Thanks, schlegal1 ... always good to hear the information is useful to others.

And now, we finally get to the Galapagos ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...la-baltra.html.

Thanks, schlegal1 ... always good to hear the information is useful to others.

And now, we finally get to the Galapagos ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...la-baltra.html.

Read your new entry. Thanks. It's really going to help us when we go through this same thing in 3 weeks (although we will not be on the Celebrity Xpedition but a small boat - 16 passengers).

For anyone interested, video/photos from around the Celebrity Xpedition.
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...ound-ship.html

Waiting with held breath for the Galapagos cruise - once you're on the water. Although, part of me doesn't want to read <b>all</b> - I want some surprises when we do this.

BTW - What was the tipping like in Quito? What about on the boat? Certain money amount per day/pp or a %?

Didn't do much in Quito that required tipping, but on the one occasion we ate out, we just rounded up the bill. The Xpedition is all inclusive, so no tipping there either.

And here's the first afternoon on the water ... no landing.
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...gnificens.html

First part of first landing ... Santiago Island ... http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...erto-egas.html

Great pictures. I've got to show them to my husband who is a birder.

Two more parts for Puerto Egas --

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...a-happens.html

and

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...-darkness.html

Loving this. We are doing this trip in early November so much appreciated.

Finally -- the snorkeling/beach time for our morning excursion at Puerto Egas
http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...ing-beach.html

Your link didn't work for me. Here's another try: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...ing-beach.html

I went to the link and it did say "no longer here" or something like that. So, I just clicked on "Home" and I got your snorkeling pix and video. Really nice.

So the water was cold, eh? Yes, I figured we'd have to rent a wet suit from our boat.

Looks like you were in very shallow water when videotaping the sea lion. True? What about the fish? We just bought an underwater Panasonic camera - takes video and stills. I wondered how I would be able to take pictures/video and also snorkel at the same time without choking/jerking the camera around. Tried it out in our friend's pool this past weekend. It was tough.

How'd you do it?

Sorry about the broken link; the same one worked on a different site, so not sure what the problem was; glad you found the post anyway.

The sea lion had just entered the water from the beach, so it was shallow water. I spoke to hubby, and he said the depth where he went out to and saw the fish was maybe 10-15 feet. You see more if you leave the immediate beach area.

The Canon S95 my husband used has an underwater casing that adds bulk to it, which makes it easier to manage in the water. You'll notice that he doesn't zoom, pan, etc. when he's videotaping underwater; he just rides the currents and tapes what's in front of him. He took a lot of footage and you're seeing the parts that he deemed best ... editing is essential :-)

These two links are for the afternoon landing at Rabida Island

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...da-island.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...each-time.html

eenusa - Thanks for all your help and patience with answering my many questions.

Your pictures and commentary are wonderful.

A couple of parts for Isabela Island ...

Elizabeth Bay: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...-by-panga.html

Deepwater Snorkel: http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...r-snorkel.html

Caleta Tagus (Part I): http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...-by-panga.html (the land portion of this will be in the next post).

Part II of Caleta Tagus

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...lake-walk.html

Next landing at Sullivan Bay, Santiago Island ... this was a fascinating morning ... in particular our short walk on the lava flow.

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...re-always.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...-by-panga.html

http://2totravel.blogspot.com/2012/0...lava-walk.html

Haven't had a chance to post links recently, but I am continuing to make headway with the trip ... if anyone is interested still interested, just go to my blog at http://2totravel.blogspot.com and check out the entries in the July 2012 archive in the sidebar.