November 23rd 2014

Breakfast is a sad affair.  All good things must come to an end.  Nothing good lasts forever.  No matter what cliche pops into my head it’s still sad knowing that in just a few hours we’re all saying goodbye to each other.  At least we’re eating more good food, and at least I made it in time for muesli.

It’s only 6 a.m. , Breakfast being an hour early to allow for one final activity, a landing on Mosquera Islet, not far from Santa Cruz and Baltra.  The islet is 80% sandbar, 20% volcanic rock, and another 50 % sea lion.  I thought I knew the meaning of a lot of sea lions, but as we enjoy our last wet landing on the program in the crescendoing early morning mosaic of orange light, I realize I was wrong.  The island is crawling with them, and not just adults either. There’s hundreds of seal pups scattered around the islet.  Let me tell you the sound of a baby sea lion is one of the cutest things you will ever hear.

Once we land on the islet Johan sets us free from our leashes with only one rule, don’t walk on the few small green sections of the island.  Easy enough.  I hurry over towards the sound of some Sea Lions away from everyone else and find several different mother& child pairings.  They are feeding, playing, and mewling the whole time and it’s amazing.  Don’t believe me, here’s some photos.

Still don’t believe me?  How about a video or two.

Now we should be on the same page.  I continue along the island and see all there is to see, which is mostly more sea lions.  I don’t get tired of them, the babies are unbelievably adorable, wide eyed, sometimes sand clinging to their eyelids almost like makeup, amplifying their beauty.  Watching them couldn’t get old and only my determination to sea the entire islet has me still moving.  That said, it’s not like moving takes me away from Sea Lions, it just brings me to different ones.

Wide eyed Puppy Seal.

I can say one thing, it sure is lucky I didn’t bring my backpack to shore.  Because If I had, one of those seal pups would  have been in it, and, knowing Johan, he’d have been pretty mad at me.  Again, I can’t figure out why.

As the sun finishes rising above the horizon Johan calls us back to the boat.  I’ve positioned myself as far away as possible, maximizing my time on the island, though I’m lucky as when I reach the boarding point out on some slippery lava rocks I’m still in line waiting to board when two female sea lions start a bit of an altercation.  I manage to catch the end of it on video and it provides the perfect closing moments to my Galapagos cruise.  Though I still have a few days left on the islands themselves.

We get back on Guantanamera and sail quickly back to Baltra and say goodbye to our home of the last 8 days.  The crew is gracious as we leave, helping us with our bags. We leave the tips in envelopes (10 % is a good guideline, but depends on you and the service you receive, it was certainly the most money I’d ever left as a tip but when I keep in mind we had 8 people serving us and making our trip what it was for the past 8 days, it suddenly does not seem like enough)

Our bags will follow us to the airport we learn as we climb into a bus on the mainland with Johan and another cruise group or two.  The bus ride passes quickly enough and we pile off the bus, all faced with the ordeal of saying goodbye.  Johan makes the right call, suggesting one last booby dance before our tearful partings.  We certainly made a spectacle of ourselves but it was worth, after all that dance treated us pretty well over the past 8 days.  The only two realistic species that I wanted to see that we didn’t were Hammerheads, and Giant Land Tortoises in the wild.  Pretty darn good. As people start saying goodbye I think back on the last 8 incredible days, surely some of the best of my life.  (If you come to south america, and can in any way afford it, please come to the Galapagos, and try to do a cruise, it’s the distant islands only accessible by multi day trips that are the most impressive in the archipelago)

Once we’ve said our goodbyes I climb into a bus bound for Puerto Ayora with Jen.  We stop at the channel, pay the 1 dollar Ferry fee and climb into another 2 $ bus ride.  75 Minutes later we’re in Puerto Ayora.  I head quickly for the Sir Francis Drake Hotel and secure a room for 20 USD.  It’s nice enough but I’m there because Christian and Thomas told me the wifi was pretty good their.  Either things have changed in 8 days, or my friends are liars.  The vikings game is sadly eternally beyond my reach.

I meet up with Jen for dinner and we visit Puerto Ayora’s street of restaurants. I can’t help but think that this place, combined with my empanada stand further from the center would make a great episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown.  (For those who don’t know that show, its one of my favourites, with a wonderfully balanced mix of food, culture and history.  It airs on CNN and is well worth watching or downloading.)

Together we drown our sorrow’s in lobster, not cheap at 15 USD for the full lobster, rice, plantains, and salad, but worth the one time splurge. After dinner we wander around town for a while, and I decide I’m going to take the early boat next morning to San Cristobal.  The last new Island of the Galapagos I will see.  That said, I did pretty well.  Here’s a map of the Galapagos with my route on it.  I hope to one day be back to revisit some favourites, and see those islands I could not get to this time around.  Please note that this is just each island I visited not each landing. Also because of limited plugins you’ll have to zoom in on the Galapagos region.