Kicker Rock

Today we got to sleep in a bit since our tour to Kicker Rock didn't leave until 8:45am. Our hotel made us a wonderful breakfast in the morning, which we ate on our patio in front of the water. Our tour group had three other couples in it who were all very nice and English speaking. We headed out on our small boat to do our first snorkel, which was really just a test run for the two people who would be snorkeling to try their equipment.

Luckily the water was calm so there weren't waves to contend with but it was freezing! I was glad to have a full length wetsuit on! We swam with some sea lions which love to play with you in the water and Alyssa followed around a sea turtle for a bit.

Once everyone's gear had been tried out, we headed to Kicker Rock.

Here we were supposed to be able to see reef sharks, galapagos sharks, sea turtles, manta rays and tons of fish. Unfortunately, the currents had changed a few days ago making the water extremely turbid. We could barely see 5 feet in front of us. I did manage to see two sea turtles but only because I happened to be right next to them. It's unfortunate because it was actually the prettiest reef we had seen in the Galápagos with tons of colored fish but we really couldn't appreciate it.

After the snorkeling, we headed to a nearby beach to have lunch and hang out. The sun was out and it was the first time I had felt warm in weeks. I lay on the beach for an hour but had to be fully covered because there were sand flies constantly trying to bite me. It was great to be warm! Once again, the terrain of the Galápagos was very barren- I can't get used to it!

We headed back to Kicker Rock for another dive and snorkel but most of us did not want to get back into the water. It was so cold and if you weren't going to be able to see anything in the water, there really was no point. We did some bird watching while a few people snorkeled, checking out the blue footed boobies and frigate birds. We soon headed back to San Cristobal since there were a few people who were leaving on the 4:00 ferry back to Santa Cruz island.

There isn't a ton to do on the island so I got a nice $13 bottle of white wine and sat on my lovely private patio overlooking the water.

We decided to eat downstairs at the restaurant in our hotel since we weren't very hungry. I tried a "tortilla del verde" since I had absolutely no idea what it was. It was sort of like a little, round tamale and was actually delicious! We hung out downstairs, drinking beers and people watching.

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