It's day 3 on the Guantanamera boat.
So far, we have been snorkelling 5 times. I have seen and swam with: *hammerhead, reef and white tip sharks
*seals and sea lions
*turtles the size of my outstretched legs
*schools of fish, 1000s of fish at any one time or schools as little as 20 fish.
*starfish that I never could have imagined up (bright yellow with tall black spikes; fat black starfish with bright red spots all over it.. The list is endless)
*marine iguanas
*sting and manta rays
*the reddest crabs you've ever seen *Galápagos penguins.
And on land, so many different species of birds:
*flamingos
*finches
*doves
*red, blue and masked boobies (I was the only one who found this name hilarious!)
*great frigates
*pelicans
*tropic birds
*swallow tailed gulls
The landscapes are to die for. The sea is so clear and so colourful! The tones range from dark navy blue to a fluroescent green and sky blue.. I don't think my words or photos can do this experience justice. I am pretty annoyed with myself for not mastering my camera before I left. The photos I've taken are very average. And the only underwater camera i have is a disposable one, so I have no idea if any of the snorkelling ones turned out ok! I hope these mental images are good enough to last the rest of my life. It's been so wonderful so far.
Yesterday I saw a sea lion that was barely 2 hours old with its mother. I was so overwhelmed by this image! Brings tears to my eyes every time I think about it. Such a beautiful moment. And a great memory to hold on to.
The sea can get pretty choppy when we are venturing between main islands it can last up to 8 hours. I haven't been seasick at all! I did get my first bout of diarrhoea this morning though. Pretty funny in hindsight- we were hiking to the top of a summit when the cramps started. I was praying that we had gone high enough and were allowed to start venturing down again. I just REALLY needed to use the toilet. But apparently we were never up high enough. We reached the peak of the summit before coming down. I almost didn't make it. But I did. I managed to hike for another 90 mins before catching the dinghy back to the boat. Praise GOD I didn't ruin everyone else's hiking experience. The awful thing is that I have packed pills and tablets for every scenario. So I have packed for diarrhoea as well as constipation, but the boxes for the tablets wouldn't fit inside my luggage, so I left the boxes back in Australia.. Which means I'm not sure if I have taken the pills for diarrhoea or for constipation. Let's hope I am taking the right thing!
I am sharing room número siente (number 7) with a Swiss German 19 year old called Sylvana. She speaks 5 languages. Including Spanish because she just spent 4 weeks learning Spanish with a non-English speaking family. I wish I could speak another language! Makes me determined to learn Spanish once I get to Argentina- providing I have enough money for a course.
The other people on the boat are:
Tracey (who I met at the Secret Garden). She has the room next door all to herself.
Hila and Amir are on their honeymoon. They are from Israel and are so so sweet! Today is Hila's birthday! We are going to have a cocktail tonight to celebrate- that is if my stomach is feeling up to it!
Mauro, Mauro, Lorenz and Elena (Italians) are all travelling together. I think that one of the Mauros and Amelia are married.
Matt (from Turkey) actually runs his own cruise in Europe. He says that tourism is always down in winter so he always goes travelling for months at a time to keep himself busy. He always has his shirt off and is always asking for photos of himself in a particular way and from a particular angle.. With his camera phone.
Beergit (female) and Dee (male), From Santa Barbara, California, have been married for 20 years and have never had kids so they wouldn't have to give up their holidays. When telling them that I want to start having kids soon, both of them just scoffed. They are not very nice to each other and they are always the ones we have to wait for.
Javier is our guide. He is full of information. He likes me because I see things before he does, things like hammerheads and hiding seals.
Everyone is very friendly to me and I have had great conversations with everyone. I mainly spend time with Tracey and Sylvana. And when the newly-weds are around, we become a group of 5. It's really cool.
I'm so used to saying that my husband is back in Australia, it doesn't upset my anymore. When it comes around to explaining the dynamics of our holiday, it's hard to word it in a way that doesn't sound like we are breaking up.. "Shane left me in New York", "We split up" or "We went our separate ways" sound really bad so I need to go into much more depth when talking about how this works for us. I do miss him a lot though. Especially at the really incredible moments, I wish he was here, sharing the experience with me. But I know that if Shane was here, he wouldn't appreciate it as a holiday. There would be no weetbix or sultana bran.. There would be no TV.. No wifi whatssoever.. And everyday, I'm getting stronger and feeling more brave about being on my own. Especially meeting so many other lone travellers!! They are everywhere! Tracey has been travelling for 7 months by herself! So really, 1 month away from everyone I know is not so bad.
We have a few hours of free time on the boat every day. I try to keep up with blogging to keep my mind occupied. Of course there is no wifi of any kind out in the middle of the ocean, so when I finally find some, you will have days and days worth of reading to catch up on. When I'm not writing, I'm listening to Les Miserables (the 80s version) and Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album, yes I am aware that its January. I am still captivated by the carols we sang on Christmas Eve, "O come O come Emmanuel" and "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming". These songs are both on Sufjan's album. I also love Stephen Sharpe Nelson's version of "Lo, how a rose e'er blooming". Get into it!
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