Today was our last full day in the Galapagos archipelago, but we couldn’t leave without seeing the booby that was pendant on our checklist: the red-footed booby. We woke up anchored in Punta Pitt, a visiting site at the north of San Cristobal. This is the island Charles Darwin first saw when he arrived in 1835, so we followed in his footsteps and looking for this beautiful bird.
After breakfast, we landed on a shiny olivine beach, changed our shoes and started our hike up the hill in this water-worn ravine. As we walked, the red-footed boobies began to appear, showing off their red feet, but it was their blue bills that really amazed us. A few hundred yards more and blue-footed boobies were really putting on a show, with some young chicks competing for their mother’s freshly regurgitated fish, YUM! We all got the chance to take pictures of that beautiful scene, including some adolescent boobies curious of the color of our shoes, and even courtship behavior. Then we returned to the beach to snorkel with the sea lions one last time. An amazing morning that gave us just a wonderful feeling of communion with nature.
On the ship, we enjoyed the Galapagos lunch, made with organic vegetables from the islands and delicious lava cookies! However, as incredible as our week was, for our last outing, we saved a walk along one of the most beautiful beaches in the world: Cerro Brujo! Sand that felt like flour under our feet, a turquoise sea, and time to take in all the week’s adventures in the islands.
Leaving the archipelago is hard, the week has been amazing and Mother Nature showed us her best side. A slide show with all of our pictures and beautiful words from the captain and guests, made us feel a surge of love for this planet and a desire to protect it, that for sure we will be sharing back home. With a great last dinner, we said goodbye to Galapagos!
