Day #2 January 5th, 2018 - Arrival and sea lions!

Greetings from San Cristobal, one of the inhabited Galapagos Islands. I am writing this entry early on the morning of Jan 6th, reflecting back on our first day on the islands.

We began the day at our hotel outside of Quito. Our travel schedule afforded us only about 4 hours of sleep at the hotel before rising for an Ecuadorian buffet breakfast, featuring foods both familiar and not, and lots of fruit:

We packed up and headed out to finally reach the islands:

We drove back to the Quito airport and flew two legs on Latam airlines, landing in San Cristobal, the easternmost inhabited island of the Galapagos:

After 33 hours of total travel time, the tropical air was warm and inviting. We passed through the rather strict entry process. They were very careful that we did not bring any agricultural products with us. They sprayed the overhead bins just before we landed. Every bag was inspected. It cost $100 just to step foot on the island. It is clear that they are taking great care to protect the ecological value of the islands.

We soon met up with Marlon, our guide for the rest of our trip. A short bus ride and we arrived at our Miconia hotel, located across the harbor on the main street of the island. Sea lions and bright red crabs could easily be seen from the balcony where we gathered for lunch (grilled tuna, rice, fries, and a local juice that they called "tree tomato").

After lunch, Marlon led us to the Galapagos Interpretation Center to learn about the flora, fauna, geology, and history of the islands.

Thus fortified with knowledge, we walked through a dry forest toward Playa Carola, a spot famous for snorkling with sea turtles and for large gatherings of Galapagos Sea Lions.

We really enjoyed watching the sea lions. The large males would bark loudly to defend their territory (don't get too close to them!). The pups would cry for their mothers and nurse. They were not shy around people at all, so we had to be careful not to accidentally stumble upon one.

We donned our snorkel gear and took to the water. Nearly half the class had never been snorkeling before, and two of them did not know how to swim. Despite any trepidations, every student entered the water and viewed the reef and fish. Although the visibility was not great (compared to the standards I am used to in Belize and Hawaii) we were treated to seeing several turtles, rays, and most wonderfully a young male sea lion who played with us. He would dive, roll, and blow bubbles. He seemed to respond to what we were doing and imitate us. It was a truly wonderful experience.

Around 5:30PM, as the sun was sinking low, we walked back to the hotel. We passed sea lions lounging everywhere; this island has the greatest concentration of them of any of the Galapagos islands.

The sun rises and sets reliable at 6AM/6PM year round, and it was dark by the time we gathered for dinner. We walked through town (which is a small sized tourist town, with lots of playgrounds and souvenir shops). We had a somewhat culturally incongruous northern Italian dinner (which did feature local seafood prominently) that was quite good. After dinner, we wandered through town a bit and all settled in early for bed.

We all agreed that this was an epic day and well worth the journey! Yay Galapagos!