Log/Pic 30 Santa Cruz, Galapogos

So this is what I'm seeing underwater...

...manta rays,
lots
of
hammerheads,
eagle rays,
turtles,
and
white-
tip
sharks!

Log/Pic 29 Galopogos

So here are some underwater photos from snorkels and dives! From this spot is where the sea lion bit me in the arm. The beach just opposite this one we could not snorkel because the white tip sharks were everywhere right off shore in like six inches of water.
Cool crabs!
Playful sea lions
Even saw a couple of penquins!
The marine iquanas eating the algae from the rocks
Always seeing sharks.
Snorkeling with sea lions.
Saw many turtles, but this was red!
A baby sea lion nursing on the red sand beach as the bull males kept watch from just off shore.
Finally saw hammerhead sharks. We saw six or seven this dive. I got a job on a dive boat and got a little residential apartment. I probably wont blog for awhile because there will be nothing new...except stuff like this!

Log/pic 28 Ecuador

So I arrived in Ecuador and spent eight days in Quito. I stayed four days in New Town and four in Old Town at 3 different hostels. Then I took a flight to Guaquil and onto the Galopogos islands!

The boat in the background of this first photo is named Sea Cloud (note the diving bird behind my left shoulder). Its a 65 foot sailboat that I was supposed to spend eight days on. It broke down after four! We were on and off of it and spent some time on another boat called The Espanola. Ironically the island of Espanola, known for the albotrose, is the one we missed because of the broken boat. But I did visit Genovesa, Isle De Plaza, Santigo, North Seymore, Bartolome, Baltra and the main island of Santa Cruz.

Boobies! Boobies! Boobies! We saw hundreds, maybe thousands of boobies! This is a Red Footed Boobie.
A Blue footed Boobie
A Masked Boobie
We also saw thousands of lava lizards and land or Galopogos iquanas like the one in this photo.
Frigate birds were everywhere. This male is displaying his true colors. We even saw them flying with their pouch inflated.
Sea lions were almost as abundant. Whether we were on a black sand beach, white sand beach or red sand beach, there they were. We also saw them underwater on almost every snorkel and dive we did.
This is a red billed tropical bird. Its long whispering tail allows it to escape from predators. It restores them like lizards do!
These are the famous marine iquanas. We watched as they ate the algae from the rocks on the waters edge, swam across the water, and sunbathed in groups with dozens of others.
This is one of the famous Galopogos tortoses that live to be like a million years old! Well at least more than a hundred and fifty.

So now I'm in Porta Ayora, Santa Cruz. I like it a lot so I think I'm going to try and stay awhile. Blog ya soon!

Log/Pic 27 Peru

So I hit the big 5-0. Peru is my 50th country! Yeah! I arrived in Lima and the next day flew to Cusco. Cusco is a great town with houses high on the hills and many churches and museums. It has a pretty high altitude so I chilled the first day to adapt. I already found out previously on this trip that altitude kicks my butt, plus I had pulled an all-nighter in the airport the night before.

After checking out Cusco for a few days I took a train to Aguas Calientes. This is a quaint town that totally caters to folks that are there to visit Machu Picchu. In fact, I don't know that there was a town there before the re-discovery of Machu Picchu. The first day was raining so this guy from Switzerland and I went to the hotsprings. It had great views of the mountains all around us. The next morning we set out at 4 am and climbed to the entrance. It took almost 1 1/2 hours to reach the top. The thin, lingering clouds as the sun started to rise, made the trip well worth it. Below is what I saw when the sun came up.

This is from the same spot I had seen my first photo of Machu Picchu. Wayanpichu is the high peek in the background. I needed to climb that too!
This is the view from Wayanpichu looking down at all of Machu Picchu. To the left is the winding road that the buses take, the route strait up through the bus route, and the Inca Trail above that.
One of the individual buildings that make up Machu Picchu.
The guard house on top of it all.
A chinchilla I followed along the ruins that led me to three others. I thought it was a Rabbit!
More buildings
Impacas grazing within the ruins.
The city of Cusco.

A mom and her son in traditional dress on the streets of Aquas Calientes.

Log/Pic 26 Easter Island

So this is Easter Island. It belongs to Chili. I arranged a three day layover before I went to Santiago, Chili. The first day was raining and the waves were crazy.
The island was filled with free-range horses.
The rain stopped just before sunset. I arranged to scuba dive the next day but the people who I was staying with did not wake me up as I had requested. I stayed at someones house I had met at the airport. This time I at least had a room off the porch instead of just a bed on the porch. I probably would have gotten up in time if the extended family did not party all night-ON THE PORCH!
There were many caves on the island used by the Rapa Nui people of the past.
The statues were huge.
Some were on the ocean facing inland, some were inland facing the ocean.
I rented a motorcycle to insure I saw it all! It was wicked fun because the dirt roads were mud due to the previous day's rain.
Several islands off the southeastern coast from the main village

Well I'm heading to my 6th continent-blog ya later!

Log/Pic 25 Tahiti

Tahiti!
So this is one of the most expensive places to go, but my Lans Chili Airlines has a stopover there so I had to take advantage of this and dive! dive! dive! I decided to bond with this stingray, kind of as a tribute to Steve Irwin-sorry mom!

The water was very clear and deep blue as you can imagine. This made it easier to spot the sharks, eagle rays and turtles we saw.
The resort that I dove from was beautiful, so I spent most of my time there.
I stayed at Fi-Fi. I never figured out if it was the name of someone or a type of hostel. What it was was a bed on a porch attached to someone's house. This is NOT a picture of it.
Messing around with my underwater camera.
I only stayed in Tahiti a couple of days. This airline made one more stop before it hit S.A.