Panama...Panama City..Costa Rica

...today 29th Feb 6pm...just arrived SAN JOSE the capital of COSTA RICA from PANAMA CITY after 16 hour bus ride...border crossing took 3 hours 5am to 8am...I was not a happy boy!...PANAMA CITY is modern with huge buildings and the usual stuff...visited PANAMA CANAL and few other sites...

The SEA VOYAGE from COLOMBIA to PANAMA was just mind blowing...we spent 4 days sailing in CARIBBEAN SEA...SAN BLAS ISLANDS off PANAMA coast are real paradise...we had 15 other travelers with us and in total we had 11 nationalities!!!..we all had amazing time together...swimming snorkeling barbi on beach etc....our sailing boat had 6 huge sails ...name of our sailing boatwas STAHLRATTE...stuff that dreams are made of...we sailed through some of the 300 tiny paradise islands with white powder sand palm trees and just deserted and all islands to ourselves...

...from STAHLRATTE at end of our sailing we caught a small boat through a river then using jeep through jungles of PANAMA we reached PANAMA CITY...amazing journey!!!

...

CARTAGENA...COLOMBIA

LIVERPOOL 2 MILAN 0...no one messes with us in EUROPE -the DREAM is alive and SIXTH one is on it´s way-glad to get that off my chest! and now let´s go and thrash the AUSSIS at SCG as the LANKANS are taken care off-GREAT week being the RED and BLUE supporter!
Now in CARTAGENA-COLOMBIA since 18th-been looking for a boat that will take us to PANAMA via SAN BLAS ISLANDS in the CARIBBEAN SEA-found one today-GERMAN captain-he is very funny as far the GERMANS go!!!-105 year old boat made in HOLLAND-we went to see it - looks safe enough - it´s got enough lifejackets!!!-hopefully sailing on midday 23rd-40 meters length-8 meters width-sailing boat called STAHIRATTE-its a real backpackers kind of boat and has been doing this route for many years - it is also recommended by other travelers so that´s allright then!! -Captain needs to find 4 more people to make 14 to sail for sure on 23rd-he seems sure that we will sail on time-when we left home we hoped to enter one country via sea so PANAMA may be it-It is 5 days sailing to PANAMA including 2 days stop at SAN BLAS ISLANDS.
CARTAGENA-old and new town-has real feel of COLOMBIA - walking through streets gives you real buzz of being transported back some 100 years-was attacked by pirates so many times that ruling SPANIARDS then built wall around the whole town and that still exists today-a real PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN stuff-very hot well in to 30´s - now we are back in shorts and t-shirts till we finish our JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
Slight change of plan -we were going to spend last 3 weeks in US west coast but now we will only spend one week in LA and the other two weeks we are spending in HAWAII-makes you sick doesn´t it!
Can´t believe only 12 weeks left though!-but we are gonna keep traveling as many countries as possible -we love traveling and that´s what we gonna do now!
We are already thinking of places like NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA-CONGO-TIBET-MONGOLIA also ALASKA & ANTARCTICA hmm!!!! mouth watering!!

Plan ahead..we ain´t got one!!!

...today 16th Feb in BOGOTA- COLOMBIA..black day for my beloved REDS against BARNSLEY...after Gal we spent 3 days in QUITO-just relaxing-met up with old friends JUAN and ELISA whom we met in BOLIVIA-they live in ECUADOR-then we took 8 hour us from QUITO to TULCAN a border town with COLOMBIA-easy border crossing then 2km in to COLOMBIA we reached IPALES-from here we caught 22hours bus to BOGOTA...been here 3 days-17th we are catching 20 hour bus to CARTEGENA on CARIBBEAN COAST-from there we are hoping to catch a boat that is willing to take us to PANAMA-as land crossing between COLOMBIA and PANAMA does not exist and it´s too dangerous anyway...COLOMBIA is our last country in SOUTH AMERICA-we have been to every country now in SOUTH AMERICA except VENEZUELA!!!!
...so hold on to your hats my friends and here we go again...

Galapagos...3rd February 2008

...GALAPAGOS ISLANDS...

...our journey to Galapagos began when we arrived at Hostel Secret Garden in Quito http://www.secretgardenquito.com/ where we met PAUL who runs a travel agency from here-genuine decent Canadian-Paul sold us a fantastic deal and booked us on yacht EDEN and it was the beginning of the most memorable 8 days ever for us...

...3rd to 10th Feb...

...ITINERARY...

Day 1 Baltra Island/Las Bachas

Day 2 North Seymour Island/Santa Fe

Day 3 Espanola Island(Punta Saurez/Gardner Bay)

Day 4 Floreana Island

Day 5 Santa Cruz Island-Puero Ayora-Charles Darwin Research Station-Highlands

Day 6 James Bay and Bartolome islands

Day 7 Genovosa Island

Day 8 Santa Cruz Island-Black Turtle Cove-Baltra Island

...the temp throughout our cruise was around 25 to 30 degrees and the water temp was around 20 degrees-perfect for swimming and snorkeling...

...Galapagoas Islands(Gal) -place where WILDLIFE comes first and human are just annoying paparazzi-you can look in to their eyes and you are sure to lose any staring contest-you have to share beach,ocean,bench,rocks,cliff ,path etc with them and remember to let them have the first choice-Gal ARE THE remarkable,unique,unusual,strange,bizzare,trully special and has taken on a mythological status...

...man named CHARLES DARWIN visited Gal in 1835 -spent only 5 weeks here-this visit changed the thinking on how life evolved on our planet-he wrote ORIGIN OF SPECIES ...Survival Of The Fittest theory was born here and today it remains the mainstay of modern biological thinking...

...animals and plants colonized Gal by air,sea and floating vegetations over the last 10 million years-finding no competition they came to dominate the ecosystem and filled every available ecological niche...thus small tortoise evolved in to a GIANT TORTOISE , little FINCH became the WOODPECKER of Gal etc

....WELCOME TO GALAPAGOS...

3rd Feb BALTRA ISLAND port 2pm(27 sq km with main airport) ...1st sight of wildlife soon as we come off our flight...this scene just before we board EDEN...these are wild Sea Lions taking a nap away from the heat...wildllife has the first right of way in Gal... .. EDEN 1st class yacht...our home for the next 8 days as we cruise around Gal...sleeps 16 passengers-8 double with all mod-cons -length 25 meters-width 7 meters-built 1996-refurbished 2002-absolute luxury in every sense...

...Captain WASHINGTON in charge...

...form left Dipak,Pritti Chaco(C),Raphael(R),Eric(E),Jeanin(J),Emily(E) Vedanta and behind C and R sitting down are Romana(R) and 2 year old Felix(F)...

...R from Canada working in LA and others are a family from US...

...here we are performing Blue- Footed Booby(bird) courtship dance which will be explained later...(this pix was taken on FLOREANA ISLAND at Post Office Bay on 6th Feb at 3pm)

...ERIC and JEANINE with Emily and Felix have taken two years off to travel so they can all spend quality time with each other...

...CREJEF were with us for 5 days then six new passangers came in for the last 3 days... five days spent with CREJEF were just awesome-we were like a family- we would travel with them again and again anywhere anytime ...thank you CREJEF and R too...

...Eden crew-from left our absloute expert and caring guide Jorge( here impersonating a Penguine call -he was genius at any wildlife calls)-next to P is our chef and most important of all next to me our barman!...you guys were amazing-thank you!..

ps:Captain Washington was never around and we think he had a phobia called How Not To Smile!..

...map of GALAPAGOS ISLANDS-12 main islands -12 minor islands-30,000 population(human)-billions of MARINE LIFE,BIRDS and REPTILES-in the Pacific Ocean 1000km from mainland Ecuador-1200km from mainlands Costa Rica and Panama-Gal are isolated volcanic islands-worlds most volcanically active region sitting on Ring Of Fire-50 major eruptions in last 400 years-last one in 2005 at Volcan Sierra Negra on Isabela Island-formation of new islands is on going process...

...WE HAD TIME OF OUR LIVES - IT INSPIRED US ALL TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN...

=============================================================

3rd Feb...LAS BACHAS on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND wet landing at 3pm...

...Santa Cruz Island is the most developed island in Gal-has main harbour PUERTO AYORA...

...fresh trek of Black Marine Turtle that came from the ocean last night and laid as many as 100 eggs in the small nest then went back in the ocean-there were hundreds of turtle treks and nests on this beach as there were on many other beaches that we would visit-tourists are not allowed to come at night anymore to watch turtles lay eggs due to thuggish behaviour of some tourists in the past...National Parks are now opened from 6am to 6:30pm...

...new James Bond being shot at Las Bachas called JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY -Producer PRITTI-Director DIPAK

Bond girl played by VEDANTA & EMILY

M played by CHACO

Q played by RAPHAEL

Moneypenny played by JEANINE(sorry!)

Good villians played by FELIX & his dad(hmmm!)

...is that Craig Daniel of James Bond fame in the pix above!...P thought it was more like Mr Bean's fame ...am sure we saw Mrs Bean too somewhere on BARTOLOME ISLAND trying to put on flippers waist deep in water!

...at the above beach- our 1st snorkeling here -one of many in Gal - here we saw many fish of all colours...

...our 1st MARINE IGUANA...gentle giant... saw our first SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS and we would see hundreds of this during our 8 days stay...
...our guide Jorge would have meeting with us everyday at 6:30pm just before dinner-he would draw on this board our itinerary for the next day and explained to us in details the day's programme-we would wake up at 6am-watch the sunrise over Gal then breakfast at 7am - off the boat by 7:30 for trek on the island-it was pure MAGIC everyday!-7pm dinner during sunset-8pm EDEN then would sail at night as we go from island to island-we would wake up at new island everyday...

(today is 13th Feb - we've been off EDEN for 3 days and we are still dearly missing EDEN -Gal -and the super company of other travelers)

...8pm EDEN sails to SEYMOUR ISLANDS...

Galapagos...4th Feb

...-4th Feb NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND 1.9 sq km-dry landing...at 7:45am...2.5km rocky trail to walk...

...FRIGATE BIRDS -this called Magnificent species-other one is called Greater-many seen throughout Gal- not at all afraid of us being there,within reaching distance and they will just ignore you-largest seabird-2.3m wingspan-dazzling fliers-also called MAN O WAR BIRD as through piracy they harass other seabirds into dropping or regurgitating their catch and then eating it ...saw this a few times in the air-one above is a courting male -inflates a baloon sized flap of scarlet skin under their bill and cock their wings to attract females...Jorge was brilliant at doing the same ritual-I failed rather miserably...
...BLUE FOOTED BOOBY-this one nesting egg and a chick on our path-feeds on fish by plunge diving from a great height-go blind by age 10 and die due to high impact on the eye ball as they enter the water...during courtship it picks up its bright-blue feet in a slow -rather clownish-with bowing-wings spread out-sky pointing-a real display and brilliant to watch-and you are only a feet or two away...there are thousands in Gal... we also saw LAVA LIZARDS,LAND IGUANAS,SEA LIONS and many other birds...




... 2pm on top deck of EDEN as it sails towards SANTA FE ISLAND-4 hour sailing from SEYMOUR ISLAND...

...over 50 FRIGATE birds flying over my head within touching distance-they use the up-draft created by moving EDEN and nearby cliffs to fly...it was unreal scene...

... at 3pm we reached SANTA FE BAY and here we snorkeled and were swimming with SEA LIONS,one huge MANTA RAY,3 SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS,4 huge BLACK SEA TURTLES and thousands upon thousands of all size coloured fish...

...4:30pm on SANTA FE ISLAND for walk-24 sq km -wet landing--sureal place having to share beach with hundreds of friendly SEA LIONS ...they are just inches away from you...


...1.5km rough trail on SANTA FE ...many huge LAND IGUANAS-found nowhere else in the world-they pass just inch away from you-feed on prickly pear cactuses which are in abundunt here...think of DARWIN's THEORY OF EVOLUTION here and it fits perfectly as it does all over Gal...
...insignificant humans holding hands(you are really made to feel insignificant on Gal by other living creatures here) between an arch of prickly pear cactuses as THE REAL landlord of SANTA FE looks on ...

...8pm EDEN sails to ESPANOLA ISLANDS...

Galapagos...5th Feb

...5th Feb ESPANOLA ISLAND 61 sq km-dry landing 7:45am at Punta Suarez...

...up at 6am as usual to watch sunrise around 6:15am-so enjoyable watching it with C-R-J -E -E and V...
...2km rocky trail-welcomed by colourful MARINE IGUANAS and so many-friendly too-many SEA LIONS and SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS and so many kinds of birds...

...here Felix looks at Iguana for some POWER!-Emily looks concerned as its too close for her liking-Vedanta seems constipated as though squating in one of those Asian toilets...all 3 were brilliant on all treks-well done kids!

...normally these are black coloured but this time of the year they become colourful to attract opposite sex... they are on HEAT!
...beautiful...
...P surrounded by colourful Iguanas-check the rainbow far behind her...


...Galapagos Hawk-not afraid of us at all...
...after our walk we went snokerling in the open sea by the HUGE cliffS where the sea dropps off to over 1000 meters only feW meters from the cliff and it was rather SCARY for me looking down where no light penetrates-oblivion-...we saw thousands of fish,few rays,turtles,sea lions and much more but no sharks yet!... WE ALSO WENT ALMOST IN TO A CAVE TO WATCH MARINE LIFE...

...after lunch we landed at Gardener Bay -2pm -Espanola-dry landing-P seen here swimming and playing with Sea Lions-sharing beach and water with Sea Lions is the norm in Gal...

...Gaderner Bay-these two keeping away from Sea Lions- 3pm we went snokerling off the dingy around that island in the back ground-R J and Eric swam from the beach and R dived around the island looking for sharks-R was amazing fearless swimmer-again we saw loads of marine life-according to Jorge our guide there are Hammerheads and other sharks resting there -but we saw none-amazing snorkeling though...back on EDEN by 5pm and that chilled Pilsner beer..ahhh!!! can snorkeling get any beter?...read on!!!!_

...during March to December Espanola has colony of over 12,000 WAVED ALBATROSS-spectacular birds-we also saw here BLOW-HOLES in the rocky shore shoot water high in to the air...

...dinner at 7pm-spectacular sunset-few drinks and then...

...EDEN off to FLOREANA ISLAND at 8pm...

Galapagos...6th Feb

...woke up to majestic sunrise near FLOREANA ISLAND-sixth largest

...6TH Feb-7.45am -wet landing-at PUNTA CORMORANT...

...greenish beach due to OLIVINE minerals...welcomed by Sea Lions and many Sally Lightfoot Crabs and saw our first Galapagos Penguine...400 meters trail from here leads to a white sandy beach on the other side where we found dozens of SEA TURTLES very close to the beach and found dozens of BLACK SPOTTED RAYS - and between both beaches is a lagoon with dozens of PINK FLAMINGOS...

...this short walk just UNIQUE...

...Sally Lightfoot Crabs...there are millions...

...this is very UNIQUE beach -has many turtle nests-almost out of water are dozens of Black Sea Turtles-again almost out of water there are dozens of Black Spotted Rays...
...black bits you see are Black Sea Turtles...and in the tiny waves there are many Black Spotted Rays...
...Rays are seen as waves flows back in less than ankle deep water-as you stand there some of them touch your feet and gives you like gliding sensation on your skin...magical and just unreal...not allowed to swim or snorkel here for obvious reasons...
...10am back on EDEN 10.30am then went snokerling around and in the crater of this collasped volcanoe few km from Floreana called DEVIL´S CROWN...
...THE place to dive and snorkel in Gal...
...ask me what did we see here while snorkeling in the crater of this old volcanoe...
...thank you for asking...
...WE SAW OUR FIRST SHARK EVER AND FOR 10 SECONDS WE WERE ACTUALLY SWIMMING ON TOP OF THE SHARK JUST 10 FEET BELOW US...it was 5 to 6 footer ADULT called WHITE TIP SHARK...see the picture taken by Pritti in the snorkeling section...
...majestic..

...how do you TOP anything after this experience!...well! ...we did!!...

...on 9th Feb while snorkeling alone at Genovesa Pritti,Vedanat and myself-we came face to face with TWO fully grown BLACK TIP SHARKS...

...read more later...
ps. we saw millions of fish at Devil´s Crown too.

...delighted after seeing our first shark we had good lunch on EDEN... and now the hunt was on to see THE shark-HAMMERHEAD-will we find one?-hmmm!!!read on to find out...Jorge was under real pressure to show us THE HAMMERHEAD...

...then around 2 .30pm we landed here-wet landing-POST OFFICE BAY-crew of all the yacht´s here have a football match every week on a pitch behind the beach-Jorge played lost one and drew one...there are also LAVA tubes here...

...here at POST OFFICE BAY in the old days sailors use to leave their posts to be picked by other sailors and so on to be delivered...so even today that tradition is kept alive by tourist leaving postcards here without stamps and then you go through all the other postcards left to see if it´s addressed to near where you live and if you find one then you HAVE to hand deliver it when you go back home...we left one addressed to Cardiff but we failed to find one addressed to near Uxbridge or Cardiff...phew! is that clear to you?..yaa! clear as mud mate!...

...BROWN PELICAN...huge pouched bill and large size-many in Gal...

...other seabirds we saw were-TROPIC BIRD with long tail-SEAGULL both SWALLOW-TAILED and LAVA...

...shore and wetlands birds seen were-HERON-OYSTERCATCHERS...

...land birds seen were...DARWIN´S FINCHES-MOCKINGBIRDS-VERMILION FLYCATCHER-YELLOW WARBLER...

...EDEN set sails for SANTA CRUZ ISLAND at 5pm and arrives at PUERTO AYORA at sunset-the main port in Gal-after dinner we all go to the town have a drink or two-check emails etc and are back on board around 10pm...

Galapagos...7th Feb

...today our friends Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix are leaving us, they are spending 3 more days in Gal on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND...7 more tourists are joining us for last 3 days of our cruise...but before they leave us we are visiting CHARLES DARWIN RESEARCH STATION-CDRA- together on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND...

...7th Feb...

...7 tourists that joined us...from left Vanessa and Max from England going around the world for 9 months,Kistiu from Germany,from right Val and Fay from Australia going around the world for 12 months,on the floor from left Darren from Canada soon to serve active service in Afghanistan-respect to you my friend-,Siham from South Africa is taking this picture on 8th Feb at summit of BARTOLOME ISLAND...
...CDRS at 7am -landing at ACADEMY BAY-dry landing-many huge LAND TORTOISES here for breedin purpose-some of this giants are over 140 years old and are fed up of mating that they have now refuse to have sex...hmmm...
...pre-historic GIANT from another age...
...P having a quite word with LONESOME GEORGE... we finished our visit at CDRS around 8am and it was time to say goodbye to our friends from America-they left EDEN at 11am and we were truly sad to see them leave us on EDEN on our own-will we see them again and when?-P and I simply went to our room and fell a sleep and got up at 1pm to discover that other 7 tourists have already arrived on EDEN and it was time to make new friends but 5 days we spent with Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix were trully special and most memorable...
...3pm -we visited LAND TORTOISES in the wild in the highlands of SANTA CRUZ ISLAND with our new bunch of tourist friends...first bit of rain since we arrived in Gal...

...evening spent in PUERTO AYORA shopping and having a couple on drinks on dry land before EDEN set sails...

...EDEN leaved SANTA CRUZ for JAMES BAY ISLANDS at 10pm and new bunch of tourist are a bundle of laughs and we all gel really well and we are all looking forward to next 4 days cruising Gal...

Galapagos...8th Feb

...8th Feb-up at 6am brilliant sunrise-good breakfast and we are near JAMES BAY ISLANDS-4th largest-once a hide-out for real PIRATES-there is even graffiti left in the caves by pirates 200 years ago...

...wet landing at PUERTA EGAS at 7.30am-terrain of rough lava fields...

...2km difficult trail-there are hundreds if not thousands of MARINE IGUANAS-huge colonies just basking in the early morning sun -sureal scene all around you...
...black flat lava shoreline where eroded shapes form lava pools,caves and inlets and contains great variety of wildlife-basking MARINE IGUANAS,SEA LIONS,CRABS ,HERONS,LAVA LIZARDS,FINCHES etc.etc-this the most pre-historic looking place we have seen in Gal -IGUANAS jumping and swimming in the ocean-going to feed in the ocean-real magic-it´s the kind of scene you see on Discovery channel...
...you can get real up close face to face with this THINGS and they behave as though you are not there-they just ignore you and splurt out salt from their nostrils now and then...we were really in awe of this place...
...all warming up in the early morning sun before diving in to the ocean to feed on plants and algae-there were thousands...

...hello Mr Ugly...
...Jorge had all the knowledge possible about Gal and he was always so keen to share that with the group...Heron had crabs for breakfast...the terrain was very unusual here ...
...Patel family looking as colourful as the local wildlife...
...here we saw a BLACK TIP SHARK-5 footer- resting then swimming back in to the ocean-also saw GALAPAGOS FUR SEALS-they are not friendly like Sea Lions...
...9.30am we went snokerling for an hour off the JAMES BAY beach-saw thousands of fish-swimming with Sea Lions too...early lunch at 12pm then EDEN left for BARTOLOME ISLAND-3 hour sailing and on the way we ran in to a friendly pod of 30 odd BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS...
...DOLPHINS were in playing mood-they did few acrobatic flips for us and many were riding-surfing-the bow waves just in front of EDEN and it was amazing to see this...they even had 2 tiny babies with them-Captain Washingon took an executive decision not allowing us to swim with the DOLPHINS as they were swimming too fast looking for food-we all felt that was fair enough-but then it was once a lifetime chance to swim with this majestic creatures...
...4pm-arrived BARTOLOME-we were off in two dingy´s looking for GALAPAGOS PENGUINS-and we found some 10 of them in all-they are very rare and in are danger of being extinct-very friendly and later we will swim with them...we also saw here huge MANTA RAY some 5 meters wingspan-amazing sight...
...while cruising GALAPAGOS ISLANDS you see many marine creatures jumping out of waters to avoid predators and seeing SEA TURTLES and SEA LIONS is very common but one amazing sight is MANAT RAY -some 6meters wingspan-doing spectacular leaps out of water and this is quite common sight too-Jorge didn´t know the answer to this...

4.30pm -wet landing on BARTOLOME at SULLIVAN BAY for swimming and snorkeling with PENGUINS-this pix showing P and V relaxing after swimming with PENGUINS and many fish and marine turtles too...
...6pm-we climb BARTOLOME summit-dry landing- for stupendous views -amazing lava formations-lava tubes-awesome lava landscapes-descend as sunsets over BARTOLOME and back in the safety of EDEN for few well earned cold ones...

...EDEN departs for GENOVESA ISLAND at 10pm-six hour ride and we will cross EQUATOR from SOUTHERN to NORTHERN HEMISPHERE at 2am at SEA-1st time we have ever crossed EQUATOR in our lives at sea and following night at 10pm we cross EQUATOR again but this time from NOTHERN to SOUTHERN HEMESPHER-again it´s a first and most likely we will never cross EQUATOR again ever at SEA in our lives...

...THESE two EQUATOR crossings were UNIQUE EVENTS as they come...

Galapagos...9th Feb

...9th Feb-after crossing equator we wake up on EDEN near GENOVESA ISLAND-14 sq km -most outlying of Gal Islands-EDEN is anchored in a very large bay surrounded by huge cliff and it´s windy and our best place to see HAMMERHEADS- will we see them? well! read on!...

...7.30am -dry landing at EL BARRANCO to climb Prince Phillip´s Steps-he came here in 1978- carved in to the cliffs-2km rough trail-so much wildlife-P and V watching Blue Footed Booby and the chick....
...another amazing walk where we see thousands upon thousands of STORM PETRELS...look at all those dots behind us....

...STORM PETRELS by the thousands-mixed with hundreds of FRIGATEBIRDS and few SHORT EARED OWELS-NAZCA BOOBIES etc etc...

...NAZCA BOOBY-one of the saddest scene to witness in nature-here the mother trying to kill one of her two siblings as only ONE can survive as she can only look after one-we are not allow to interfere ...Jorge sees this kind of stuff on daily basis...
...RED FOOTED BOOBY...
...going down Prince Phillip´s Steps to wait for our dingy-then it´s time to look for HAMMERHEADS near those cliffs while we snorkle...SCARE?....I am petrified of seeing one...will we see one ?... hmmm...
...no we failed to see HAMMERHEADS-we were in water for over an hour-we saw a school of over 40 different types of RAYS together-SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS-GOLDEN MUSTARD RAYS-BLACK SPOTTED RAYS etc etc-beautiful sight some 10 foot below us-it was quite windy and rough sea and so water was bit murky but we know there were many HAMMERHEADS in the bay-we saw everythings but HAMMERHEADS...we need to try harder but running out of time...
...after lunch we land at far side of same bay at a BEACH called DARWIN BAY-the picture you see above-P V and I decided to snorkle as Jorge takes others for a walk and guess who do we meet in the ocean....
...3 of us were snorkeling alone near that last rock behind V in the pix above-there was no on else in the water-and WE CAME FACE TO FACE WITH TWO WHITE TIP SHARKS-one 5 footer the other fully grown 6 footer-they were resting on the bottom -we spent 10 minutes watching them just 10 feet away above them and then I lost my nerve and I signalled P to get the hell out of there-we swam back to the beach and I was shaking...
...others came back from walk and just then something unbelievable happen-you would not believe it-a bloody shark came almost on to the beach chasing a large fish-the fish was poping in and out of water to avoid the shark-it lasted about 10 seconds-don´t know whether the shark got the fish or not-Jorge says he sees that all the time...I need a break I tell you man Gal is not a normal place...and then the others wanted to see the 2 sharks that we saw in the water earlier and so we went back snorkeling to show them and one was still there and the other mad shark was somewhere not far from us and I was out of that water as fast as I could again...
...ABOVE EVENTS ARE GOD´S TRUTH...

...picture of EDEN GPS showing 0.0000 as we crossed the EQUATOR at 10pm from NORTHERN to SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE...we celebrated this event with few glasses of cool beer....

...EDEN leaves GENOVESA at 8pm for SANTA CRUZ...