Galapagos in a wheelchair (1 of 4)
The adventure begins!
Arrive to San Cristobal island, on the far east side of the Galapagos islands. You can only arrive by air from Quito or Guayaquil on the mainl land Ecuador. The flight takes approx 1,5 hour (600 miles of Ecuador coast).
As you arrive to the airport, you are welcome by very friendly bilingual naturalist guide. We board the local taxis (pick up trucks) and drive for approx. 8 minutes to local restaurant in the middle of town. Your lugagge will be taken directly to the hotel.
After a tasty lunch (usually fish), you admire the local atmosphere of town. After lunch you will be taken to your hotel. Hotel is located on top of a hill, very closet o one of towns main beach. Hotel is small and cozy, providing a home feeling. Check in hotel, and get ready to go out again.
Equipment
Our first stop, is to try out gear for the next few days. We take you to our friends shop, where you will try wet-suit, snorkel mask, fins and all propper equipment to go into water.
After you are all set with the gear, we will go towards south side of the island to the Loberia beach. The hike across to Loberia, takes us through a beach path, where the first thing we see is beach morning glory with powerful waves breaking no more than 10 meters from us.
For this activity we use our off road chairs, which let us hike through the path in a comfortable, safe and accessible way. We continue the hike, observing mangroves that go across the beach path, contrasting with huge lava rocks where we find black marine iguanas bathing in the sun, absorving as much sun rays as possible.
On a lucky day, we will cross along the path with some iguanas, and if not we certainly can appreciate them from a distance. We continue our hike, going through carpetweed sections, where the famous round finch birds are spotted.
As we get closer to the beach, we will also spot yellow warblers that come and go very curious of our presence.
Snorkel time
Finally we arrive to the spot where we will go into the water. Our first encounter will be palyfull sea lions lying down 5 feet away from us. We will ge tour gear ready, and with the assistance of our trained staff, you will be taken inside the water.
We will take as long as you need, to make sure the process of going into the water is smooth and safe. The place where we snorkel is a natural bay, where water comes in, and forms some sort of pond, which is home of many animals. Once inside the water, you will be wearing a safety vest, as well as holding on to a flotation rim.
We will be in the water and depending on the day, you will see clamsel fish, parrot fish, sunset wrasses, sea cucumbers, sea urchens, stripped salema among others. On a lucky day, we will have sea lions pubs swiming with us and maybe a marine tortoise……simply wonderful!!!
When it is time, we will get out of the water, same process as going in, providing all assistance for you to get out in a safe and comfortable way.
Finally we will have some time at the beach, admiring frigate birds on sky. On the way back we will spot lava gulls and a stunning sunset from the beach. At night you will have a delicious dinner with the first of many walks across the boardwalk. This is the best way to finish the day as you will see colonies of sea lions coming into the beach for the night. You will be able to see them, hear them and even interact with them.
Time to go back to hotel for a well deserved rest 😊
