Tuesday, June 18th, 2019

Day 03 of Galapagos – West, Central and East islands on board of the Estrella del Mar by G-Adventures

Todays plan:

“Spend the morning exploring lava flows and lava tunnels on the small island of Chinese Hat. After, enjoy a refreshing dip in turquoise waters. Search for fish and sea turtles in the protected bay. In the afternoon, explore the red sand beaches and salt water lagoons of this tiny island. Look for wading flamingos and nesting pelicans before heading out to do some snorkelling.

Chinese Hat Visit; Chinese Hat; 1h-2h 1-2km
Spend the morning exploring lava flows and lava tunnels on the small island of Chinese Hat before diving into the turquoise water to cool off and search for fish and sea turtles in the protected bay.

Rabida Island Excursion; Rábida Island
Arrive at a red sand beach at Rábida to explore its trails. A short trail leads to a saltwater lagoon; another trail goes past the lagoon to the interior, where the revered palo santo trees grow. (When burned, the branches of this tree give off a pleasing aroma and ward off mosquitoes.)

Sail from Chinese Hat to Santiago Island“

Indiras plan (every evening we get a briefing for the next day. Indy does this with her MacBook Air via a Powerpoint on a flatscreen TV. Afterwards she answers any questions and puts the whole schedule on a whiteboard. Everything is very organized and everybody knows which shoes to wear and to put on before or after the Dinghi ride and when and where baños are available):

I get up early, the night was good, sea calm, a little bit of a baby swing. I slept with open windows, a sea breeze and no air condition.

We are anchoring before Chinese hut island

Coffee is available 24×7, I love this ship from the first moment, breakfast is served 06:45 am at the point.

I get my shoes out of the shoebox and go down for a wet landing.

There may be stones on the path afterwards and to save our toes Indy strongly recommends closed shoes. She is very caretaking. I board the Dighi with Felix.

Indy has small towels to clean the feet from the sand after the wet landing …

Beside the boat penguins are swimming …

We share the landing beach …

And start our walk on the Lava fields of Chinese hat island.

We take the Dinghis back to Estrella and try our snorkelling equipment. Everybody gets something that fits. They provide fins, masks, snorkel and shorties.

After snorkelling we go back with the dinghis to Estrella. I hush up to the cabin and have a hot sweet water shower. Afterwards I hang up my shirt on the sundeck.

We have dinner and sail to rabida island. Then we get ready for a wet landing and a hike on the island. Afterwards we stay on the beach and go for snorkeling along the cost.

After snorkelling we come back to the ship after 17:00 pm, have briefing at 18:30 pm in the ships lounge for next day to the north of Isla Santiago, Bucaneers cove and Puerto Egas.

At 19:00 pm we have dinner and are tired enough to go to sleep immediately afterwards.

Accomodation: on board Estrella del Mar, Galapagos Islands