San Cristobal Island--June 9

Every day had a pretty similar schedule because sunrise is always at 6AM. Breakfast at 7 AM. Morning activities. Lunch at 12. Afternoon activities. Afternoon snack. Set sail. Dinner at 7 after the next day's briefing. The first full day in the Galapagos and we were on San Cristobal Island. It was a very full day of activities. Apparently, the guides have to register their schedules and permits are issued for certain locations in certain windows of time. Can't get to a national park site too early, or stay beyond an allotted time. This is how the government tries to protect the islands from overcrowding.

Our first sea lion of the day. We had to wait
for him to leave the steps before we could land

 We started out with a hike at Isla Lobos/Loberia. There are no wolves, in case you were wondering. It's named this for the numerous sea lion colonies. We took a hike and saw so many sea lions. I could have taken a million pictures. Each one is so cute, sweet, and unique. Who could resist their cute faces?  They really are "tame" with no fear of people. You are not allowed to touch them, but it is hard to resist. However, especially the super cute babies . . .if you touch, and they smell different (which they will), their mother will reject them and they will die. Hard to fathom that a simple gesture that seems so innocent could be so deadly. But, because they have no fear, they may approach people. We are required to back away and give them space.

This was our first sighting of Marine Iguanas. I think they must be the inspiration for Godzilla. Darwin describes them as "hideous and stupid." I disagree. They also don't really fear people and spend time sunning. But, if you see them swim in the water, they are so elegant. Of course, as much as I want to swim with a sea lion, I think I would run screaming from the water if I encountered one of these while snorkeling. 

And, more sweet blue-footed boobies. Full courting season, so lots of dancing and an amazing cacophany of whistles.

Next was a short sail to Kicker Rock (It looks like a boot). 

This was our first snorkel of the trip. And yes, it was cold enough to warrant a wetsuit.

I guess I never thought about it, but the rock also goes underwater and the formations below the water are as amazing as the formation above water. The fish were absolutely incredible, but highlights were sea turtles, galapagos sharks (no cage), stunning tiger rays, and sea lions. 

This was one of my shipmates photos. She was focused on
the pretty yellow fish and got photobombed by a turtle.

Yeah, I swam with sharks without a cage.
I feel badass!!

Eagle rays are beautiful. Look close and
you'll see another shark

Sea lion and turtle in one shot.

Turtle

The Musician tried out his GoPro for the first time. Near the end of the snorkel, about a half-dozen sea lions wanted to play with us in the water. They seem to love the Musician. But, we were past our time limit and couldn't stay to play longer. I couldn't imagine any possible way that snorkeling could get better than this.

After lunch, was a short sail to Cerro Brujo where we hiked and snorkeled off the beach. 

Lava gulls. Only place I saw these.

We saw more sea lions and marine iguanas.  My fascination with the beautiful multi-colored crabs began here. In the water, we saw fish again along with coral and anemones. The coral here is not in big reefs and is not very brightly colored. As we were swimming back to the beach, a blue footed booby dive bombed for fish and nearly took out The Musician. In his excitement, he threw off his mask and snorkel to try to snap pictures. Sadly, we violated the "leave nothing but footprints" rule. He needed a new mask and snorkel anyway and the boat had loaners for the rest of the week. 

Brown Pelican

When I went to bed, exhausted and happy, I couldn't imagine that it could get any better.