Isla San Cristobol and Isla Santa Cruz (Galapagos, Ecuador)

San Cristobol is home to a huge colony of sea lions.

We paid a lot of money to come to the Galapagos. When you consider that many of the islands in the Caribbean were completely free to cruise or at the most under $100 US, the $1600 we paid for our autografo (a permit that allows us to cruise to three islands; 1-island permits are cheaper) is expensive. Granted, it's cheaper than the $4000 or so that it costs to fly from Chicago but is still pretty rich for our blood.

Tijeretas on San Cristobol

Las Grietas on Santa Cruz--we loved this brackish-water-filled crevice.

So we can understand why some cruisers decide not to visit. But we're glad we didn't skip it. The rugged volcanic terrain, unique wildlife and their sheer numbers has distinguished the Galapagos from the many countries we have visited.

The elusive red-footed booby.

Our naturalist couldn't help giggling every time he said the word 'booby'.

Punta Pitt

We spent about a week in San Cristobol, where we picked up our friends Peter, Hilary, and Maria. We had fun touring Kicker Rock, Punta Pitt, and a few highlights of Cristobol. They got to experience the joys of Navy showers and a swell-y anchorage and were troopers about the whole experience. We took them over to Santa Cruz towards the end of their visit on what was supposed to be a day sail with light winds. Instead we had 20-30 knot winds on the nose, which was one of our more uncomfortable sails, especially for non-sailors. After a couple days in Santa Cruz, our friends headed home to Iowa.

 

Punta Pitt

We'll stick around Santa Cruz for a few days while we figure out why our water maker keeps overheating. Then we'll head over to Isabela to see penguins and volcanoes.