We were up early and heading to a different airport to fly to the Galapagos. It was a 30 minute flight to Guayaquil (city located on the coast) where we picked up passengers and then a 90 minute flight to Baltra on Santa Cruz Island. The Galapagos are located about 620 miles off the Pacific coast of South America. There are 13 major islands in the archipelago along with many islets. We met our naturalist guide, Wilo, and got our luggage and headed to our boat. Our boat was called the Loba del Mar (Sea Wolf) and was about 70´ long and slept 18 people and had 9 crew members.
That afternoon, we headed out in two dinghies (sp?) to Black Turtle Bay to see the Pacific Green Sea Turtle. Along the way, we saw blue herons, blue footed boobies, lava birds, brown pelicans, and frigate birds. There were dozens of sea turtles swimming around. They live 75-100 years and each female can lay up to 60 eggs! Unfortunately, only 1-2% make it to 5 years old.
I had already taken a shower but we were in this canal between the islands and the water was so smooth so a group of us went swimming around the boat. It was so nice and it has been so long since I´ve been in the water that wasn´t freezing!
We had an excellent dinner and I think everyone was asleep by 9:30 p.m. since breakfast was at 7 am the next morning.
