Farewell to the Galapagos

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A sad day - as our final day in the Galapagos… Our only regret was taking a 5 day tour instead of an 8 day tour in the Enchanted Isles! After we discovered, it is also possible to spend a little time on a few of the islands independently, such as on Isabella island. This would definitely be worthwhile after participating in a tour. Extra time would be invaluable, just to allow the scenery to sink in around you, and to admire this special and unique place for a little longer. Definitely worth the money, nowhere else can you experience such unusual landscape and fantastic wildlife - a haven/paradise.

An early start to see one last island before breakfast, 6.30am a wet landing on Mosquera island. This island home to many very cute and interactive sea lions. The perfect opportunity to take a few more sea lion photos! We also saw more crabs on the rocks and marine iguanas chilling out. Beautiful white sandy beaches, washed up coral, shiny sea-washed black boulders, almost the same colour as the sea lions lounging around on the beach. We watched them for some time and observed the young pups, playing at the waters edge, wandering along the sand as the rest of the group were sleeping and occasionally barking - referring to the sea lions of course! The beach master lay by the shore like a huge rock, stirring every now and then to keep an eye on things, maintaining order on the island. As we left the island he swam in the water to see us off, maybe to signify his importance to us or perhaps just a farewell! It is amazing to think how close we have been able to get to these animals over the past five days, animals without any fear - we feel very privileged.

This was a major highlight of our round the world trip, an unforgettable experience and a great way to finish our time in S. America. Sadly though the islands have now been added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage in danger, as it is thought that the increase in growth in tourism has brought damaging invasive species to these islands. However our knowledgeable guide was very conscious of the negative impact of tourism, and set up many rules for us to follow in order to limit any negative impact we may cause by our visit.

An hour later we returned to the boat to scrambled egg and fresh fruit. Then we sailed back to Baltra for 9am, to catch the plane. We were greeted by two friendly sea lions sunbathing on a bench. It was a long wait at the airport and we eventually arrived back at Quito at 6pm. We made a bee-line to our hostel and enjoyed mulled wine, pasta and cake, joined by a family from the USA. Later we caught the 10pm 8 hour bus journey to Lago Agrio, strict security as near the Colombian border. The bus broke down for a short while, then we eventually arrived at 6am, and tried to find our way to the hotel meeting point in the dark with a few other backpackers we had met at the bus stop, ready for our Amazon tour.

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Photos

Goodbye Sea Lions
we will miss you!

The Beach Master Sea Lion
keeping order on the island

The Beach
enjoying the warm waters!