Feb 5th-We woke up at the crack of dawn and headed to airport to catch a flight to the island of Santa Cruz (one of the islands of the Galapagos). We got in mid day and headed directly to our ship, the Legend, and had some lunch. Right away we realized that we were the only young people on the boat, and the average age was somewhere in the late 60´s early 70´s. We felt a little out of place, but we didn´t care, all that mattered was that we were in the Galapagos. Then, we were greeted with a great surprise when we checked into our rooms. Somehow, Ben and I were upgraded from our cabin on the first floor to a suite on the top deck. Obviously we were thrilled and the room turned out to be spectacular, we even had our own deck which provided some remarkable views throughout the cruise. After a little chill time following lunch we were hopped into a small dingy and headed to our first excursion. We started off with some snorkelling that was unlike anything I have experienced. The vast range in habitats offered by the islands provides suitable conditions for all types of animals, so just in the first few minutes of snorkelling we saw all kinds of bright tropical fish and then some penguins jumped in the water and started swimming all around us. It seemed out of place, but the marine life was exceptionally diverse and dense.
After snorkelling we did a light hike just a few feet away. We learned all about the islands and at the end we had an extraordinary view of most of the Galapagos.
I have to head to dinner now but I will add more as soon as I get a chance. Pictures are on their way as well.