Bottoms in Ecuador (Our FIRST visitors) - Galapagos: Day 5

We spent our last day on Isla Labos.  Our guide, Andres, referred to the island as 'Sea Lion Kindergarten' because of the large group of nursing sea lion pups that can be found there.  In addition, he told us we would find frigate birds and blue footed boobies.  We were sad to think it was our last day, but very much looking forward to the wildlife we were expected to see on our hike.

this is a blue footed boobie who hasn't matured and still has white feet

he was young and showing off for us a bit

Here are those blue feet we've been looking for

blue footed boobie with kicker rock in the background

Scottee was so excited about seeing boobies

look how different these two blue feet are

Cabezas with a blue footed boobie

there were frigate birds flying everywhere

and we were so excited to see one all ballooned up!

the males will puff out their red chests for a full 24 hours to attract a mate

Andres was right!  In addition to the birds, there were scores of sea lions lying around inland.  Not just full grown sea lions, but tons and tons of pups.  Most of them were crying which made for quite a racket.  But others were quieted when they finally found their mothers.  Mostly they were all adorable.

they were lying everywhere up on the beach

grouped by mothers and pups

many pups were quietly feeding

some of the pups were hanging out together in small groups

they were pretty adorable 

blue footed boobies and sea lions together

rock pillows

then we saw this little guy...he was quite the ham

he found a stick and was playing with it for our group's enjoyment

just a happy morning with a stick

posing perfectly for some pictures

so we obliged our ham and took a picture with him

mom and pup walking to the beach together

After our hike we had the opportunity to do some snorkeling offshore.  We saw lots of fish and had a few sea lions join us to play.  It was bittersweet because the snorkeling was beautiful, but we also knew it was our last time out.  Crazy to think how used to swimming with sea lions you can get over the course of just a few days!

we were sent on our way with tons of birds flying overhead, including this boobie that Scottee was able to capture mid-air!

 Back in Quito, the Bottoms had less than 24 hours to regroup and get packed for home.  We decided a quick stop at the food market was worth another tourist stop.  Fried empanadas seemed like the safest option for everyone's tummy, so we each chowed down on one before heading home to relax.

empanadas = yum-o

I was more sad saying goodbye at the airport than I had anticipated.  I love our life here in Ecuador so much, but having a taste of home for a few days was really nice.  It was such a great adventure and so nice to spend time with the Bottoms that I was very sad to send them off.  Re-visiting these pictures and writing my account of the trip has been so fun.  It's reminded me of how many amazing things we saw over the course of just a few days.  It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so happy we were able to do it together!  First visitors and trip to Galapagos in the books!