Saturday March 9th
Ed and I had planned to arrive at the dock early to wait for Danni, who had to take a bus from the airport and then a ferry to meet us. Arriving early had been a good decision. We saw as much wildlife at the dock as we had seen on trips around the island. A Sea lion was frolicking in the water around all the water taxi’s that were coming and going, there were so many fabulous colorful fish. We saw an spotted eagle ray, a couple of golden cowface ray’s, a large Galapagos shark, a couple of turtles, hundreds of blue-footed booby’s, tern’s and pelicans. It was just amazing.
When Danni arrived, happy but exhausted from her twenty-four hours of travel, we grabbed a cab back to the port. Our cab driver was a super nice, really friendly man who insisted on stopping on the way back, to show us a couple of dormant volcano’s that were lush and green from all the foliage growing within the craters. He also took us to the tortoise farm where the giant tortoises were free to roam, as well as one of the famous lava tunnels. Ed and Danni climbed in and explored a little but I stayed at the entrance to wait, one of my knees was hurting so I couldn’t handle the steep stairs, and the climb down was quite steep.
Eventually we arrived back at the boat and poor Bob who had stayed aboard to wait for the “promised” autographie to be delivered, instead of coming with us, he was still waiting. It hadn’t materialized, surprise, surprise! Bob wondered why we had been so long. I felt bad telling him about our fabulous cab ride, especially since he had been stuck aboard waiting for people who had promised, but hadn’t bothered to show up!
Mostly, one has to bend over backwards on a boat to meet, comply and fulfill all of a country’s requirements for entry, but then when they mess you around you wonder why you made such an effort. I fully understand and respect the rules and restrictions required for control, they’re necessary to protect this delicate ecological area, but when your efforts to comply are rewarded with inefficient, indifference, it really pisses me off. Maybe I just expect too much.
That being said, I’m totally in love with the Galapagos Islands. The wildlife is truly amazing. I love the way the people respect, include and interact with all the wildlife, and recognize their value as an attraction for tourism, which brings economical growth to their country, I find it totally awesome.
We joined a few other Oyster owners for “happy hour” and then dinner at a local pizza restaurant, it was a really fun evening, even though Danni was exhausted from her travel, she still managed to enjoy herself.