Giving thanks, island style!

As I mentioned before, I spent Monday-Friday of this past week on Santa Cruz. It was a great, relaxing vacation and a chance to get off San Cristobal for a few days!

On Monday afternoon we headed out in three boats towards Santa Cruz. Although the boat ride was calm I took seasickness pills (just in case)! Our first day was very relaxed. We checked into our hotel and then had a couple of hours to kill. Several of us knew exactly where to go – our favorite dessert place from our first trip!

Delicious! Waffle with chocolate ice cream, tiramisu ice cream, bananas, carmel sauce, and whipped cream! Jacquie and I split it!

After dessert and drinks we headed to a relaxed dinner at the hotel and took it easy for the rest of the night. On Tuesday I woke up early and met with Sarah and Mary to go for a run. We headed out for about 35min and got a good look of the town on foot and a great workout! 

Sunrise over Santa Fe Island

After breakfast we headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). We saw lots of interesting things on the 30min walk including the area where they sell fish in town. 

Weighing and cleaning the fish. There were around 30 pelicans standing around along with one friendly sea lion who apparently is always there.

At the station there were two lectures but as grad students we weren’t required to go. After the first lecture we realized the information wasn’t very relevant to us so we decided to leave early and find Lonesome George.

Lonesome George is considered the “rarest creature in the world” and is the only surviving species of Pinta Island tortoise. He is approximately 100 years old. All attempts for him to mate (with tortoises similar to him) have been unsuccessful thus far. When he dies, the species will be extinct.

We also saw lots of other tortoises and iguanas that are housed at the CDRS.  It’s good we went out early because apparently after the second lecture finished George decided to hide between some vegetation and became very hard to see. We then had a delicious almuzero and decided to head to a nearby beach for the afternoon. Despite the clouds it was really relaxing – we even saw an eel in the shallows! We spent the rest of the day souvenir shopping, playing cards, eating dinner, and calling it another early night!

Wednesday we were off to Floreana Island bright and early! It’s almost a 2hour boat ride to get there so we headed out around 7:15am. It was a typical ride until we got near port. Then all of a sudden we spotted dolphins! Not just one but dozens of them! They were everywhere leaping out of the water and putting on quite a show! We got to watch them for about 10min – I’ve never seen so many all at once.

Dolphins playing right off the boat!

We soon made it to land and the tiny town. Floreana has the smallest number of people of the four inhabited islands. It reminds of Isabella with just 100 people, traditional dirt roads, and friendly atmosphere. We soon were headed up to the highlands with some great views along the way.

This is called a "cheva" which loosely translates to goat. It means that these are rugged enough to tackle the crazy dirt roads we usually drive on! Generally we ride inside but on this particular cheva there was room for 8 of us on top! It was quite the ride up there but lots of fun (as long as you ducked for the low branches every now and again!)

View from near the top of the island 

When we got to our destination we had the chance to see lots of cool things including former pirate caves and these high-sloped rock walls that were once used to trap animals for food. We also learned about a volcanic spring that produces fresh water. It is rumored that if you drink this water you will live longer. Many of us filled up our water bottles and drank up - couldn't hurt, right?! We also got to see giant tortoises endemic to Santa Cruz. I’m not sure we were supposed to get so close but our guide said we could!

Big guy in the middle of a yawn

Majestic looking old tortoise! 

For the afternoon we headed to a black sand beach (hot hot!) to snorkel. The water was very cold and unfortunately I didn’t see a whole lot though apparently there were some kelp forests and sea turtles. 

The beach

However, when everyone got out Elysse was looking out at the water. All of a sudden she heard that someone had seen a penguin. I sat up and saw the little guy in the water. I literally bolted off my towel and dove head first into the water. I saw the penguin next to me and then he disappeared into the water. I tried to follow him but they are soo fast. I couldn’t catch him but I heard he was back on the other side. I went back over there and waited by myself for about 5min. Finally I saw his head poke up for a bit before he dove under again. So cool!

This might even be the little guy I swan with! We saw him as we were on the docks not far from the black beach waiting for our boat to go back to Santa Cruz.

That evening we returned to Santa Cruz and enjoyed drinks and cards at a nearby bar. The next day was Thanksgiving! I got up early and, anticipating a day full of eating, went for a 3mi run towards the highlands before breakfast. Today most students were either going up to the highlands or going diving for class. Eight of us decided to “skip” and headed back to the area we cliff jumped last trip. A $0.70 water taxi ride got us there and at 10am we were the only ones there! We all took turns leaping from the highest point (about 45ft up) and then also from a halfway point.

The cliff! That blue spot at the top is Sarah (I think!?) getting ready to jump!

Picture credit: Jacquie Lonning

The water was also really deep and excellent for snorkeling. This time we walked away with almost no bumps or bruises! After lunch we headed to Tortuga Bay which is about a 45min walk from town. It’s a huge white sand beach with big rolling waves. We spent 1.5 hours jumping and diving into the waves and enjoying the sunshine!

On the way back to the hotel I literally ran right into what looked like a parade. Turns out it was a huge march for peace lead by kids from the local schools! Domestic violence is one of the biggest problems on the islands. 

After we got back to town I learned that GAIAS was giving us cake and ice cream for Thanksgiving! They also had little pictures that the English students had drawn for us with “Happy Thanksgiving” messages! We ate the cake but we all had our hearts set on some apple crumble and pecan pie at our trusty local dessert place! We all but sprinted over to make sure they wouldn’t run out and enjoyed some delicious dessert (again) all before dinner!

Apple crumble and pecan pie that Sarah and I went half and half on!

After we were still hungry for ‘real dinner’ and headed over to a pizza place (after all, Thanksgiving is about eating!). Pizza is hard to get here and we thought it would be an appropriate meal to share among friends. Jac and I split a pineapple and pepper pizza, complete with a glass of red wine. YUM. Per usual for Thanksgiving, after the food we all staggered back to the hotel in food comas and headed to bed!

Friday was our last day here. The whole group headed over to Tortuga Bay again in the morning to enjoy the waves and beach. The tide was much farther out this time and we had more space to enjoy the soft white dune sand. I spent another 1.5 at least in the waves body surfing, diving, and flipping into the waves. Unfortunately, I burned my face a bit since I forgot to reapply sufficient sunscreen (oh well, it was bound to happen once here). 

Tropical paradise (also known as Tortuga Bay)! Those clouds burned off shortly after this picture was taken and it was beautiful!

To finish our trip we headed to get ice cream. Back in one of our first days on San Cristobal Corinne and I had promised that one day we would eat four scoops of ice cream. I don’t even remember exactly why this pact came about but who were we to go back on a promise. Considering Santa Cruz’s ice cream flavors are FAR superior to San Cristobal we deicded to go for it! Jacquie decided to join in on the fun too. We got our first double scoop (cookies and cream & moka for me) and then went back for more (black cherry & carmel this time!). Totally worth it and completely delicious!

The ladies enjoying our second double scoop!

The boat ride back was pretty choppy but otherwise uneventful. It was such a relaxing and fun week but I’m definitely tired! I don’t think I slept very well many of the nights there so it was good to return to my comfy bed and familiar room. This is the last excursion we will take as a group – less then 3 weeks left here! Crazy!