Day Trip in Santa Cruz

Weather: Sunny and 80

Today was our day trip! We got up and were ready to go around 7:30am. We headed to the bread shop near where we were staying to get some bread for breakfast, and we headed to the meeting spot with the tour agency. They put us in a cab to the other port they use for day tours which was about a half hour drive. It was me, Steph, Kayelyn, and two guys from Germany named Leeander and Jonas. They were 18 & 19 and taking a gap year to travel before college (which is the normal thing to do in Europe). They were really nice and we ended up talking with them the entire trip.

We got to the pier and onto our boat, and besides us 5 there was an Ecuadorian couple with their little girl and an older retired guy from Chicago. We headed off on a 20-30 minute boat ride to get to our first stop which was Daphne Major Island. In the distance we could see Daphne Minor Island. Daphne Island doesn’t make for a good snorkeling and you can’t hike on it, so the boat went around the entire island and we got to view nesting frigates, boobies, swallowtail gulls, and some sea lions perched along the rocks. It was cool to see, and I liked the fact that it’s an untouched island. After getting some pictures and observing the birds we headed off to Borrero Bay which is a secluded beach. There’s a bunch of nesting sea turtles on the beach far back from the coastline. We had the option to walk along the shoreline if we wanted, but I just went snorkeling instead. The visibility was really poor and the waves were pretty big, so I gave it my best shot and when I was seeing much I joined Kayelyn (who headed back sooner than I) and we laid out on the bow of the boat. I took in all the sights, there were juvenile pelicans trying to feed and some attempts they failed miserably, other times they were successful. It was pretty humorous to watch. The water was very turquoise and there were some mangroves making for some beautiful scenery.

Once everyone was back on board we headed for an hour boat ride to Pinzon Island. This is another untouched island that you cannot walk on, so we had two different opportunities to snorkel. We hopped in for our first snorkel and the visibility was so clear it was wonderful. We saw tons of different fish and even school of parrotfish which I’ve never seen before. After about 30-40mins we headed back to the boat for some lunch and then shortly after we were headed in for our second snorkel. The second snorkel was in a mangrove cove that was along the rock-line where Pinzon meets the water. We saw white tip sharks swimming to go rest on the sea floor. It was so cool and they some were probably 4-5 feet long. I saw babies snorkeling near Tintoreras but it was great getting up close to adults. I wasn’t in the least bit concerned about being that close to them. I’m not sure if I should be alarmed by that or not! We snorkeled for a bit longer and saw some other schools of fish and then headed back to the boat.

After about an hour we ended up back in Puerto Auyora.

We all hung out at the hostel for a bit and freshened up. Lily ended up joining us for the night and her and Steph were planning a dive for tomorrow. They had a gear check so once that was over Kayelyn and I met them at Los Kioskos which is a street that gets closed off for dinner and all the food vendors fill the street with tables and chairs. As you walk along the street all the vendors are trying to get you to eat at their place. They also have tables out that have lobsters (they look dead but they are actually very much alive) and fish. You can literally pick out which one you want for dinner and they will cook it up for you. It was not too pleasant to observe but it was definitely an experience. We eventually found a place and I got eggs, rice, and beans with some juice. While we were eating one of the lobsters ended up crawling off the table onto the ground and began to crawl away until a guy came up and put it back on the table. The food was good and overall a pretty cool experience. I couldn't tell if it was considered a cultural experience due to the seafood laying out everywhere, or a tourist trap since most of the people eating there were tourists.

After dinner we ended up meeting Leeander and Jonas (Germans from our tour earlier today) for ice cream. They hadn't seen the baby black tip sharks swimming under the pier lights so we all walked over to the pier and hung out for a bit. Lily and Steph had to be up for 6am for their dive so we headed back to the hostel around 9ish. We all packed up so we were ready to go tomorrow as Kayelyn and I were headed back to San Cristobal. It was a great day overall, and I'm so happy I get to add three more places to the list of places I've seen in the Galapagos.