The boat engines kicked on at about 2am, waking the entire boat. A lot of people did not sleep well as we were bounced around in bed, but Sarah and I did better than most. When the alarm went off at 6:40, like it has everyday so we have a few minutes to get ready for breakfast, the boat was still moving, a bit of a surprise. It was not until about 7:20 when the boat lowered anchor at the town port on Isabela Island, Villamil. Still, at 8, we were off to Tintoreras Island. After a dry landing we slowly circled the island located on the ocean side of the Isabela port. The island was flat with a number of mangroves and lots of "ah" lava. It almost looked like the sky rained down lava ... read more

At about 6:30 I was awake and feeling good. Sarah was totally fine, the rough seas last night did not bother her at all. The boat was nestled in to Sullivan Bay, between the big island of Santiago and the small island of Bartolome. The seas were very calm. 7:00 breakfast and by 8:00 we were off to Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island. After a wet landing Victor introduced the island and as he was doing so a juvenile endemic Galapagos Hawk (endemic species) flew low over our heads and landed nearby. We got a great view of the Hawk, no more than 15 feet away. Next we walked for about two miles through a recent lava flow, from 1889. It was recent enough that it was generally devoid of life, which was pretty cool looking ... read more

We were up earlier than we would like given that we did not need to meet our boat at the channel between Baltra (the island with the airport) and Santa Cruz until noon. But when the last bus is at 9 (for $1.80) and the alternative is an $18 cab, up by 7 is the logical choice. We visited our favorite breakfast place one last time (although we may never know the restaurants name) and ordered the usual: pancakes for Sarah and the continental for me. $8.54. At 8:30 we caught a cab to the bus station which, for reasons I can't begin to imagine, is well out of town on the north side. It's as if they are expecting a huge amount of sprawl and to some day have service to Quito... We arrived at ... read more

Tuesday May 8th started with an early rise and the temptation to wake the woman who had woken us the day before. She was the hostel owners mother and had woken us up quite early the day before with loud knocking followed by 5 minutes of uncomprehendable Spanish before she finally gave up at our lack of understanding and walked away. Guess it wasn´t that important. We made our way to the dock to catch our 7:00 boat back to Santa Cruz. I had forgotten to put on my sea-sickness patch, so I popped a couple of pills hoping they would kick in. Another boat using the only dock spot delayed our departure so after the security people had cleared our bags (they check for fruits, veggies, etc.) Sarah went to grab a snack while I ... read more

Today we got up at a leisurely pace and headed down to Galapagos Fishing Adventures by 8:20 to let them know we were ready for our snorkel/dive trip. We did not need to be there for another 25 minutes so we went across the street and upstairs to a restaurant for breakfast. Another continental breakfast with a banana milk shake (gross in Sarah´s opinion). About 5 minutes before 9 the tour guide rushed us out of the restaurant, resulting in Sarah having to chug hot coffee. And of course, two minutes later we sat at the dock waiting for 20 minutes for everybody else to show. At the dock we met a really cool older couple from Australia. They had rented out their house and were traveling for a year solely on the rental income. Nice! ... read more