The Hike to Tortuga Bay, Galapagos

Tuesday was off to a slow start especially because of the long, exciting day on Monday. I honestly cannot remember why it took us almost until noon to get moving. We probably made breakfast, sat around and talked and slowly got ready. Its also especially hard to get 8 people out the door at an early hour lol.

So before noon we all left the house to go rent snorkel gear only to find out that the place we wanted to rent from was closed. So, we had to try to find somewhere else (added time). With 7 of us needing either a mask, snorkel or both, that was a lot for this place to find. We were probably there for like 20 minutes while they went to their other location (3 times) to try to find what we all needed. I have my own mask but lost my fins in Thailand (you can read up on that in my blog, http://everydaymoad.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-lost-flipper-of-thailand.html). It was a very sad day and now I'm crazy picky about my snorkel gear. They kept trying to give me adjustable fins and I was not having it. They also tried to give me a pair of U.S. Diver fins and I almost gave them the "Z" snap (Giiiiirl, I dont wear that crap!). Soooo, I went fin-less again!

Everyone else got squared away and finally we got moving again. But then we needed to stop for snacks... and Ty wanted to rent a surfboard... There were a lot of us, ok?

We finally made it to the start of the trail. It was sunny, warm and about a 1.5 mile hike to the beach through oputina cacti forests. Its so interesting how most of the island is a desert. Finally we made it to the white, sandy beach. It was so perfect! This is where Ty and Jake would surf. The waves were better here. We all kept walking to get to the smaller beach that was a lot calmer.

It was a long trek along the first beach to the next beach but it was so beautiful that we didn't mind. We also spotted lots of marine iguanas strolling along the beach and passing out under the shade of the mangroves.

Once we rounded the corner to the second, more calm beach we all gasped a little. It was beautiful! The water was completely calm, the sand was soft, people were relaxing in the water and the mangroves provided the perfect amount of shade. 

Jake and I immediately started setting up our hammocks in the mangroves, it was the perfect spot, but within minutes of relaxing, someone told us it was prohibited. So we reluctantly took it down and then tried to make more shade above us with umbrellas and towels. 

The smooth water was calling to us so we quickly covered ourselves from head to toe in sunscreen (its crazy how strong the sun is down there!) and jumped into the water to explore. Only thing was, the visibility was horrible. You couldn't see anything! Ty and I thought that maybe if you swam out a bit to do a mangrove snorkel far from the beach, it wouldn't be as bad but after power-swimming (for me without fins...) to the far side, we found that not to be quite true. We all spread out along the mangrove roots. They form a sanctuary in the water for baby fish and other animals as the roots drop down into the ocean and prop the plant up. They're pretty cool, Ty loves them! Soon enough we started seeing sleeping, white-tip sharks who saught protection in the roots. There were tons of them! Ten at least, just napping and got a little scare when they saw 6 human snorkelers. 

Soon, I was freezing and after the (barely visible) shark encounter, we didn't see much of anything else so I decided to jump out of the water and dry off.

Later, Jake and Ty walked over to the wavy beach to test out their surf board in the ocean. It was fun watching them for a bit and checking out the wildlife. At one point a sea lion swam right past the guys, popped up its head and was surprised to see them in the water! Two seconds later, that same sea lion caught a wave and surfed it till it crashed. You could see him/her flying through the water in the wave. It was incredible! That sea lion sure showed them up.

I walked back to the quiet beach for a minute and said goodbye to the girls who wanted a slow trek back to the house. It was then time for me to do some exploring on my own. I do love checking out the mangroves (when the visibility is good) so I decided to just walk around in the shallow waters and explore. At one point, I had found a pretty secluded spot and I sat for a minute, listening to the waves crash on the rocks in the distance. It was a beautiful, relaxing sound.

I also walked around to a viewpoint where I could see the guys trying to surf in the distance and behind me there was a forest of cacti over a barren landscape of black, lava rocks. There is something so fascinating to me about those desert oputina cacti so near the lush, mangroves. Its like two different worlds comparing the picture above with the one below, but they were mere steps apart!

The afternoon was drawing to a close and we were all exhausted from the fun and sun so we decided to head back. Somehow the walk back seemed longer than the walk out but we made it in good time. We all have quick feet.

We had to walk through town to drop off all the gear we rented and then were on our way home. Or to our Airbnb... felt like home.

We quickly showered and got ready for dinner. It was getting late already and tomorrow was a big, early day. At this point I was starting to get really tired and hangry. For the sake of time, and not wanted to wander around and find vegetarian options, we went back to the place we went the first night. Their food was good and there were lots of options for me. I had a delicious falafel burger! 

It got late quick and we were all winding down from our day. It was glorious to be horizontal and I'm sure it didn't take long for me to pass out which is good because the next day we had to get up at 5:15am... ooof!