On Leap Day (February 29 ;)), I won the Ohm Around the World from the lovely Martha and Ohm Beads! Of course, I had to wait for it to travel to me in the mail, but I knew right away what my first combination with it would be.
In 2005 I spent a week in the beautiful Galapagos Islands. It was an amazing trip and certainly the most memorable one that I have been on. It’s a really interesting environment and each island had its own particular features, so every day held something new: seeing the unique native birds and land animals. Seeing Lonesome George. And, of course, swimming with sea lions, sting rays, manta rays, turtles, and sharks (even if they were just little ones).
The sea lions were undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip. They are everywhere there! We were warned not to touch them, as they are still wild animals. But, on one of our shore excursions one of the baby sea lions had a different idea and chased us down the beach, trying to play with us. Despite how cute the baby was, we kept our distance, afraid that the mother wouldn’t approve of us as her baby’s playmates. Maybe they see so many humans that they just assume that we’re another animal on the islands. Although sometimes I swear that they were posing for our cameras!
The first afternoon that we were on the islands we went snorkling and the sea lions swam around us as if we were a natural part of their environment. So, I included the Seal Family to capture that playful mood and the sleek forms of their bodies swimming through the water. Another sea creature that swam around me the first afternoon was this gorgeous sea turtle. Sadly, my underwater camera has a tendency to focus on the small particles in the water, instead of what I really want it to focus on, so most of my underwater shots aren’t that great.
Although each island is slightly different, in general the landscape is low scrub brush, lots of rocks and sand, and a hint of green. I added my Dalmation Jasper and Green Jade to represent the general landscape. One island that we visited was Rábida, known for its red sand, so I added my Goldstone bead to represent that stop.
The other islands that we visited were: Baltra (we landed there and took off from there too), Floreana (where we visisted Post Office Bay), Santa Cruz (where we saw Lonesome George), Santiago, Bartolomé, and North Seymour.
I rounded out the bracelet with the Pisces bead for the colourful fish that we saw, including a pufferfish! If I had a crab or iguana bead, I would have loved to represent them on this bracelet too. I still felt like I was short one silver, though. So, I went back and grabbed my Maple Leaf to represent the start of my trip: Canada! I added the Azure Bubbles to represent the deep ocean between here and there, and I pulled all of my light blue beads to represent the cool blue waters that we swam in.
Have you been on a memorable trip, or do you have certain beads that remind you of your travels?
That’s a beautiful bracelet and such a perfect representation of your trip!
Thank you Martha :) I wish that I had a few more silvers to represent some of the other aspects, but it was fun to put together. And it was especially fun to go through my pictures and relive the trip. I had forgotten a few things, like the sea turtle that swam around us the first day!