The Galapagos Islands!

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The Galapagos Islands are located about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They are the home to many unique and exotic animals. We could not wait to explore the different islands of the Galapagos!

SAN CRISTOBAL ISLAND

We arrived at the airport in San Cristobal late in the morning. After collecting our things, we had to take a small zodiac boat to get to our cruise ship, the Galapagos Explorer II. We arrived on the ship in the afternoon and right away checked into our room (with a balcony!). We changed into our swimsuits, ready for our first sightseeing adventure!

The first stop we made was on San Cristobal Island, at a place called Wizard Hill. As we arrived in the zodiac boats, we were awe struck by the tons of sea lions lounging on the beach! Sea lions in the Galapagos are so used to tourists that they just ignored us. This means you can get quite close to them, but you are not supposed to touch them...the oils from your skin can taint their natural scent. Then others in their family will not recognize them.

At Wizard Hill, we snorkeled right off the beach. The water was very murky, so other than a few fish, we didn't see much. Instead, we strolled along the beach and took pictures (of course). What a great way to begin this part of the trip.

After the excursion, we relaxed and got ready for dinner. Dinner was served late on the ship--between 8 and 9 PM. The food was pretty good. After a briefing about the next day's activities, we went to sleep, exhausted.

ESPANOLA ISLAND

We got up early and watched a beautiful sunrise from our balcony. Our entire day would be spent on Espanola Island.

In the morning, we arrived at Punta Suarez and did a 3 hour walking tour of this part of the island. Here's some of what we saw: many sea lions--in fact, one kind of charged right at me! Luckily, I got out of his way; tons of birds--the Galapagos Hawk, the Galapagos Dove, American Oyster Catchers, mockingbirds, and of course, BOOBIES! (both blue footed ones and Nasca boobies). This is the only island that has the waved albatross, so we also saw many of those birds too. We also saw pelicans, lava lizards, marine iguanas and Sally Light Foot crabs. It was quite an interesting walk, but tiring. You had to navigate the lava rock path and it was also hot and humid.

We headed back to the ship for lunch. While we ate, the boat moved to our next port of call, also on Espanola. The afternoon was an optional excursion to walk Gardner Bay, followed by snorkeling. We were so tired (and even though we were not, we felt extremely sunburned already), so we decided to skip the walk and only go snorkeling.

This time we snorkeled in deeper water, which I liked a lot better. The first thing we saw as we jumped into the water was a diamond sting ray! As we continued on in the water, we saw many cool fish--parrot fish (big, iridescent green), trumpet fish, and several others whose names we do not know. Some people in our group saw a turtle, but we were not lucky enough to see it. 😞

After dinner, we went up to the top deck of the ship for stargazing. What we saw was amazing! Since we were essentially on the equator, we could see constellations from both the northern and southern hemispheres! Our guide had a laser pointer to show us some of the more well known constellations--the Big Dipper, Ursa Major, the Southern Cross, Scorpio, Libra, Leo, and probably a few more. It was really neat!

SANTA CRUZ ISLAND

We got up really early again (5:45 AM) because Bryan was going scuba diving and his boat left at 7. While he did that, I visited the Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz.

The Darwin Research Station is known for their giant tortoises. I was excited to see several! It was really cool because they were only a few feet in front of you. Our group even passed by one walking down some stairs. We saw Lonesome George--he is the last of his species that exists in the entire world. The scientists have tried to get him to mate with other tortoises similar to his species, but he will not do it. So, he is all alone.....poor George! We also saw many cute baby tortoises.

After the Research Station, we had some time to shop in the town of Puerta Ayora. There were lots of touristy souvenirs and I did buy a few things. Then it was back to the boat.

I met up with Bryan, who was back from diving. Sadly, the ocean was very rough and choppy, so he was not feeling his best. However, he said he was glad he got to dive as he saw many cool things: a baby moray eel, sea turtles, Galapagos sharks, starfish and a huge school of fish (he guessed about 10,000!). They swam by and created a dome of darkness all around his group. Crazy!

After lunch, we took a 2 hour nap. It was great! We got up in time for our next port of call.

RABIDA ISLAND

This island is the only place in the Galapagos with a red sand beach! It was beautiful. Again, there were sea lions up and down the beach, as well as playing in the surf. I could seriously watch them all day long--they are so cute! We went on a short hike with our guide and learned mostly about the cactus inhabiting the island. Other than some species of trees and cacti, the island was quite barren. After the hike, we walked along the beach and watched pelicans diving for food. We also saw some pelicans nesting.

After getting back on our ship, we headed to the bar on the top deck to watch a gorgeous sunset. (we also took advantage of the 2 for 1 drink specials.....mmm, pina coladas!) Then we went to our last dinner onboard.

After dinner, there was a small farewell party in the Piano Bar. We relaxed and socialized with others while sipping (free!) cocktails. We also played Galapagos trivia...our team did not win with only 8 out of 15 correct. Some of the questions were really hard! At last, we went to our room to pack for our trip back to Quito tomorrow.

BACHAS BEACH, SANTA CRUZ

After breakfast today, there was one last excursion to Bachas Beach. The water was calm and clear; the white sand beach was soft and pristine. We just strolled along and enjoyed the scenery. We saw some turtle nests and hatched turtle eggs....but no turtles. We saw some puffer fish swimming in the water, a blue heron and several Sally Light Foot crabs. This beach did not have the correct habitat to support sea lions, so we did not see any here. This beach sometimes has a population of flamingos. I was incredibly sad that we did not see any when we were there. 😞

Upon arriving back at the ship, we gathered all our luggage and disembarked in Baltra. A bus took us to the airport for our trip back to Quito.

Overall, the Galapagos Islands were really amazing! It was so surreal to experience the animals up close and personal, even though they paid us no attention. I'm so glad we were able to explore the Galapagos!

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