Galapagos day 2: snorkel disaster

Woke up at 7am for 8 am breakfast and morning zodiac ride. Also got out snorkeling equipment for the excursions throughout the trip. Saw some blue footed boobies and Nazca boobies and a lot of pelicans. No penguins. 

Then deep sea snorkeling to depart at 1030a. Where you get off the boat and snorkel. Only problem is with the full moon the waters have been so rough the normal snorkel g spot wasn't available so they brought us to the Nazca boobie spot to snorkel around that rock island. Only problem. Is that the water was producing massive swells and the clarity of the water for snorkeling was horrible. Kayaking was canceled due to the swells. I begrudgingly went with and got my snorkel equipment on and headed into the water. Nothing but salt water into my snorkel and visibility was negative. 

I made it mostly around the rock. Ok like half before throwing my arm up to be picked up. Nothing like a stomach full of Jameson and salt water to make you nauseous the entire ride home. Made it back without puking and took another Dramamine before lunch. Managed to keep lunch down then napped the afternoon away. Skipped the 2 hour beach relaxation and went to James island for the walk on the black sand beach. Saw numerous Galapagos seal lines and fur seals along with iguanas hidden in the rocks and tons of sally light foot crabs. After a hike along the beach we came back to the zodiacs (pangas in Ecuador) and just missed the wet landing departure fiasco. Apparently the first boat of older peeps had a big wave hit and toppled everyone overboard. By the time we made it to the pangas the guys knew what they were doing and we all made it onboard without too much issue. 

Made it back to the boat for buffet dinner and attempted to stargaze. More deep sea snorkel the next day. 

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Galapagos cruise day 1

After waking up way to early we had breakfast and waited for our taxi to bring us on the two hour commute from Puerto Ayora to the Baltra airport to meet our cruise

No tortoises in the road this time. Taxi. To boat shuttle. To airport bus shuttle to airport. Arrived one hour early. Wasted time on the internet and started searching for the Santa Cruz ii signs. Found them. Boarded a bus hopefully to take us not back to Puerto Ayora where we started. Traveled to the north end of the island. Where we boarded a zodiac (known here as a panga) or a rubber 10person pontoon boat. Our to a giant ship in the middle of the bay.

Enjoyed our welcome juice and found our room. Nothing special about this. Two twin beds pushed together one bathroom and a closet. Pulled everything out of our suitcase and arranged it Marie kondo style in the closet before lunch and emergency drill.

Had an amazing buffet lunch compliments of the Austrian head chef before learning emergency information and going to our muster stations.

We then set out on our first excursion to banchas bay and did a two hour hike walking past iguanas and sea lions. And birds galore. Made it back to the zodiac for a wet landing back to the ship.

Showered and tidyed up for dinner (no shorts allowed) and learned about the next day activities. Deep sea snorkeling, black beach snorkel and hike.

Had a fantastic buffet dinner before calling it a night.

Galapagos: Puerto Ayora

Woke up around 8 to try out the free breakfast at our hotel. Made to order omelette. Good enough for me and Matt has a croissant with jame and butter and fresh coffee.

We then started the 50 minute hike to Tortuga Bay. The entrance to the hike was 10 minutes from the hotel and then it was a well laid cobblestone trek the entire way to the beach, took about 25 minutes with periods of rain. Which actually felt nice considering how humid it is here.

We went to the right when we reached the ocean and watched as the sandpipers and other birds challenged the tide trying to get food. Made it to an area of black lava rock and a protected harbor with a seal and iguana swimming. Or sunbathing on the rocks. They are everywhere here, their camouflage is spectacular. Matt didn't even see one that was right infront of him. We went around the corner to a calm sea inlet. Many locals were swimming and snorkeling. We then captured a few more pictures of iguana and then started the 30 minute trek back. Saw a giant tortoise having lunch on the side of the walkway. Then we were out and back to the hotel. Stopped for a snack before heading out for pizza lunch. Pizza place didn't have anyone working it so we went further down towards the Charles Darwin research center to another place that had a pizza sign. Except they didn't have pizza. Ordered a panini and Matt had a burger. They were decent. Served with stale potatoes chips with ketchup and mayo.

Continued on the way to the Charles Darwin center, where they help rear tortoises and reintroduce them to the wild there were tiny baby toirtoises all the way up to giant tortoises. Then we made the walk back in time to lay by the pool for a couple hours before going out to dinner on the harbor for our anniversary. The pool was freezing cold but a welcoming refresher for the hot humid air. It's like Puerto Rico in November.

Got dressed and walked to the Hotel Solymar for harbor side dining. Their restaurant is in the side of a cliff. Matt ordered a green crusted fish and I ordered a mushroom fettuccine. It was delicious. Only problem was service took so long we finished it after they were supposed to close. Whoops. As we were finishing our last bites we had a seal come up to our table. And then he went and hung out by the iguana that was sun bathing on the rail.

After dinner we went back to the hotel to pack. Cruise departs tomorrow!

Galapagos arrival pictures

Getting to the Galapagos

It's amazing how hard it is to get to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

SunCountry flight msp to mco (Orlando) 3 hours.
Rented a car and drove 3 hours to fll (Fort Lauderdale) where our confirmed spirit flight to Ecuador was out of.

Wake up Friday morning have a bite to eat and then go to Walmart to get water bottle and go pro charge cord. Which they didn't have so we went to Best Buy and subway to have food for the flight. And by that time with all the traffic it was time to fill up the rental car and get to the airport. After circling the airport a couple times trying to find rental car return we finally found it. Dropped the car off. And checked in for the spirit flight. Of course I could check in online with a boarding pass but Matt always causing trouble couldn't.

Got him checked in and corrected the gate agent who moved us from our confirmed paid for exit row seats to a different row. Back to window aisle of exit row and through security. Luckily Matt got precheck too so it was super quick to get in. Hit up duty free for a bottle of whiskey to bring on board our cruise and then sat down at a Cuban restaurant while we waited for our flight. Matt ordered some fried chicken with beans and rice which was okay. Before we knew it it was time to board.

Our bags made it into the overhead and we were making friends with the flight attendant in the exit row. Only problem is he was only three weeks in and a total rule follower.

4 hour flight to gye (some city in Ecuador I don't know how to pronounce). Land and call the hotel and they sent a shuttle to pick us up. A Wyndham garden in with free brekke. The travel agency we booked the cruise through arranged for a airport delivery for us.

He was picking us up at 840 for a 1040 flight. He arrived early. And drove us the three minutes to the airport and walked us through the customs checkpoints to enter Galapagos (numerous bag screenings) and we checked our bags (with two bottles carefully packed away) and we went to our gate.

2 more hour flight, the gate agents bug sprayed all the overhead bins before arrival and we finally arrived on Baltra Island of the Galapagos. Walked up the volcanic wasteland into the airport. We had to wait in lone and pay $100 plus a $5 bus fee. The island only has the airport on it. We had to wait for a dog to sniff all the checked baggage. Once that was cleared up we went out to find our bus. 15 minute ride down to the water. We then had to board a water ferry to cross 100 yards of a waterway. $1 each. Once we got to the other side we had to wait for all the bags which were precariously thrown up too the ferry to be unloaded. Matt waited for our bags and I found a taxi. $25 for the 40km ride into Puerto Ayora. Bags thrown in the back of the truck and we were on our way to hotel Ninfa

Along the way we had to swerve around a giant tortoise just hanging out on the side of the road.

We arrived and dropped our bags and went exploring the town of Puerto Ayora. Lots of restaurants with 3x10$ drink specials. Had a round plus some calamari before we went searching for water and snacks for the next day.
Snacks found. Went walking along the harbor for dinner. Found a brewery across, had chicken fajitas and a sausage sandwich. Walked along the waterway back to the hotel and passed a tree full of pelicans and some seals and iguanas hanging out.

Tortuga beach and Charles Darwin research center the next day.

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Scotland day 1: arrive to Scotland

We nervously went to the airport for a 455pm attempt at delta one Msp to ams. We were 3/4 with 3 seats open. Got to the airport and check in one hour and two minutes prior to departure. Dropped my commissions checks off at the wings financial in the ticketing hall and headed to our gate. Within an hour there miraculously was one more delta one seat that appeared! We were 3/4 with 4 open. And we got it! Delta one across the pond on Matt's benefit. We each ordered a 12year mccallan to commemorate the scotch tour we were planning on doing. We also each ordered the lamb chop. Yumm yumm. Slept for a few hours and before we knew it we were in ams 1 hour early. We landed at 730. We were planning on taking the 9 to Aberdeen or the 10 to Inverness; both however were red. We noticed on the departure board the flight to Edinburgh was leaving in 20 minutes and just down the hall. We got to the gate and te agent said if we could list for the flight we would have a seat. So 17 minutes prior to departure we listed and had seats to Scotland! We were together too. Quickly booked a car so we had some sort of plan ($140) One hour and a half after 7 hours to ams and we were in Scotland! We deplaned on an exterior stairwell and waited a bit for customs to open. Got through no problem. Matt changed and I booked a hotel near a few northern highland distilleries.

We got our car, it was 930am Scotland time or 330am Msp time. The lady recommended pitlochry as a small town for lunch on the way north to Inverness. About an hour from the airport. So we were on our way. Driving on the other side of the road and a stick. Made it to a distillery Blair athol. Looked around the pretty setting and stopped by the visitor centre before continuing onto pitlochry. Pitlochry is a small town with a river and dam. It had a cute Main Street. We found a car park but had no small change to pay the meter. 15 minutes free. So we walked down to the dam, checked out the fish ladder and then back to the car. Reupped the 15 minutes and then went to the toilet and checked out a few shops before continuing our way up to speyside. We stopped at the dalwinnie distillery, the sister of Blair athol which is also the highest distillery in Scotland resulting in only losing 1% evaporation where most others lose 2-3% evaporation. Pulled up to dalwinnie and we were exhausted. We both tilted the chairs back and took a solid half hour cat nap. I ordered a tasting tray. Not knowing much about scotch, it was scotch. We then continued our way to a hotel near the glenfiddich distillery. We arrive about 330 only to learn the distilleries close around 5 and taxis are super expensive. The hotel was a small bed and breakfast and we were the only guests. And it was quite a sleepy town, we decided we had time for two distilleries. Per the hotelier recommendation we went to glenfarclas. They had some bottles dating back to 1920. There were some rowdy tourists that took over most of the tasting room. We sampled a couple and then went on to glenlivet. Being hungry we were hoping for a little something just before we make it back to our hotel for dinner. Arrived about 20 minutes prior to closing. No bakery items looked appealing. But we sampled a twelve year executive which only is available in Asia. It was pretty good. Matt picked up a couple minis to bring back and we were on our way to the hotel for dinner. He ordered a steak pie and I ordered a venison sausage and mash. The food was delicious. Before long we were ready for bed at 8pm. 930a breakfast the next morning and then continue to check out the distilleries.

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Scotland day 2: distilleries and Jens!

Work up to the alarm at 9am after sleeping all night. Showered quick and headed down for brekke. Ham bacon eggs were ordered (typical Scottish breakfast). T was very good then we were on our way. Distillery list includes dalmore, benromach, glenfiddich, and mccallan. It was an hour twenty north to dalmore. We passed signs for Loch Ness, didn't realize it was so far north. Made it to dalmore and went into the tasting room. The 12 year was very smooth. We joked with the server she used to be a nurse practitioner onboard ships off the coast of New Orleans. Sampled the king Alexander 3. 5£ of deliciousness. So good. A 750 is only £160. Then we were off. Next stop benromach, SWANNY's favorite. The visitor centre there was very new. It also happened to be whiskey weekend so the malt whiskey trail had events at different distilleries. We picked up some items from the distillery and then continued onward. Glenfiddich was next. We ordered a 15 year and their IPA cask scotch. Super good with the bodes of citrus from the hops. We stopped at balvenie who's grounds are very pretty and tucked away in the woods. Then made it to mccallan. Ordered a couple drams from there before returning to glenfiddich as we wanted a 200ml to welcome Jens with. 3 hours drive to dunfermline; a city that popped up on Edinburgh within a half hour to the airport with cheap hotel rooms. Drove through Aberdeen and Dundee (but not in time to see the Antarctic ship discovery). Picked up our typical gas station grub food and continued. And then got some premade sandwiches from a coop that was pretty good eating on the coast of Aberdeen. By 830 we arrived to our hotel. And got checked in. Jens to arrive about 10pm. We walked the Main Street looking for food and found a döner place enjoyed the döner in the car and then were off to find Jens. Filled up at a gas station. Managed to find Jens and back to the hotel. We stayed up chatting until 130 and split the glenfiddich