Our 7th day, and last full day, aboard the Princess began with a bright and early (as in 6:30 am) trip to one of the Plaza islands, not far from Isla Santa Cruz.
Pretty boats in the harbor. Ours is the one in front.
South Plaza is famous for cacti:
There was also a warning light for fishermen who didn't have the navagational systems used by all the tour boats.
Enrique was very knowledgeable about the islands, and always gave us interesting factoids.
We did a lot of walking around taking photos
of birds...
of lizards...
of birds and lizards...
of lizards and seals...
and a cool dead cactus...
It also had more cool cliff line...
We went back to the boat to sail to Isla Santa Fe and to eat lunch. Then the afternoon we spent on the beach, snorkeling, and checking out more seals. 
The beach was stunning - I'm pretty sure I would never tire of the beaches in the Galapagos.
We also had time for plenty of photo ops with the seals.
The group of us waiting for the Panga to take us back too the boat.
Justin watching the seals.
Lots and lots of seals.
Some of them were a lot more friendly than others, a bit to our guide's dismay, I believe. When we were snorkeling we had one little guy gnawing playfully on our snorkeling fins and bumping noses with us. I loved it, but apparently the animals touching us qualified as us touching the animals, and so was frowned upon. Regardless, it was a hoot.
We all gathered round for some of our final beach photos together. Top row: Dave, Ohad, me, Bart (one of the newer members - from Holland), and Justin. Bottom row: the Aussies - Gary and Richard.
Me and Richard.
...and Dee.Of MAJOR note, it was Mother's Day. Without access to a computer or phone to call home, I wrote this for you Mums:
I love you!!After snorkeling for hours, we got back on the boat to sail back to Isla San Cristobal - where we started, and where we would be leaving from the following day.
Justin was awesome enough to get all these photos of our crew members:
Brian, the Panga driver:
Carlos, the Captain of the Princess:
Edi the cook is the guy on the left sitting with other crew members:
This time it was my misfortune to take a shower while the boat was moving. I had my feet planted against opposing walls and my back resting against the third wall, but it was still an exercise in survival. By the end, I was rather miserably sea sick (despite the fact that I'd grown quite used to the movement of the boat over the past several days, and in fact had experienced land sickeness/dizziness when on tierra firma). I spent the remaining four hours lying down (either on the front of the boat or in bed reading) as this lessened the nausea significantly. I managed some of Edi's incredible mashed potatoes for dinner, but that was about it. He was concerned by this as my appetite up to this point had been of rather legendary proportions (I'm pretty sure I out-ate most of the guys on the boat). I reassured him that it was only temporary...and then went back to bed.Once we finally (Thank God) arrived at San Cristobal, I arose from my bed, and Justin and I packed what we could before it was time to head into town for some of our last shoping and for one last visit to our Pub to play pool.
It was with no little sadness that we headed back to the boat for our last night on board. How quickly the days had flown, and how much I would miss my new friends :(With this sadness in mind, I was convinced to play one more hand of Poker with a few of the guys. We played until about 1 am (ignoring the fact that we had to get up at 6), and I had beginner's luck once again. Good night, Princess of Galapagos!
Great wildlife and pictures. The beaches looked fantastic with the clear green-blue water. A great way to end the Ecuador adventure.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures Jenn! What a cool trip, wish I had been with you. Neat Mother's Day note! That was sweet for you to think of me. Looking so forward to seeing you again! Love you! Mom
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