I woke up to see the sunrise over Isla Lobos from my bunk bed and to the sounds of seals barking on the rocks nearby. Pretty sweet eh? We started early with a walk around Isla Lobos, trying to make our way around the hundreds of sea lion pups, sea lions and bulls and then winding our way along the path between nesting blue footed boobies and frigate birds. It was yet another stroll around one of the most beautiful places, taking in all the wildlife and the stunning landscape.
We snorkelled nearby but the visibility was terrible and the water was absolutely freezing so that was a short-lived venture before we headed back to the main part of San Cristobal to farewell some passengers and welcome some more.
Althea, Laura and I made the most of some land time and headed to the only cafe in the town that had wifi. With giant vanilla milkshakes that we definitely didn’t need given how much food they gave us on the boat we settled in to reconnect with the outside world for an hour or so. It was at this moment that I discovered an email message from CarpeDM travel agency and a Facebook message from Mum from five days ago fretting because apparently I wasn’t at the airport or on the boat tour. This was news to me given I was on the correct flight, got to Baltra airport fine and had been aboard the King of the Seas the whole time. Having no idea that I was apparently missing I was a little unsure what had happened and still am! Nobody on the boat claims to have reported that I didn’t show up so I guess I will have to wait until I am back in Quito to ask the tour agency what happened!
Following another enormous lunch, met our new passengers - a Canadian girl and two spanish girls and then headed to Cerro Brujo for some afternoon snorkelling and land time. It was again freezing and the visibility was terrible but we did manage to see a few big marine turtles before retiring to the beach for the afternoon. La Playa (the beach) at Cerro Brujo, which loosely translates as ‘wizard hill’ was amazing. Perfect powdery white sand, black volcanic rocks and the most picturesque turquoise water.
Back to the boat we settled in for more food, hot drinks and conversation as we made our way through the night to Espanola island.
