Galapagos Day 4:San Cristobal Island

​Today was our last day in Galapagos, and we spent all of it in and around San Cristobal Island.  

We started the day at 7 am with our ship going twice around Kicker Island - a strange and beautiful rock formation off the coast.  We took lots of pictures and enjoyed learning about the different ways that volcanic rock erodes.

After breakfast we went on a ride in the zodiacs to look at some of the other geologic features around Wizards point.  The surf was quite rough, but the skilled drivers were able to get us very close to the various caves and coves - including the spectacular "Cathedral." It was fascinating to ride the swells and watch the crashing waves. We also went thru an arch along with several pelicans.

We had some time to relax before lunch, and also visited the bridge on the ship to watch the Captain steering and learn more about driving it. Interestingly every member of the 7 person crew knows how to drive the boat and take turns relieving the captain.

We headed to San Cristóbal town on the other side of the island and then took the zodiacs to the town. On the way we stopped to see a whole flotilla of boats impounded by the Navy for illegal fishing in the National park.  There were two large boats and at least 10 smaller boats that had been seized (and most were covered with sleeping sea lions).  This was the “controversial topic” presentation that is a part of every OAT trip - Roberto did a good job of making it real - by seeing the impounded boats. 

The Park controls everything on the island,including enforcing the stringent rules about who can fish in the  waters around the park. We also chatted with an actual former fisherman on the dock who had been injured when he dove too deep and stayed too long and did not have enough oxygen left to ascend to the surface while diving for sea cucumbers.

Once on shore, we got on a bus to visit the giant tortoise breeding center. This center, run by the national park, collects, hatches and raises various endemic species of tortoise until they are old and large enough to fend off predators.  We enjoyed looking at the baby tortoises. The center keeps the young tortoises until they are about 4 years old. These tortoises were saddle backs, which have very long necks so they can eat leaves on trees.

Back in town, we explored the waterfront, doing some shopping and also watching sea lions.There were a LOT of them there, nursing pups, playful young ones, and enormous adults sleeping on the rocks and  making a lot of noise.

Then we returned to the ship for our farewell discussion and a delicious shrimp dinner and the traditional lava cake!

It was full and interesting last day in the islands.