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...

Galapagos...Snorkeling...

...all snorkeling pictures were taken by P or myself on water-proof disposable cameras during our stay in Gal...

...P and I holding hands as we see see amazing marine life... pix by Eric...
...MARINE IGUANA swims by at BARTLOME ISLAND...pix by Dipak...

...BLACK MARINE TURTLE...at SANTA FE ISLAND...pix by Pritti...
...SEA LIONS swimming with Dipak at FLOREANA ISLAND...pix by PRITTI...
...thousands of ANGLE FISH at GENOVESA ISLAND...pix by Dipak...
...EAGLE RAYS at SANTA FE...pix by PRITTI...
...fully grown 6 footer WHITE TIP SHARK at DEVILS CROWN...pix by Pritti...

Galapagos...10th Feb ...last day!

...10th Feb -last day on EDEN...up 5.30am -EDEN anchored near SANTA CRUZ-early morning dingy ride to BLACK TURTLE COVE...

...early morning ride in to mangrove forest to watch wildlife...

...we spot many baby BLACK TIP SHARKS...
...many marine turtles and some even mating...
...SPOTTED EAGLE RAY...

...back on EDEN BY 7.30am -after breakfast we are taken to BALTRA ISLAND to catch a 1pm flight to QUITO...
...we meet Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix at the airport as they were flying to CUENCA on another flight-and it was nice to see them again-I picked up Felix and sat him on my knee and said to him .hey Felix did you miss me?-he just blanked me and said -NO!-thats kids for you...
...we said goodbye to them and all other friends we made in 8 days of amazing travels in GALAPAGOS ISLANDS...

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

...one also have to admire and congratulate the people of ECUADOR and GALAPAGOS in the way they are taking care of this so unique GALAPAGOS ISLANDS and preserving them for the future generations...

Plan Ahead...

...we arrived in Quito-capital of Ecuador-from Cuenca(10 hours local bus-was good fun) on Friday 1st Feb 08...
...today is 2nd Feb and time is 8;45pm at our Hostel...in Quito...
...tomorrow 3rd Feb we are flying to Galapagos Islands(1400km from Quito-2 hour flight over Pacific)-this is every travelers dream-this place is also every kid all over the world learns about in schools-a place where Darwin´s theory of survival of fittest was born with it came the theory of evolution-we are spending 8 days there-8 days we are on a yacht cruising around islands with 6 others and staying on-board- -hoping to do some diving and snorkeling too...we are back to Quito on 11th Feb -trekking for 3 to 4 days looking at smoking volcanoes- then we are gonna cross the border from Ecuador in to COLOMBIA by bus -the land passage from Colombia to Panama is not safe -so we are hoping to find a boat that will take us from Colombia in to Panama-5 days of sailing- if we fail to find a boat then we will fly from Bogota-capital of Colombia -to Panama City -capital of Panama
...Colombia and Panama should be done in 3 weeks then enter Costa Ricca by 1st March...
...we have to be in Mexico City on 17th April to catch a flight to Hawaii via Dallas... BUT we want to reach Mexico City from Ecuador without having to take a flight-it´s a tough call but I think we can do it...so tighten your seat-belt folks and here we go again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cuenca City...Ecuador...

...Ecuador was the original BANANA REPUBLIC-as they export the most bananas and had the most Presidents in 20 years than any other nation...it´s a pleasent enough country and has the most wild-life than many countries put together...

...we were here at the right time to enjoy one of the many Carnivals that are held in Ecuador...this horse carriage with Miss Cuenca 2008...
...enjoyable 3 hours we spent here...but you do get rather tired of all the Spanish Colonial buildings and it´s the same all over this continent...

Adios Perruuuu & Hola ! Eccuuuddaaooorrrrrrr!!!!

...In Peru we had some amazing times-after The Amazon visit we flew back to Lima and spent 3 days there just chilling out-then we flew to Piura-border town(Peru side) between Peru and Ecuador-then 16 hours bus from Piura to Ceunca in Ecuador-border crossed at 1am -border crossing was -well- it´s the night we will never forget-the bus stopped at the border and it was raining really heavy,a wild river flowing only few feet away at the gate and as we came off the bus to go to the immigration hut to stamp our passports we started walking on what we thought was road carpeted with thousands of seeds from trees-but as we walked on -the floor started moving -only then we realised that we were walking on thousands upon thousands of cockroach like insects-you can´t imagine the stomach churning feeling at that time-we just closed our eyes and shut our ears from all the crunching noises and walked to the hut-and here we found ourselves standing outside the hut below a bright tube-light which had attracted even bigger insects big as your palm and inside sat the most slowest of all immigration officer we have ever seen in our life and all this while we are surrounded by millions of bugs-I sent P and V back inside the coach as they were really feeling sick with all them bugs around-I was standing behind one guy whose back was covered with all kinds of creepy crawlers and then I thought my back must be the same but I didñ´t want to think about it-it took 20 minutes to stamp 5 passports and it was the longest 20 minutes of my life - I was out of my comfort zone every second of that 20 minutes- to make matters worse some bugs had got in to our coach too-but by that time we really couldn´t careless-we just wanted to get in to the darkness of Ecuador and away from them bugs...I think we arrived Ceunca in the afternoon-spent 2 nights here...

Lima...Peru

...Lima -Capital City by the Pacific Ocean-lots of Spanish Colonial buildings and rather a dull city in many ways-we stayed in Miraflores just 20 minutes from the center-upmarket area and safe too-had a huge shopping and entertainment complex built in to a cliff called Larco Mar-very unusual-watched couple of new films there too-has a great food hall -this pix at sunset over Pacific from Larco Mar...
...main square in Lima-The Presidential Palace-we think King Of Jordan was visiting today...lots of visible police presence all over South America specially near tourist sites and that really makes you feel safe travelling this continent...