Travels Revisited: Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal, 2019

August 21st-Wednesday

Today we woke up early to get on a boat for 2 hours. I didn’t get sick but I got soaking wet and cold- I was in the worst splash zone. Immediately when we arrived we went to Casa De Nelly to change and then went to a fancy hotel's outdoor restaurant. They served us bread in really fancy baskets-definitely the prettiest meal we've had. Across the street you could see the many, many sea lions on this island. It’s smaller but has more of an island feel than Santa Cruz.

At 11:30 we walked to the UNC science center for a tour and got to hear from researchers at the center. UNC built this really fancy building for research next to the older USFQ campus. This is where we had our meetings on San Cristobal, whereas on Santa Cruz we had our meetings at the National Park headquarters. We had less rangers here and less time to show them all the camera information. The lunch for the next days was across the street from the science center and it was actually 3 restaurants in one-really good pumpkin soup and tuna steak. There was a feral cat walking around outside under the tables and of course cats are invasive on the Galapagos so many rangers and managers don't like them, but Yu-Fai and I really like cats so we liked the cat there.

After lunch we gave a presentation to the rangers about the purpose of camera monitoring and then we had the rest of the night off because it was 5pm. Then we went to dinner on the main road-shopping strip of land- there's sea lions on every street even blocking some doors and walkways. Lots of pups have just been born so we got to see them feeding and playing which was cute. After shopping a little we went to a really good pizza place for dinner. Then off to bed!

August 22nd-Thursday

Today was site visit day-we started the morning with a small breakfast, I had a smoothie and sandwich, then we drove to La Loberia. This was a beach where there was one bay area to swim and snorkel with the sea lions and sea turtles-we saw a lot- but the rest of the beach was covered in rock and the waves were huuuuuge and created a lot of spray when they hit the rocks. We set up 3 cameras and tried out different angles with the managers. I tried to take a picture with a big sea lion in the back and he started coming up behind me so I ran away.

Then for lunch we went to the same place and it was also very good again. We had ice cream and sat on the beach behind the sea lions before it was time to go to Tijueritas. This was behind the interpretation center and up a trail. First we started by climbing way above the little alcove to get a good view looking down at it. I got to see the iconic Galapagos rock in the middle of the ocean and it looked really cool. Then we headed down to a closer platform next to a statue of Darwin. Once we finished up I had a chance to go swimming in the cove. I jumped in in my shorts because I didn't have a swimsuit-this was kinda fun- it was so so so cold and when I first got in I got a little panicked. I did swim up in front of a sea lion that was on his back blowing bubbles. Daniella came to get me but then I told her I've never snorkeled and she asked a lady if I could borrow her gear! This was so special and cool for me to do here. I didn't see much but fish but at first I was nervous and Daniella jumped in and swam with me until I was comfortable and then it was really fun for the few minutes I got to do it. We had to run back to the science center to make it to the presentation all soaking wet lol. This was a really special day for me.

August 23rd- Friday

Today we woke up and had a breakfast buffet at the science center before our last presentation to the park managers! My computer died right before I was supposed to present so that was a little challenging but I think I recovered well and adapted data quickly. We had lunch at a little sandwich place and then headed to the airport. The plane had to stop over in another town before Quito but we finally arrived around 5pm. Lost an hour because of the time change. We had dinner at a Crepes and Waffle place-it was actually really nice and super cheap! I had a goat cheese and mushroom crepe and then pistachio ice cream. Tomorrow is the last day which is sad-this week has been really special and exciting for me and it didn't fly by which is incredible.