After two and a half exhilarating days at Wolf and Darwin we made our way back to Santiago, Bartolome and Santa Cruz Islands for three more dives and as many land excursions. 

The water temps at Cousin Rock and Gordon Rock were much cooler than at Wolf and Darwin.  While it didn't have an impact on us (we dove dry), the cooler water did force a few divers to sit out on a dive or two.  The second dive at Cousin saw only 5 divers enter the water.  The fewer the divers often means more sea life - and that was certainly the case on this dive.  The highlights were by far the Galapagos sea lions playing with us and the manta ray soaring by.  Cousin also gave us some of the most amazing sea stars we've seen in a long time.

The view from Bartolome was nothing short of spectacular.  Led by our naturalist guides, we  made our way to the top of the mountain where we could see all of Bartolome and arguably one of the most popular Galapagos vistas.  On our way to Santa Cruz, we saw Galapagos penguins playing on the rocks!  We were forced to wonder if it could get any better!

The dive on the last day was at Gordon Rock.  The current was so strong we were instructed to drop to the bottom (about 110/111 feet) and swim with the current around the rock.  We had a blast riding the current and the surge and watching the sea lions, hammerheads and turtles play.  All-in-all it was a great way to end the diving portion of the trip.

After our dive we had two more land excursions including a trip to the Darwin Research Station to visit Lonesome George.  While we were sad to see the trip end we know we will be back again some day.  Bar none it was the best dive trip we have taken.