We took the early morning boat to San Cristobal and after checking in at our hostel we hiked along the coast. We hiked over volcanic rocks and through dry forests, passed the beautiful beaches Playa Mann, Playa Punta Carola, the viewpoint Cerro Tijeretas until we reached Playa Baquetizo.
Since we had arrived on the island in the morning we were surprised about the sheer number of seals and how they occupied every suitable spot to sunbath. But when we were at Playa Punta Carola we observed a female seal and her three cups and they were simply adorable. They played around, chased each other, trained their swimming skills and were super cute. Further on we saw two blue-footed boobies and many red crabs and marine iguanas. And when we finally arrived at Playa Baquetizo, we went snorkeling with sea turtles. Afterwards we tried to reach the same level of relaxation as the seals but had to interrupt many times as there was always some animal action to observe on this beautiful beach.
On our walk back, we thought about all those tourists who only go on a cruise. They might see some remote islands we don’t see, but as they will not have the time to do extensive hikes on the individual islands they also miss out on a lot. Probably the best way to do the Galapagos is to combine a stay on the three main islands doing daytrips and doing a cruise to the outer islands afterwards. But as those cruises to the outer islands would have busted our world trip budget we will definitely come back on another trip.
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