Ohhhhhh my, today has more than made up for yesterday! We started off bright and early to make the most of the day. The first stop was on one part of Santiago Island where we went onto the island for a hike. We saw some Galapagos Hawks and walked to a viewing point where we could see a couple lagunas and the beach we landed on. I also forgot to mention that yesterday while sailing we saw some turtles mating in the middle of the ocean and we also saw a number of manta rays flipping and splashing on the surface of the water in the middle of the ocean. Apparently they do this to get parasites off their back. 

Back to today…we also saw some turtles in the shallow water, but none came on the beach while we were there.

After the hike we went back to the boat to change into our snorkeling gear! We went snorkeling off the point of the island and saw sooo many fish as well as a big white tipped Galapagos shark! I saw a sea lion in the water, but only briefly and I was the only one to see it. After snorkeling we went back to the boat for lunch and to sail to our next destination.

We arrived to another bay on Santiago Island where we started off snorkeling. The water was a bit colder here, but we had wetsuits on. This snorkeling was absolutely amazing. We saw some cool fish, but then we saw at least 5 huge sea turtles swimming in the water with us and tons of sea lions swimming around too! They come so close to you and we even got pictures with them in the background ( we paid a ridiculous price to rent an under water camera, but it’s been worth it now). There was even a moment where two sea lions were playing with each other right beside a giant turtle under water. The sea lions are so playful and curious and they swam around us the whole time!

None of us wanted to get out of the water but we had to so we could go back to the boat and change to go for a hike on the island. The hike was also really cool. We saw lots more sea lions and some marine iguanas, along with crabs and our first sighting of fur seals. They were all on a beautiful black lava rock as the sun began to set so we got some awesome pictures. We saw a couple marine iguanas fighting which the guide said was the first time she’s seen it! We also saw marine iguanas mating and a bit of a stand off with two sea lions. The animals seemed to get roudy in the late afternoon! Most of the sea lions have just had their babies, so there are so many adorable baby sea lions wandering around. The hike was the last of our exploring for the day, and everyone has headed to bed early after such a busy day. We are also sailing most of the night so we don’t expect to have the greatest sleep.