1) Floating on the surface of a gently undulating ocean, breathing the long slow, relaxed breaths which characterise snorkelling, in the company of a huge, green, beautiful sea turtle. Everyone else was far away, chasing sting rays, and I had a long moment, companiably swimming in the company of the calm, slow moving turtle, watching his grace and unhurried progress as he did what I can only describe as 'pootling about' in the water. It was one of the most calming moments of my life.
2) That bike ride. I never thought a bike ride would make it into a top ten list, and all Amy did was keep me company, but her kindness in doing so, and the discovery that distraction really cuts through fear was priceless. Later M apologises, concerned that he, in the past, has not successfully distracted me, but I tell him that I don't believe it's possible for him to achieve this, being, as he is, too close. Human companionship is a beautiful thing, but for distraction you need that special stage in a burgeoning relationship (platonic or otherwise) when you are close enough to be honest, but not so close as to know too well the other person's flaws and foibles. Amy and I were at just that stage.
3) The catch of my breath followed by the mingled fear and amazement as a full size shark swam, only a metre below me. The grace of its movements, the beauty of a creature so often reviled and portrayed as a bloody mobster with gaping jaws.
4) The first time I saw a giant tortoise, not in a sanctuary, but in the wild. Our guide telling us that the tortoises tended to graze in the farms on the highlands despite the rules which state that the farms are private land because, "the tortoises don't know the rules." Being able to stand so close to them, to kneel down beside them in the grass, was priceless and unrepeatable.
5) The uproarious night in which we pretended it was Lana's birthday, ate a ridiculous number of deserts and laughed ourselves to tears (or in Amy's case, snorts.)
6) Our guide, on our last night, producing a surprise video he had compiled himself, of moments from our tour, set to music, and including some amazing footage of underwater animals he had taken on his underwater camera, including the graceful movements both of sharks and turtles, and the less graceful movements of us racing each other back to shore in our kayaks.
7) The surprise entrance of a cake on our last evening, presented to us by our beaming guide, and our reciprocal presentation of an individually signed card for him, along with our tips.
8) The harbour at Santa Cruz, teeming with life, pelicans dive bombing into the water for fish, sea lions arfing and hauling themselves out of the water to sleep on the warm concrete, sting rays swimming in the clear water, marine iguanas swimming into shore and plopping, apparently exhausted, onto the rocks in the sun, piled one on top of the other for warmth.
9) The moment in our kayaking trip when, without discussion, we all happened to congregate to race each other home.
10) Seeing a sleepy little barn owl perched barely a metre away in the lava caves on Santa Cruz, peering sleepily out at us through half closed eyes but showing no sign of taking flight. That simple fearlessness in the birds, fish and animals, was unique and beautiful. Long may the creatures of the Galapagos islands continue to find no reason to distrust the feckless, reckless human race.
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