Wrapping up the Galapagos
Friday, October 28, 2016
Puerto Cayo, Manabí, Ecuador
Back in Puerto Ayora at the same place, La K-Leta, we had an early night to get up for our 5:50 pickup for our last excursion, a long day trip to Bartolome & Santiago islands.
They actually came to pick us up at 5:40--turns out the tour company office is 3 doors down the street so we were first, but that was OK since we were ready anyway. We got on the bus for a 45 minute ride up north to the Itabaca channel that separates Santa Cruz from Baltra.
From there, we had a really nice, spacious boat, the Queen Karen, to take us on a leisurely 2 hour cruise up to Bartolome. But first, breakfast. There were 16 passengers on the boat and all fit at the 2 tables for breakfast. There was a ton of room on the boat, both inside and on the upper and back decks and there were snacks and coffee provided and beer (yes!) and soft drinks were available.
As I said, the boat traveled at a leisurely pace and the seas were quite calm, so the trip was very pleasant and we were kept entertained by the frigate birds playing and jockeying for positions on the boat. Bartolome is a very small island with quite recent volcanic formations and has a lookout for a signature photo that is used in all of the brochures for the Galapagos, looking down at 2 sandy bays, separated by about 100 metres, that apparently have totally different sea life in them, with the much larger Santiago Island in the background.
It really is a spectacular view. Then we went over to Santiago and went for a walk over the lava rock, which has some amazing formations.
Then in for a snorkel off of yet another pristine beach. Our mission was to find penguins, preferably in the water, since we hadn't seen any yet. We also hoped to see some rays. Well, we didn't see either--apparently there was a penguin but we missed it. We did see a couple of turtles, though, and lots of colourful fish.
After snorkeling, and lunch, and just before we were leaving, our guide thought he saw a penguin on a rock back over on Bartholome and we went over to check it out and sure enough, it was there. So I did get one decent look at a penguin.
Then we headed back on another leisurely 2 hour ride and then back into town. A long trip--12 1/2 hours--but well worth it and a tremendous way to end our time the Galapagos.
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Comments

2025-02-17
Heather Douglas
2016-10-29
Yes we have been following, not much time to reply but WOW. Have a great time. We will catch up when you are back.