Oh, so many memories!
* Winding up in a *parade* in Quito on the night before departure. (We also wound up in a heavy metal concert, but the parade experience was far trippier.)
* Coming up with the ultimate band name: "Chewbacca and the Live Shrimp Experience"
* Having a sea lion pup pretty much flop into my lap uninvited in San Chrisobal.
* Braving snorkeling even though I'm pretty much blind without my glasses... and then finding I didn't really need glasses because everything just swam right up to my face anyway.
* Swimming with sea lions, penguins, manta rays, sea turtles, sharks, and unbelievable schools of tiny red fish.
* Sitting in three feet of water, watching two foot-long angelfish investigate my flippers and ankles for five minutes.
* Watching manta rays wash over my feet while wading on the beach.
* Spotting a dogface puffer in the wild!
* Being sneezed upon by an iguana.
* Hearing weird grunting around the corner at the Darwin Station... and then watching the other photographers *flock* around two humping tortoises. I was too amused by the sight to actually take photos myself. Such a missed opportunity!
* Multitudes of boobies!
* Seeing the sea lion pup with a shark bite.
* Glancing into a pool of water to see hundreds of milimeter-long hermit crabs prowling about.
* Taking photos of the whale skeleton, realizing that I just shot the best photos I've taken in years.
* Watching the water from the deck of the ship on the last night, and seeing three sea lions, a couple pelicans, and about 20 Galapagos sharks circling around the upwelling schools of silvery fish.
* Chasing a Sally Lightfoot crab across the ship's deck during dinner.
* Hearing George perform all his element songs at once.
* Learning how to escape a strait jacket.
* Hanging out until wee hours of the morning in the hot tub, chatting with ScottH, Jonathan, George, Anni, Sean, et al. while we covered the lights and watched nocturnal gulls flying overhead.
* Experiencing the mounting irony of our Quito tour.
* Watching the whole room twitch when the opera singer announced that he'd be singing "Music of the Night".
* Non-stop Hava Nagila, with a bonus of Casiotone covers of "The Final Countdown" and Zamfir. Seriously, if he had CDs for sale, I would have bought them. Anguish shared is anguish lessened.
* Watching Randi perform at random times around the ship. In particular, watching him do a mentalist trick with my copy of Voyage of the Beagle and Joe's copy of Origin of Species.
* Breakfast with P.Z. Myers on my first day in Quito.
* Phil Plait's lightsaber.
* Seeking Quito's best scenic overlook with Sean at 3 AM on the morning we're supposed to leave.
* The colossal drunkening on the night that Jeff took over the bar, and my later disappointment that I couldn't taunt my cohorts on the following morning, as I seemed to be the only one awake.
* The discovery of the Cabinet of Unloved Liquor. "ANOTHER bottle of creme de minthe?!?"
* Watching The Amazing Randi perform escape tricks while I could see the back of his chair... and still being astonished.
* The long, excellent lunch with Jonathan and Jeff in Puerto Ayora, during which I was also introduced to the best meal of the trip: lobster fettucine with a cream sauce made of parmasan, coconut, and cinnamon. YUM.
* Best of all, meeting and spending time with EVERYONE. I walked into this trip without knowing anyone who was attending. (I'd met Phil and George very briefly before, but that's it.) I returned home just absolutely stoked that I could share all this with such a wonderful bunch of folks. (I'm doubly thankful that I got to see a bunch of you again at Dragon*Con!) I'm looking forward to many more years of keeping in touch with you guys.
And note to phyz: Aw, shucks!
