Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador
Friday, December 11, 2015
We were in our cabin unpacking when a voice came over the speaker "Goooooood afternoon my friends" ….“bring your sun hat, sun protection, insect repellent, camera and your smiiiiiiile!” Roberto had us laughing before we had even set off.
We all assembled in the main lounge area and Roberto gave us the itinerary for the day.
First lunch on the boat which was pretty nice and it gave us shipmates a bit of time to chat and get to know each other a bit more.
does it fit
Then back in the dingy to the mainland for a bus trip to the highlands on Santa Cruz. Here there is a coffee plantation with free range tortoises roaming around at their liesure. The man who owns the coffee plantation had opened up his land to them so they had a bigger territory to explore. They seemed to be thriving there too. We got to taste his coffee and Bryan played at being a tortoise for a bit until he decided to get up – then he couldn't get out of the shell.
The bus took us back to the town of Puerto Ayora for an hours’ shopping time. This must have been great for the people who had just flown in but as we had already spent over a week here, it was a bit boring for us. Still, it gave us time to pop to the shop and get some Christmas decorations ready for tonight.
The owner of the boat was throwing a Christmas party for all his staff at a hotel in the harbour – and we were all invited! Fabulous!
The hosts were very welcoming and seemed very nice. All their family were there too along with our crew. Tony the engineer was awarded the best crew member for 2015 and was given the prize of a holiday of his choice to either to Peru or Colombia. Well done that man. It was nice for us to see that the crew were taken care of too. All the staffs’ children were given big presents too.
Christmas dinner
Then quite unexpectedly, the owner’s wife came around and gave us all a little box. When we opened them, the most beautiful little Ecuadorean figurines were in there. Each one dressed from a different region of Ecuador. They were beautiful and we will treasure them.
The evening went on and we were all sleepy. The 4 children in our group were already half asleep and the adults not far behind.
The dingies came and collected us all and we finally got to spend some time on the boat. The crew were still at the party but that was ok – it was their party afterall.
Tonight we had been told, we would be sailing to Isabela and it was to be a choppy one. 6 hours at least but tomorrow we would wake up and get to see a different island.
We were really excited as now the cruise had properly begun….!
[gallery columns="4" ids="12853,12863,12874,12888,12905,12918,12930,12943,12952,12961,12973,12989,13001,13012,13029,13038,13053,13059,13067,13077,13086,13093,13101,13109"]
