What an awesome morning. Left the hotel at 8.30 to go to the pier to get on a boat to take us to see sea lions, blue footed boobies, sharks, sea turtles and iguanas.
The sea lions are everywhere, even in the seats meant for passengers waiting for the boats. A mum and her pup are lounging on the pontoon and the pup is helping itself to breakfast.
We are on a boat with another non English speaking group and they have their own guide.
The sea is a bit mirky close to shore and the tide is out. As we get further away from the island the waves get bigger and the ocean gets prettier. We stop by an island to see the sea lions resting on the sandy beach and we also see some black tip sharks in the water under the boat. We go looking for the blue footed boobies and manage to spot quite a few. We need to get them to stand up so you can see their bright blue feet!
We deliver the other group to a jetty so they can do a hike to see the iguanas but Maritza said we will see plenty of those in the days to come so we get the opportunity to get in the water and snorkel with the White tip reef sharks. We see so many sharks either swimming around the rocks or resting on the bottom. The water is fresh but not cold. Once back on board we go to pick up the other group and drop them at another hiking spot. Once again we are not hiking but we are getting in the water with the giant sea turtles. We spend more than 20 minutes in the water and see at least 10 if not more turtles. They are huge and they tend to swim quite close to us even though we try to keep our distance.
Back on the boat it’s time for us to return to the pier. Maritza has arranged lunch for us at a local restaurant and after this we have the rest of the day free. We head back to our hotel to shower and then go to get coffee and walk through the streets. It’s quite warm this afternoon and humid. Iguanas, crabs and sea lions are everywhere along the foreshore. It’s such an easy pace here. Tomorrow we are going to the Charles Darwin Research Centre and then to another island in the afternoon.