We woke up this morning for a beautiful sunrise over the ocean. Cassie’s dad saw some dolphins but we just missed them. We did get some great sunrise pictures though and watched the Frigatebirds flying around the ship.
Our first stop was Sullivan Bay on Santiago Island. We took the Zodiacs into the shore and hopped off onto a 150 year old lava field (cooled and hardened of course). Here, we learned about the different types of lava (pahoehoe, which looks smooth, and aa, which is much more jagged). We also learned a little bit about the history of the islands. Some of the older islands have actually been discovered under the ocean!
We had our first encounters with lava lizards and the Galapagos hawk, and we also saw our first Galapagos penguin, much smaller than the ones we had seen in Antarctica.
Next activity was a snorkel from a nearby beach.
Cassie saw the first underwater turtle of the trip. The fish were absolutely beautiful. We also saw the underwater view of a blue footed booby diving for fish, which caught some of us a little off guard, but was awesome to see.
Next, we headed back onto the boat for lunch. We had a couple of hours to hang out and relax on the boat before our next activity. We sailed across the bay to Bartholome Island and Pinnacle Rock.
The zodiacs took us out for another round of snorkeling starting at the base of Pinnacle Rock. We saw our first sea lion in the water, as well as two white tipped reef sharks- one under a ledge, and one out in the open, and a snake eel.
We came back on the boat to change clothes, then headed out for a walk up 300 stairs to a great viewpoint out over the islands and Pinnacle Rock. The view was great, though the sun unfortunately got clouded out by the time we got to the top. Not a whole lot of wildlife but we did get some great shots of bright orange crabs.
After the hike, we cleaned up then had happy hour. No great sunset tonight because of all the clouds that moved in, but at least it was later in the day!
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 
WOW, this is like being in a fish tank. Nature it’s really beautiful. Alejandro, when you were little and we used to watch discovery channel you said you wanted to see the turtles and swim with then. Well you got your wish. Congratulations to all the Moore family for being so fortunate to make this marvelous trip.
LikeLike