Day 5: San Cristobal Island

Today's boat excursion took us to the Island of San Cristobal.  It was another 2.5 hrs on the boat...dramamine is becoming our best friend!  Different boat & different captain & guide, so we did some exploring along the way.

For example, we spotted this blue-footed boobie hanging out on the rocks.

As we pulled away from Santa Fe Island, a pod of dolphins popped up out of nowhere and started playing with the boat.  The kids were suuuuuuper excited!  The captain slowed down and let the kids out on the front of the boat so they could get a close up view, take pics & videos.  Once I get those from the kids, I'll have to add them.  Love those surprise animal sightings!!!

After a fairly smooth boat ride, we arrived at San Cristobal, hopped on a bus, and off to explore we went.  We stopped in the Loberia area, saw some sea lions, and the kids got to do some snorkeling & swimming while there.

We grabbed some delicious lunch (including popcorn soup!!), and went to see the tourist info center and learn about the history a bit of the Galapagos. Some of the group then went on a hike, and the rest went down to the beach for one last swim.

This picture above is us getting ready to board our boat back to Santa Cruz Island.  Notice all the smiling, happy faces.  Little did we know what was in-store for us.  This was, by far, THE WORST boat ride EVER!  Although, according to our Tour Director, it's normal in the summer.  It was the bumpiest ride imaginable.  The people sitting outside on the back got drenched.  We had to move 3 kids in and 5 kids out due to motion sickness.  Had a few barfers, and quite a few pale kids.  Needless to say, we're over boats.

After we got back, the kids had a little downtime before dinner, so I took some souvenir shopping. After dinner, our awesome Tour Director, Lenin, took us down to the docks to look for animals at night, and then play the kids some music.

Lenin is a super talented singer & musician,  and the kids were mesmerized by his music.  Come to find out, he even has an album coming out soon!

Tomorrow we sadly leave these glorious islands and head back to the mainland...which means another long travel day...sigh...