Day Four ... off to the Galápagos

A SUPER early start today ... with our alarm set for 4.45am. A quick "get ready" ... with dressing,  bags packed and we were out the door just after 5.00am. The hotel had a bagged breakfast ready for us (a slice of quiche, fruit juice, muffins, fruit tart, a cheese sandwich and some fruit would see us right for breakfast).

In the lobby while we waited for Emma and Mauricio to arrive, we filled in our special declaration forms required by the Galapagos Island. A coffee helped me feel more awake and ready to tackle the day.

Our trusty guiding pair arrived promptly at 5.15am as arranged and with a cheerful farewell we left Mama Cuchara and headed to the airport. As we drove along we decided not to be wimpy about our early morning pick up when we heard that Mauricio and Emma had been up and out to the airport at 11.00pm to pick up a new arrival, then home to bed by 1.00am before getting up to come and take us to the airport!

Once at the airport we bid a fond farewell to Emma whilst Mauricio whisked us into the airport to see us safely through the check in process. Geo Boutique (the Ecuador tour company) manage a very smooth process ... with another team member meeting us with our boarding passes and luggage tags.  Mauricio then guided us through the special screening process required for the Galápagos Islands  ... where our bags were screened and then given a special tag. Then off to bag drop and then a final thanks and goodbye and then we were through the final screening process and sitting airside.

Our flight was delayed due to the inbound flight also being delayed ... but at this point we weren't fussed. We were fed, comfortable and ready for the next adventure. We boarded our plane about 20 minutes after our scheduled departure and were soon airborne. As we flew out of Quito the elusive Cotopaxi from yesterday could be spied out the windows of the plane.

Our flight was split into two parts ... from Quito to Guayaquil which wizzed by in about 35 minutes.  We landed, people got off, we stayed on board,  more people joined us ... and then we were airborne again on our way to San Cristobal Island. A movie for Ian ... Star Wars and some more Mandala for me  ... and before you knew it we were landing.

We got off the plane, navigated our way through the necessary steps ... immigration, tourist fee, scan the QR code for our declaration, go through the scanner, and then wait for our luggage to be "sniffed" by the customs dog. The airport staff took all of the luggage off the conveyer belt, lined them up in rows and then the dog and its handler walked up and down the rows ... occasionally stopping to have an extra sniff of a bag ... and for some of the bags to be removed from the line to be checked by the customs officers.

With luggage in hand we headed out to meet our guide, Juan, and also our fellow travellers who had also been on the plane with us. We handed over our luggage so it could be whisked away to the yacht whilst we boarded a bus which took us to the centre of the town. Here we had about 30 minutes to explore (only took 15) before heading back to the dock to board the panga (small boat) which would take us to the yacht. The highlight of our walk was discovering the massive colonies of sea lions on the beach, the red crabs chambering over the rocks, the frigate birds hovering above and the marine iguanas basking in the sun.

Back at the Dock we popped on our life jackets, received instructions on how to board and disembark the panga and then we were off ... heading to the yacht.  We boarded our yacht, headed into the lounge for our briefing on the yacht, meet all the staff, had a welcome drink,  and learnt about our afternoon activities.

We then headed to lunch  ... a buffet with beautiful roast beef, grilled fish, pesto rice, steamed vegetables,  and a bean and pea salad. We had a dessert of soft vanilla ice cream in a half dome of chocolate. Delicious!!

After lunch we had a chance to explore the yacht and then ... time to unpack and prepare for the first of our afternoon activities.  

Just before we headed out on our snorkelling adventure we were called to the front of the yacht by some of the staff to watch a pod of dolphins that were frolicking just off our yacht. And by pod we mean about 100! Swimming around our yacht.

We were fitted with flippers, a snorkelling mask and a wetsuit and then after an explanation on how to do the basics we boarded the panga to head to Isla Lobos where we put on our gear and slid into the water to spend the next 45 minutes snorkelling.  We are both nervous and inexperienced snorkellers and I spent the first 5-10 minutes trying to calm my breathing and stop panicking.  After a while though we got into the groove and were able to enjoy the experience. Ian had a close encounter with sea lion (approx. 1m from my face) and had a bird dive for a fish 3m from me. We climbed back into the panga (that is a feat all on its own) where we were whisked back to MY Galaxy.

After time for a quick shower the final activity for the day was a hike on Isla Lobos (Sea Lion Island). It was a pretty rocky trail so we were packing walking sticks as stabilisers. And a slow pace with numerous photo and guiding moments, so about 1.5 hrs overall. The sun was setting as we hit the pangas for the transfer back to the yacht.

The undoubted highlights were the Blue Footed Boobies, a cute looking bird species with distinctly blue feet. Not only were they fun to look at, they were in huge numbers along the trail, and there were many displays of Blue Footed Booby courtship and mating - with one such event occurring as the female simultaneously tried to incubate an egg.

Then there were the frigate birds - 2 species, "great" and "magnificent". What makes these interesting is the highly inflated red gullet ballooons that the males blow up to attract females. Unlike the boobies who were literally on the path, these birds were sitting in trees maybe 3-10m from the path. So many gliding gratefully over head too.

Then the lava lizards, a few smaller bird species, sea lions, crabs, spiders, ... . All up an amazing afternoon, with more of everything to come tomorrow.

Back in time for a refreshing drink and pastry before hitting the showers (again) to get presentable for our briefing on tomorrow's activities abd then head in for tea. Entree Vegetarian Ceviche. Main was Scorpion Fish (Ian) or Turkey (Jacqui), with a home made ice cream for dessert. Delicious, and a chance to learn a little more about our companions.

There are 12 of us here - some doing 10-12 days on the yacht, most doing 4 days / 3 nights (as are we). All up 2 couples from the Czech Republic travelling as a group, a couple from Switzerland, one from England and 2 from Australia.

We have also been led to believe that the $300M Super Yacht moored near us at San Cristobal belongs to Mark Zuckerberg. It is huge, very fancy, sleek lines. We just need an invite to their poolside cocktail evening.