Southern Exposure

Saturday, January 24

As part of our daily routine, the breakfast was at 7 am. After which we had a dry landing at Puerto Baqurizo Moreno on San Cristobal Island to visit the Interpretative Center. I am not quite sure exactly why it was called that, particularly because our guide interpreted very little, so much so that we were eager to join another group that had a much more engaging guide. It was pretty much a historical and geographical museum that had a number of display boards talking about the human and natural history of the islands.

After the center we had 1.5 hours to spend by ourselves. The guide was trying to sway us to spend it on the town (the guides must be obliged to bring tourists to spend money), but visiting the tourist shops was not at the top of our agenda, so we opted to go snorkeling and hiking with Brian instead.

We hiked up to a vista point through a rocky volcanic landscape adorned with occasional cactus and parched trees along the trail.

As part of his efforts to dissuade us, the guide had told us it was a 45 minute walk. It took 15 minutes. Looking down we could see a bay which looked perfect for snorkeling and a Darwin sculpture, marking his initial landing in the Galapagos, so we headed down.

We found an enclave on the rocky beach that was occupied by a group of sea lions, who were absolutely adorable.

We jumped in the water for our first snorkeling session (snorkeling gear was available free of charge to all yacht passengers). The water was clear and we could see a lot of different fish as well as sea lions who would swing by and disappear into the blue before we could snap a photo with our disposable water camera.

We snapped a few more photos and videos of them before leaving the beach, went up to check the Darwin statue, and headed down to the peer to be taken back to the yacht.

During lunch the yacht sailed to León Dormido (“sleeping lion”) rocks, that did look like giant sea lions resting on the sea bed.

In the afternoon we had a wet landing on Cerro Brujo beach. Although water visibility was poor for snorkeling, the beach was absolutely stunning – the whitest softest sand and turquoise blue water with islands of black volcanic rock scattered along the beach.

The sea lions and their pups were lounging around the beach.

Watching them interact with each other and flap clumsily around the beach made for an entertaining hour.

Back on the boat we opened a bottle of wine that we brought with us, shared a glass with Brian, had another tasty dinner, and as yesterday we were out by 9 pm. At night we were sailing to the next island and both of us woke up a few times throughout the night feeling the boat rocking heavily.