February 13th – 14th, 2017

Days 321 – 322: San Cristóbal

After a final breakfast buffet, we get kicked off the Humboldt Explorer by 10AM. Boo – now we have to feed ourselves and plan our own itineraries again.

We were pretty lazy our first day back in town. We returned to Casa de Jeimy without a reservation, luckily they had one room left. Even luckier, it was a nicer *matrimonial* room (during our first stay we had two twin beds) – we could sleep like a married couple in the double bed…or use the extra twin bed and remain apart. I’ll let y’all guess which option we chose.

Once the afternoon siesta was over, we walked through town, checking out the various tour agencies for a day-trip to Española Island. We’re suspecting that there is some price-fixing going on in the Galápagos as every single agency offered identical itineraries for USD$180pp. The only difference was which day of the week the tours were scheduled for – each agency seemed to take a different day of the week. We decided to go with the one that ran its tour on Thursday, since we wanted to catch a ferry to Santa Cruz on Friday morning, giving us one more free day in San Cristóbal to visit all the beaches we missed before the dive trip.

 

Saying hello to our favorite lobos at the Puerto Baquerizo Moreno pier

 

Taking care of chores – booking a tour to Española Island for Thursday and doing some much needed laundry

 

We get a much better room when we return to Jeimy’s hostel! Lindsay kicks back with her Kindle while Igor cooks up something tasty

The next morning, we headed out right after breakfast to start hitting all the beaches. We rented a snorkel from our hostel for USD $3 and walked over to the Playa Lobería – a good 30min walk from town, behind the San Cristóbal airport. Judging by the name, we expected the beach to be covered with sea lions, just like the beach in town. HUGE disappointment: there was literally only *one* lobo on the whole friggin’ beach. The beach itself was incredibly rocky, making it difficult for us to get into the water, plus the surf was really strong (we noticed a couple of surfers nearby – looks like this is more of a surfing beach than a swimming/snorkeling beach).

 

Early morning walk to the lobería beach – even though it’s 8AM we are already sweating bullets

 

Igor stalks the one lone sea lion on the whole beach – at least he was receptive to photos

By the time we returned to the road we were ridiculously sweaty. The next beach on our list was all the way across town – we were dreading the long walk! As if in answer to our prayers, a taxi pulled up, dropping off a group of tourists – we quickly grabbed the empty car and gladly paid the $2 fare to Playa Mann. We had passed Playa Mann last week when we visited the Galápagoes Visitor Center – just outside the entrance to the park and is the only beach we found on the island that has a lot of shade. We laid down our blanket beneath a tree and Lindsay settled in with her Kindle while Igor tried to go for a swim.

Just as he tried to get into the water, a large sea lion swam up and started barking. At first, Igor was delighted, and he took ourt the GoPro to film the interaction. However, when he started walking into the water, the lobo started to charge him! For some reason, this guy was being very territorial and wouldn’t let Igor or anyone else into the water. Even after all the people backed off, the lobo wold swim back and forth along the beach. So much for swimming.

 

A very territorial sea lion won’t let anyone get into the water at Playa Mann

We packed up and walked once again, this time into the national park. We returned to the snorkeling cove that we had missed the first time we were in town. Even though there was no beach – just a stairwell down to a rocky shore – a dozen napping sea lions nearby and biting damsel fish near the shore, we were determined to get into the water this time! Lindsay took an exploratory swim with the snorkel, but didn’t see much worth getting excited about. After about 20min, she climbed out and gave Igor a turn.

As soon as Igor got into the water, a group of about 20-odd tourists showed up and started getting into the water, kinda ruining the serenity of the place (there were only 3 other swimmers up to this point). Igor swam to the far side of the cove to get away from them…and that’s when he found the sea lions. Unlike the lobo at Playa Mann, these guys were friendly, and one in particular decided to have some fun with Igor! He swam circles around Igor, blew bubbles in his face and kept coming back for more! It was a truly magical moment. (LINDSAY WAS SO JEALOUS.)

 

Snorkeling in Tijeretas Cove

 

Lindsay sees practically nothing during her snorkel – just a bunch of Blue-eyed Damsal fish

 

Igor has all the luck! He finds a trio of sea lions and one starts to play with him!

 

This playful lobo keeps circling ’round and ’round Igor, and even blows bubbles in his face…twice!

 

Igor chases down a marine iguana as it swims by the shore

In order to leave no stone unturned, we still had one last attraction to visit before we could call it a day: the viewpoint at Tijeretas Hill. It was quite a climb, but we got a beautiful view of the cove from the top. We also discovered yet another trail leading to a supposedly secluded beach. It was long – the sign warned that it was 1.5hr (Igor insisted that was the roundtrip time – it was actually *each way*) but we made it there and back. By the time we returned to our room, we were confident that there was *nothing* left to do or see on this island – we were DONE.

 

When the crowds and the clouds roll in, we leave the cove and take a hike up Tijeretas Hill and then follow a long overgrown trail to a secluded beach

 

There’s no one at the beach, but unfortunately the shore is very rocky, so it’s difficult to swim. The only spot in the shade is swarming with mosquitos, so we turn back after only 30min