Sept 1 Sullivan Bay at Santiago island and Rabida island.

I am now back at the house in Playas after our amazing Galapagos adventure. I’m a few days behind on the blog now so im going to have to back track a bit for the next few entries!

Our last full day on the boat started with a hike at Sullivan Bay. We landed the black sands of the shore and started our search for the fur seal. Its a new species of animal that we haven’t seen yet.

It was quite a walk to the other side of the island before we found a few lounging on the rocks in deep grottoes that lead to the ocean. They looked like mountain goats perched high up in little shelves made of rocks. It was really cool to see them climbing up to their perches and sliding back down into the water to cool off.

We saw quite a few more smelly iguanas on the way back to the beach for a snorkel/sun bath. The boys played soccer in the black sands while us girls read book and took a small nap before it was time to head to our next island.

The ocean was a bit rough again on our way over to Raibidas island. I think i must have finally gotten used to it though as i felt just fine and was able to have long nap in our cabin.

By the time i woke up we had arrived at the red cliffs of Rabida island. We hopped into the pangas with our beach and snorkel gear and hoped for the best to see a lot of wildlife on our last trip.

The water was icy cold and quite rough as it crashed along the cliffs of the shoreline and it took a lot of convincing in my own head to jump out of the boat and into the water. We saw many many fish and a turtle in the deep water.

There were quite a few sea lions resting on the beach in the red sands and we all took the opportunity to get in a few last pictures of them, then it was back to the boat for dinner and good bye speeches from the captain and crew.

 We all had to act out what our favourite animal was that we saw on our trip. Adrian had the best impression of a crying baby seal, abbi did and impression of the purple footed boobie and i did my best shark impression. It was lame to be honest!

After dinner we all had to get our bags packed for an early departure the next morning. Our guide approached us later and asked if we wanted to head to town for some dancing. I was pumped! Finally some civilization and good music was in the plans. If only i knew then what an adventure we'd be getting into!

Only myself Jemma, Adrian, Julie and 2 of the crew members came on the journey that began with a 30 minute panga ride in complete darkness. I have no idea how we made it to shore and landed in the right spot where a driver was waiting to pick us up. I’m sure all of us were having second thoughts about the trip at this point. we nearly ran into a large metal bouy that was floating in our path and we couldnt see anything! there were no lights on shore, it was a cold and wet ride. thank god the captain had insisted that we all wear life jackets and gave us a few rain coats to keep us warm and dry. as we pushed through the water we could see the plankton sparkling in the waves the boat created. we left a trail of shimmering life behind us as we moved slowly toward the docks. we kept thinking we must be getting closer but there were still cruise ships anchored in fornt of us and we knew that they all needed pretty deep water to park in.

Once we finally arrived at the car, got all the rain coats and life jackets secured in the back, we hit the road. For an hour! We had already been on route for 2 hours by this point and we all really second guessing our decision to go out. The drive went on for ever and ever, though completely empty streets in the darkness, fog and rain.

We did eventually arrive in town at Port Ayora on Santa Cruz island. And we headed up some steps to the first bar. There was a mix of locals and gringos, the music was good and the beer was icy cold. We got a table on the patio and hung out for a while before we were ready for some dancing. We went down the steps and into the bar downstairs where there we a few couples dancing to salsa music. The men here are amazing dancers by the way and you always see couple dancing together at the bars, never people dancing separately. Until we hit the floor, that is! Jemma was the first one up and we quickly followed her out and under the flashing lights and spinning disco ball. It was a riot. It seems that music wass the key to get our guides out of their shells and before long they joined us on the floor and we all danced together.

It was getting late at this point and we still had one more place to see before we headed back to the boat. off we went to the next little bar where only locals were dancing around the huge Canadian flag hanging over the dance floor! We stayed here and danced until they shut to music off :)

then the moment we were all dreading; the ride back to the boat. Lucky for us though the ride back seemed way shorter than the ride there. We were back on the boat by 4am and all sneaking back into our cabins before the captain could hear us.
My alarm went off very shortly after i fell asleep. we had to be up at 6am. I had to wake up, pull myself together and get ready for the long trip back to Playas!