Las Islas Galapagos

Leaving Colombia behind we headed to Quito where Ithaca would stay for a week to give everyone a chance to head to the amazing Galapagos Islands on a 4 night boat trip. They are most famous for their wildlife which was the inspiration for Darwin's theory of evolution after his visit back in the 1830s, due to their isolation, meeting of 3 different sea currents and continuing volcanic activity the animals there are amazing and have adapted to the strange environment to create unique species you won't find anywhere else in the world. Their isolation has also meant they never developed a fear of humans and despite some human development on the islands to this day they are left mostly unmolested which means we had the chance to get much closer to them than you can anywhere else in the world.

The boat trips were like a holiday within a holiday (though of course as we all know overlanding is NOT a holiday!) and everyone took to their boats beautifully, enjoying the amazing sights they were presented with every day. From watching baby turtles making their way to the ocean, to hanging out with giant tortoises to walking on lava flows to swimming with the incredibly illusive manta rays, it was a truly awe-inspiring experience for everyone. Words can't do these islands justice so I'll leave it to the photos (just a tiny proportion of the thousands of photos taken by everyone!)

A visitor on the boat

Ali gets caught in the lava flow

Baby Sea Turtle has his own guard of honour to stop him getting eaten by birds

Baby turtle makes his way to the sea

Beautiful beaches

Blue-footed Booby

Chris on the lava

Claire

Dancing Boobies

Deck time San Jose

Drinks aboard the San Jose

Frigate bird

Fur sealion

Gen and a sealion

Gen

Giant Tortoise

Green Turtle

Home is where you put your flippers up

Juvenile Frigate Birds

Land Iguana

Lava flow

Lazing with the iguanas

Lesser Spotted Shelled Michael

Manta Rays

Marine Iguana

Mike vs the volcano

Crabs

Nazca Boobies

"New Flamingo" group

On the beach

One eye on the gringos

Parrotfish

Paul chats to the locals

Paul dressed for swimming

Paul on the lava flow

Paul snorkelling

Pelican's bitten off more than he can chew

Pelly's dinner time

Pile o'iguanas

Red Footed Booby

Sally Lightfoot crab

Sandlion

Sea Turtle

Sealion

Get a room!

Sealions

Stingray and sea cucumber

Stingray on the move

Galapagos sunsets

Swallow-tailed gulls

The San Jose ready for sailing

The Wave Albatross only breeds on Floreana Island

Watching the Galapagos wildlife... or is it watching them?

Wave Albatross

Meanwhile back in Quito Emma and Simon enjoyed some peace and quiet, briefly joined by Gen and Mike who set off on their luxury honeymoon Galapagos cruise a day later, and explored the highest capital city in the world.