Galapagos (II) - Cruising Around

For the next 3.5 days, I joined a cruise that would take me to some of the more remote parts of the Galapagos - namely Isla Española and Isla Floreana before dropping me off at the other main island, Santa Cruz.

Once on board, we got a briefing about the first day, had lunch and then headed to our first spot - Isla de Lobos Marinos (island of the sea lions). We quickly changed into our wetsuits; jumped into the not so warm water and explored the underwater life. We spotted some sea lions playing in the water and quickly swam towards them. Upon spotting us, they swam over and we played together in the water - well, mainly them showing off their skills while we tried to keep up with their constant spinning and turning. It was really fun.

In the afternoon, we then stepped foot on the island to spot some of the most interesting birds. For years, I wanted to see the blue-footed boobies and on that excursion we saw loads of them up close. Normally, I am not a bird person, but they look incredibly pretty. We also spotted some Fregates and of course some more sea lions and Iguanas lazing around.

That night, when we set sail to Isla Espanola, the sea was again a bit choppy, but fortunately I did manage to fall asleep quickly. Others on the boat were apparently not so lucky.

The next day, we made landfall on Isla Española in the morning to see the largest albatrosses in the world, as well as the Nazcar Boobies and some blowholes by the coast.
In the afternoon, after an uneventful snorkelling gig, we went to what is dubbed the third most beautiful beach in the world, Gardner Bay. It was cloudy, unfortunately, so the colours of the water and white long beach didn't quite come out as nicely, but the place was nonetheless incredibly gorgeous and I could fully see why it is among the top beaches in the world. We walked to both sides of it, took some great snaps with sea lions - of course - and just enjoyed our time in this amazing place.

On our last full day at sea, we drove to Isla Floreana overnight, and stopped at Post Office Bay in the morning. Its name derives from an old post office - basically just an old barrel on a stick - that pirates, whalers and other sailors used to stay in touch with home.
Basically, you write a postcard, place it in the barrel and hope that someone else who lives close to where the postcard is to be delivered, picks it up and delivers it to the recipient. That is what we did and by the time of writing this, my parents told me that they actually received my postcard.

Afterwards, we went on one last snorkelling trip with the highlight of it being seal lions that played with us again and one that even kissed my GoPro. For our last landing, we went to see the Galapagos Flamingos at Cormorant Point, which is also one of the very few beaches in the world that has some green sand - not much, though, and it's more of a black than a green beach.

Anyway, that evening was our last dinner together and the crew said a heartfelt goodbye.

The following morning, we arrived at Santa Cruz, disembarked and went to the Charles Darwin Research Centre, where we spotted the famous Giant Galapagos Turtles.

At the end of this cruise, I was very happy with my time at Galapagos. I have so far seen: pretty much all animals that I wanted (except the Hammerhead, Galapagos shark and yellow land Iguana) and met some nice people on the cruise, who are also on around-the-world trips.

The cruise itself was something I really enjoyed, as it took us to some more remote places, some cool snorkelling spots and allowed me to see Galapagos from a different perspective. Most of the time when we went snorkelling or did landings on the islands, we had it all to ourselves. And with a small group of just 11 people, it was the perfect size and allowed us to spend lots of time with the animals and get really close to them. I can only highly recommend doing it this way!Leer más