21 – 29 August 2011, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Mike Oldfield -Tubular Bells
I was in Quito, so very close the the Galapagos, and after all the stories and all the beautiful photos from all the travellers, I decided to bite the bullet and go to visit these crazy islands.
The Galapagos are a group of islands in the middle of nowhere, If you started swimming off the coast of Ecuador at the equator, you would get to them 600km later (probably about half a days swim by my standards). They were discovered a very long time ago by Mr Tortoise and Mrs Sea lion, and now are home to The Finches and The Shark family, and more recently The Boobies and The Water Lizards. They have many new guests visiting all the time and just like the English got to Ibiza to take drugs and party, animals head to the Galapagos to get mashed.
 Here a large metal bird carrying parasites lands on the islands, |  and straight away we are off, to this mysterious island. I am travelling by luxury yacht with 15 other guests |
 And as we pull up to our first encounter, The Stingrays come along to welcome us. We don our masks and fins and jump right in, such amazing way to start. |  And after our snorkel, and a cup of tea back on board, we venture out to discover which celebrities are partying on this island |
 The security was hostile at first, |  but after a quick diplomacy mission, they succumb to my animalistic powers |
 Hmmn, |  and the love making continues. |
 Our intrepid guide had enough facts and figures that it became clear he had a wild imagination |  and he was very good at spotting little brown animals in the flora and fauna |
Our boat was fantastic, it was leisurely, had hot showers and the food was fantastic. We were treated like stars and when we got back from all our adventures in the water, our waiter was always awaiting with a hot tea or chocolate and a bowtie. Very nice.
We sailed every night to a new destination, and sometimes there were huge swells. I found a nice method to dispel seasickness is to have a few sneaky rums before hitting the hay.
 Over the next few days we encountered many strange creatures. These are some of the swimming lizards |  who were hanging out with this sea lion (it must’ve been sea lion school holidays, they were everywhere) |
 it is a family friendly resort, and children are welcome |  I take a moment to contemplate the lizards. They generally party hard and sleep it off in the morning |
 and then we found some nesting albatrosses |  which our film crew quickly snap before they flew away to Australia(F.A.C.T Albatrosses can travel a long way) |
 But WAIT!! Whats that over there |  OMFG, its a gaggle of nesting Blue Footed Boobies! |
 look at him go!!! |  and here we have the inquisitive Nazca Boobie from the mainland visiting his relatives. |
Blue footed boobies fishing.
 Hmmmn, as I landed I came across this pusher sea lion, “hello, wink wink, need some help to start the party” |  “hello to you too, act natural guys” |
 I tried to teach them some awesome tricks |  but they didn’t want to know, they just wanted to party. |
After 30 minutes the effects started to take hold, party on!!
 There are plenty of adventures to be had on the islands, here I am in a cave, |  and here I am dropping off a postcard to my mum |
 and there were many beautiful sunsets |  which I liked to watch with my new friends |
And the nicest thing was that my friends said they will wait for my return, so we can party hard again.
ciao.x.b.rad
