Life on board the MY San Jose is wonderful. 15 passengers and 9 crew. The crew is so helpful and friendly, always making sure the dinghies are wiped down, the life jackets are stacked neatly. After a shore excursion was have cold drinks waiting for us (today, banana smoothies) or a snack like chicken empanadas. The meals are delicious, lots of veggies, sometimes soup and always a hot meal with dessert or fresh fruit. We have tried some Ecuadorian food like manioc and plantain. Our cabins are quite large, with 2 single beds, a desk/shelf and an ensuite with large shower and a wardrobe for extra clothing. The crew make our beds daily and make sure we have clean towels. They ring the bell when it’s mealtime, or excursion time. It is very stress-free and relaxing.
Today Mark and Ben were supposed to jump off the very top deck into the water. Mark chickened out (too many Chivas last night made him say silly things!!) but eventually Ben made the giant leap.
We went on a beach walk this morning and there were heaps of sea lions all over the place. You could step on one easily, they were everywhere. A little pup took a shine to Mark, it was beautiful. Later we went for a snorkel, apart from a black tipped reef shark there wasn’t much to see….except sea lions in the water!! Mark took a great pic of a sea lion underwater. After lunch and an afternoon rest, we jumped into the dinghies to go ashore at Punto Suarez. This was an EXCELLENT excursion. Upon landing we just about stepped on sea lions and marine iguanas. There is actually a great surf break here (Mark was excited). We did a 2hr walk around to the cliffs, rookeries and did lots of bird watching: blue-footed and nazca boobies, and waved albatross - I sat next to a waved albatross, he was 2 feet away from me and happy as can be. We watched a couple of them mating and just flying around overhead, including the tropic birds with their long, long tails.
