We Found REAL-LIFE Paradise (Galapagos)
[Georg] What do you imagine when you hear the word "Galapagos"? I remember first reading about this island sanctuary out in the Pacific, where life is seemingly fearless, as it's evolved without us, humans. Now what the books fail to mention is that this place, you have to see to believe. [Tara whispering] Oh my god! That was incredible. I don't even know what just happened. [Georg] Before getting on a boat to explore the farther islands, our first stop is right here on Santa Cruz, in its Highlands which are known for the giant tortoises. Let's go find tortoises! [Georg] Okay, let's do it.
Gracias! Georg! There's one right here. [Georg] Nuh-uh. Yes, just like I have tortoise! Just like you have a tortoise.
Now the challenge is identify which one is a rock and which one is a giant tortoises. Georg, this is literally the coolest (chirping) thing I've ever seen. What is that? What is this? A cacao. It's something that comes from the butt of a giant tortoise. Poop.
[Georg] In her defense, it did look like an old cacao pod. And yup, there's another one right there. Oh my God, look at all of them. [Georg] Were they always here? They are, this is their land.
So we are just making sure that they have the right conditions to live the way they have always lived. So how old are these? We know that they can be more than a hundred years easily. [Tara] Wow.
They were here before us and I'm sure they're gonna be here after we're gone. Wow. [Georg] So cool having Reyna show us around her property.
And as a side note, these tortoises are not fenced in. They freely move around the island. So I left Tara and the kids at home to do one of the most epic things to do out here in Galapagos, which is to go scuba diving. Let's find some sharks. I've never seen so many Blue-Footed Boobies.
Keep in mind this is just a symptom of the wealth of life that lies just beneath the surface. After a pretty rough ride going out, I was anxious to get in the water with my newly-found dive buddies. [Georg] Talking about unexpected, did you think you were gonna go into a cave on Galapagos? No, never. [Georg] All right, let's descend. Galapagos was born from volcanoes, and these are no ordinary caves, they are lava tubes. I need to show you the cave underground.
[Georg] Are you scared? No. Ow, that's why we have hard hats on. How did you not bonk your head? [Georg] I'm 6'4", I'm dealing with this every day of my life.
It's really dark that way. [Georg] I have a feeling this is where we stop filming. How long have we been down here? It feels like days, maybe weeks.
Yeah [Georg] Liv, I think I see light, I think that's it. [Bodhi] We made it! [Georg] Whoop whoop! It's time to move to the water and explore the cute town of Santa Cruz. Tara what is happening here? They're everywhere, oh it's 'cause of the fish market - [Georg] Sometimes you think these signs are just hypotheticals... Doesn't look so hypothetical to me now. This is seriously life in Galapagos? Wow. This boat was taking us out to a beach called Tortuga Bay, but ironically it's not turtles it's known for. Where are we? You see the iguanas, Bodhi? Yeah, I do.
[Georg] You know there's so many that I thought they're just logs. Yeah, I thought there were rocks. [Georg] Yeah. These little guys, the Marine Iguanas, have been a huge bucket list item for us and there were so many that they were literally climbing over one another. Not to say too much up front, but this was just a taste of what was yet to come later in this film. Liv, what is it? A pelican bone, from its head.
[Georg] Quick shout out to the Ecuador Film Residency for taking us to this amazing place. They help content creators like us share their Ecuador adventures. If you wanna find out more check the link in the description. And now this is where the real fun begins.
Time to set sail. We're on a boat! [Georg] So we have two cabins, right? And they're connected with this door. Yeah, so. [Georg] And Bodhi, why are you closing this? I wanna see the view that's why we're on a boat. Bodhi, no. [Bodhi] Yeah! [Georg] It's finally time to explore even the farthest reaches of the Archipelago.
So the kids are taking a nap right now and since we just got to the boat, they started their first land excursion and I couldn't say no. We just landed and they're are already marine iguanas and a sea lion casually hanging out. And I already got a first glimpse of some Darwin finches. To me, this is just amazing, how such a small bird in such a far away place can change our view of all life on this planet and our place within it. When I was a teenager growing up in Germany, I often dreamt of exploring the world "out there".
And Galapagos is, to me, the epitome of faraway places. Now many years later, being here leaves me completely humbled doing just that and getting to explore this fantastical place as a family. After sailing through the night, we woke up to the sunrise over the northern shores of Isabella Island. I always thought of Galapagos being relatively flat, but to my surprise at least some of it is absolutely colossal in size.
On today's agenda, finding penguins. Bodhi, what do you see? Boat! [Georg] A boat, yeah we're gonna get on that boat. We were surprised to find out that these flightless birds lived all the way at the equator. And as it turns out, the Galapagos Penguin is the world's most northern-living off its kind. But first, we got to watch a group of fur seals playing in the surf.
This is our guide, Romero, he is like the Dr. Dolittle of Galapagos and yeah, he did teach us how to talk to penguins. There, they're following us home.
This has got to be one of the craziest things I've seen in my life. [Romero] There you go, ah look they're coming to us. So listen to the turtle sound very careful, yeah? [Georg] In hindsight, I can't believe that Liv just got in the water with what seemed like hundreds of turtles, marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, and of course these playful penguins. Okay, all YouTube stuff aside, we were completely dumbfounded by the wealth of life and curiosity rather than fear.
I can't believe this place actually exists. That was insane. Mola Mola or Manta Ray, right here. You guys, there's a whole school of sharks out here. Come, come, come, come, come, come quick.
- [Georg] What? They're all off the back of the boat. [Georg] Mind you, it's late at night. There are more over there! Wow, look at them go! Is this a flipper? [Georg] Yeah, it's a dolphin flipper.
What does it remind you of, what does it look like? It looks like a foot. [Georg] Yeah, or a hand right? And that is because a long time ago we shared an ancestor with all mammals. So their flippers look like our hands, isn't amazing. Right now we are on Fernandina Island, this is Espinosa Point. This is the most pristine island of the Galapagos.
At this moment we are looking for the best part to be swimming with penguins, sea lions. [Georg] Let's go! Let's do it. [Georg] I think it's just gonna be Mama, Papa and you two be good. The kids had a bit of a cold and we didn't want to push it with the chilly water activities. I guess, that's just more fish, turtles, and sea lions for us then.
Tara and I, we had never swam with sea lions before, but holy (beep) this was incredible. - I don't even know what just happened besides what I was squealing quite a bit. - [Georg] Goodbye, goodbye. - [Tara] Bye, friend. - This was very unique for you guys.
- [Georg] Not just the ocean is sprawling with life, but every inch of rock. I can't believe it's all iguanas. - It looks like it's supposed to be a rock and it's not a rock at all. Well, underneath, somewhere there's a rock. - [Georg] What is this place? - It's insane. - [Georg] Yeah, honestly - It's unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Bye, sea lions. - Bye, sea lions. - Bye, iguanas. - Bye, iguanas. - Bye, ocean.
- Bye, ocean. - Liv, did you hear me screaming? - Yeah. - [Tara] You did? It was coming so close. I was trying to be really brave and I was thinking of you and how I was supposed to be extra brave for my little muffin, but I was a little bit scared.
- [Georg] Check out these lava rings, Liv. Hey Liv, how old is the little one? What did Romero say? - Four months old. - [Georg] It seems so weird that you can have such an intimate mother-child moment. - A lot of the times we actually can see them giving birth, and that is the most intimate moment and they share it with us and they do it right in front of us, it's amazing. - [Georg] That's incredible, how is this possible? You believe this? they're literally - - She's having "milkies". - [Georg] Bodhi what did you find? - This is from the marine iguana - [Georg] Hang on, are those marine iguanas blocking the path again? - They're everywhere.
- [Georg] Excuse me, sorry. Oh, excuse me, and bye. This is just silly now. Unbelievable.
- There are sea lions coming out of everywhere. - [Georg] Liv, watch out for that sea lion. - Bodhi we have to get rid of everything that you picked up. Do you have anything in your hands? - No...
- [Georg And Tara] Are you sure? - What, Bodhi you have to let go of all of that, otherwise we're gonna go to jail. Put it all down. - [Georg And Tara] Thank you. - Okay, let's go. - [Georg] Tara was only half joking as you're really not supposed to take anything.
We've gotta go guys, this is sincerely one of the craziest places I've ever gotten to visit. Nothing is afraid of us, unreal. - Ready to go home? - [Georg] Who are you writing a postcard to Liv? - Grandpa! How do you spell "tortoises"? - On Floreana Island there's a piece of history that goes back centuries, when the whaling ships used to roam these seas for years at a time, they devised a clever way of getting mail to their loved ones back home, through a simple but effective pickup, drop off system. - Is he gonna do that to me too? - We have to look at the address and if there's an address close to where you live then you can take the postcard and hand deliver it, yeah? - We're looking for one for Colorado. - [Romero] Colorado.
- This person will be getting their postcard. - [Georg] No way. - The sea lion is right here. - It's like begging to play with us. - [Georg] Looks like you are ready for an adventure.
- There goes 90% of my energy for today. It's all I had, that's it. All of it just goes into putting on a wetsuit, woo! - And this is the commanding bridge, welcome. - [Georg] There are dolphins! - [Liv] Where are dolphins? - I have never seen a real-life dolphin! - [Tara] And now you've seen like so many of them! - [Georg] Nuh uh. - Now I'm the captain! - [Captain] Blow the horn now.
Como te llamas? - Me llamo Bodhi. - Mucho gusto. - [Georg] Kids, there are flamingos! - No way! - So we're visiting right now this beach and it's filled with sea turtle nests. See the all those dents, on the ground they already have eggs if not babies. So we have to walk super carefully and as a matter of fact, I see that frigate and there's a gray blue heron on the other side of the beach, looking for babies that maybe are hatching out of the nest. So always look for where the frigates are because as soon as they see a baby, they'll go down and snatch it.
- [Tara] Bodhi what did you see? - Stingrays. - [Tara] Stingrays (laughs) - [Georg] Nice job, Bodhi. - We are adventure kids. - Right here we're gonna get amazed by the school of colorful fish, there's some sea lions ready to play with - I love sea lions, bring 'em on. - Liv just named this rock "Father's Day Rock" - [Tara] What? - So I think we are going to see some pretty epic stuff here, are you gonna come in the water with us? - I don't know because it sounds pretty wavy. - [Georg] And just when we thought this trip and ultimately the experience couldn't get any more impactful, a pod of bottle nose dolphins showed up as if to say their goodbyes.
- [Tara] Faster, faster, faster, faster. [Georg And Tara] Whoa! (doorbell rings) - We something for you from Galapagos.
2022-11-14 00:39
