After nearly three weeks in the Galapagos, it would be hard not to get inspired by the beauty and resilience of the natural world here. The wildlife acts like humans are nothing more than annoying paparazzi, often venturing closer with a fearless curiosity. Tiny finches have sat on Joel’s hand as he fed them crumbs of bread, and, snorkelling or surfing in the ocean, sea lions would swim loops around us; popping up for air less than a metre from our faces. Animals and birds tend to rule the roost here, with humans coming a close second – something I found refreshing. Life here revolves around the environment, and sea lions, iguanas and tortoises are given top priority. But even here, as it is in the rest of the world’s oceans, marine life is suffering from intense commercial fishing. We are pleased to have seen this place when we did, as local fishermen and divers have told us that life in Galapagos waters has been declining noticeably. Still, it’s not surprising that we’re a little sad to leave.

Our five days on San Cristobal have been leisurely and relaxed, punctuated with a surfing mission, a snorkelling trip and a thrilling downhill bike ride. In between, a fair bit of work has taken place, along with huge amounts of time trying to find decent food. That’s right – although the Galapagos is seen as a rather exotic tourist destination, food here is hard to find, of bad to average quality and pretty expensive. Fresh fruit and vegetables are nearly non-existent, and edible meat is a luxury. We had originally planned to spend a month or two here, but the lack of a decent feed was pretty hard to overcome. Just under three weeks has been a good amount of time – we’ve seen and done a heap, and we’re (somewhat) ready to head back to the mainland to continue our journey north.

After our surfing experiences in Northern Peru, we’ve been keen to catch more waves so we thought we’d have a crack in the Galapagos. These islands are famous for big swells– which I was a bit scared of – so we popped into the local surf shop for some advice on where a decent beginner’s break was. Playa Chino was the recommendation, a little beach on the eastern side of the island. Sweet! So we hired boards for a day, jumped in a taxi and set off for what we thought would be an exciting surfing mission. Err – not so much. The waves were tiny and scrappy, and an outcrop of sharp, volcanic rocks in the middle of the beach scared me somewhat (I’m a real beginner, and pretty un-co at that). But we had a crack anyway; and although neither of us managed to get a good wave, it was good fun swimming in such beautiful, clear water. I got a big fright when a big dark shape swam under my board – then a doe-eyed sea lion popped up right beside me, cocking his head in curiosity. I was pretty stoked it wasn’t a tiger shark!

The next day we booked a snorkelling tour out to Kicker Rock, the local attraction on Cristobal. This place was otherworldly. An imposing, sheer-walled slab of rock that’s been eroded in half, Kicker Rock stands sentinel over the ocean, a good few kilometres off the coast. Blue-footed boobies nest on the rocky outcrops, but beneath the water lies the main attraction. Schools of Galapagos sharks hunt the murky depths while sea turtles and seals patrol mostly near to surface.

Colossal barnacles, exotic invertebrates, sea anenomes and other unusual organisms cling to the underwater cliffs and schools of fish glint metallic silver as they cluster together in the current. This was an epic snorkelling trip, made all the more exciting by the giant swells that rise up and hit the faces of the rock – I love a bit of excitement! We saw a school of about 25 Galapagos sharks, as well as plenty of turtles and seals. I had never been to such a radical snorkelling location, and, although plenty of the other passengers got scared of the big seas, Joel and I were in our element.

Hiring bikes and going on a cycling mission had always been on our minds, so we grabbed the best bikes we could find on our last day in the Islands. Instead of just cycling the waterfront like every other man and his dog, we threw our bikes in the back of a taxi ute and asked the driver to drop us at the highest point on the island. Shaped a bit like Rangitoto, Cristobal was perfectly suited to a downhill biking mission – and we made the most of it. With the wind in our hair we flew down towards the ocean, the entire island laid out before us. Gazing out over the burnt oranges and pinks of sunset, feeling free as a bird, I couldn’t wipe the enormous grin off my face. This was an awesome way to say goodbye to the very special islands that had become our home over the last few weeks.

Adios, Galapagos.