Just sit right back

and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship.

I may have watched Gilligan's Island a time or two too many in my youth.

Gilligan's Island kept on coming to mind when I thought about this 30 passenger tiny cruise ship out
in the Pacific.  There were a few times when the water was rough and it was difficult to walk or stay on the bed during the night.

That tiny ship took us to explore these uninhabited Islands of the Galapagos.  I imagined tropical Islands but some were more volcanic rock than tropic.

And the weather was sometimes cloudy and often not.

That is our ship out there in the water and the sister ship that traveled with us carrying another 20 people.

A dinghy boat would take us to shore and then we would hike and look back and take a photo of where we had been.

 The views were spectacular

day and night.

 This is the dinghy boat returning to the ship.

When we explored all the cameras came out. 

Emily took photos 

and we took photos of her.

near and far

and she took photos of us.

And lots of photos of sea lions.  This sand and beach were so pristine. 

I am not sure how it was so clean with all the animals.
This sea lion was having fun playing in the surf,  
reminded me of playing in the ocean myself when I was a kid.

The water was so cold most everyone wore wetsuits to snorkel.  Here is Emily and Lonny on their way to the island in the background.

And here they are snorkeling on a beach we had just hiked.

Another view of the same beach.

Emily making friends on the cruise.

The dinghy boats took us up close to some crazy stuff like these penguins

and this Chinese Hat Island.

or this island where the captain announced that we had arrived at Mars.

This island had steps to the top.  365 steps, one for each day of the year.

 And once again a view from the top

and of our child.

These rocks we walked on reminded me of bones, maybe they were.

That same island of Mars but across the water. 

 At least the ocean here looks like it surrounds a tropical island 

even if the islands did not all look tropical. 

And apparently they let just anyone drive the boat

and no one even appeared to be alarmed.

The real captain of our tiny ship.

And Emily with the beautiful Pacific ocean

and her parents.

Our journey home was a long one.  We arrived at this port in our tiny ship.

Then took a dinghy to this island and a bus to this tortoise preserve.

The tortoises were large and plentiful.

The underground tunnels were created when the volcanos spewed lava and the islands were formed.  These islands were considered young but enough geology for today.

We hopped back on the bus traveling to the far side of the island to take a water taxi across to another island that housed the airport.

The plane took us to Quito, and then to Lima and a taxi home.