Playa de Los Alemanes

We got a ride back to the airport thanks to the hotel employee that drove us in his pickup. While standing in line to pay one of the Galapagos fees, we ran into a representative for the cruise company so we said hello and met another young American couple that will be on our cruise. We landed at a small airport on Baltra, went though immigration and biosecurity. and found our cruise guide. We met more fellow cruisers— a family from Boston and a young British woman. We took a quick bus ride to the port and then rode a dingy to our ship. It has 10 rooms and capacity for 16 but there are 13 of us. We were meant to have a twin room but the British woman (Emma) wanted to swap her double room so we did. We had lunch in the dining area of the ship which included a starter, main, and dessert and was very delicious.

Once the second round of people had arrived and eaten we got on a dinghy and went back to shore to take a bus to a giant tortoise reserve. The tortoises were huge and can live up to 200 years. They move very slowly and eat all day. Next we went to the lava tunnels, which were formed when lava from a volcano cooled quicker on top but kept flowing underneath. We walked through the tunnel and had to do a crab walk for a small portion that was low to the ground.

Back on the ship we had a briefing for tomorrow’s events and an introduction to all of the crew members on the boat. Then another very yummy dinner. The tables are set for 3-4 so we sat with Emma and Paddy, a British guy who had already been on the boat for 4 days because he’s doing two cruises back to back. After dinner the four of us stayed up chatting for a while. It’s nice that our group is fairly young (aside from one retired couple) because I don’t think that’s typical.Read more