It was time to leave Isabela and fly to the third and last island of the Galapagos, Santa Cruz. The taxi arrived right on time to get us to the airport. Our luggage was weighed and checked for bio hazards like food. We could then continue to “departures”, an open space overlooking the apron and part of the runway. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 8:30 but by then the plane hadn’t even arrived. After it eventually landed we saw tests being done and engines started a few times before we were allowed to board.
Most of the 30 minute flight we could only see clouds but the final 10 kilometers we could see the Northern part of Santa Cruz bathing in sunshine. Being 45 minutes late had us arrive a short time behind a large jet that came in from the mainland so the airport was very busy. We were guided to the front of the line to have our bags checked again with an X-ray machine and exited the airport. Our taxidriver was already waiting and helped us with our bags to the bus. A 5 minute drive laterlater we arrived at the ferry that brought us to the main island. Another 40 minutes later we were dropped of at our B&B.
We settled in and went for a walk in town where it was very quiet as it was “siesta time”. We spent some time at the small fish market watching fish being cut and sold while a sealion and several birds tried to get some leftovers.
The rest of the day we relaxed and went the shop for some drinks. By 5:30 we were back near the fishmarket for our Geocaching event where we met two American geocachers who were on a cruise.
The only thing left was dinner to end the day, tomorrow we’ll start exploring for real.