Floreana Island - nice pair of boobies

There are two primary ways in which to experience the islands… day trip from a port city or get on a boat.

The port city route is advantageous as it minimizes costs but limits what you can experience.

The boat route is advantageous as it allows you to travel to areas inaccessible by land or smaller day tripping boats but of course can be very expensive.
Most people go the boat route, book ahead through an agency paying a small fortune. They are picked up from the airport, shuttled from the airport into the warm embrace of an anointed cabin.

I understand that having it all worked out before stepping on to the plane can appeal to some, most in fact, but we are not most people... the BEST part of traveling, especially to off the beaten track places, is just figuring it out, seat o the pants style.

There we were, port city, more than a few boats in the harbor... so we just started asking around... "hello mate, have a boat and a cruise available for 3?"
A few hours later, after some interesting negotiations that included my wrist watch and a promise for a sweet TripAdvisor review, we had secured a ride.
A few important caveats for anyone wishing to follow suit... Heather ALWAYS researches the options, reading travel books, guides and blogs, we knew it was low season, we knew the islands we wanted to visit, we knew the kind of boat we wanted to stay on and most importantly, we knew our limits on what we would pay.
Never go in blind, and always be willing to walk if you can't secure what you believe to be a good deal.

Unfortunately, we would not be able to set sail for another 2 days, which meant we had some time to kill... what to do? what to do?
We decided to hit a few of the closer islands that our cruise would not be travelling to.
The day-trip island runs are done on relatively small, open, fast boats, with a captain and a guide.
All of the day-trip islands are within a few hours range, although open water, this time of year, the water is relatively calm, protected from the intensity of the mighty Pacific by the Equatorial position and the Humbolt and Cromwell cross currents.

First island day trip, Floreana island.
Nervous smiles leaving port, Heather worried about turning green and puking like a pelican, my mom worried about basically everything else (shark attack, rouge wave, Poseidon Adventure, trapped on an uncharted desert isle with Gilligan, the skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the moooovie star, the professor and Marianne...)

Half way there, and we are greeted and accompanied by a massive pod of dolphins... dolphins to the left, dolphins to the right, dolphins in the front, dolphins in the back... 10s and 10s of dolphins... so fun, so playful.

Stepping off the boat, we were immediately greeted by the local ambassador... soooo freakin CUTE!!!

We hiked a few miles across the island to the Devils Crown, a sweet little snorkel spot.

Unfortunately, there were some seriously strong currents, and with my mom still pretty freaked out about the boat ride, I elected to stay out of the water.
Heather, of course, the master floater she is... got right in and crushed it.

But there was plenty to see stumbling around the rocks...
Seriously?!? Could baby sea lions be any cuter???
Caught this little monkey snoozing in the warm afternoon sun, completely oblivious to random tourist taking his pic... a study in chill.

Second day in the islands and BOOM, not one but two two two Blue Footed Boobies.
I can fly home right now and be content.
Just look at them... you know they are saying "Yeah, my feet are blue, whatd up?"
I want blue kicks and I want to own it like my boobie friends.

After a light lunch, we headed into the highlands for a hike and a few giant land tortoises transitioning back into the wild.

We also stumbled upon this ancient stone craving of a lost to history Islander king... ummm that would be negative ghost rider...
Actually, it was craved in the 50s as a prank, by a German kid (more on him shortly).

Back to the docks for the ride back to home base, but not before a goodbye from a couple of curious marine iguanas.

The first ever official person born in the islands, is not a Ecuadorian, not a pirate, not random pacific islanders, nope, the first official birth was a German named Rolf Wittmer.
He is kinda a local legend who craved a stone face in a big rock (as seen above) and then convinced a Norwegian anthropologist is was ancient stone craving of a lost to history Islander king.
Fast forward a few decades, and the Ecuadorian government builds a giant bronze statue of the man himself...
The lesson kids?
If you are going to vandalize a UNESCO world heritage site, go BIG and sucker a few world renown scientists and maybe, just maybe, the Ecuadorian government will build YOU a giant bronze statue one day.