Galapagos - Day 3 - Galapagos South Plaza Island

We ate a quick breakfast at the hotel this morning and took the hotel shuttle to the airport. After a delay we finally got on the plane. It was quite an adventure figuring out when and how to board when all of announcements were in Spanish. First we flew to Guayquil on the coast of Ecuador. Right before we took off they opened all of the overhead bins and sprayed the carryons for bugs so that we don't infest the Galapagos. It did not smell pleasant. After that we were off. It turns out that the two women sitting behind us were on our yacht AND the sister of the owner of the Cachalote was behind us too. So we got to hear a lot about the ship before we even got there. We flew over the ocean with no land in sight until we were just about to land.

Entry to the Galapagos was fairly easy - they gave us an entry card, took $100, and did a quick search of our bags. After that we found Graciela, our tour guide. We then boarded a bus for a 15-minute ride to port. We took a panga ride out to our boat and got our cabin assignments. I have never been in a smaller room! There's two small shelves, a bunk, and room enough for the door to open and us to step inside. The bathroom is also small but similar to the size on cruise ships. After we quickly settled in we had lunch of delicious snapper, some weird salad, beans, and rice. Then we were off for a 2-hour journey to South Plaza Island. We sat outside through some fairly cold weather and tried to spot animals. There weren't that many to be seen but I'm sure I saw a stingray jump into the air and we definitely saw frigate birds and sea lions. As we got closer to the island you could hear the sea lions. We took a panga over to the island and were welcomede by lots of sea lions and a very vocal bull. There were also sally lightfoot crabs on the beach. We saw a land iguana. He was sitting on a rock under a prickly-pair cactus. We took a hike around the island - it was a very small island and took just over an hour to walk, stop and learn, and take photos. We got to see lots of birds flying along the steep cliff - including a swallow-tail gull with a res-rim around the eyes, a brown Pelican that took two huge dives into the water, and petrals flying by. We also saw a yellow wobbler among the succulent plants which were red from little water. We also saw the black marine iguanas hiding in their dens. The sea lions were everywhere and we saw old and young, injured, and babies feeding. Some sea lions were on our path. When we returned to the pangas we had a hard time getting to the panga because a female DID NOT want to move. After a good 5 minutes we finally got her out of the way enough to go around her and get on a panga.

Once back on the boat we settled in for a welcome toast where we met the crew and had dinner. For dinner we had red cabbage, potatos with garlic, chicken, broccoli, and cauliflower. After that we were off on a rough ride to Santa Cruz and after about 15 minutes of rough seas decided to call it a night!

Las Plazas