Galapagos - San Cristobal Island

On the move once again, i headed to San Cristobal Island. If i thought that i had seen loads of sea lions on the other island, that was nothing compared to San Cristobal! Sea lions dotted the shore of the town of San Cristobal, walking along the waterfront took me ages as i kept stopping to watch them sunbathing, swimming, and squabbling. I came across a tiny baby sea lion that was just happily entertaining itself, apparently its quite normal for them to spend days at a time alone as their mother goes off to hunt.

San Cristobal was where i was starting the boat trip. I was due to spend 5 nights on The Beluga, a live aboard yacht that would take me to see some of the other islands that i couldn't reach by ferry. I was collected from the dock by the captain, Isreal. On board the boat i met the guide, Juan, the 8 crew that would be taking care of us, and the other guests. The yacht sleeps 16 people, but aside from me there was only a family of 5 from Switzerland, so there was plenty of room. I had a cabin to myself, there was a nice saloon and dining room, and a large deck with loungers to enjoy the view.

Before setting sail, we headed back to San Cristobal Island to visit an inland lagoon. However, the weather was so gloomy that day that we couldn't see the lagoon at all! Just thick cloud in every direction. Still, it was interesting to learn about the wildlife and the limited water sources on the island. Then we visited a giant tortoise hatchery, which wasn't so dependant on the weather. The Galapagos Islands are the only place where giant tortoises exist, and each island has its own species. Historically the tortoises didn't have any natural predators on the islands, but humans have hunted them almost to extinction, and introduced species such as rats will eat the eggs and babies. So hatcheries are an important part of their conservation. Eggs are dug up from the nests and incubated until they hatch. The baby tortoises are then kept in nurseries until they are big enough to survive, usually around 5-8 years old, and then released into their natural habitat.

Back on board The Beluga, we were treated to an amazing three course meal, before we set sail into the night! It was pretty loud on board while we were on the move, not to mention the constant movement of the waves, but i soon got used to it. Every day on the trip we would set sail after dinner, get an early night and then wake up in a new exciting destination to explore ...Read more