The last, though technically penultimate, day of the Galapagos cruise was one full of luckily timed sightings.
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On the morning walk at the red beach, we saw a rare bright red bird which the guide said lives in the highlands and never ventures so close to the sea. At the same beach we had another opportunity to swim with two playful sea lions.
Copyright 2015 CC-BY-SA
On our last snorkeling run we saw many large schools of beautiful fish, but nothing we hadn’t seen before. Just as I turned toward the boat, I noticed that the terrain below drops off very quickly. Before I could complete the thought that there is likely something interesting in those depths, a Galapagos shark came swimming by. It was a perfect sighting to cap off our week of snorkeling.
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Then we settled in on deck for the long and rough ride back to port to end our trip where we started – Puerto Ayora. One minute in, the captain came yelling – “Dolphin!” Suddenly we were surrounded. The dolphins were swimming along with the ship and jumping in the distance. The show lasted several minutes before we outpaced them. The guide had just told us that the dolphins only come out to play in calm ocean waters, so this was a lucky treat.
I spent the remainder of the day sitting on the front deck enjoying the waves and the islands floating by as the rest of the passengers, one by one, drifted off to lower decks to escape the cold wind or, naively, the sickening rocking of the sea. A little fancy gear is worth it sometimes: I was quite cozy in a fleece and a rain shell¹.
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¹ Earlier, the Swedish passenger was surprised to see me wearing Haglofs.
Costs
Crew and guide tips and snorkeling equipment prorated.
Daily cost: $26.67
Cumulative cost: $4,194.11