We wake up to another beautiful morning.  Today Dana and Greg are doing the hike between Riomaggoire and Portovenere.  This is not officially a Cinque Terre hike, so it should be less busy than the official trails. 

Leslie and I are taking the ferry to meet them in Portovenere.  We have seen the ferries sailing along this section of coastline.  Many of them are very very busy.  Today we purchase return tickets for 28 Euros each.  The ferry is not very busy at all.  The day is glorious and the views the same!  We see some buildings that seem to be clinging to the side of the mountain.  We have no idea how you get there or leave there.  I assume it is by foot.  Everything is very very steep.

As we arrive in Portovenere the Chiesa di San Pietro stands guard over the entramce to the harbour. The Doria Castle also dominates the city.  Leslie and I wander around the harbour.  There is market set up in the center of town.  Beautiful fruits and vegetables along with linens and clothing.

We head along the sea wall towards the Chiesa di San Pietro.  It is a large complex with gently sloping ramps to climb to the top.  Off to the right is what is called “The Gulf of Poets” and “Byron’s Grotto”  The plaque is difficult to read as it is very worn, but this is what it says “the immortal poet who as a daring swimmer defied the waves of the sea from Portovenere to Lerici.”  The Gulf of Poets, so called because of its attraction to famous writers and poets.  Lord Byron, Percy & Mary Shelly, Dante and Petrach.

We head down through the upper main street above the harbour.  There are many unique little shops on this street.  One place is making pesto.  The aroma is amazing.  Another we stop in and discover that they have a lot of products make from Portovenere marble.  It is a very beautiful black marble with golden veins and is quarried on an adjacent island called Palmaria.  I purchased a lovely ring.  The shop proprietor is very knowledgeable about his products.  He also recommends a bar for our lunch.  We take a long staircase back to the port side and find a lovely little harbourside bar for our lunch.  We liked the look of it and after we ordered we realized that it was the shopkeepers recommendation.  We have a very nice lunch.  After we stroll around the harbour again before heading to where the trail from Riomaggoire ends.  It is almost five hours since Dana and Greg set off, so we are expecting them at any moment.  There is a beautiful circle with beautifully warm marble benches that we settle into.  The warmth is sooooo nice!!  Not long after we look up the trail to see our people!!  They see us as well.

Today Dana took “Stu, The Travelling Fish” with her on the hike.  They found a couple of beautiful spots to leave him.  The first is the church that is the protector of Riomaggoire, The Madonna di Montenero.  The church sits above Riomaggoire and has stunning views of the Ligurian Sea.  They found a spot with benches overlooking the sea and left him there.  Also farther along the trail they found another spot that Stu would love.  Forever seeing those views.

They are very warm after their hike, so we take them back to the bar for a beverage and a bite to eat.  We go back to the little shop with the marble and Leslie, Dana and I purchase more marble jewlery.  The last ferry is at 5pm, we assume that it will be very busy, so we catch the 4pm.  Definitely not that busy. 

After our rests, we met again at the restaurant that we rescheduled from yesterday.  It is mostly outdoor seating, so we hope that the wind that took out many of the umbrellas, last night are calmer tonight.  We do have a bit of a breeze, but not like last night.  We have a great meal and wander up the street for a nightcap of gelato.

Another wonderful day!!

We wake up to a warmer morning.  It has been a bit chilly and rainy the past few days.  Greg and Dana have decided to hike to Manrola today.  It is a steep ascent, a small portion of relatively flat and then a steep descent.  I am not up for that today, so Leslie and I will take the train to Manarola. 

The trail begins near the train station.  Leslie and I walk with Greg and Dana there and bid arrivederci as they head off on the trail.  The hike is anticipated to take between an hour and an hour and a half.  The train takes less than 5 minutes to arrive in Manarola, the next terre of the Cinque Terre, to where we are in Riomaggoire. 

We wander around the village for a while, taking in the sights.  It is a beautiful little village as well.  We make our way up the main street to the Church and Bell Tower, 2 of the landmarks in this village.  We look up into the hills and see many hikers making their way into the village.  We are not sure if they are coming from the village to the north, Corniglia or from Riomaggoire. 

After taking in the views from above we stroll back down to the harbour.  We are booked into a Pesto making class at 1:30 so we make our way to the beautiful harbourside location to check it out.  The harbour is very busy this morning.  Lots of people swimming and sunbathing.  This has been the first day that it would be comfortable to sunbath.  It is so lovely to feel the warmth of the sun!!

We make our way further along the harbour and find it a bit quieter and a nice place to leave some of Stu with a view of thise beautiful little bay.

We make our way to Nessum Dorma, the venue for our pesto making class.  There are a couple of levels and we are now above where the morning class is finishing up their experience.  The white umbrellas are where this all takes place.  We re-unite with Greg and Dana here and soon we have found our seats for the class.  The venue is stunning.  We start by picking the leaves from the basil plants we are provided.  Our instructor takes us through the steps to make the best pesto.  It requires a lot of work!!  The chant of “di, di, di” which is supposed to mean go, go, go or something to that effect.  Very vigorous pestling!!  Our host is very entertaining and gives us the history of his little place.  The most beautiful spot on the harbour sat empty for many many years before there was a local contest to see who had the best idea of what to put in this space.  He won!  Only 3 people put in proposals for the location.  It has been transformed into a gorgeous spot.

After we have done our work we are served wine, white wine of the area and a charcuterie board of delicious nibbles of parma ham, bruschetta, focaccia and the most amazing cantaloupe I have had in a very long time!.  Also bread to eat our amazing pesto.  There was a bottle of wine to the winner of the pesto, everyone won!  Each couple came away with a small bottle of wine.

We headed back to Riomaggoire on the train.  WOW, was it crowded.  People were pushing in until there was not an inch to spare.  Thankfully we only had a five minute ride back to our village!  We have dinner reservations at a local restaurant for 9pm.  We are all stuffed from our pesto class so stop in to change the reservation until tomorrow.

After resting we met Greg and Leslie in the center of town where there are little shops that sell fried food in a cone.  There is calamari, fish and chips, mixed fish and mixed vegetables.  We order our little cones of fried stuff and wander down to the harbour to watch the sunset.  It is so beautiful even in the waning light.  We take another opportunity to leave Stu in this beautiful place.

This was an incredible day all around.  Dana and Greg got to do the trek and Leslie and I were free to take the train!  WIN WIN!!

Today we Greg and Leslie will be coming to Riomaggoire.  The temperature is still cool.  Dana is hoping to find something warmer to wear.  She has discovered that there is a “Vintage” store in Montorosso, so we decided to hop on the train to check it out.  No luck finding anything suitable.  We wander around for a bit and hop back on the train to see if the Ross’s are in town yet.

As we walked up the main street in this village, Dana says “I see Greg”.  So fun to just run into him strolling the street. 

The only photos I have taken today so far are “Mirror Window Selfies”.  This window is the best entertainment ever!!  I plan to create a whole new album of these photos once we move on from this place. 

We spend the afternoon having wine and nibbles with Greg and Leslie.  So nice to catch up with them!!  We are meeting later for dinner, so hopefully we will take some photos for today.

We decide on a little place up near the top of the hill here in Riomaggoire for dinner, Da Dulìn.  We were able to grab the last 4 seats at about 7:30 without a reservation.  Well timed.  It is very busy in this little place.

We had great company and conversation with Greg and Leslie.  Our meals were OK.  I ordered pesto pasta with clams & mussels.  It arrived without clams or mussels.  They took it away, added the missing seafood and returned it to me.  The pesto was tasty.  Dana ordered spaghetti and meatballs.  We have been told that the Italians do not eat sphaghetti with meatballs, so that this was on the menu was a bit of a surprise.  There were a couple of meatballs that were very pink inside.  Leslie ordered a “Sea Salad” as a starter.  It was warm calamari, prawns in olive oil.  Greg’s starter was smoked swordfish with tomatoes.  We were able to taste both of these starters.  They were tasty.

We ended up the evening a geleteria down the street.  This was Dana and my first gelato since arriving.  The temperatures have been too chilly to temp us.  Greg and Leslie admit to multiple servings since arriving.  We did enjoy this desert. 

We part ways for the evening and plan to meet again tomorrow as we have a pesto making class in the next village over, Manarola.  The decision is how to get there.  It may be a hike for Greg and Dana and the train for Leslie and I.  I am still recovering from our hike the other day.  The trail is quite steep at each end.  So, I think I will take the easy way to Manarola.

We planned to hike from Volastra, after a short bus ride to get there.  This plan eliminates the steep climbs that are required otherwise.  Since my feet have been feeling the effects of the chemo drugs, I have not been able to prepare physically for this trip.  So avoiding the steep climb works for me!

We could hear the rain during the night and when we woke in the morning it was still raining, sometimes quite hard.  We decide to continue with our plan.  We have our breakfast and head out to the bus stop in front of the ATM in the main street Via Columbo.  We are a bit early and check out a restaurant Sarah our host told us about.  While in a tunnel/street an elder man speaks to us.  He asks where we are from and obviously we tell him Canada.  He is pleased.  He lists off a number of Canadian cities that he has been in his life.  He has been to Vancouver at the beginning of an Alaskan cruise.  He then lists of many many countries that he has been to as well.  He has been almost everywhere.  We head back out to wait for the bus.  We see him carrying two large wine carboys covered in wicker up the street.  While sitting on a bench nearby he pops out of the door behind us.  We learn more about him.  He makes wine, the space he has in the building behind us is where he stores some of his wine making supplies and equipment.  He is there to clean his carboys.  Quite a character.    We take a photo of Stu in this village before we set off on the small bus, that carries mainly locals except for us.

We find the beginning of the trail and start off.  It is quite quiet at the moment.  It is still raining a bit as we walk.  The trail has a winery along the route, so we thought it would be rude not to stop for a tasting.  Sadly, it was locked up tight as a drum.  Not sure when it would open.  Just past the winery, we are walking through a vineyard overlooking the Ligurian Sea.  It seems the perfect spot to leave some of Stu.  

The trail is quite mucky with lots of puddles.  This photo definitely makes it look treacherous, but we didn’t feel that at the time really.  The path takes us through someone’s yard, it feels like.  It could be a B&B, not sure. 

We are now getting closer to Corniglia, which is the middle terre of the Cinque Terre.  It is the only village that is not on the water.  The train arrives at the waters edge, but there are over 300 stairs to get to the village at the top.   We arrive and find a little bar to enjoy some Limon Spritz and some lunch.  The last bit downhill to this village, my feet, specifically my toes were very sore. 

After our little rest they are feeling much better.  We are reading that the trail from here, Corniglia to Vernazza is not that difficult, so we decided to carry on to Vernazza.  The portion of the trail requires payment.  We stop at the little booth and are expecting to pay 7.5 Euros, but we are only asked for 6, not sure why, but that is OK. 

The trail is way more challenging that I was anticipating.  The conditions due to the rain make it doubly challenging as the path is very slippery.  The stairs where they exist are not a normal height, but probably more than double a normal height at times.  The poles definitely help me pull myself up these high steps.  The decent steps are just as difficult.  I rely on the poles again to help me down.  I go very slowly as each step needs to be carefully considered in order not to slip and fall in the muck. 

There are some spectacular views however, that remind us why we are doing this.  It is truly a beautiful place.

We arrive in Vernazza down many many many steps, finally into the village.  There is a little bar across the street, so we make our way there and enjoy sitting, taking the weight off of our feet.  We order drinks.  Dana has an Aperol Spritz, I have a half pint of beer and a fizzy water.  Not long after the drinks arrive, our server brings some snacks.  Some focaccia (which is one of the specialities in this area), some with pesto, some with cheese, also some chips.  This is all complimentary.  This cost us 7.5 Euro.  Nice!!

These are our shoes after this day.  Covered in mud.  My pants too.  Even banging our feet does not dislodge much of it.  Into the bidet go my shoes and poles to clear off the muck of the day.  Hahaha!

The shower was amazing and a nap soon followed.  We did manage to get out for dinner which revived us both.

My fitbit recorded 21,699 steps for today.  Very full day.  Difficult, but amazing as well.

We had a pretty decent sleep. We slept until after 7 this morning. Our little place was just for 1 night as we needed to re-jig our days to accommodate Dana and Lindsey’s schedule. Anyway, that means that we need to change places to the one where will stay for the until the 24th of May when we head back to Florence for a night before Dana leaves and Lindsey arrives. So with that in mind we have a leisurely breakfast and repack after unpacking a bit last night. 

Last night while going into my bag I found this notice.  I did notice that my bag was not as I had packed it.  I have never had this happen before.  Not sure if it was just a random check or they saw something that they wanted to check out.  I do have some Stu with me, so who knows.

We made our way to our next accommodation booking.  The address is on Via Columbo, the main street in Riomaggoire.  We waited for a few minutes and looked up at the many many steep narrow steps in the building and sighed.  When our host Sarah arrived we learned that we were not actually staying in this building.  This is the office.  Our apartment is close to the port.  That is a huge BONUS!!

It is however through a maze of streets, which are just narrow alleys, consisting of steep narrow steps up and steep narrow steps down.  Some around scaffolding erected to do repairs on the hundreds of years old buildings.

Thankfully Sarah has offered to wrangle my bag, which is much heavier than anyone had hoped.  She managed well!

Our little apartment is so close the water.  We have a little path right in front that many people pass by.  We have windows that from the outside are like mirrors.  Sarah told us that many people look into the mirrors and take selfies as the ocean is directly behind them.  We chuckle at that thought.

Sure enough, as we are settling in many people are taking selfies in our window.  We are laughing as we watch.  They have no idea that we are inside watching them.  😊

This is us in our selfie mirror.

We were told by Sarah that there is a monthly pass for the train between Riomaggoire and Monterosso.  It is available to locals and tourists and is cheaper than a 3 day Cinque Terre pass that must be used on 3 consecutive days.  There are sections of the trails that require a trail pass so we can purchase those for the days that we need to.  This monthly pass is not generally offered, so must be requested specifically.  Even though the monthly pass is only valid until the end of May it is still a better deal.  We went directly to the train station and got this pass for 33 Euros.  Great to know.

After that was taken care of we headed to a harbour side restaurant for lunch.  We had great views and a Bruschetta and a Focaccia bread to eat.

Since we have our monthly pass, we decide that we should go to Monterossa for dinner.  It is the northern most village of the Cinque Terre, a 14 minute train ride.

This village is a flatter village right on the water.  Not as many hills or stairs as where we are staying.  It is very popular with people with young children.

We find a place for our dinner.  It is inside as most of the sidewalk restaurants are full.  We order a half litre of wine for 6 Euro and we each have a pasta dish.  Mine with clams and Dana’s with smoked salmon.  Both very nice.  We finish our meal with desert and Limoncello.  Nice.

Stroll back to the train station for our journey back to Riomaggoire. 

A very great day!

We are flying from Vancouver to Florence via Frankfurt.  We are flying with Luftansa, first time for both Dana and me.  We have booked seats in the last row of the aircraft where the cabin narrows and the seating configuration is 2 seats, 4 seats and 2 seats.  We opted for the 2 seat row. Even though it is the last row of the plane we can still recline the seats as there is a lot of room behind us and we don’t have to deal with the middle seat and a stranger.  We are pleased with the seats.  The flight attendants are very helpful and we are impressed with Luftansa.  As this is an international flight there is complimentary meals and wine!!  Generous pours of wine  😊  We settle in for the 9.5 hour flight to Frankfurt.  We have our blankets and feel we should be comfortable enough to sleep for a while.  Wrong!!  The AC is cranked up, we and many other passengers are freezing.  Many except for the young man in the row ahead of us.  He is in shorts and a sleeveless singlet.  We have no idea how he is comfortable.  We did ask the flight attendant to adjust the AC and she was very accommodating and warmed us up a bit.  We aren’t sure how the system works, but we noticed the temps dropping again.  We did ask again, and got some relief, but for the most part we were very chilly.

Somewhere over the northern Canada, we noticed some commotion and a flight attendant came quickly down to our row of seats and climbed quickly up into the overhead bin above me.  Stepping on my armrest and almost kneeing me in the head.  She was frantically grabbing items from the bin and tossing them to the ground before climbing down from my armrest, retrieving the retrieved items and hurry back towards the middle of the plane.  We overhead from some of the other passengers that were waiting for the toilets behind us that there was a medical emergency with a passenger.  Things seemed to calm down from the initial panic, so we thought that the situation had been stabilized.  Not long after, the captain made an announcement that we would be diverting to Iceland due to the medical emergency.  We were an hour and a half away from the airport in Iceland at that time.

When we arrived, we stopped out on the tarmac.  They had paramedics board the plane with an elevating type of ambulance.  Just raised it to the center doors where the person was laying on the floor.  Did some treatment and transported them to a treatment facility, and also removed their travelling companions and their luggage from the aircraft.  We then began refuelling.  The whole process on the ground in Iceland was about 2 hours.  Probably time taken for the diversion as well.  We had an hour and a half layover in Frankfurt.  We are sure that we are looking at substantial delays.

Frankfurt is a huge airport.  Luftansa is the major airline there.  Dana and I did not have any information on how we were to get to Florence.  The local Luftansa staff didn’t seem to have much information either.  Our plane was huge.  A 747-400 with the upper deck.  Lots of people to accommodate as this is a huge hub in Europe and most people would be travelling onto other destinations.  We were told to go to what we (and others) understood as gate C11.  It turns out that C11 took us out of the secure area.  We were only 1 step out the secure area, they would not let us take 1 step back into it.  We had to then go out and around and go through security.  Sigh…

Luckily that was a quick process.  We found out that it was not C11 but Z11.  (not ZED11) so we misinterpreted what we were told.  We finally reach Z11 and stood in a long queue.  When we finally arrived to the Luftansa person, he took us to a Kiosk, scanned our boarding pass.  The computer said we were “Wait Listed” for a flight at 9:15.  He said he could not help us so we need to go to gate A14 to rebook our flight.  This lineup was huge.  It seems that our flight was not the only Luftansa flight with issues that day.  We were in that line for at least an hour.  Talking to other passengers with similar issues.  We were getting conflicting information from the other passengers and airline staff.  When we finally reached the front of this line the fellow took us to another Kiosk, scanned the boarding pass.  The same result “Wait Listed”.  He just tapped the Wait List button and badabam, we are rebooked!!!  The first guy could have done that!! 

OK, we head up to the gate for the 9:15 flight to Florence after we spend our meal voucher provided the airline.  We are close to boarding time, so we take turns going to the bathroom before we board.  Dana gets back and I start to leave, when I hear her say “OH NO”.  I say “What???”  She has received an email telling us that the flight has been now CANCELLED!!  We talk to the gate agent.  She sends us to yet another gate to get hotel vouchers.  So Dana and I along with a whole lot of new “Cancelled Friends” head to the next gate to get this information.  While standing in that queue an other Luftansa employee comes to tell us that this gate is now closing and we need to go to the “Main” area for rebooking flights for tomorrow.  We have received emails to book nearby hotels.  Our agent initially says he can get us to Florence via Vienna.  This flight lands after our booked train tickets to Riomaggoire.  We ask for a better option.  Right next to us a young woman who we have been talking to asks why we can’t get on the flights she has been given that gets her into Florence at 9:15am??  Our guy looks again and says “Oh, I missed that one”.  ARGH!!  So he books us on those flights.  Frankfurt, Zurich Florence.  We need to be back at the airport for 5am.  We head out to get the complimentary shuttle to the hotel, the Ibis Airport.  The shuttle bus does not arrive.  Dana is speaking with a man, who it turns out lives in Coquitlam!  He is also going the Ibis.  He has spoken with a taxi driver who quotes him 30 Euro to take him there.  He askes if we would like to share the cab.  Saves him some money and we can claim it back from Luftansa (apparently, we will see how this will all work).  As we need sleep, we agree.  We are off in a cab, with a driver who thinks he is a Grand Prix driver.  He is whipping his cab down small narrow roads, around several round abouts before arriving at the Ibis.  Crazy ride!!  We check in, there is a long list of voucher recipients at the front desk. We order a cab for 4:45am.  We are also able to have a complimentary meal, so we order some food before we head up to our rooms, we each have our own,  We set alarms so we do not sleep past our cab and experience further delays.  Not to worry, I am wide awake at 3am, which is 6pm according to my body.  Tried to go back to sleep to no avail. 

We have a much calmer taxi driver this morning.  The trip back to the airport much more pleasant.  We get through security quickly, get to our gate, meet our new friends from yesterday.  I did check a bag in Vancouver and am quite concerned about where it might be.  I am told it will arrive automatically!  After the experience so far I am sceptical!.  So today everything goes very smoothly.  We fly to Zurich, get to the gate to Florence, board that plane and arrive in Florence.  A miracle, my bag has also arrived!!  Woo hoo!!

We take the tram into Florence train station and make our way to the platform to La Spezia, the first of our train legs.  We have 5 minutes from arriving to get the next train to Riomaggoire.  We get to the correct platform and discover that there has been an issue with the tracks and our next train did not arrive.  There is another one at 3:15.  We are very very tired and really want to check into our accommodation and have nap.  The communication is very poor at the train station.  A train arrives, but it is not clear if this is the one we should be taking.  The doors open and no one gets on.  Eventually a security guard yells “Cinque Terre” and points to the train.  Dana and I hop on, but no one else does.  Many people are confused.  Many languages trying to ask if this is the correct train to where they need to go.  Finally the security guard yells again and there is an influx of people onto the train.  As our next stop is only 7 or 8 minutes away, we stay close to the doors.  People are packed like sardines.  The train departs as promised at 3:15.  We are on the last leg. 

We arrive in Riomaggoire.  My bag is big and heavy and there are many many steps to navigate.  It is hard.   But Dana wrangles my bag, while I take her much lighter one.  I have instructions from the woman who runs our accommodation for tonight.  She says there is a tunnel from the train station into the harbour area.  BUT just before that tunnel there is an elevator up to the street (walking path) where her place is.  We find the elevator.  We are the only ones at first,  Many people are walking through the tunnel.  The elevator arrives and another couple also get on.  It feels like a secret elevator!!  Works for us.  We follow the directions by our host and we are very shortly at our accommodation.  A bed is sooo close.  After a few welcomes and housekeeping details we hit the bed at about 4pm, for some much needed sleep.  We groggily wake up about 6:30, fight off the sleep and venture out into this beautiful little village. 

We made it!!  The medical emergency was obviously not Luftansa’s fault, however, everything after that could and should have been handled so much better.  We had so many stories, so many queues.  We eventually got to our destination and are able to begin this amazing trip with Stu along side of us.  We will be discretely leaving some of him in many beautiful places so that he can see those view for eternity.

This is what we have waited to see. We wander around after our sleep and take in the beauty around us. We enjoy a walk around town, find a place for some wine and pasta. The day is almost done, and it was good!!

I am going to Italy. I was supposed to be going with Stu, but sadly that is no longer possible. I also didn’t know if I could go on my own, or even at all. The chemo is going quite well and I am feeling well and my daughters would not let me go on my own, so this trip has changed from our original plan.

Dana and I are leaving for Florence on Monday, May 15, 2023. After spending the night to recover from the flight, we are taking a train to Riomaggoire. Riomaggoire is the southern most village of Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is translated into “Five Lands”. Five lands are five villages along the northern coast of Italy. There are paths that connect the villages that are very popular for hiking. We intend to do some of these hikes and also take advantage of the local train service that also connects these picturesque villages.

Stu was very excited to take photos in this area of Italy. It is a very popular area for photographers. I am sure everyone has seen some of the stunning images created here. I will try to take some of the images that he was so looking forward to taking.

Dana will leave on May 25th in the morning and Lindsey will arrive later that day. She and I will have 10 days in Florence. We have tickets for Michaelangelo’s David and the Uffizi Gallery and are taking a pasta making class.

After Lindsey returns home, I will join our friends Greg and Leslie Ross in Chianti, where we will discover Tuscany.

I will return home on June 10th so that I will be home in time to attend Adam’s graduation on the 13th.

Pretty early start to our day. Taxi, boat, bus and first flight under our belts. I estimate a 30 hour journey home. I will post Stu’s birthday day when we make it home 🙂

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!!

Today we are going snorkeling at a little bay just to the east of the ferry dock. It is a bit of a walk in the heat so we grab a cab for $1 per person. We arrive at the Concha de Perla and are surprised to see a pier with two sets of stairs into the water. We were expecting a beach. But this is just fine. No sandy feet. 🙂

We see this very contented sea lion taking up his spot on the stairs or on the platform. He has a grin on his face in this 2nd photo, I am sure.

This is quite a busy spot. Lots of people. The water is so beautiful and refreshing. We all spend a good amount of time in the water. I found a little cove off to the left where the water was quite shallow. There were so many beautiful fish and I was so close to them. Here are some of my GoProish shots.

Also near this cove I spotted some very large marine iguanas sunning themselves on the black lava rocks. Such great camouflage.

The path to La Concha de Perla is a boardwalk. It is littered with marine iguanas. Check out this big guy in the first picture. Honestly his fingers were almost as big as mine.

A few more shots of the bay.

There is also a beach across the road and see this. A man snoozing with the sea lions. It always, always amazes me. I can’t stop taking photos of these animals. They are so fascinating.

We walk back into town. It is the same distance as it was on the way here, but we are cool and wet so it goes fast so the next thing we know we are sitting a cool restaurant that I have had my eye on since we arrived. El Cafetal Galapagos. It is my birthday, so I get to choose the spot. We all choose the special. This meal for $8. Very tasty!!

Leslie has a great idea. It is our last night in Santa Isabela so we should go to a beach bar for happy hour and watch the sunset. What a great idea!! It turns out that we are not alone.

We enjoy some 2 for $10 cocktails and wait for the sunset. Our host is great. He is a bit slow with the cocktails, but as you can see it is busy and for the first while he is alone. He calls in his parents as reinforcements. It should get faster now. He alerts all of his clientele when the sun is setting. Everyone takes their drinks and crosses the road to the beach.

This Stu out on the rocks getting his spot.

To get these awesome shots!! None of those other guys got the reflection in the water of this beautiful sunset.

Sunset is done by 7:15, everyone leaves, beach bar closes. Wow that was quick.

We head back into town to try a restaurant that has been slammed busy every night we have been there. On the way we cross the Galapagos speed bump.

We arrive at Coco Surf and happily they have room for us even though they also have a large group. They have had a large group every night. After our food is served we know why. It is EXCELLENT!! This is fish in brown butter sauce with Parmesan risotto and salad. Soo good.

Since it is my birthday Greg and Leslie secretly order a slice of cake. It comes with forks for all. An amazing ending to an amazing day.

Tomorrow we need to leave Santa Isabela, an island that we all agree is our favourite. The town is very small but there is so much beauty and so many activities. We will look back very fondly on this island.