2nd day Galapagos Islands

Since Daniela had a diving day today, a full day tour was booked for me. I was naturally picked up from the hotel at 6:00 am in the morning....yawn! I only knew that we were going to Bartolomé and I should bring sturdy shoes. If I have them, also my snorkeling equipment. We reached the port around 7:30 am. We were a small group of 8 people, which was really cool. So we had plenty of space on the boat. We first headed to "Isla Daphne". This island is known for its nesting sites of various bird species and one side of this rock island is completely white below. Our guide said: THAT'S BIRD POOP! We sailed closer to the huge rock wall and it was incredible how many birds were sitting there or feeding their young birds. That was amazing! Then I finally saw my first blue-footed booby. Ooooooh, it's so cute and it has such fantastically blue feet and looks super adorable.

Now the boat headed towards Bartolomé. The journey took 2 hours and during the journey, I saw dolphins and whales. That was again mega gigantic and unique. Then the dinghy brought us to the island of Bartolomé. It looked like a lunar landscape. On the island, I saw a peak with a flag and already had a bad feeling. Gabi, a German who was also part of the group, said cheerfully, yes, we have to go up there now. Nooooo, I don't want to climb anymore on this vacation!!!!! Then it was probably over 30 degrees in the sun and then THIS. The guide talked about the formation of the island, but I didn't listen at all, I was thinking about the climb. We all got a big bottle of water. A wooden walkway with an additional 365 steps was supposed to make our ascent more comfortable. Well, that made things quite comfortable and the 365 steps, pffft, easy peasy! So, the wooden path was really easy to walk on, but the steps, ugh, and then in the heat, they were exhausting. The guide took longer breaks in between. I think after 30 minutes we reached the top. From the viewpoint, you had an incredible view of the neighboring islands. Yes, the climb was worth it.In no time, we were already down again and the dinghy had brought us back to the main boat. Now it was time for snorkeling. With 6 people, we were allowed to jump into the water from the dinghy and snorkel along the beach. You had to be careful because the waves were sometimes very high and the rock wall suddenly came very close. Haaaaa, and then I saw him, Mr. Penguin!!!! It was so cute, he almost swam towards my camera and then he shot away at an incredible speed and grabbed a fish underwater. That was fantastic. For a while, we watched the penguin and suddenly there were 3 swimming around us. The feeling of swimming with penguins in the wild was impressive. After snorkeling, I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. Luckily, we could take a warm shower on the boat. After that, we had a delicious lunch and the return journey was already initiated. We had a very strong swell here, wow that was really crazy. Everyone managed to get off the boat without any problems. The second day in the Galapagos was again a mega highlight.Daniela was diving today. She had never experienced anything like that because the current was so strong during both dives that the divers had to hold on to the lava stones all the time. It had less to do with diving, it reminded her more of scrambling - just not steeply upwards, but forward against the current. Two divers were constantly taken by the guides from the beginning and after 20 minutes, their oxygen tanks were already empty, so they had to go up to the guides. She was diving at Gordon Rocks- underwater known for its many different schools of sharks. And she saw plenty of them- even the distinctive hammerhead sharks :-) In addition, numerous turtles, schools of fish, manta rays, and moray eels - she always had to be careful not to get bitten by the eels when she held onto the rocks.... Many greetings from the Galapagos

PS: The photos didn't want to upload properly 🙈 will follow tomorrow