Bottoms in Ecuador (Our FIRST visitors) - Galapagos: Day 4

We started the new year off with a wet landing at Punta Pitt for a hike.  The beach was made of gold sand that actually sparkled in the sunlight.  Several sea lions were sunbathing, but we walked up the beach and down a very rocky trail.  I would say this was our hardest trek, but we were rewarded by seeing lots of red-footed boobies!

a beach that sparkles like diamonds

trying to give you a feel for the hike

Kels hates this picture, but I'm just trying to show you that it was steep in sections

this hike also had some of the most breathtaking scenery

at the top, we had a gorgeous view

Bottoms and a view

Cabezas and a view

and at the top we saw red footed boobies!!

Scottee being a boobie

on the way down Scottee suffered an injury....it was the toughest hike: lots of rocks!
but he bandaged himself up (with the toilet paper we had at the ready) and blazed on

After the hike we went snorkeling right off the beach.  This was the first time we got to swim with sea lions.  They were crazy playful and swam so close to us.  Andres had told us so many times not to touch them (because it messes with their smell), that Kelsey got me on video pulling my arms in to avoid a guy that was swimming past me.  It was also the first time we saw a sea turtle! (Again...if only we knew we'd see so many more!) The experience was unbelievable.

sea lion friend

you can see how close he came to a flipper (not sure whose?)

they move quickly!!!

but they are so graceful in the water

baby sea lion on the beach

We sailed to Kicker Rock for our afternoon snorkeling.  Some say the rock looks like a foot, others the sphinx (in Spanish the location is called Leon Dormido).  Either way, it made for the best snorkeling we had the whole trip.  The deeper water created an environment for all sorts of wildlife.  We were swimming in walls of fish, with rays, sharks and crazy plant life on the rock walls.  Scottee and I even saw a hammerhead come up briefly from the dark bottom (too quickly to grab a picture!).  But I was most excited to see the sea turtles!!!  There were so many of them.  Unlike the sea lions, they swam away from us, but there were too many to miss.

kicker rock

we swam right through the channel in between the two rocks

it was a pretty stunning sight and the boat anchored right up close to the rocks 

view chasing sea turtles :)

Scottee with a sea turtle

me with a sea turtle

the rays were incredibly graceful in the water

starfish on the side of the rock

long and thin starfish 

walls and walls of fish

but the sea turtles were my favorite

I could have spent days chasing these guys

We saw some sea lions at Kicker Rock, too.  It basically had everything you could ever want to see in one place.  If you ever go to the Galapagos, it must be on your itinerary.  It was the best afternoon of the trip.  (Good luck days 2 - 365 of 2015 in topping it!)

Bottoms in Ecuador (Our FIRST visitors) - Galapagos: Day 3

The next morning we started on a small island off the east coast of Santa Cruz called Isla Plaza Sur.  The island was tiny and the rocky shore was completely covered in sea lions (gratuitous sea lion photos to follow) when we pulled up in the boat.  (Some were even blocking our path!)  The island had a plant Andres called 'Galapagos Carpet' that came in green, orange and red.  In addition to the plants and sea lions we saw birds and iguanas.  It was a beautiful hike with a ton to see.

friend blocking our path on the way in!

the sea lions were all hanging out on the rocks

being adorable is exhausting

lots of cactus trees and Galapagos carpet

I thought the Galapagos carpet looked like coral on land.

Here are the boys walking along.  This gives you an idea of what the other side of the island looked like!

lots of iguana friends!  This guy was hanging out on the cliff

At one point this iguana guy was blocking our path

the Bottoms with napping friend

This guy was too adorable for words and hanging out just on the other side of our marked path

so Kels and I snapped a quick pic with him

as we were leaving we got to see this group of iguanas all going after a piece of cactus fruit
at one point there were like 8 of them tearing into it!

In the afternoon we arrived on Santa Fe island.  This is an uninhabited island in the Galapagos!  The island was very dry and had a lot of iguanas.  Andres also pointed out a tree whose sap smelled like church incense - kind of crazy!  After the hike we had the chance to do some snorkeling.  Some of the group saw sea turtles, but we missed them (have no fear...it wasn't our last opportunity to see some though!).  We did see some rays and a snake/eel.

iguana buddy

hanging out by the cactus 

This was the tree that smells like incense.  It is called Palo Santo.

Here we are on Santa Fe.

we saw this mama sea lion and her pup on the way into the water

It was New Year's Eve and Andres suggested we take a bit of a detour to Puerto Baquerizo so that we could ring in the new year with some fireworks.  The change meant a 5-6 hour sail during dinner which didn't sit the best with either of the Cabezas.  It meant a short dinner and long nap for us, but it meant getting to go to shore and see some celebration for New Year's.  Javier and I were also hoping to see some muñecos.  Muñecos are paper mache dolls, ranging in size from about a foot to six, that Ecuadorians burn on new years.  The idea is that they are burning away any bad stuff from the last year in preparation of the new one.

landed on San Cristobal to ring in 2-0-1-5

beers and cards before fireworks

5 minutes to go

stage was set up for music and the countdown!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

and we did find muñecos!  The people in the town brought their dolls and threw them on the fires started in the streets

it was pretty intense seeing these huge flames go up all over the street

when they died down a bit we each took a turn jumping over the piles (I forget why, but it's part of the tradition too...)

Starting off 2015 in the Galapagos, jumping over burning dolls felt like the right start to anything!  It was totally worth the detour and seasick dinner to get here and enjoy the festivities.