Eden Yacht - Isla Santa Cruz

Eden Yacht is by far the nicest boat I have ever been a guest on. I mean no disrespect to those friends of my parents who have been kind enough, for instance, to sail me to the Bahamas or taken me salmon fishing off the coast of British Columbia. These were amazing experiences, but, this first class boat was made for touring 16 passengers and 5 crew through one of the top tourist hotspots in the world and the Eden does not disappoint.  

My group consisted of our Ecuadorian guide Ruben, 1 Israeli, (my room mate for 5 nights in our top deck air conditioned room with private bath), 4 Germans, 2 Canadians (one who actually went to the same high school as me but we were in different grades so didn't know one another... small world), 1 from the UK and 7 Americans.

For the afternoon we visited the highlands of Santa Cruz. Stopping first at some local ranches to see giant tortoises and local birds that cruise the area. The ranchers actually supply you with rain boots so you don't get your own kicks dirty. Class!

I am always amazed at bird lovers. I can't seem to retain the details of one species let alone hundreds, but they can be pretty to look at. Strange to watch ranchers herding their cows with giant tortoises and marine iguanas at their feet and colourful birds fluttering around. 

Second stop was to a section of lava tunnels that we could walk through. Basically, during an eruption, the lava would flow like a river and the outer layer would cool as it came into contact with the air, to form the tunnel walls. The rest of the lava continued to flow until it ran out and the tunnels stop. I have to admit I didn't find the lava tunnels visually spectacular (basically looks like a stone tunnel... What about it? Right?) but the fact that they were formed by magma and over time are collapsing was worth the visit. 

At 5:30pm it was time to board the Eden, check out our rooms, take a shower (I had been waiting for this luxury all day) and start working on my sea legs from a bottle.

At 6pm we had our briefing about the overall tour plan and specifics about what the following day had in store.  Here's a photo of the living room/dining room/bar with our resident bartender, Alihandro, smiling away. Thankfully we remained anchored in the bay for dinner (food is really delish) so we weren't watching our plates slide around the tables during the entire meal. 

At ten o'clock we headed out to sea for our eight hour journey to Isla Isabela. First night of five at sea in open water... make no mistake I took an anti nausea pill and headed to my bed to beg whatever scientific forces I could, to please not let me get sick...

I won't lie... it was a rough night where I was almost rolling off the bed from the serious wave motion going on but no sickness so I considered myself lucky! 

xox

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