Day 2 Our tickets to the Galapagos Islands were canceled!?!?

REAL TIME:  We arrived back in Guayaquil this afternoon.  At 6am a

farewell 'tour' of one more island, that I will update you later, then a bus trip to the airport, then a flight back to Guayaquil.  Finally a long bus ride and a long taxi ride to our Airbnb in Salinas where we will wash clothes and prepare for our Ecuador tour on Monday. 

So to catch you up on the Galapagos, we will go back in time to the beginning.......

Yes, that’s right.  We arrive at the airport two hours before our alleged departure to discover that someone/somehow canceled our tickets!  Without going through the trauma and drama, after numerous calls to our travel agent and going to two airline’s counters, Gloria secured 4 tickets with a competing airline.  We still don’t know who, what or when the tickets were canceled but we made our flight to Baltra.  (And to add insult to injury no free food or drinks on the one hour-forty minute flight).

Routine transit from the airport to Golondrina, 14 of us.  Two couples from Germany, a family of three from England, a single gal from Oregon, and a dad and daughter from the Netherlands.  Three decks on our small boat, two cabins each on the top two decks, 4 ‘below’.  We were on the middle deck.

Once we are served lunch, we motor from Baltra Island north to Bachas Beach on Santa Cruz.  A great introduction to the fauna of the Galapagos Islands.  Frigates, lava gulls, great pelicans, oystercatchers, and others we didn’t know.  Tons of big red crabs, a sickly baby seal watched over by a park ranger and a couple of iguanas.  No snorkeling today, the water is too stirred up.  Water was great for swimming though, about the temperature of the water around Hawaii.  Busy day, a busier day tomorrow.

Sea lions everywhere, like deer in California.

Land iguana and pelican

Frigate birds with 7-foot wingspans

This frigate bird is looking for a mate1