5-20
With the new meds and feeling a bit more comfortable after talking to the doctor at the private clinic and my own parents, we took the boat from Santa Cruz to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on Isla San Cristobol. It was a long and rough ride with the waves, but I began feeling better already on the boat. At the port as we were sitting looking at our guidebooks of where to look for a place to stay, a man with a NY accent came up to us and said he had a nice apartment for rent for cheap. He offered to drive us up for a look. So we piled in his little car and he drove us up to his place. It was very nice with a couple of beds, aircon, a tv, and a full kitchen with fridge, and very cheap. So we took it. The guy was extremely nice and helped us out a lot. He drove us around and even let us use his washing machine for free. It turns out he was born in Puerto Rico, lived in NYC for a while, and was now living in the Galapagos.
In the late afternoon, we walked along the waterfront where there were tons of sea lions everywhere: lyoing on benches, lying in old boats, under cars, on the walking path, on the rocks, and of course on the beach. We stayed watching all the activity of the sea lion colony (or city..?) until after the beautiful sunset was over.
5-21
We took a aboat trip that first visited Isla de los Lobos (Sea lion Island). Here there were more sea lions everywhere! I didn't snorkel as this trip had two snorkel sites and I didn't want to tax my body as I was recovering from my throat infection. But Elisha snorkeled and sad that the sea lions were everywhere in the water and super friendly. They would come right up to her face.
The next place we stopped at was Leon Dormido (sleeping lion, aka Kicker Rock). This place was impressive because it was 3 giant rocks jutting several hundred meters out above the sea. From a distance, the rock formation looks like a sleeping lion. The two biggest rocks are extremely close together and there is a very narrow channel (5ish feet wide), so they actually look like they are one rock from a distance. The other rock is separated by a narrow channel as well; however, it is a bit wider at about 25ish feet. It was through this channel that we snorkelled. As we snorkelled through the channel, we could see black tipped sharks and white tipped sharks by the 100's below us. We also likely saw a few Galapagos sharks. Additionally we saw some turtles and 6 spotted eagle rays, which I think are just beautiful, especially with the way that they "fly" through the water. I started to get cold by the time I reached the end of the long channel, and not wanting to push myself, I headed for the boat. But if you had continued along the cliffs and looked deep down, it was possible to get a glimpse of hammerhead sharks.
After the snorkel, we circumnavigated the rock where we saw lots of Nazca (masked) boobies. We finished the day at a nice beach.
Elisha and my original plan had been to head back to Puerto Ayora the next day on the 3pm boat so that we could spend most of the day on San Cristobol and visit the Loberia (sea lion colony beach) and climb the Frigate Hill that has nesting frigate birds and good views; however, I was feeling still not too great that night. The next day I was beginning my dive trip, which was going to be one of my highlights of the whole South America trip and which wasn't cheap, so I wanted to head back to PA to see the doctor again just to see how things were progressing or if I should get a doctor's note that I would be unable to dive so that I could get fully refunded for the trip from my dive medical insurance DAN. So I bought a ticket for the 7am boat, said that I would miss out on the day at San Cristobol, but feeling the dive trip was too important.
5-22. I took the 7am boack back to Santa Cruz Island. Visited the doctor, though in the morning I was feeling much better. He had said I had such a bad infection, I may need some amoxicillin as well to help finish it off and just to prevent anything from coming back while diving as diving is a stress on the body. I spent the rest of the day just hanging out watching some TV and napping until Elisha arrived around 5:30pm. She had a good day exploring San Cristobol and hiking up to Frigate hill.
With the new meds and feeling a bit more comfortable after talking to the doctor at the private clinic and my own parents, we took the boat from Santa Cruz to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on Isla San Cristobol. It was a long and rough ride with the waves, but I began feeling better already on the boat. At the port as we were sitting looking at our guidebooks of where to look for a place to stay, a man with a NY accent came up to us and said he had a nice apartment for rent for cheap. He offered to drive us up for a look. So we piled in his little car and he drove us up to his place. It was very nice with a couple of beds, aircon, a tv, and a full kitchen with fridge, and very cheap. So we took it. The guy was extremely nice and helped us out a lot. He drove us around and even let us use his washing machine for free. It turns out he was born in Puerto Rico, lived in NYC for a while, and was now living in the Galapagos.
In the late afternoon, we walked along the waterfront where there were tons of sea lions everywhere: lyoing on benches, lying in old boats, under cars, on the walking path, on the rocks, and of course on the beach. We stayed watching all the activity of the sea lion colony (or city..?) until after the beautiful sunset was over.
5-21
We took a aboat trip that first visited Isla de los Lobos (Sea lion Island). Here there were more sea lions everywhere! I didn't snorkel as this trip had two snorkel sites and I didn't want to tax my body as I was recovering from my throat infection. But Elisha snorkeled and sad that the sea lions were everywhere in the water and super friendly. They would come right up to her face.
The next place we stopped at was Leon Dormido (sleeping lion, aka Kicker Rock). This place was impressive because it was 3 giant rocks jutting several hundred meters out above the sea. From a distance, the rock formation looks like a sleeping lion. The two biggest rocks are extremely close together and there is a very narrow channel (5ish feet wide), so they actually look like they are one rock from a distance. The other rock is separated by a narrow channel as well; however, it is a bit wider at about 25ish feet. It was through this channel that we snorkelled. As we snorkelled through the channel, we could see black tipped sharks and white tipped sharks by the 100's below us. We also likely saw a few Galapagos sharks. Additionally we saw some turtles and 6 spotted eagle rays, which I think are just beautiful, especially with the way that they "fly" through the water. I started to get cold by the time I reached the end of the long channel, and not wanting to push myself, I headed for the boat. But if you had continued along the cliffs and looked deep down, it was possible to get a glimpse of hammerhead sharks.
After the snorkel, we circumnavigated the rock where we saw lots of Nazca (masked) boobies. We finished the day at a nice beach.
Elisha and my original plan had been to head back to Puerto Ayora the next day on the 3pm boat so that we could spend most of the day on San Cristobol and visit the Loberia (sea lion colony beach) and climb the Frigate Hill that has nesting frigate birds and good views; however, I was feeling still not too great that night. The next day I was beginning my dive trip, which was going to be one of my highlights of the whole South America trip and which wasn't cheap, so I wanted to head back to PA to see the doctor again just to see how things were progressing or if I should get a doctor's note that I would be unable to dive so that I could get fully refunded for the trip from my dive medical insurance DAN. So I bought a ticket for the 7am boat, said that I would miss out on the day at San Cristobol, but feeling the dive trip was too important.
5-22. I took the 7am boack back to Santa Cruz Island. Visited the doctor, though in the morning I was feeling much better. He had said I had such a bad infection, I may need some amoxicillin as well to help finish it off and just to prevent anything from coming back while diving as diving is a stress on the body. I spent the rest of the day just hanging out watching some TV and napping until Elisha arrived around 5:30pm. She had a good day exploring San Cristobol and hiking up to Frigate hill.
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