Thursday, February 28 – transit from Puerto Ayora to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, San Cristobal Island

Tomorrow I will be meeting my cruise boat on San Cristobal island, so this afternoon I’ll be taking a ferry there from Puerto Ayora.

I spent the morning exploring a little bit more of the town.

The ferry service amounts to multiple converted pleasure boats, all departing at the same time from Puerto Ayora to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. All passenger bags must undergo an inspection at the dock prior to boarding the boats. This makes for a rather hectic atmosphere.

The ferry ticket must be purchased at least a day in advance, and costs $30 (in addition, a 50 cent payment for the shuttle boat service from the dock to the ferry is required at each end of the trip – why not just add this into the price of the ferry ticket?)

This boat ride reminded me of my time working offshore in the Bay of Campeche. We would depart Ciudad del Carmen in a crew boat for the four hour ride to the platforms. That was on a much larger scale than this, but a similar concept. One advantage I had working offshore was that I was part of the “management team”, so I could make the ride up top in the wheelhouse. No such luck on this ferry boat ride!

After checking into my hotel, I spent a little time walking along the San Cristobal waterfront. My hotel was pretty basic, but clean, with hot water and cold A/C! Cost for one night: $39.

Friday, March 1 – transit from Puerto Baquerizo Moreno to the M/S Cachalote Explorer

My Galapagos cruise starts today! Pickup is at 12:30pm, so the morning was spent roaming around San Cristobal.

There were nine of us who gathering on the dock in San Cristobal to board the Cachalote. The boat holds 16, but there were already 5 on board who started their cruise two days earlier. The 14 consisted of:

• A 75 year old woman from England – she participated in less than half of the excursions (but hey, I guess you have to give her credit for showing up!)
• A couple in their 60s from England who own a travel company
• Another couple in their 60s from England – retired teachers who spent their early years working in Africa
• A family of four from Scotland spending a year traveling the world (Wow!). The parents are in their 40s, and their daughters are 9 (Evie) and 7 (Bella). The girls were a delight. We ended up spending our siesta times playing card games.
• A couple in their 30s from Australia (but he’s from Venezuela and she’s from Ireland). They too are spending a year traveling the world (what!).
• A couple in their 30s from Switzerland (she’s from Germany) who are, wait for it, spending a year traveling the world (are you kidding me!).

It was a nice mix of people and we all got along great. And I like the fact that I was the only one from the United States. (I tend to find US tourists rather obnoxious – but wait, I’m a US tourist!)

And a nice bonus was the fact that I had a cabin to myself. I was willing to share, but the final passenger list didn’t support it. (When I booked last minute I knew there was a full cabin still available) The single supplement on these cruises will run anywhere from 50% to 100%, so that was a significant savings for me.

We boarded the boat for lunch and then returned to San Cristobal for a rather insignificant 1/2 day excursion to the interior of the island. Then it was back to the boat for dinner and an overnight trip to our next destination – Española (Hood) Island.