Isla San Cristobal

The third of the four inhabited Islands of the Galapagos archipelago and our last island during our trip before returning to isla Santa Cruz to fly back to mainland Ecuador.
You can find sea lions everywhere around Galapagos but the most we found at Isla San Cristobal. It is unreal but fascinating how humans and these actually not harmless creatures coexist. On sundays families spend time together at the beaches and kids playing in the water while the big groups of sea lions are everywhere pretty close. This shows how we can live on this planet and respect it’s nature and creatures.
We found our most favorite spot for snorkeling: a beautiful bay called Tijeretas. First we watched it from the view points surrounding it during a walk. The day after we rented out snorkeling gear to explore Tijeretas more close. It’s unbelievable how many sea turtles you can find there looking for sea grass to eat between the stones. Also some marine iguanas took a bath and tried to catch some food but the curious sea lions were annoying them by biting in their tails. One of the sea lions was up for playing with us. He came right to our faces just to swim away acrobatically in the very last moment. We really appreciated the opportunity to get so close to these amazing animals. On the last day we were hiking to playa Loberia and the cliffs close by where you can watch different sea birds breading and big waves breaking into the rocks. Again we were super lucky to witness a humpback whale in the ocean jumping. An amazing last goodbye from these very special Islands.
We went back with the ferry to Santa Cruz Island where we have our last two nights before heading to Quito.

The three weeks at Galapagos and especially the diving cruise have been definitely the highlight during our trip and an “once in a lifetime” experience.Read more