Phew! What a month...

I finally found a few minutes to post about our cruise on our US blog:
November Happenings - Cruising, Flying & Panicking

Most of our time since we've been back has been spent cleaning out what we're not taking back to the states, getting things ready to sell, selling things and packing things!

We are 90-95% packed, hoping the top duffle bag contents will fit in one High Sierra bag and all our clothes and non-carryon stuff will fit in the other. Otherwise, sigh, we will be one bag over our limit of three free checked bags each. Stu's scuba gear is one, three footlockers and two High Sierra bags make six. Keeping our fingers crossed.

We have barely left the apartment since our arrival, hoping to get out more next week as more and more things that sold are picked up. The biggest things (refrigerator, recliners, one desk & chair, dining set, TV and bed) will be picked up on Dec 27-29. We have booked three nights in a nice hotel in El Centro, making it easier to allow multiple pick up days.

So we continue to move towards our move back to the states. We are meeting with friends as time allows, finalizing what will return with us, AND booking cruises! Yes, 2016 will be the year of cruises. Most are in the Caribbean, allowing Stu to do more scuba diving but we are still taking the Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas trip from Tampa to Barcelona. From there, we booked a back to back (B2B) cruise on the same ship to Italy, stopping in several ports including Rome and ending in Venice. Excited!

Ciao for now!

Vacation in the Galapagos - Heading Home

...continued from Excursions - part two

Day five, we packed up to leave, ate our last breakfast and loaded into the bus to head to the airport. Oh yeah, this meant to water taxi/luggage toss in reverse. We had no problems at the airport, even had time to enjoy an ice cream (or for me, a bag of potato chips) before finally boarding to head back to Guayaquil where our mini-bus awaited us. Oh, nice extra, our travel agent at CATSA, Bryan Vidal, upgraded us to first class! I had a window seat so snagged a few photos as we left the Galapagos.

The bus ride home was comfortable, we stopped for dinner and then each of us got dropped off at our door - nice since it was dark and raining. A great vacation but it felt good to be home!

OUR THOUGHTS:
We loved the Galapagos and it's hard to choose when we would go again. The "summer/warmer" months are easier for scuba diving. The seas are calmer. So I suspect we will return in May/June in a year or two.

While our package was a GREAT deal for the money, many prefer to book their own hotel and then grab excursions at 50% or more off by booking the day before or of the excursion. As I said above, we do plan to go back and we will have a much better idea of what to expect. We will tailor the vacation to our needs with lots of scuba excursions for Stu and maybe 1-2 land excursions for me (or both of us).

Not enough photos? I took well over 500, you can view them all in our three SmugMug Albums.

• Travel from Cuenca to Galapagos
  
• 2015-Mar-Galapagos Vacation
• Travel from Galapagos to Cuenca

Ciao for now!

Vacation in the Galapagos - Daily Excursions Part 2

...continued from Excursions - part one

WARNING: Photo intensive blog ahead!

Day three arrived and we all loaded up for the next adventure. We headed off "somewhere", I was lost by now, and walked like FOREVER, a lot of it UPHILL, in the HEAT, to where you could climb DOWN to swim/snorkel in a lagoon and then climb UP to climb DOWN again and go back to the beach to swim some more.

By the time we got back for lunch, I was done from the heat as well as tweaking my right knee, so I opted out of the afternoon of visiting the lava tunnels and tortoises but Stu took some great photos.

Now day four, the BIG day.

Full Day Isabela & Concha Perla: Morning departure to take a yacht that will lead us towards Isabela Island. Where the most attractive parts of the island visited, return to Pto. Ayora tour at the end of the afternoon.

We loaded up on a boat to head to a bigger boat that would take us to the island of Isabella. We did some historical exploration then relaxed on the beach or snorkeling/swimming. Great day! We saw sea lions, marine iguanas and even penguins swimming in the water. The only miss was no BOOBIES. Stu had to console himself with a Blue-footed Boobie t-shirt.

CONTINUED.....Heading home

Ciao for now!