Screw Disney World!
The Galapagos Islands are the happiest place on earth!
Mom, I don't even know how I could possibly describe
this. All I know for sure is that June 9 2006 was the
best day of my life! I did an under water dance with a
wild Sea Lion. We spent 20 mins twisting around each
other less than 6 inches apart! And the whole time he
was looking directly into my eyes! (I could describe
this for hours but I'll wait to show you the pictures!
[go team under-water camera]) In the same day I was
snorkeling and went off by myself and found a Sea
Turtle, who I swam with for over half an hour, alone!
It was unbelievable. He just kept on swimming beside
me until I noticed that I was going a little too far
out to sea! I also saw a baby Sea Turtle make his way
from his nest to the ocean. We all applauded when he
was finnaly swallowed by the sea! It saddens me to
think that if we weren't there he likely would not
have made it (too many predators!)
And today, our last day, we got caught in the middle
of a Blue Footed Boobie feeding frenzy! There were
over 1000 of them (we could barely see the sky) and
they all dive-bombed at once, most of them hit no more
than 3 feet from the zodiac. Some even went under the
zodiac. All I could think about was Alfred Hitchcock's
'The Birds'! Our guide Roberto (who was amazing) told
us that we had witnessed a truly rare event! Then he
yelled out 'Thank you Boobies! Thank you my friends
for the amazing show!' I 2nd the motion!
I think next year I'm not going to Africa! Instead I
think we should go to The Galapagos and explore the 9
islands I didn't get the chance to see! (I haven't
even told you about the Sea Lions on the back of our
boat or the 5 Sea Lions I swam with yesterday!) It's
just too much. My neck actually hurts, because the
whole trip went like this: Look over there, a sting
ray! Over there my friends, a Sea Turtle. Over there a
shark, over there 2 albatross doing a mating dance,
over there Sea Lions playing with our rope, to the
right are penguins. To left are Blue Footed Boobies,
and beside them Red footed Boobies! Worse than
watching tennis (and also more exciting!)
I'm going to burn all my pictures on to 2 cd's and
mail one to you (desperately don't want to lose any of
them!) But you have to promise not to open them until
I get back! Can you make that promise?
I love you tonnes!
Love Alana
(Of course I made that promise.
)
V
