Baltra and the Pelican

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The first day of our tour. We take a flight from Quito to Guayaquil and then on to Baltra. We get our $10 USD tourist card and boarding pass from our GAP representative at the airport. We board our flight and off we go to Guayaquil. There is a 40 minute refueling stop in Guayaquil where everyone must get off the plane. It's not too bad as we get to stretch our legs. The flight from Quito to Guayaquil is only 30 minutes. The flight from Guayaquil to Baltra is 1.5 hours.

When we arrive at Baltra, we need to pay $100 USD park entrance fee. This doesn't include the $300 USD local fee we paid the night before. This trip is bloody expensive, but it's going to be worth it. We take a bus to our boat the Pelican (or GAP1) and head off to our first destination. We eat lunch and go to an island to see birds and furry sea lions.

After walking around the island for a bit we head back to the beach and go snorkeling. It's terrible. The water is so murky that you can't see anything. I decide to swim in the ocean for a bit before going for a walk on the beach with the girls. We head back to our boat and sail to our next destination. There isn't much to do on the boat when we are sailing. You can read, talk to the other passengers or crew, play board games, or sleep in your air conditioned cabin 😊. Trust me, you need the air conditioned cabin. We are very near the equator after all.

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