Today we have a 3pm ferry back to Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. We don’t need to check out of our hostal until later so we have the morning to do something. We decide on a walk down the beach. As we get near the beach bar from last night we notice a boardwalk going off to the right. There are more iguanas here. As we walk towards it, a woman leaving tells us that there are flamingos along the path. We have been told there are flamingos on the island, but anyone we have talked to say that they have seen one or two. Oh well let’s take a look.

It turns out that this path goes to the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. So we keep walking. What do we see just around a bend?? Yes flamingos. We see about 10-12. More than most people we have heard from. Bonus.

We continue and after following this path through some interesting vegetation we come to the center.

There are lots and lots of tortoises. In keeping with the purpose of the center we witness “tortoise breeding”. Not something that we will easily forget. There are also sound effects!! There is the sound of what I would describe as possible crushing female tortoise shells. Stu and Greg report much grunting by one pair that they saw along the way. Here are some that were not participating at the moment. These animals are huge, up to 350 lbs.

We return on the same path when we get back to the beginning the iguanas have moved somewhat. There is one chillaxing on the railing. You could never have planned this. I think we need to make posters out of these pictures. 😉 It is just basking in the sun. Head raised, eyes closed – True Bliss!!

Heading back to our hostal we pass the “Iguana Crossing” with some Iguanas crossing.

Cab arrives to take us to the port. We are early, probably the first passengers for our boat the “Albany”. We have a while to wait and it isn’t long before the platform is crowded with passengers ready to board about 3 or 4 boats. It is interesting to me that we pay for the “ferry” $30 per person. The “ferry” is anchored in the harbour and we need to pay $1 per person for a water taxi to take us to the “ferry”.

We take the water taxi and board our boat. It is not full. We do not leave. Soon it is apparent that we are waiting for more people. Two more water taxis arrive with more passengers. The last one doesn’t arrive until 15 minutes past our departure time. This last group boards and immediately there is a confrontation. One of the men is loudly arguing that he and his woman want to ride up top as his woman gets sea sick. It sounds like he may have spoken with the Captain and arranged to sit up top. However, there are other people sitting up there and there is no room. They will make room for them, but his woman looks to where she will need to go and says she can’t do it, walking along the narrow deck for about 3 feet before reaching the ladder. We think that if they wanted to sit up there they should have arrived before 3:15 for a 3pm ferry.

We don’t get underway until about 3:20. This boat has 3 250hp outboard motors and once they are going the captain puts the pedal to the metal, so to speak. We are bouncing and crashing for 2 hours. This is our view.

Thankfully we finally arrive in Puerto Ayora. Greg and Leslie are staying at El Bambu where we stayed last time we were here. They were full so we couldn’t stay there this time. So we say good bye at the port and head to our new hotel, La Fortaleza De Haro. We loved El Bambu, but this place is pretty nice. A bit more dosh, but oh well. 😉

We agree to meet at the “Fish Street” again for dinner. This time there are 4 for $10 cocktails, which we do twice. 6 for $10 shrimp which we thought we did 3 times, but really only twice. Dinner for Stu and I with 2 cocktails each and the shrimp dinner – $20.

Pretty tough to beat. We finish the night with ice cream and walk in different directions to our different’ hotels. Another great day!!