Farcas Family Photos

It's been so long since I've posted a photo session! I'm in catch up mode and hope to be posting some past photo sessions over the holidays.

Today, I am super excited to share the Farcas family slideshow! Diana, Alex (senior), Alex (junior), and Bianca are all so easygoing and kind. We were blessed with a beautifully overcast day, and we headed to Coronation Park for some outdoor photos... it was quite literally the perfect setting. Everyone was in such a wonderful mood - there were laughs all around during the entire photo session. Little Alex and Bianca were so sweet and welcoming - they took to Vince and me immediately, which made the photo session incredibly fun. They showed us rocks, slid down slides, and smiled huge smiles right at the camera. Every time I looked at their parents, I could immediately tell how very proud they are of their little ones, and with good reason. After Coronation Park, we took a few more photos, featuring Alex & Bianca's grandparents and the world's most patient cat. You can really feel the love in the home. Then, as we were finishing up the session, Diana was so gracious and set out a huge spread of food for us! Really!

Alex, Diana, Alex, and Bianca, thank you so much for welcoming us into your home and for your generosity. I am so happy with how the collection turned out and I hope you enjoy this little preview! :)

Santa Cruz... Back to Civilization

Our last day in the Galapagos was spent on the island of Santa Cruz. We visited the giant tortoises in the Highlands (they're very shy), explored a lava tube, and went to the Charles Darwin Research Station to see Lonesome George.





Vince took some great close-ups of the tortoises!






It rained a lot in the morning and the steps down to the lava tube were scary looking but they were actually less slippery than I though they would be. :)




Fortunately, the rainy weather was just passing through and we were left with a beautiful sunny afternoon.





More tortoise portraits courtesy of Vince!







Lonesome George had two lady tortoises in the habitat with him. I can't remember which one he is, but he is off in the distance (under the trees). We're glad we had the opportunity to see him before he crossed over the rainbow bridge on June 24, 2012.



I'm not sure if this was Lonesome George or one of his lady friends.



Baby tortoises!! So cute!!



This is a screenshot from one of my videos so the quality is not the best, but I wanted to show how teeny tiny these little tortoises are.



The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the town.




Pelicans are so bold... trying to steal from the fish monger!






After one more night on the cruise ship, we flew back to Baltra and had a nice dinner... we flew back to Toronto late that night and our trip was in the books! Galapagos was definitely the trip of a lifetime and so different from any place we have ever visited. We took over 6,000 photos so it was a little time consuming to go through... but finally, after 1.75 years of returning to Toronto, our vacation blog posts are complete! :)

South Plaza and Dragon Hill

Seriously does not get prettier than this.





One of the tour guides mentioned that the island of South Plaza was his favourite. I'll admit, I wasn't entirely sure why at first...




My perspective...




The next two are Vince's perspective. He clearly wins. To which I say, "it's not a competition!"







Now that I'm looking back at the photos, the island was pretty stunning. There is a different type of ground vegetation called Sesuvium. When we were there (during dry season), it was a vibrant orange-red.







The landscape was incredible!












Vince and I decided to switch lenses for this portion of the trip. Let's just say I'll stick with my (itty bitty) prime lenses! So much easier to handle and have I mentioned how much I dislike zooming? While zoom is supposed to provide you with more flexibility, I think it actually limits me as I have a tendency to over think things.







This lovely photo was taken by Vince... I used a lot of his photos for this blog post.



Iguanas fighting for food...






After our walk on South Plaza, we headed back to the ship for lunch. The food on the Celebrity Xpedition was very good. There were different themes for lunch every day (buffet style) and dinner was always a la carte.



After lunch, we headed to Dragon Hill for a very muddy walk. It was literally get-your-shoe-stuck muddy! Can you see Vince in the background of this photo?








Not only was it muddy, it was also raining. Fortunately, nature is extra beautiful when it rains.









There were both land iguana and marine iguana on Dragon Hill.




On the way back to the ship, we saw some gorgeous golden stingrays!





At this point, we were nearing the end of our trip. This was our last day in the natural, rugged terrain of the Galapagos. We didn't see a single house, car, or power line on any of the islands we visited... and it was incredibly refreshing. The next day will mark our return to civilization.