Galapagos--Day One

Wow, our Galapagos adventure was so amazing (and there are too many great photos) that it's impossible to try and condense the whole journey into one blog post. So let's go back to the beginning. After packing (guess whose is on the right)

we flew to Guayaquil to spend the night before heading to Galapagos the following morning. I highly recommend Hotel CityPlaza when your travels take you to that city. They pick you up at the airport, the rooms are huge,

rates are reasonable, and the hotel is located a short walk to the Malecon.

Next morning we went to the airport

got on the plane

and an hour and a half later we arrived on Baltra Island.

Buses took us to the water where we donned life jackets and boarded inflatable boats called pangas

that took us to the Santa Cruz II, our home for the next six exciting days.

After checking in and having lunch we were off to North Seymour Island for our first excursion. No surprise that you can walk right up to the animals--we've all seen the pics--but it was still kind of weird when you actually do it and they don’t even flinch.

We saw land iguanas,

lots of blue footed boobies,

frigate birds,

sea lions,

and brilliantly colored red crabs.

Quite an introduction to our adventure! Back on board we quickly unpacked, then off to a presentation of the next day's activities, a welcome cocktail with the captain and crew, and dinner. It was already evident that we were in for some "active" travel. In fact, the trip is called an "expedition," not a cruise. No spa days, hanging out at the pool, and afternoon trivia on this ship!

Bedtime came early in anticipation of more wonderful surprises.