Ecuador and the Galapagos – Day 15 can be found here.
Good morning, San Cristobal:
Up at 7:15 am this morning, which beats the alternative – the Origin sent across Zodiacs to tour Isla Lobos at 6:30 am that morning. Not sure how that scheduling came about – did another group have a later slot booked? Was this a peace offering to the birders, who had been arriving on site later than they’d like?
Regardless, it’s too early for our liking – so we finally opted to take it easy and go on a Zodiac cruise instead. And what a lovely Zodiac cruise it was:
Nothing here really new or novel compared to our previous landings, but it was lovely to just have some time to bob along in the water and watch the birds and the sea lions go about their daily life.
Fun Facts: Sea lions can hold their breath for 11 minutes, and dive to depths of up to 900 feet. Their propensity for napping appears unlimited.
“Psst… wanna buy some discounted expedition cruises?”
Those who did the morning hike seemed to think it was worthwhile – apparently there were lots of hatchlings to be seen. But we’re still glad we skipped it.
Particularly as we were due to go paddleboarding:
I was pleasantly surprised that my son would be able to take part given that the age minimum for kayaking is 16, but I can see why it would be different for paddleboarding – it was relatively straightforward for the guides to tow any paddleboarders that were struggling, and the penalty for falling was a lot lower.
We will pretend this is artfully shot, instead of the result of a crooked GoPro
We were originally supposed to go down one coast and back along the other, but the wind was starting to pick up so the guides decided to return along the same coast. I think that was a wise idea – we were mostly sheltered from the wind so long as we hugged the coast, but when it did pick up it could spin the paddleboards with ease.
The paddleboarding portion was run by an outside company, though they sent expedition staff to assist. It was really well organized, and easy to get underway. For those who preferred not to stand, they could kneel or sit instead.
With help from the staff, both myself and my son managed to paddle standing up for a time. It was really special.
Back to the Origin where we met up with my wife and daughter, who’d had a fantastic time snorkelling. They’d had another chance to get up-close-and-personal with the sea lions, though sadly no footage as I took my GoPro on the paddleboard trip
Then we went off to lunch:
I had the spicy siracha chicken sandwich, slightly mangled from having all its vegetables removed:
And for dessert, a piece of Sacher torte cake:
Both were fantastic, but the spicy chicken sandwich really stole the show.
I had another quick power nap, and then it was time to head down to the Explorer’s Lounge for the disembarkation briefing. The usual drill – bags outdoors before 11 pm the night before, and then we’d be disembarking by Zodiac groups with our group (Blue) going first at 7:30 am. Then we’d hop on the buses and head off to the San Cristobal airport for our flight to Guayaquil.
Although there had been some confusion regarding the bag tags, it turns out that the colour of the bag tag referred to the destination – in our case, Guayaquil – as opposed to the Zodiac group. This is the third time that similar colours have been used to code something, which seems a bit ridiculous – but at least we figured out the Mystery of the Green Luggage Tag.
It was then time to get dressed in our bathing suits and surf shirts, because we were heading off for a beach excursion.
We initially landed on a greeny-yellow sand beach:
Before taking a brief walk across to a beautiful white sand beach:
It was overcast and misting a bit, but still lovely – and the perfect activity for our kids, who were very much ready to just build and smash a series of sandcastles without having to be on their absolute best behaviour.
(Not that they weren’t kicking sand or anything, but you definitely could have heard them unless you were at the far side of the beach. And maybe you could have even heard them then, too – we never made it that far.)
But there was packing yet to be done, so after about an hour at the beach we took one more Zodiac ride back to the Origin and spent the next couple of hours packing up.
It was vital that we were ready to go on time, as we didn’t want to miss trivia:
Made all the more special by the small bathtub full of popcorn prepared by the Origin’s kitchen staff
For those curious, they hand out answer sheets and then ask members of the audience to select categories and points values Jeopardy-style, though everyone has the chance to answer. The sheets are then switched between groups who mark others work.
My son in particular was excited to take part as he loves trivia, and he did a tremendous job of answering some of the tougher questions. We didn’t win, but I’d wager that we came very close. The prize was very modest, and so it’s more about bragging rights than anything else.
The best team name went to the “GalapaGossip Girls”, which I agree is better than the “Tiny Tortoises” – which is what we chose.
We toasted the crew, and then it was time for the screening of that week’s expedition video. (To be uploaded once we return to the land of fast internet.)
The format was a bit different from previous cruises as there wasn’t the voiceover / narration that we’ve had before on the Cloud. But I do have to say that the footage David managed to get was absolutely stunning.
It was then time to head to the Restaurant for the final dinner:
I started with the mushroom croquette:
And followed that with the grilled Galapagos grouper:
While my wife had the traditional Ecuador potato pattie:
My wife and son both had the pumpkin pie for dessert:
And I opted for the chocolate pecan tart:
All accompanied with a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, which got me within $3 of blowing through our cruise credit.
It was a fabulous meal, and we never wanted it to end. But end it did, so we went back to the room to admire San Cristobal through the mist (and the condensation on a champagne flute).
Continue reading Ecuador and the Galapagos – Day 17.