Diving/Snorkeling

It was of course bitter sweet to be leaving the Galapagos. We had an amazing trip and the Sea Lions saw fit to give us a great send-off. Today was our last full day and tomorrow would be a morning departure from the boat and early afternoon flight back to Ecuador. The day called for a morning hike to Punta Pitt and an afternoon trip to the beautiful white beach on Cerro Brujo. This was another Galapagos moment - with the sea lions this time.

Today was to be our most metropolitan day of the trip - spending the day in one of the few towns in the Galapagos - Puerto Ayora. We were to spend the day at the Charles Darwin research center learning how they are protecting/preserving the giant tortoises (primarily). Then we were to head to a coffee plantation and finally a protected tortoise feeding area to take pictures of tortoises. Lots of tortoises today!

We woke early this morning and headed out pre-breakfast for a photo expedition. It was a lovely morning except for the mosquitoes (which were an unfortunate trend all day). We saw lots of tracks from turtles coming ashore overnight to lay eggs. Amazingly, some of the tracks came ashore and did a loop without laying eggs, presumably to come back in later to find a better place. The tracks carpeted the beach, all from the night before - there must have been thousands of eggs under the sand…

This was our first full day on the boat. A couple of remarkable things about the Galapagos: 1. It’s hot. The heat dictated our schedule and we tended to have early morning excursions and late afternoon excursions to avoid the heat of the day. It also impacted the animals - each with their own different adaptation for how to keep cool - or keep their eggs cool in some cases. 2. The wildlife really doesn’t care that you are there. The Ecuadorian government has done an amazing job with the Galapagos - in dictating how people should interact with animals (6 foot rule for example) and in enforcing those rules with a naturalist required to accompany you any time you leave the beach/trailhead.

Our day started at the hotel ~6a with breakfast and packing. We were to meet up with Nat Geo for a bus ride to the airport, flight to Galapagos, bus ride to the docks, and Zodiac rides to our ship. This was my first real taste of the level of organization that this company has - it was truely impressive. The morning went off without a hitch and when we landed in Galapagos it was early afternoon. My first impression was how dry it really was - this place is truely a desert (complete with huge cactus) surrounded by water.

Back in 2019, we decided to take a trip to Roatan in Honduras. Angela had a dream of staying in an over-water grass hut - and after some searching I found a place in Roatan that had over-water huts (they weren’t grass, but they did have AC!). So we booked a weeklong trip at Anthony’s key, left Sara with my parents, and headed out. I wasn’t doing this blog at the time, but I did keep a journal during the trip - so my memories from this trip were relatively good as I’m writing this 6 years later.