Helen's big 400m ship!