I have been to Galapagos twice - the first time on a cruise ship and the second on a smaller boat of 16 passengers. The first thing that I would say is that choose carefully the month you go - as the islands are on the equator they do not have a traditional summer and winter but at certain times, such as Easter (the first time we went) it is extremely hot and you are walking about on very arid islands with the sun beating down. Our second visit was in June which was much more pleasant weather-wise but still warm. I understand that around August it can be quite cool, overcast and foggy. Although the facilities are somewhat cramped I prefer the smaller vessels,because to visit the various islands you have to go in a small landing craft(panga)and with 100 or so people on a cruise ship, so much more time is spent getting everyone on and off as compared to the smaller vessels. Most of the landings are wet landings so it is a good idea to wear Tevas or other wet-dry type shoes and your bottom half often gets wet so those rapid drying shorts are a good idea. You would not want to walk around the islands in a bathing suit as there would be serious risk of sun burn - you need a shirt, shorts, hat and good sunglasses. Also plenty of sunscreen and perhaps insect repellent although we did not need this. One or two landings are dryish such as at Bartoleme and here you will climb up the mountain for a spectacular view, so sneakers with good grip soles would be useful here, as you are walking in quite deep volcanic ash in places. We did not need any sweaters at all but you will need warm clothes if you are spending time in Quito etc. We think the must see islands are Hood(Espaniola) and Tower(Genovesa) - Red, Blue Footed and Masked Boobies. Waved Albatross also nest on Hood. You will see the Galapagos Penguin from the panga at Bartoleme. Depending on the length of your cruise-if it is longer, you will go to Isobella and Fernandina and on Fernandina will see Flightless Cormorants. On Santa Cruz make sure you visit the Darwin Research Center where you will see all the different types of tortoise and make sure you go on the bus trip to the highlands where you will see the most huge tortoises imaginable in the wild - we also saw a wild one on Isabella. There are sea lions everywhere and they are very unafraid and friendly -these are related to the California sea lions and not the sea lions found in the Falkland Islands which are very unfriendly. Fur seals are not as easy to see.You will see Land Iguanas on Santa Cruz and Plaza and Marine Iguanas on many islands. We are not into diving or snorkeling but those who did said it was fabulous, but remember the water is cold because of the Humboldt Current. I think the diving was quite a pricey affair but all the gear was provided. One girl from Japan had a small underwater camera which was a neat idea. Remember that the Galapagos Islands are very regimented for visitors- each boat is allowed on and must be off the islands at specified times and you must stay on the walking tracks- this obviously is to protect the animals and birds. You will be quite amazed at first at how tame all the creatures are - you can be within inches of birds and they do not fly away' they just look at you - it is a photographer's paradise. If you are interested in photography a 1-400mm zoom lens is quite useful. I would recommend that you see the 2007 DVD "Galapagos- the islands that changed the world" before you go. An excellent book about the wildlife is "Wildlife of the Galapagos" by Julian Fitter et al. A good general guide is "Travelers Guide to the Galapagos Islands" by Barry Boyce 2004. Please ask if you have any further questions. I hope this helps. If you are spending any time in Ecuador and are interested in birds I can suggest a few places. The Botanical(Orchid) Garden in Quito is small but very nice. If you enjoy Galapagos,I would like to suggest the Falkland Islands for a future trip- simply fabulous! Bon Voyage.

Thanks Moonie for thinking of me and remembering I tried to help Greg. Ken, I had a product that is made to keep birds from chewing their feathers. It's like 100 times more bitter than bitter apple for dogs because birds don't have saliva glands. I sent a bottle to Greg and he said it worked a little but would take a lot and repeated spraying the plants wouldn't be practical. The company was sold and don't know if the new companies product is the same or even if available. I don't know if Greg found an answer to the problem other than maybe some of the not so nice suggestions here. I think freezing is considered a human way of euthanasia for reptiles. Hope you have a nice big chest freezer. Wish I could be of more help. Sorry for the delayed reply but it seems the computer acts up every time I come here :( Peg

Thanks! Yesterday, I ended up planting a couple more small pindo palms and another windmill palm and placed an order for 2x brazos blackberries (blackberry x raspberry x dewberry hybrid), 2x 'austin' dewberries, 2x black beauty mulberries, 1x methley plum, and 1x conadroia fig. I've been wanting a black mulberry for some time, but I didn't want want that got as big as a tree. These black beauty mulberries are said to be semi-dwarfing, getting a maximum of about 15'. Only one of them will be planted on my property. I bought two because I heard they were hard to propagate and wanted to give it to someone as a gift. As far as whether or not I'll be able to grow all of this stuff in this area, the jury is still out. Aronia and autumn olives are things I haven't really heard anyone ever growing in Florida before, and the pacific northwest blue elderberries probably won't do well here because of the huge climate difference between Florida and Washington, but I'm going to try anyway. Some of the things may live but not fruit due to not enough chill hours or even having too much shade in certain areas. A good example of something going wrong in the shade was when our family use to have a large persimmon tree, a tanenashi I believe, and when it got to around 20', its limbs started growing toward the sun, and one day, it had so much weight all on one side of the tree that the roots came out of the ground. It did fruit before that but somewhat sparsely. Just another note about getting lots of plants in two acres. I wasn't totally in to all of the small plants and flowers when we started landscaping this place, and I even chose a few wrong trees initially to plant and ended up pulling them up before they got too big. When I say I chose the wrong plants, I mean I realized that there was very limited prime (somewhat higher and better draining - clear from driveways, access, lawn mowers, - full-sun) space and wanted that space for "better" things. Ever since then, I've tried to figure out what would work best at all of the "other" spaces in the property. There are plants that may like low land with full sun, and then there are plants that like shade but don't like wet feet. Finding plants that would work in a low/shady area that I actually liked have been a challenge. Local nurseries generally haven't been much help either. They just say plant some bald cypress, red maples, or river birch and be done with it! The size plants grow have also been an issue even in the better areas of the yard. Thankfully, almost all of my fruit trees are semi-dwarf, and a few are real dwarfs, and they can be pruned down to a manageable size. I'd be lying if I said I always put plants in the perfect location though. It's part of having a limited space and trying to experiment and make use out of every part of it, see what will happen. It makes things interesting. It's disappointing when it doesn't work out, but it's great when it does!

Thanks for sharing your pic and please continue. I'd love to see more. How sick is it that my first thought of the blue footed birds was "I hope Annie makes a design seed of the picture" because the colors are so great.