Good-Bye to My
Galapagos Gang...
Galapagos Gang...
April 10, 2007
At 5:00am I heard a noise that kind of woke me up. It was the anchor dropping. We had arrived to San Cristobal Island.
Once I finally woke up for good, there were only going to be a few more hours where I would have access to my Galapagos crew. We
had our final breakfast together. Then we had our final hanging-out-on-the-deck-of-the-boat together. Then we had our last zodiac
ride together. And then we had our last excursion together (though the word ‘excursion’ is a bit of a stretch) – we were heading to
the Interpretation Center. Remember how I said on Day 1 what I imagined the Darwin Center to be? Well, this was that place. I did
learn a good amount of information about these islands (known as the ‘Enchanted Islands’) – I really never understood how
volcanoes were formed before this. But now I do. And I now also know how volcanoes become inactive. The good thing with this
place was that there wasn’t too much information – it made it so that I wanted to read everything. And, of course, I read up on the
main man around here – Charles Darwin – and a small amount about what he had to say about evolution (from what I read, he was
able to really prove his theory with the Galapagos finch that came out here and evolved into thirteen different species based on the
environments they were living in and what their diet was).
Soon after, we headed into town. I found a place to stay. And then I met up with the rest of the crew. We had one last hour together
before officially parting ways and saying our good-byes.
I think I speak for all of us when I say that we were all lucky to have such a great group of people to experience this with. Scott and
Kirk are staying on the boat for three more days – it will be fun to hear what they have to say about the new group of people
coming onboard for that part of the trip. Could they possibly measure up to us? Not a chance.
To Scott, Kirk, Deb, Vic, Deb and Barbara – Thanks for making it such a great trip!
2:30pm
All of my Galapagos peeps are gone. As the story goes, there is the slightest funk that I am feeling. Ughhhh. This always seems to
happen. Maybe it’s a good thing. It just means that I enjoy being around people more than I enjoy not being around people.
Especially when you have gotten to that point with people where you feel so comfortable with them that you could say just about
anything and not give it a second thought.
I am now on San Cristobal Island where I fly out of in a few days. I must admit that this is one sleepy town. Siesta here started
before 1:00pm today. How was I to know this? This impacted my day because I was going to rent some snorkel gear and head out
to a great spot to do some underwater exploring. But seriously every dive shop was closed. Time for Plan B.
I gathered some stuff together and made my way to the beach. I sat there for a bit but then realized that the little sandflies seemed
to like me a bit too much. And then I thought for a second ‘You are splurging a bit on your hotel. Your hotel that has a pool. Why
don’t you go back there?’ And so I went. I figure I will be spending my next three days in or around the ocean – a pool is a nice little
treat that I haven’t had access to once in South America. Well, until now.
9:00pm
I have decided on something. I am heading over to Santa Cruz Island tomorrow to spend my last two nights there. Yes, I will miss
my hotel here. But that is really the only thing I will miss. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are great spots out here. The problem
is that everything is soooo lax. The fact that I couldn’t go snorkeling today because there wasn’t one place in town that was renting
gear over the span of 2½ hours. And then I was trying to find a way to do a daytrip tomorrow. It was only going to happen if four
other people signed up. Then I was trying to find a dive trip for tomorrow. Nobody offers a dive trip tomorrow (What!?!?). In fact,
one of the main dive operators out here has been closed all day. On a Tuesday. I know there will be many diving trips offered from
Santa Cruz Island as that is the main tourist hub. Plus I am sure that the food options will be much more abundant as well (as there
really only seems to be one or two places I would want to eat at over here).
So I booked my boat ticket and I will be saying good-bye to San Cristobal tomorrow morning at 8:00am…
At 5:00am I heard a noise that kind of woke me up. It was the anchor dropping. We had arrived to San Cristobal Island.
Once I finally woke up for good, there were only going to be a few more hours where I would have access to my Galapagos crew. We
had our final breakfast together. Then we had our final hanging-out-on-the-deck-of-the-boat together. Then we had our last zodiac
ride together. And then we had our last excursion together (though the word ‘excursion’ is a bit of a stretch) – we were heading to
the Interpretation Center. Remember how I said on Day 1 what I imagined the Darwin Center to be? Well, this was that place. I did
learn a good amount of information about these islands (known as the ‘Enchanted Islands’) – I really never understood how
volcanoes were formed before this. But now I do. And I now also know how volcanoes become inactive. The good thing with this
place was that there wasn’t too much information – it made it so that I wanted to read everything. And, of course, I read up on the
main man around here – Charles Darwin – and a small amount about what he had to say about evolution (from what I read, he was
able to really prove his theory with the Galapagos finch that came out here and evolved into thirteen different species based on the
environments they were living in and what their diet was).
Soon after, we headed into town. I found a place to stay. And then I met up with the rest of the crew. We had one last hour together
before officially parting ways and saying our good-byes.
I think I speak for all of us when I say that we were all lucky to have such a great group of people to experience this with. Scott and
Kirk are staying on the boat for three more days – it will be fun to hear what they have to say about the new group of people
coming onboard for that part of the trip. Could they possibly measure up to us? Not a chance.
To Scott, Kirk, Deb, Vic, Deb and Barbara – Thanks for making it such a great trip!
2:30pm
All of my Galapagos peeps are gone. As the story goes, there is the slightest funk that I am feeling. Ughhhh. This always seems to
happen. Maybe it’s a good thing. It just means that I enjoy being around people more than I enjoy not being around people.
Especially when you have gotten to that point with people where you feel so comfortable with them that you could say just about
anything and not give it a second thought.
I am now on San Cristobal Island where I fly out of in a few days. I must admit that this is one sleepy town. Siesta here started
before 1:00pm today. How was I to know this? This impacted my day because I was going to rent some snorkel gear and head out
to a great spot to do some underwater exploring. But seriously every dive shop was closed. Time for Plan B.
I gathered some stuff together and made my way to the beach. I sat there for a bit but then realized that the little sandflies seemed
to like me a bit too much. And then I thought for a second ‘You are splurging a bit on your hotel. Your hotel that has a pool. Why
don’t you go back there?’ And so I went. I figure I will be spending my next three days in or around the ocean – a pool is a nice little
treat that I haven’t had access to once in South America. Well, until now.
9:00pm
I have decided on something. I am heading over to Santa Cruz Island tomorrow to spend my last two nights there. Yes, I will miss
my hotel here. But that is really the only thing I will miss. Don’t get me wrong – I know there are great spots out here. The problem
is that everything is soooo lax. The fact that I couldn’t go snorkeling today because there wasn’t one place in town that was renting
gear over the span of 2½ hours. And then I was trying to find a way to do a daytrip tomorrow. It was only going to happen if four
other people signed up. Then I was trying to find a dive trip for tomorrow. Nobody offers a dive trip tomorrow (What!?!?). In fact,
one of the main dive operators out here has been closed all day. On a Tuesday. I know there will be many diving trips offered from
Santa Cruz Island as that is the main tourist hub. Plus I am sure that the food options will be much more abundant as well (as there
really only seems to be one or two places I would want to eat at over here).
So I booked my boat ticket and I will be saying good-bye to San Cristobal tomorrow morning at 8:00am…
| A sea lion playing with a stuffed animal that fell overboard. |
Sunset from San Cristobal Island.
Our seven person Galapagos crew.
