Santiago

Woke up at 7am and after breakfast took a zodiac cruise along the volcanic shores of Santiago Island in an area known as Sombrero Chino. We saw a penguin which was great. Afterwards, Ken, Jace, Cooper and I went snorkeling while Addey went to the beach with her friend Claudia and her grandparents. The snorkeling was excellent. We saw a white tip reef shark (swam right beneath me!) and I saw a number of other fish I hadn't seen before - Galapagos puffer, Pacific boxfish, Calico Lizard fish, Flag Cabrilla and a Tiger Snake eel).
Once on the boat, we sailed past Bainbridge Islet and, from the sky deck, were able to peek inside the crater at a brakish lake with a few spots of flamingos. After lunch we played cards in the lounge with our new friend, Laura. All the kids got to go out on zodiacs and learn how to drive them.
At 3:30p we hiked around Sullivan Bay - a 3/4 mile hike on 120 year old lava flow. Very similar to walking on the Big Island of Hawaii. There were no animals aside from a few lava lizards but a beautiful and interesting hike on some uneven sharp lava rocks! Afterwards, we took the zodiacs close by and saw 6 penguins resting - very cool to see penguins on the equator!
We had our pre-dinner drink and talk in the lounge at 7p. They projected live microscope images of microscopic life of the ocean - very neat. We also got to see a preview of the videographer's work for the week which looks incredible - can't wait to see the finished product! We had a BBQ dinner on the skydeck and then went back to the lounge to play euchre (found out that 8 of us knew how to play!) and then hung out until 11.
Tomorrow is our last day - very sad.... 😔Read more