Keepin' it real... again: Boobies, penguins, iguanas, frigates, sea lions, turtles and more: eight days along the Galapágos Islands

I just got back from an eight-day tour and it was GREAT! Of all the places that I have been to, this definitely is the most rewarding for the mere fact that all the animals that were promised to be seen were seen. The jungle tours that I went on would have claims of "you might see..." But this place is pretty much a guarantee of seeing everything... except for a few birds that are not in season and maybe some aquatic species that are elusive underwater.

But here... WOW! Every animal was not afraid of humans. There is an explicit law that humans are not allowed to touch the animals and stay at least two meters away from them whenever possible. As a result, we were able to walk right up to, say, baby sea lions and take 100 photos before they would decide to move to another part of the beach to play with another baby.

I saw lotsa boobies (red-footed, blue-footed, nazca and masked boobies), sea lions, otters, many different types of turtles, giant tortoises, finches, iguanas, lizards, cormorants, dolphins, flamingos to name a few things on land.

One of my big regrets in life is not really being able to swim, having never learned as a child and only learning the mechanics in college. But that did not stop me from putting on a wetsuit and lifejacket and jumping into the Pacific Ocean to snorkel with everybody. I got to see the many types of fish that I only saw on nature shows and aquariums. I am talking about fish with flourescent colors, dark blues with yellow tails, camouflaged fish, a sea cucumber, many types of starfish.

Then there were the animals that I would swim along with - giant sea tutles (too many to count), a couple of reef sharks, a few stingrays, one GIANT manta ray that was at least two meters long (not counting the tail), sea lions, a seal that hung out with us for at least five minutes, a couple penguins. I am sure I am missing a few animals, but what I am trying to say is that this is THE BEST TIME OF MY TRIP SO FAR!

Here are a few photos of the 13GB that I took, plus another 1GB of underwater photos from another tourist. More will come, but internet speeds are really slow and internet time is costly on the island...