Galapagos - Day 3

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We got up early this morning to watch the sunrise, and observe the boat pulling into the spot where we would spend today. Justin and I argued over whether the island was called ''Chinese Hat'' Island or ''Chinese Hut'' Island, until the capitan came out, pointed to the island and said ''Sombrero China!'' HA! I win

Chinese Hat Island

We had a wet landing on this island, jumping out into the surf on a gorgeous white sand beach. We then walked over lava flows around the island, spotting more Sally Lightfoot Crabs, Galapagos Sea Lions kissing, and an American oystercatcher.

On the other side of the island there was a cliff down to the water, and right after we got over there, several huge waves hit, spraying up 20ft into the sky. One was bigger than we thought and nearly swallowed Gail and I, getting us pretty wet. On the panga boat ride back to our ship, we saw two Galapagos penguins!

After coming back, we went and got our swimsuits on and swam in the channel between Chinese Hat Island and Santiago Island. We saw a White tip Reef Shark, and Justin and I dove underwater, getting pretty close to the 5ft shark.

Back on Board the Queen of the Galapagos

Back on our cruise ship, we learned how to make some great Ecuadorian Ceviche from fish caught right there in the Galapagos and had an amazing lunch while the boat motored over to Santa Cruz Island.

Santa Cruz Island

We had another wet landing on this island, walking to a nearby brackish lagoon and seeing a Galapagos Flamingo. We then went snorkeling again, and Justin saw a 3ft baby White tip Reef Shark. We saw a small sting ray with its tail chomped off, before it suddenly took off and disappeared into the deep.

While we were snorkeling, there was a Brown Pelican fishing not 5ft from us. We named him Bob.

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Photos

Gail being swallowed by wave
I already got mostly out of the way

White Tip Reef Shark
photo courtesy of Google (we need an underwater camera!!!)