In the afternoon, I took the next ferry, this time to San Cristóbal. The main town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, is actually the capital of the Galapagos region (although nowadays Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz is larger and more important). Landing in San Cristóbal was a bit different for a change, as the ferry could actually dock directly at the pier, no taxi boats needed. Upon arrival, I could again directly see all the sea lions relaxing all along the waterfront, on the beach, the pier, benches, and one even in the waterslide for the kids. After checking into my hotel (quite a bit out of town, was about 5 walking minutes away from the pier), I enjoyed the last hour of sunlight for the day by walking along the waterfront and watching the sea lions.
On the next day, I was going out on the boat for a snorkeling trip again. We went to visit Kicker Rock (or León Dormido), basically just a huge rock in the sea. It is to steep and to high to actually land on the rock, but we went around it in the boat to watch the birds and sea lions living there. The main attraction, however, is under water. Along the wall of the rock (apparently more than 100 m deep), a beautiful reef had formed, with hundreds of colourful fish, sponges and starfish. In total, I spent almost two hours in the water, enjoying the reef. (After a while, the water actually started to feel quite cold, if with the wetsuit.) I did manage to see some of the seals untie water, as well as several sea turtles, who just didn't em to care that I was there. I had hoped to be able to see some (harmless) sharks in a channel between two parts of the rock, however, unfortunately, it didn't seem to be the right time for it. (Our guide also hadn't seen any, similar to the previous days, and even the divers only managed to see 2 or 3.) Luckly, however, I managed to see 3 Mola-Mola fish swimming together, although it seems to be rather rare to see even one. They really are very odd looking creatures.
After warming up again a bit on board in the sun and having lunch, on the way back to the harbour, we stoped once more at a beautiful beach, back on San Cristóbal, to relax and enjoy the scenery. After arriving back in town, together with another girl from the trip, we headed out of town again (by foot), to another bay, for a little bit more snorkeling. Again, we saw sea lions, turtles, and many, many fish, but also 2 big rays. We didn't stay that long, as we wanted to be back before dark (which was somewhere around 6:15), and the water was really getting cold.
After a mice warm shower, I meat up with 2 of the other girls again, to go out for dinner, for my last night on Galapagos. We ended up in a nice restaurant at the waterfront, where (as the king prawns wee out) we had lobster in a very delicious coconut cream sauce, with rice and platacones (banana chips) (but only for the price of the king prawns).
It was a perfect last night for a wonderful time on Galapagos, but also amazing 3 weeks in Ecuador. Early on the next morning, I started heading home...
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