Happy Birthdays and Las Grietas, Galapagos

"9:30 I'm walking out of this house." I announced to everyone the evening before. I wanted to get a good start on our last full day together.

At 9:30 am, I did leave the house with only a few other people (funnily enough all the parents) and we walked into town to get our snorkel gear. After the shop handed me a bunch of the same size fins that were too big and a pair of adjustable, I finally actually got a pair of fins to wear for the day. Yay!

Just as we were ready to leave the shop, the rest of the gang showed up to get their gear and we said we would meet them at the ferry. On the dock we looked at all sorts of wildlife and also spotted the tiniest little baby sea lion with its mother. It was about two feet long and so adorable. The park service had sectioned off an area for them to be alone but we still had a good view from the dock. The little yelps it was making to get the attention from mama was adorable!

Then everyone arrived and we were able to take the water taxi to Las Grietas or The Crevices. The taxi was less than a dollar and not too far from the Puerto Ayora dock but you cannot get to this area by walking, you have to take a water taxi. 

Once on land again, it was a little hike between some buildings, along the beach and a salt flat before Las Grietas. The salt flats were SO cool! I had never seen anything like that before. We even got to try some of the salt from there. It was slightly pink and very salty.

Onward to the crevices! Walking up to it was incredible! The small canyon of rock was filled with the clearest, bluest water I had ever seen. Unfortunately, I was so excited to get in the water that I only took one sub-par picture that doesn't do it justice. Perhaps I can steal some of Tylers GoPro pictures of us snorkeling.

The water was very chilly but SO beautiful. It was 20, 30 feet down but you could see everything clear as day. So Las Grietas is where a lot of the locals used to get their fresh water from because it is collected in the mountains and comes down into the ocean. So here there is a salt wedge (or brackish) with fresher water on top and saltier water on the bottom. The entrance to the crevices from the ocean has been filled in with rocks but lots of baby fishes can get in and with no predators get pretty large. The parrotfish swimming around at the bottom were ginormous!! Ty was able to dive deep enough to see the salt wedge and notice that it was slightly warmer down there as well. All of us were enjoying the water SO much even though it was terribly cold. 

We decided to go to the far end and climb over some rocks to check out a further part of the crevices. It was slow moving and very slippery but we made it and it was worth it. More beautiful pristine waters and fishes. On our way back, I successfully completed a swim through under some rocks with was my first one ever and Ty didn't get a video of it lol. 

Once back on the original side, we noticed a TON of people. I was glad I pushed everyone to leave early so we could get some time at Las Grietas with less people. Before getting out of the water (reluctantly cause it was SO pretty!), Jake and Ty did some diving while avoiding all the people.

Once out of the water, it took me a long time to warm up again. We sat on some benches for awhile getting dry and changed before we went on an expedition to find lunch. 

At the beginning of the trail there was a fancy hotel and restaurant that we went to. It was right on the water so we could watch the taxis come and go. The food was decent; I just had a snack that was the only vegetarian item on the menu and many had split meals. 

After lunch we decided to go back to Playa los alemanes which was the beach we passed along the way. It looked like some decent snorkeling and we were hoping to see more after two days of disappointing snorkels.

My parents sat out this round of snorkeling but the rest of us got our gear on and hopped into the chilly water yet again. We started on the right side of the beach near the mangroves and didn't see anything too exciting until Ty yelled "Stingray!" We all sped over and saw a huuuuuge stingray camouflaged into the rocks! Next Ty yelled "turtle!" and again we sped over to see a scared green sea turtle swimming away from us. She was very fast and did not like us trailing her. She would look back at us with her little head and with a flick of her flippers would speed away. She would then slow down for a second to look back again and notice we were still in fact rolling her and speed away again.

After losing my steam from keeping up with the turtle for a bit, I went back over to where Ty was and  we all were exploring the shallow and saw some blue zooid anemones covering the rocks. Just up from there as we were surfing over the rocks, we saw a fever (group) of about 8 spotted eagle rays. They were all swimming together and it was magnificent. The biggest male turned around as I was following and came straight at me so I backed off and gave him his space. What a great snorkel!

We then went back to the water taxi, got back to Puerto Ayora, dropped off our snorkel gear and went back to the house. I had hoped for a siesta that day but there was no time; just enough time to shower and get ready for our "fancy" dinner on the water.

We went to Aqua right on the water. We got there as the sun was going down and spotted many animals before we even got our drinks. A heron, many pelicans, some marine iguanas and sea lions. They had a two for one drinks special so Ty and I both got two for ourselves and the waitress was a little confused haha. "Both, for you?" Yes, I plan to be an alcoholic tonight lol. 

While we were waiting for dinner to arrive after the sun went down, we heard this horrible sound that resembled someone retching behind me. I thought that some lady had gotten too drunk and decided to vomit off the dock but there was no woman. It was a young sea lion baby that was calling for mom!

The food was delicious. I got a vegetarian pasta dish with lots of cheese. Because we were celebrating all of our birthdays, we had saved room for dessert! I got this delectable brownie with ice cream. After our ordered dessert showed up, the lights dimmed, feliz cumpleaños played and Jean, Maia, Dad and I all got our own small slice of brownie with a candle! It was so special and I ate it all!!

On our way back to the house, my dad found two halves of a coconut and immediately both our minds went to Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Patsy bangs the coconut shells together to sound like a horse. We decided to show off for our friends and laughed hysterically! 

It was a great last full day for us. Jake and Jean would be leaving us in the early morning and we would start dismantling our group for the end of our trip together... The ending is always so sad.