Another one crossed off our bucket list! From DC, we flew to Quito, then to the islands. We met another couple, Ben and Jo, right off as we were checking into our guest house. We wound up spending most of the next week doing day tours with them. As we had not booked anything in advance besides our a few nights at our guesthouse, we found it fairly easy to roam around town and see what options were open, and then book on the spot. On our first day on the island, we snorkeled off of San Cristobal island, and swam with baby sea lions (so cute!).

The next day, we took a ferry over to Isabela Island and visited the underwater lava caves and saw white tipped sharks, equatorial penguins, and flamingos. It was super hot that day, even though it was December, and I wound up getting a sunburn. Ouch!

We visited two turtle breeding hatcheries, part of the national park, and saw ancient land turtles as well.

We went diving at Gordon’s Rocks and saw a huge sunfish, several manta rays, hammerhead sharks, and giant sea turtles.

And everywhere we went, we saw blue footed boobies, tons of playful sea lions, iguanas sunning themselves, and frigate birds freewheeling in the breeze.

It was a great vacation and words don’t do it justice, so I’ll just add some photos- they speak for themselves. The best part? Making two new travel friends. We can’t wait to get together with Ben and Jo again soon.