HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME – DAY 245

WEATHER: Overcast and 23C in the morning – Sunny and 23C in the afternoon

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing more sharks and not totally losing it

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Camera battery dying and not getting some ‘shots’ in the afternoon

WORD OF THE DAY: I am going to finish yesterday’s blog today-for the 6^th day in a row

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MEEEEEE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

So another year passes me by.  This time last year I was ¾ of the way planning my World Odyssey.  I had moved out of my home, packed all my worldly possessions into a shipping container for at least the next 2 years, left my husband and moved in with my BEST friend and my beautiful God-daughters.  It was a busy time and I hadn’t even thought at that point where I would be spending my 37^th birthday in 2011.  So here I am in the Galapagos Islands sharing my day with Amy, a great friend I met on my Contiki tour a few years ago, and whom I try and catch up with every 12-18 months, floating around on a luxury yacht with a busy day planned ahead.  I wonder how many people can say they had their birthday in the Galapagos Islands.  Oh besides Peter, another passenger on the cruise who is enjoying his 62^nd birthday today.  Okay so at least 2 of us can say that.  What’s the chance out of 22 people that there are 2 people with the same birthday?

Amy was first to wish me a happy birthday armed with a beautiful necklace purchased from San Cristobal.  I was wondering why she kept trying to get away from me all morning while we were there.  Sneaky gal.  My Facebook messages just keep on coming in and I got an email from my best friend Shelly with messages from my god-daughters and that she had cooked my favorite foods and quote “You have 37 little Banana Cakes with Candles........  37 mini quiches..... and 37 Jam Donuts waiting at the CAXTON” Apparently Shane couldn’t wait for my birthday to come around to help consume my birthday feast.  So I really have got 2 days of birthday wishes due to the time zones and I am loving it.  So BIG thanks to every single one of you who have messaged, emailed and written on my wall in the last 48 hours, it keeps me going knowing I have friends out there.  You guys are my family.

I need to also pause a moment and remember my mum as she passed away 3 years ago today.  We think it was earlier than my actual birthday date by a few days, but the Police came to work on my birthday this time 3 years ago to tell me the bad news.  I would not have been able to do this trip without my mum’s hard work and dedication throughout her life and I am thankful and I appreciate every day that I am on my journey.  My mum had always wanted to travel overseas and kept saying next year, next year and it never eventuated for her.  In saying that she wouldn’t have travelled for 16 months, that is all me, but as long as I am happy and don’t go too crazy, I hope she would be looking down and giving me the thumbs up sign and that she would be proud of me.  There isn’t a day I don’t think about you Ruth Susan McAnally and I miss you every day.  I received a message from a squash friend yesterday that one of mum’s friends had lost his battle to cancer.  So my thoughts and prayers go out to the Miles Family in their time of grief and you just never know what is around the corner and live each day as if it’s your last.  It sounds so cliché, but it is so true.  Trust me. 

So it was another busy day for us in the Galapagos.  Our first stop this morning at 8.30am was Floreana Island.  More commonly known as Isla Floreana or Isla Charles, Isla Santa Maria as it is officially known, is the sixth largest island in the Galapagos Archipelago at 173 sq. km. With the fourth largest human settlement, this island has a very colorful history and has often been associated with whalers, pirates, buccaneers, convicts and colonists over the years.  In September 1835 the second voyage of HMS Beagle brought Charles Darwin to Charles Island. The ship's crew was greeted by the Acting Governor of Galápagos, Nicolas Lawson, and at the prison colony Darwin was told that tortoises differed in the shape of the shells from island to island, but this was not obvious on the islands he visited and he did not bother with collecting their shells. He industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects and reptiles, and speculated about finding "from future comparison to what district or 'center of creation' the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached.

Also known as Mystery Island, in 1929, Frederich Ritter and Dore Straucher arrived in Guayaquil from Berlin to settle on Floreana, and sent messages back encouraging others. In 1932 Heinz and Margaret Wittmer arrived with their son Harry, and shortly afterwards their son Rolf was born there, the first citizen of the island to have been born in the Galápagos. Later in 1932, the self-described "Baroness" von Wagner Bosquet arrived with companions, but a series of strange disappearances and deaths left Margaret Wittmer as the sole survivor of the group who had settled there. To this day their bodies have never been found.  But she set up a hotel which is still managed by her descendants, and wrote an account of her experiences in her book Floreana: A Woman's Pilgrimage to the Galapagos.  There are a few books now on my list, that I hope to download and read at some point.

Post Office Bay was our first wet landing of the day.  On our approach into the island we saw for the first time some Pacific Green Sea Turtles.  The water was clear here and you could see them in the water, and they would also poke their heads up out of the water to get some air before heading back down again.  They were so cute.  We will get a chance to swim with them this afternoon hopefully.  We also had the Blue footed boobies doing their amazing fish diving while we came in; I just LOVE watching their fishing skills.  At Post Office Bay, since the 18th century whalers kept a wooden barrel that served as post office so that mail could be picked up and delivered to their destination, mainly Europe and the United States by ships on their way home. It was first post office in the Galapagos, which was established by the British in 1793 to send and receive letters from England.  Cards and letters are still placed in the barrel without any postage and continues to this day. Visitors sift through the letters and cards looking for addresses that are close to their home addresses back home in order to deliver them by hand.  There were 3 big snap lock bags in the barrel that contained a few hundred letters, postcards and bits of paper with people’s stories and addresses on them.  It would have been great to have had more time to read the backs of some of the postcards, as they all told very different stories.  There was quite a few of DO NOT DELIVER postcards who were waiting for the arrival of other people or I guess the possibility that they may come back to the Galapagos one day.  Some people I don’t think understood how the whole concept worked as there was no address on some of the cards.  Um how do they think it is going to get somewhere if there is no address? Der.  There was one card I did read and it was dated October 2010 to an unborn child.  The mother was 25 weeks pregnant when they came to the Galapagos and they wrote a card to the expected child with a DO NOT DELIVER on it with the hope that when she gets old enough she will come and collect the postcard.  Sweet idea.  Out of all the postcards there were a few Sydney based addresses and a Williamstown one, which isn’t far from my Nan, but I did manage to find a Wooloongabba address from a Jan Hore, but she had just written on a piece of paper that she enjoyed her time here and had no date.  But I have taken the piece of paper and hope to deliver it next year when I return back home. Amy got 3 postcards for nick of the woods, so it would be pretty cool to be on the receiving end of one of the intended postcards.  My postcard drop offs were thought about in advance.  I didn’t think there would be many Ethiopians or Tuross Head people passing through the Galapagos, so I wrote one for myself wishing me a happy birthday, Dave in Ireland and Amy was also the other recipient.  I wonder if we will ever see the cards again?  It was a novel idea though and a game with fate.  Amy and I also signed the barrel with our names and the date.  I also plugged my blog address on there as well.  I wish I had of been better prepared and bought a nikko pen, a sticker of Australia or something along those lines.  Oh well my name and date will just have to be enough.

We got around one hour here before heading back to the ship and relocating to Champion Islet where a group of us were going to be deep water snorkeling for the last time while the rest got a zodiac ride of the area.  We had about an hour before we dropped anchor, so it was enough time for Antonio to fit in a talk about the fish that we have been seeing while we have been in the water.  It sounds boring, but when you are snorkeling it is nice to know what fish we are actually looking at.  So Champion Islet is an island off Floreana.  The deep sea snorkelers got ready and we left the boat at 10.30 with all our gear.  I have to say after what Amy saw last night at the side of the boat in the light, I have lost a little of my ‘Rambo’ confidence and am still contemplating going in, even on my zodiac ride to the drop site.  The sun had disappeared again, and the water was colder than yesterday, so it was NOT 20C as Carlos tells us each morning and again Amy and I are not in wetsuit while the rest of the snorkel Muppets are all rugged up and ready to go.  Hell, it’s my birthday, it’s our last deep snorkel, our second last day of the cruise…I’m going in.  It was another current dive, as it was actually quite strong, so once we were in and our bodies had dropped 20C it didn’t feel too bad!!!  Champion Islet is a small crater fun wall and another drift dive. We saw a few sea lions in the area, but not in the water. 

There were heaps of fish and plenty of schools as well.  We had only been in the water 10 minutes and Carlos and others had seen over 7 sharks swimming up current.  With the call up of ‘sharks over here’ I was brave and swam over, all the while looking around me frantically hoping I would and wouldn’t see them all at the same time.  But they were gone.  By this time the current had swept us a fair way down the coast, so Carlos made the call to get us all back on the zodiac and head further up than the last drop point to then drift back down again.  As I was waiting my turn to get back in the zodiac, I saw a small (well 1.5m) white tip swim under me and that just made me go white and scuttle as fast as I could back on the boat.  I was done.  I was more than happy to sit on the zodiac while the others went back in for a second time, but I was done and dusted.  Well my fellow snorkelers would have nothing of it and I crumpled under pier pressure and went in for the last time, hoping we wouldn’t see those damn sharks.  Well I saw 2 more below me and then when something touched my leg and I screamed out, I knew that I had totally lost my nerve and was just hanging on by a thread to returning to the boat.  Dermot looked over after the scream to make sure I was okay to which I replied with a thumbs up as okay, but I found out later that night that means I need help and should have done the ok signal.  Either way I was okay, just super jumpy and the call to go back to the zodiac couldn’t have come quick enough.  So much for big and brave snorkeling……Pffffffffffffff chicken!!!

Lunch was served on the sun deck at the stern of the ship.  Today’s theme was an Ecuadorian feast and my favorite was the delicious pork and the caramel biscuits!  As usual we ate too much, but I guess I should make the most of shipboard food, as in a few days I will be back to overland food, and at this point I am thinking it is not a bad idea as ship food I think has added a few pounds in the last 4 weeks. 

Our afternoon landing was at a place called Punta Cormorant.  Named not after the bird but a US ship, there is a wet landing onto a, literally, green / black beach - so colored because it is made from olivine crystals (volcanic silicates of magnesium and iron) and the first thing that hot us was the smell.  It was like bad rubbish / sea lion smell and it was pretty disgusting.  The smell comes from the brackish lagoon that is located at the back of the beach.   Pencil sea urchins may be found on the beach.  Amy was in the first kayak group for the afternoon, so I decided to get some photos of the Sally Lightfoot crabs, which are really pretty in colour and then wait on the beach for her to return so we could go snorkeling off the beach in search of Pacific Green Sea Turtles.  The water was freezing here, so I didn’t want to get in too early and snorkeling from the beach didn’t faze me, it’s that damn deep sea snorkeling that freaks me out.  Well the first kayak group arrived back and no Amy, and then I see her little head bobbing up and down in the surf.  She had decided after kayaking to cool off and swim in, but she was swimming against the current with no flippers, so being the great friend I am, I manned up in my snorkel gear and swan out to give her hers.  This water was the coldest by far that we have swum in and I rekon my limbs were nearly frozen it was that cold.  It was worth it though as we did see 2 turtles swimming beneath us, around 2m away, so it was the last thing to check off out list and it was pretty cool to see them swimming around us in the wild.

So once we had defrosted the group left on a walk of Floreana Island.  A short walk inland and the trail took us to that damn smelly brackish lagoon. This is home to one of the biggest populations of flamingos in the archipelago, these pink residents spend about 7 hours a day or more eating.  Looking into the mud of the lagoon there appears to be 'cracks' in the mud. These cracks are not caused from dryness but are actually the footpaths of flamingos.  We were terribly unlucky and only saw one flamingo, all on his own, as a speck on the horizon.  My camera battery was starting to die and for the first time I didn’t have a backup battery, so I had to conserve what I had and I snapped one photo to say we had seen one and then moved on. 

From here the trail crosses a narrow neck of land and comes to a white beach on the eastern side of the island. Ghost crabs inhabit the beach, and rays and turtles can be seen in the sea.  We couldn’t get too close to the water as the Diamond Head rays were right there and they have a sharp barb to them if you come into contact with them.  We could see around 10 Pacific green sea turtles in the sea and 2 of them were mating, but all we could see was the occasional head popping up and there dark shadows in the crystal blue water. The Sea turtles nest at here December to May.   The sand was really fine and white and the beach is known as Flour Beach because of this.  There were also a few sea lions resting near the rocks and a marine iguana further down the beach.  My camera was dead by this stage, which is a shame as the colours of the sky; beach and water were magical as the day set.  So Amy and I stood next to each other looked, closed our eyes and committed the scene to memory.  It really was beautiful.

I have to mention after 6 days of early mornings, 2 activities a day, we are really feeling the pinch tonight.  We are SO tired.  So much for having a few birthday drinks tonight.  We were still seriously thinking about it till we saw that tomorrow mornings start was at 6am.  Um, yeah I think we won’t be having a big night tonight.  Nothing wrong with having a sober birthday, well not entirely alcohol free.  Mike and Nicola bought Amy and I a birthday drink during the briefing and then Dermot and Jane kept my wine glass filled all night over dinner.  To finish off the evening Amy had ordered a cake through the ship and Happy Birthday was sung to Peter and I with those jokey candles that never blow out, and trust me after a few glasses of wine I tried!  So thanks to you all for making my day a GREAT one.  To be able to spend it with new and old friends in an amazing destination was certainly a highlight! 

 

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.  I wonder where I will be for my birthday next year?  That will be in the hands of fate and destiny and I am sure a whole lot of other contributing factors!!!

I SNORKELLED WITH A SHARK AND SURVIVED

WEATHER: Overcast and 23C in the morning – Sunny and 23C in the afternoon

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: The snorkeling

BUMMER OF THE DAY: The sun not out in for the snorkeling – would have been awesome

WORD OF THE DAY: “Safety first to avoid the worst”

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: Yellow tailed sturgeon, spotted manta ray, large trigger fish, Eel garden, white tipped shark, Galapagos doves, Naughty turns, Brown pelicans, Lava lizard, frigate birds, and Swallow tailed gulls, large angel fish.

We had an early start this morning with a wakeup call at 6.30am.  We have a pretty jammed packed day today, hence the early start.  We departed the ship at 8am for our 2 hour walk around North Seymour Island.  The main animal attractions we would be seeing today would be of the bird variety including a large population of Frigate birds (the black birds with the red balloon) and more Blue Footed Boobies. 

North Seymour is a small island near Baltra Island in the Galapagos Islands. It was formed by uplift of a submarine lava formation. The whole island is covered with low, bushy vegetation.  It is named after an English nobleman, Lord Hugh Seymour and has an area of 1.9 km² and a maximum altitude of 28 meters.  We walked along the visitor trail which was approximately 2 km in length crossing through the inland of the island and exploring the rocky coast.

Just as we were pulling into the dry landing, the Blue-footed boobies are great at fishing and this was no shown first hand when there was a magnificent splash and 5 seconds later a Blue Boobie pops up and then flies off.  It is an amazing sight to see as they are like an arrow as they hit the water have been known to go as deep as 3m when they enter, catching a fish and then heading back to the nest.  Hunting off-shore, the boobies dive from mid-air into the sea in order to catch fish. Successful, they return to the island with their prize to feed their young.  Seriously you need to see it to believe.  It is one of things, every time I see it I just marvel at what nature can do.

Upon arrival at the rocky cliff and seeing some sea lions we headed out on the said trail. It was a rocky path, so we had to watch where you were stepping so you didn’t roll an ankle.  The Iguana’s don’t seem to be in abundance here, but there is one that is endemic to this island and he is yellow in colour, so we are keeping our eyes peeled for him.  Along the way the trail passed colonies of blue-footed boobies and magnificent Frigate birds all co-habitating together and happily by the looks of it.  The highlight for me today was going to be the Frigate birds and getting a picture with their pouch all puffed up and it didn’t take us long to find one along the trail.  It takes around 25 minutes for him to puff up the red pouch and around 2 hours for it to deflate.  It looks amazing and I got some great photos.   

The magnificent frigatebird, a large black bird with a long wingspan, and a hooked beak, is extremely fast and has excellent vision. Frigatebirds are known for the large red pouch on their necks. During mating season the males thrown back their heads, inflate the pouch (sometimes to the size of a soccer ball), and shake trying to capture the attention of female frigates.  It was mating season this time of year, so we were quite lucky and you could see the females circling above looking for a male for the season.  We were also lucky enough to see a chick with its mum, and he was cute as a button!

Boobies and frigates share an interesting relationship. Sharing the same nesting area on North Seymour blue-footed boobies nest on the ground making their nests from the twigs of the palo santos trees, while the magnificent frigate bird nests just above them in the saltbushes.   

Frigatebirds named for the warships once used by pirates are the pirates of Galapagos birds. In contrast to the booby, frigates are poor fishers. Their bodies produce very little oil for their wings and they are not waterproof. Unable to spend time in the water fishing they must rely on food stolen from other birds to feed themselves and their young.

After doing the 2km circuit and 2 hours later we ended back to the cliffs and our waiting zodiac back to the ship.  I would feel bad if I didn’t take some photos of the sea lions, so I snapped off a few and as we were doing this some of the female Frigate birds were riding some of the air currents just above our heads, seriously she would have been only 3m above us.  They are magnificent looking birds when they are in flight.  So fare what a great morning and it’s only 10.30am.

We only had a 20 minute turn around once back on the ship to get changed into our swimmers and get our snorkel gear and head back out in the zodiacs to do some deep water snorkeling.  By this stage I think I’m sort of a Rambo snorkeler and was wondering what I have been worried about all these years not swimming in the sea and not doing snorkeling.  Welcome back confidence and I have to say I think I enjoy it.  Pfffff I have been worried for nothing, right.  It was a current snorkel this morning as the sea was a little choppy, so we got dropped a little up breeze and we let the current just sweep us down to the point where we would be collected by the zodiac.  Keeping with the Rambo theme, Amy and I are still not in wetsuits and the only 2 of the whole zodiac that aren’t.  Well the water this morning was to say the least FREEZING.  But we just have to suck it up and we counted una, dos treis and jumped in and lost out breath for a few seconds to acclimatize and then we were good to go.  Well after being in the water for 15 minutes I see my first shark ever, while I AM IN THE WATER.  Amy was swimming behind me and had seen it earlier, but had decided against telling me, well at least while I was still swimming, but the white tipped shark was swimming my way and I saw him and so did Nicola and Mike at the same time and the 3 of us all popped our heads out of the water to all point and let the rest of the group know, and by the time we had our heads back in the water he was gone.  I have to say I wasn’t too scared and I felt damn amazing that I had faced a fear and I hadn’t freaked out.  Okay the shark wasn’t that big, maybe just over a meter, but it is a SHARK and I WAS IN THE WATER!!!!  High five me man.  People, who know me, know this was a massive deal for me.  I snorkeled with a shark and survived.  Time ticked and we saw massive schools of fish, a spotted manta ray that swam in a circle around us, so graceful, an eel garden, which I didn’t get till I found it, and basically the eels were sticking their heads out of the sand like swaying leaves in the wind, and there would have been 15-20 of them.  It looked so cute even if they were eels….., we saw 2 massive Large Trigger fish which are like disc shaped and the size of 2 dinner plates and my most favorite fish is the Yellow-tailed Surgeons.  They are such a pretty blue fish, with yellow tips on the tails and they travel in schools all the time.  I have seen them every time we have snorkeled.  What an underwater paradise this was this morning.  Apparently we were out there for an hour – it went so quick.

So all that was done before lunch time.  There is no rest for the wicked on a Galapagos cruise that is for sure.  So returning back to the ship, showering and lunching the afternoon was free till 3.30pm.  We finally were able to sort out some washing.  Apparently washing days are only on Tuesdays, so we were going against the rules asking on a Saturday.  Amy and I aren’t sure what the big deal is if they have a washing machine on the ship what day it happens to be, but we sweet talked Marco, the hotel manager, and we were able to get some washing done today.  It is free, but we just had to tip the guy for his time.  Sure sounds fair.  It will be good to have majority clean clothes for the start of my next tour. 

Today is only the 26^th November here in Ecuador, but back home it is the 27^th November, which happens to be my birthday.  So it was great to log onto Facebook this afternoon and have 77 messages from people all over the world wishing me a Happy Birthday.  Birthdays are a big deal for me and I can’t tell you how special it was to have so many people make an effort to wish me a great day.  I have been so lucky making and meeting amazing people through my journey, not forgetting my true and trusted friends back home.  I am blessed to know you all and thanks for making me feel ‘special’ on my day.  Well a day before where I am but on the day back in Oz.  I have no reception on my mobile, which is super frustrating and thank goodness for the internet and Wi-Fi.    

This afternoon we had a walk also on Santa Cruz Island, but from another bay / point called Dragon Hill or the Spanish name Cerro Dragon.  It opened to visitors in 1998.  After a dry landing at a dock, the walk took us to a hypersalinic (saltier than the ocean) lagoon behind the beach, often frequented by flamingos, common stilts, pintail ducks and other species of birds.  We weren’t lucky enough to see any flamingos today unfortunately, but there were some great reflection photos off the lagoon.  This walk this afternoon was purely for scenery and not so much wildlife which made a nice change and to just enjoy the environment around us.  After around 45 minutes we walked up a short hill, which rewarded us with a great view of the bay and a nesting site of land iguanas. This is where we met up with our other group that had started the other way and we got a group shot of us all at the view.  Both Carlos and Antonio have camera’s and they are taking pictures of us during the week to put together to a slide show on our final night and then we can get copies of the photos a week after the cruise has finished off the web site.  It’s a great idea!  Many of the Iguanas that nest here have been repatriated by the Charles Darwin Research Station.  We were still to see one of these guys here.  We saw plenty of tail markings in the dirt, but not the actual animal at this stage and we didn’t see one for the 2 hour walk.

So back to the ship, where they had cool drinks and some snacks served on the sun deck for us which was quite nice, as the sun was about to set on yet another awesome day in The Galapagos.  Each day brings us a new experience and animals and it really is an untouched paradise out here.  We had free time after that, which is generally only an hour or so before the 7pm briefing for the next day and then dinner at 7.30pm.  Dinner is a much livelier affair than last night with our new friends Jane and Dermot and Nicola and Mike, so it is good to have some laughs and share stories over dinner.  No-one replaces Charles and Lada, but it is nice to have company all the same.

Amy went for the star gazing at 9pm and came back afterwards to let me know that she saw some sharks that were attracted to the ships lights.  There were 4 of them and apparently they weren’t the pissy 1.5m sharks, they were BIG buggers.  Talk about deflating or popping the Rambo snorkeler’s dream.  This has placed my original fear right back on track and I am thinking of not doing my deep snorkel in the morning.  On the upside, we are moving from this spot some time tonight, so we leave ‘those’ sharks behind, but they can be anywhere right?!  This is Amy’s payback for the snake sighting so all is far in love and phobias.

So it is good night from me and good night from bitch face Amy (for the shark story) and when I wake tomorrow I will be another year older, making me now a comfortable 28 – again……

OUR CRUISE OFFICIALLY BEGINS

WEATHER: Beautiful, blue skies and 25C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: SHOPPING

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Saying goodbye to 98% of the passengers

BUYS OF THE DAY: Too many to list, it was a productive shopping day

WORD OF THE DAY: ‘Newbies’

So it official.  Today is the ‘official arrival’ day of the cruise.  Even though we have already done 3 nights, we didn’t get the safety drill, welcome drink with the group, overview of the ship, services, how to get on and off zodiacs etc….  We get all that today – which is a little weird, but I can guarantee we will find out things we didn’t know, even after being on board for 4 days.  As we know, most people get on and off at San Cristobal.  So today out of the 42 people on board, 40 of them were departing today and we were going to be the only 2 left on board from the old group and we found out at breakfast that there was only going to be a further 20 people joining us for the next 4 nights.  So neatly half the people to what we are used to.  Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing after having so many people for the first 3 nights.

So there was hype about the ship, with people checking out, bags packed, people excited about going home, transfer questions, times checked, people asking where people were flying to etc….  Amy and I were able to just sit back and watch it all and know that we won’t have to worry about that for another 5 days. 

At 8.30am we transferred by zodiac to the island of San Cristobel passing lots of sea lions actually lounging on a few boats that looked like they had been abandoned.  They must be pretty strong to be able to pull themselves up.  Those suckers are everywhere!!  When we landed arrived at the pier there were a few sea lions lounging around on the stairs and around the chairs on the dock!!  They really are everywhere here.

San Cristobel is the easternmost island in the Galápagos archipelago, and one of the oldest geologically.  It is the fifth largest of the Galapagos Islands in terms of size and has the second largest human settlement of this volcanic island chain. Also known as Chatham Island, Isla San Cristobal is important because it is home to the provincial capital of the Galapagos, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno which sits on the island’s southwestern end. Around 560 sq. km in size, Isla San Cristobal is named in honor of Christopher Columbus, and is the second most popular island after Isla Santa Cruz, as there is a domestic airport here.  

So we had a small programme this morning and as we weren’t leaving we had an extra few hours to fill before the group landed at the airport and transferred to the ship.  Only a handful of us went to the interpretation center in San Cristobal.  The Galapagos National Park opened a new Interpretation Center in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in March 1998. The Center focuses primarily on the history of the archipelago, from its volcanic origins to the present. Two interpretation panels, representing the natural and cultural history of the archipelago are linked together in chronological order. The center includes a small outdoor stadium, meeting rooms and audio-visual equipment for the entire Cristobal community to enjoy.  We had as much time as we wanted here, and after 45 minutes we were ready to head back into town for the rest of the morning.  It was nice to just have some free time and get a chance to walk around some shops, even if they were all souvenir shops and all sold pretty much the same stuff.  We haven’t seen shops for like 6 days, so my money was burning a hole in my pocket and I just HAD to spend some.  I know I did want to get a t-shirt that had ‘I Love Boobies” on it with a pair of Blue Footed Boobies feet, but apparently only ‘smaller’ people wear these shirts and I could only fir into a men’s size which I know I wouldn’t wear.  I am not normally a t-shirt buyer, but there is just something about the bragging rights of saying I have been to the Galapagos that appeals to me, so we walked into nearly every t-shirt shop of the main street and I did find 2 ladies shirts to fit, which are actually quite nice but not the I Love Boobies, which is a shame.  BUT I did manage to buy all other parafanalia that had that written on it from a few stickers, a hat pin, a pencil case and a carry bag.  So I think that filled the t-shirt void. 

The arriving group’s flight was due in at 1pm.  Amy and I decided to catch a zodiac back to La Pinta at 12 noon and there were 2 new guests on this ride as well.  Jane from the UK and Dermot from Ireland.  So introductions were made and we have now met the first 2 new passengers of the cruise.  They seem cool and I think we will get along with them just fine.  So we basically had the ship to ourselves till just after 1.30pm when the rest of the group arrived off the zodiacs and straight into the dining room for lunch.  It was a little more quite with only 20 of us in there and we were spread out over all the tables, but I am sure over the next few days as we get to know people, the tables will fill and new friends will be made.  It looks like an older group and a lot more Brits and Europeans than last week. 

The afternoon consisted of snorkel and flipper fittings, a welcome introduction to the ship and then the lifejacket and safety drill.  This I know is mandatory after arriving on a ship within 24 hours, so we asked if we had to attend as this now technically was day 4 for us.  It was a resounding YES but it didn’t hurt because I asked Amy which way she would have gone had the ship sounded the alarm and we both said different directions, so it was nice to know which was the correct way and for the record it was Amy’s.  Thank goodness the ship didn’t go down in the last 4 days.  We learnt more about the ship, laundry, there’s a ship’s doctor (who knew) and the internet had gone up 10AUD since last week.  We were shown slides of the ship; the Bridge has an open policy and no door locking for the cabins.  Now this is what we expected on our arrival day, but when there are only 4 of us I could see logistically that it would have not been practical to do what they did today, but possibly an information sheet in our cabins could have been a good idea, just so we felt like we were welcomed and not floundering around like a fish out of water.  Just a suggestion which I think I will pass on.

We had 30 minutes to prepare for our first (not really) landing of the cruise and introduce the ‘newbies’ to the systems and show them the ropes.  The hardest thing I have seen all week is getting the blasted life jackets on.  They are a little tricky to start with (I’ve been fine as they are the same ones as Antarctica) and this is what the ‘newbies’ have struggled with the most so far.  I hate to say you do feel a little superior knowing how it all works and trying to help them out, and it is this that drives me nuts if the roles were reversed, but I like to think that the old ducks appreciate it for the manner in which it is given and that is to just be of help.  It was a late afternoon landing at a beach not far from San Cristobel.  There wasn’t much wildlife here; there was a large sea lion on the beach when we arrived and a few hermit crabs and that was about it.  For us, that had amazing beach landings the first few of our ‘first days’  it looked a little howdy doody, but for the ‘newbies’ they didn’t know what we have seen and thought it was all great.  Amy and I decided to take the plunge in the water and try our luck at some more snorkeling but didn’t see anything too much except some fish.  Jane and Dermot saw a group of 20 golden rays and a sea turtle – and we saw nada.  It just goes to show it is the luck of the draw when you are out snorkeling that is for sure.

We arrived back on board to the usual waiting cold juice and a small snack to tide us over till dinner at 7.30pm.  Not forgetting to ‘flip our chip’ letting them know that we are back on board La Pinta again.

7pm each evening is a briefing for the following day.  Amy and I chill here with a cocktail before heading to dinner.  I have been having Cosmopolitans and Amy has been hitting the Pina Colada’s.  They are delicious and we actually have no idea on what the things cost as the menu has no prices, but at the end of the day we haven’t been spending a lot of money anyways, so I am sure I can splurge on a few cocktails.  There’s always money for an alcoholic beverage right!

Dinner was a quite affair with no Charles and Lada.  We have decided to keep to ourselves for dinner tonight to let the couples have a night dining together and maybe tomorrow we can sit as a group and have meals together.  It is hard to know sometimes whether couples want to be on their own or join a loud noisy group.  Oh well we will just have to see tomorrow.

It is hard to believe in 4 day’s time I will be starting my 154 day tour of South America and the last pre-booked component of my trip.  That is SCARY.  Never fear, it’s not the last of the World Odyssey, but just the last of the bookings I have in place.  After the 30^th April 2012 – who knows just where I will end up?  An interesting thought.

So it is good night from me and good night from Amy – we have a massive day planned tomorrow and we can’t wait.

xx

FINALLY SOME BOOBIES

WEATHER: Overcast in the morning but the sun shone in all its glory in the afternoon

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: The beautiful beach of Espanola Island

BUMMER OF THE DAY: A little too cool to swim in the morning

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: Sea iguana, Albatross, Gulls, Red Tailed Tropics, Sea Lions, Galapagos Doves, Mockingbirds, Galapagos Finches, Nasca Boobies, Blue Footed Boobies, Lava Lizards, Baby Blue Footed Boobies

WORD OF THE DAY:  ‘I love boobies’ (of the Blue footed variety)

Well I may have finally caught up on my sleep waking before the ships alarm at 6.15am.  Time to catch up on the blog now and I am just about there. 

It is a ‘busy’ morning.  There is a lot going on and there seemed to be a little confusion on what we needed to take on what part of the morning.  This may have just been Amy and I, but we got there in the end.  This morning there was a few options.  They were doing some kayaking with departures that were leaving at 8.30am, 9.00am and 9.30am.  I wasn’t going to push my luck and get into a kayak, but Amy signed up for the 9.30am departure.  So the people who were not doing the kayaking or the later 2 departures of kayaking could leave for the beach to spend some time there before doing their excursion.  On top of that, after those excursions we were going for a deep water snorkeling straight form the beach.  See it is all a little confusing right.

So Aimes and I set off at 8.30am for the 5 minute ride to Gardner Bay and its beautiful white sand beach in the ‘panga’ (zodiac).  It is a shame that the weather is a little overcast as it was a snorkeling morning this morning.  There were heaps of sea lions swimming and would have been a perfect opportunity to try and get in the water with them again.  We have bought our gear with us in the positive spirit that Jimbob has taught me and that maybe the sun was going to poke through miraculously at some stage. 

Espanola Island is the oldest and the southernmost island in the chain. Its remote location helped make it a unique jewel with a large number of endemic creatures. Secluded from the other islands, wildlife on Espanola adapted to the island's environment and natural resources. The subspecies of Marine iguana from Espanola are the only ones that change color during breeding season.   The English named it Hood Island after Viscount Samuel Hood and is considered, along with Santa Fe, as one of the oldest, at approximately four million years.

Geographically Espanola is a classic example of a shield volcano, created from a single caldera in the center of the island. Over the years as the island has moved further away from the hot spot, the volcano became extinct and erosion began to occur.   However this island is dying, slowly becoming a rocky, barren land with little or no vegetation. But this does give large bays, with sand and soft shingle which attracts a healthy number of Galapagos Sea Lions. 

Gardner Bay, where we were, is located on the northeastern portion of the island and offers a magnificent long, white sandy beach and when we landed there would have been over 50 sea lions of all ages along the beach.  They are from all different colonies and out of the 50 there were approximately 10 Alfa males and we had to steer clear of these guys should they come too close to us.  They are super aggressive at the moment trying to keep all his females from other mature male sea lions.

   

Even without the sun, the colour of the water was amazing colours of blues and turquoise.  It really was a postcard picture and I can only imagine what the colours would have looked like if only the sun was out.  After dropping off our gear on the beach, Aimes and took a walk past all the sea lions and took a wad of pictures. We basically just zigzagged up and down the beach, between couples, singles, babies, groups of 5 plus, with sea lions oblivious that we were there.  There were also a lot of baby sea lions on the beach.  We have been warned to not get too close to them as like any mother she is very protective of her children.  But most of the mothers were out in the ocean getting food, so they weren’t around and like any other baby they were walking the beach either looking for mum to just chilling and a lot were sleeping.  At one point we saw 3 babies all playing together just like little kids.  They really are super cute and I took a wad of pictures of these guys as well.  Now I know I have taken a gazillion pictures of them already, each day we are in a different location with different scenery so they all look different right.  Right……. (Amy says not so much).

The Hood Mockingbird is also endemic to the island. These brazen birds have no fear of man and frequently land on visitor's heads and shoulders searching for food. It was cool at one point I looked over at Charlie and Lada and Charles had 3 Mockingbirds around him, one sitting on each knee and one walking around checking out his bag.  When you are walking around they follow you like a small dog and they are always around the seals as well.  They look cute, but they really are just ‘always there’.    

At 9.30am Aimes left the beach for her kayaking around the rocks and I took a place on the beach and just enjoyed the serenity of Gardner Bay.  I had to move at one stage as a large Alfa male was within 2m of me and I thought he was going to charge straight through me.  He was on a mission chasing off one of the other males that got too close to his gals.  Yes more than happy to move out of your way mate.  Just after 10.30am it was time for us to leave and head for the deep water snorkeling site.  We passed the La Pinta on the way through so we dropped off a couple and all the camera’s and bags we didn't need to take, cause once we all clamber back into the zodiac apparently all the stuff gets wet.  So I be grudeningly handed my bag in with my camera (it also looked overcast and this was the clincher) and we pushed on to the site.  

Amy and I on day one decided we didn’t need the wetsuits.  We figure we could cope with water temperatures of 20C.  As it was cloudy today, it ‘seemed’ like the water temperatures were let’s say a lot cooler than 20C.  But I knew people were thinking we ‘should’ have got wetsuits so we had no choice but to go in the water.  People were just waiting for us to woose out.  So once we were all kitted up with fins, mask and snorkel, we all took turns by flipping our legs over the edge and taking the plunge.  I am not as nervous I thought I would be doing a deeper dive and not having the safety of the beach in my sights.  As the Galapagos has no reefs, but volcanic rocks, swimming around the cliff edges was still okay as the bottom depth was only a few meters.  But as we rounded the cliff, we got into deeper water and even though I was a little hesitant I ‘just kept swimming’ hoping I wouldn’t run into a shark.  This is my greatest fear, but I kept Shane’s words in the front of my mind that they don’t eat humans…often.  Well it was a little lean on the marine life today.  We saw plenty of fish and a sea lion jumped in not far from where we were and that was pretty much it.  It is very much like African animal watching, you just never know what you will see, they are wild animals and you aren’t guaranteed to see something all the time right?!  It infuriates me that people complain that they didn’t see much this morning.  Furious I tell you.

Amy and I stuck it out for around 30 minutes and the water just got too cold for us, so we swam to the waiting zodiac, climbed the stairs that were thrown over the side and waited for more people to have had enough.  Once Amy and I were on board, a lot of people started to swim back to the zodiac, so all it takes is someone to be the first and then they all come a flocking!  Thank goodness they had the stairs to get us into the zodiac, as I would have no idea how else I would have got my fay arse back in there.   Once we had a full zodiac of people it was time to return back to La Pinta.  It’s hard to believe how much we actually do before lunch; it feels like we have been going all day and not just half a day.  That is the only thing against cruising like this is that there isn’t a spare minute to just chillax on the boat for a whole morning or afternoon, but then I guess you could do that anywhere right.  We are in the Galapagos after all and need to savor every second! 

Lunch was served and we had 2 spare hours till our afternoon landing at Punta Suarez.  Found on the western tip of Espanola, Punta Suarez offers great wildlife such as sea lions, sea birds and the largest marine iguanas of Galapagos.  It was a dry water landing, so we could step off the zodiac straight into a manmade pier, but they didn’t account for the 5 sea lions that blocked our path to get from the water to land.  We had to gingerly step around 3 of them to pass and no exaggeration my foot was 45cm from a sea lions head as we passed.  A little scary, but they did look sleepy and their care factor was very low, but there is just that thing at the back of your mind that they are wild animals.  We split into two groups and after leaving the sea lions and all the cute cute babies we made our way across inland.  There were hundreds if marine iguana as we were walking along the designated path and you really needed to watch where you were walking as they were just lying all over the rocky path. They are also a little scary and if they are in the way they don’t care either, so we had to side step a bunch of them and my foot would have been only 20cm from them.  But they spit, it is salt and saliva mainly as they need to expel the salt from the saltwater that they drink.  So not only are they the ugliest animal they are also disgusting to boot. 

Along the path we also encountered our first Blue Footed Boobie.  I have heard so much about these guys and the little dance that they do from Massimo, so I really was looking forward to seeing them.  They really are a beautiful bird and since blue is my favorite colour that probably helps in the bird liking department.  Once again these birds are not afraid of humans and this ‘Boobie’ was only ½ meter away while we are all standing there snapping our photos.  He just kept in preening and doing his thing.  The amount of wildlife was overwhelming. We followed the trail to the cliff's edge where masked boobies were found nesting among the rock formations. Half the rocks are white, which is from all the bird poop that has been dropped over time, it makes for good photos for some depth, and surprisingly it wasn’t that smelly, but it was quite windy, so that may have helped in the smell department.  After a short walk down to a beach and back up the other side blue-footed boobies were seen nesting just off the trail.  Not far though, like 3m, so once again a perfect opportunity for photos.  We also saw a 3 month old chick getting feed by its mother and he pretty much puts his whole head inside his mother’s mouth to take out what is being offered.  It was pretty amazing to watch and where in the world would birds let you get this close in the wild.  It is just magic here and the wildlife accepts up with no stress of worries.  Each island has only a small part opened to the public, to minimize the impact to the animals, so if they didn’t like the intrusion they could go to another part of the island if they wanted, so it isn’t like they have no choice to see us or not.    There were Albatrosses and gulls and Red-tailed Tropic birds swooping overhead as we walked along riding the hot air currents and they were amazing to watch as some of them were literally only 10m above us and to see their true wing span was incredible.

Continuing down the trail we came to the only place where waved albatross nest in the islands. Some 12,000 pairs nest on Espanola each year. The feeling is very dramatic and it seems like a desolate wilderness as the wave’s crash on the jagged cliffs below and the blowhole shoots water 15-30 meters into the air. The sky above is full of sea birds including red-billed tropicbirds, American Oystercatchers, swallow-tailed gulls, and Audubon's Shearwater.  The Waved Albatrosses, from March to January, has almost the entire world population breeds on the island.  When we arrived at the cliffs that feel into the ocean there was an Albatross ready to take flight for the first time.  It was funny to watch as he would take a run up, stop, flap some wings, back up, look over the edge, back up and then he just ran up and lifted off up over the cliff and took his first flaps as an adult.  They call this Albatross Airport and we saw 2 more do the same thing.  It was an amazing event to have witnessed.  They have to do this first flight by a certain time of the year, as they are massive birds they need the right current to help them lift off the cliffs.  If they leave it too long the wind current changes directions and they can’t fly off on just their own accord.  The island's steep cliffs serve as the perfect runways for these large birds, which take off for their ocean feeding grounds near the mainland of Ecuador and Peru abandoning the island between January and March. Known as endemic to the island, Espanola is the waved albatross's only nesting place. Each April male Albatross return to Espanola followed shortly thereafter by their mates. Mating for life, their ritual begins with the male's annual dance to re-attract his mate. The performance can take up to 5 days consisting of a series of strutting, honking, and beak fencing. Once the pair is reacquainted they produce a single egg and share the responsibility of incubation. The colony remains based on Espanola until December when the chick is fully grown. By January most of the colony leaves the island to fish along the Humboldt Current. Young albatross do not return to Espanola until their 4th or 5th year when they return to seek a mate.

It was a great afternoon, as we hooked in a circular direction back to the pier and to the La Pinta.  Again there were seals blocking the path over the rocks and we had to side step a mother sea lion and her baby, which is a little more tricky as we didn’t want her to think that we were a threat, so we side stepped around her, once again only 40cm from her head and there is a fear factor there that she will open her eyes, freak out and try and bite you.  But needless to say we all made it past her okay to then be confronted with a sea lion that had blood all over her just near the zodiac.  I thought she had been attacked till we saw a little pup hiding down in the rocks.  She had just given birth.  Now THAT you don’t get to see every day.  Congratulations Missy!!!!!

Tonight was our last dinner with ‘The Team’.  Charles and Lada leave us tomorrow and we are going to miss you guy’s xx.  Those 3 nights just flew past, but we will see you both again.  Amy and I have invited ourselves to come and visit in June/July next year, so this is a farewell for now and not goodbye.  It was nice to meet a fellow Facebooker who understands its importance and we will make firm Facebook buddies and some people you meet and just click with and you guys were that for us. 

Another BIG day calls for ANOTHER early night.  So goodnight from me and goodnight from Amy.

We are loving the Galapagos and each day is better than the last.  What an amazing part of the world.

FISH AND PENGUIN AND SEA LIONS …OH MY!

WEATHER: FANTASTIC and 25C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Swimming with 2 seals

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single one

WORD OF THE DAY: That makes me LOL……

Today we are visiting 2 islands.  Bartolome and Rabida. The sun is high in the sky, and the colour of the water was an amazing colour of blue.  Wake was at 7am.  The way La Pinta gets you up in the morning is to play classical music low and then the sound is increased and then we get a good morning with the weather temperature and the water temperature and then reminds us that breakfast is at 7.30am.  Charlie, Lada, Aimes and I had to get kitted up with our snorkel gear just before breakfast on the sun deck.  So with my size 9 flippers, a mask that hopefully won’t leak and a breathing tube I am wondering if it has been washed, goes into a green mesh bag with our cabin number on it and this will live at the back of the ship each time we come aboard from a snorkeling excursion.  They also had wetsuits you could hire for 30USD for the week, but besides worrying if they would have one that fit me, with the water at a constant 20C I think I would be able to cope with that temperature.  I think the big snorkeler that I am – not.

So at 8.30am donned with our life jacket we were shipped to Bartolome Island for a dry landing.  There was a small jetty that we could pull up to and as we got close to jump off there was a marine iguana, actually 2 of them right on the steps and around 10 Sally Lightfoot crabs, which are a beautiful orange colour.  What a great introduction to the wildlife AND as we were waiting our turn to get off the zodiac a large pelican was dive bombing right next to the zodiac looking for his next meal.  It was a massive splash and scared the hell out of us till we knew what it was!!!

Bartolome Island is a volcanic islet just off the east coast of Santiago Island. It is one of the "younger" islands in the Galápagos archipelago. This island, and Sulivan Bay on Santiago Island, are named after naturalist and life-long friend of Charles Darwin, Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, who was a Lieutenant aboard HMS Beagle.  This island is one of the few that is home to the Galapagos penguin which is the only wild penguin species to live on the equator. The green turtle is another animal that resides on the island.  With a total land area of just 1.2 km², this island offers some of the most beautiful landscapes in the archipelago. The island consists of an extinct volcano and a variety of red, orange, green, and glistening black volcanic formations. 

Our destination was to climb the volcanic cone and to get to the top to get great views and hopefully some photos of the other islands. So once we landed there was a boardwalk that takes you slowly up the extinct volcanoes edge with a few lookout stops and photo opportunities along the way.  I have failed to mention that Amy has a spider phobia.  She’s just not scared of them she is petrified.  So thank goodness, as we made our way up the initial climb she was in front of me, as some-one behind be cried ‘look a Galapagos snake’.  I turned and it was around 60cm long and a skinny thing.  I retraced a few steps and took a snap of the snake and continued on my way.  Well I just couldn’t contain myself and I told Amy that she missed a snake, so she shouldn’t be scared anymore, we have passed it. Well I knew after the words left my mouth I shouldn’t have said anything at all, her face went white and she broke out into a sweat.  Sorry buddy, I should have kept my mouth shut. 

There were 364 steps we had to climb to get to the top and it was worth every one of them.  The island was not what Amy and I expected to start with, there is not much vegetation, it is dry and arid, but after hearing the history behind it, it is a volcano after all, so there would be a lot of volcanic rock and ash. 

At the top we did get a great panoramic view, some awesome shots of the 2 bays, the underwater volcano and shots of the nearby Santiago Island.  It was really windy up there, but not cold as the sun was high in the sky and it really was just a magic morning.  After spending around 40 minutes up there, after also got my Bernstar jump, we headed back the same way we came to get back to the jetty.  Amy checked with me when we were just about back on how much further was it till the ‘snake’ sighting place, which I could tell her we had already passed it which was good for her to not have to worry about it. 

From here we were ferried back to the ship to change into our swimmers and to collect our snorkel gear.  A lot of people have been telling us how strong the sun is here, so it has even scared me and we applied a lot of sunscreen.  As I have lost my Africa tan, I didn’t want to get too sunburned on my first day.  Hell I must be getting old if I am being responsible with the sun these days.  So with a 10 minute turn around we were back in the zodiacs heading to the white sand beach of Bartolome.  We were going to have 2 hours here and we were hoping that we were going to see a few penguins and some sea lions.  The beach was beautiful.  It was white sticky sand and Amy and I found a great spot to set up our gear more towards the rocks.  Bartolome is famous for its Pinnacle Rock, which is the distinctive characteristic of this island, and the most representative landmark of the Galápagos.  Pinnacle Rock Overlook has two visitor sites. At the first one, you may swim and snorkel around Pinnacle Rock; the underwater world there is really impressive. You can snorkel with the penguins, marine turtles, white-tipped reef sharks, and other tropical fish. The bay is also an excellent place to go swimming. Galápagos penguins are frequently seen, and a small cave behind Pinnacle Rock houses a breeding colony. Seasonally, Bartolome is the mating and nesting site for the green turtles. With herons, they make use of the gentler beaches.   

So we donned on our snorkel gear and headed straight into the water.  As you know I am not a big snorkel fan, but I am in the Galapagos, so I just have to suck it up and be brave.  Bartolome was the perfect place for me to start, so I could go in off the beach and it was a shallow bay, so it was re-assuring for me to not have such deep water to start with.  In saying that there were heaps of fish, schools of these beautiful blue fish which would have been the size of footballs, and fish fish fish.  It was here that we also saw sea lions swimming, and I even surprised myself when I wasn’t scared of them.  They were swimming with some of the group in the middle of the beach and then before Amy and I knew it they were with half a meter of us swimming around.  Well we were trying to fumble with our underwater camera’s to start with as they frolicked with us but then we just watched them as they swam around us.  It was a very SPECIAL moment and super awesome.  They were full sized and beautiful.  It is funny to see the sea lions being so friendly and active, as the seals we had saw in Antarctica were just fat sausages sitting on the snowy beaches.  But I probably would be sad and not be moving if I was living in the cold when these guys have sun all year round.  May be it would be like comparing to living in London for the seals and Australia for the sea lions?  This was the highlight of the day by far.

So now that I was a bit more confident, it was time to head into deeper water, and around Pinnacle Rock, as this is where we may have got the chance to see some Galapagos penguins.  They are the only penguins that can be found living on the equator and they too have been known to swim with people.  How cool would that have been if I told my Antarctic friends that I had swum with penguins?  Well as we rounded the rock, I saw a penguin standing on a little ledge and at this point nobody else had seen the fella.  So I yelled out to Amy and got a few more people’s attention and then he was the camera star as everyone swam over for their photo with him.  I was lucky and able to get a standing up picture of him but he then laid down for the others.  So I have now seen a Galapagos penguin and he looks smaller than his Antarctic counter parts.  We swam nearly to the next beach, stopping to see some sea lions on the rocks further along.  One of them jumped in but didn’t really come too close to me, but it was cool to see him swimming under water all the same. On our way back to the beach we saw more fish and a few star fish.  What an incredible first day in the Galapagos.  All this and it was just on midday!!!!!!

We were ferried back to the ship for lunch and then we had free time till 3pm which was going to be our next landing at Rabida Island this afternoon.  I went upstairs to the lounge and purchased some Wi-Fi.  It was 60USD for unlimited access for the week.  They have some computers in the library you can use and that cost was 5USD for 30 minutes, so my package doesn’t look too bad and am excited that I can be connected to the world and be able to upload my blog each day.  My phone has no network here which is a bugger, but a week without my phone isn’t going to kill me.  Right?  At 2pm they showed part 3 of a BBC documentary on the Galapagos, but I put in my headphones and started to catch up on my world of Facebook and emails. 

We arrived at Rabida at 3pm.  The island has also been known as Jervis Island named in honor of the 18th-century British admiral John Jervis. Rabida was the name of a convent, where Columbus left his son during his voyage to the Americas. It has an area of 4.9 square kilometers and a maximum altitude of 367 meters. The special thing about Rabida Island is the colour of the sand.  It is an amazing colour of red.  The high amount of iron contained in the lava at Rabida gives it’s a distinctive red color.  As we landed there were at least 30 sea lions on the beach, but we would be back to see them later on.  We went for a walk on one of the tracks for around 40 minutes, getting us to a look out where we had a great view of the long stretch of red beach and then on the other side of the mangroves the saltwater lagoon where there used to be hundred to flamingos, but they have now moved to other islands, likely due to lack of food on Rabida.  There were just some male bull sea lions in residence there now.  There have also been nine species of finches have been reported in this island.

In 1971 the National Park Service successfully eradicated goats from Rabida. This introduced species upset the natural environment and led to the extinction of several native creatures including Geckos, Land Iguanas, and Rice Rats.  The landscape was studded with small volcanic craters along sharp slopes and cliffs.  It was good to see the other side of the island and the rocky cliff faces into the ocean.  So after we walked past the saltwater lagoon and having to change paths as bachelor sea lions were blocking out path we had looped back to where we had started.  We then walked the entire length of the red sand beach and got some great photos of a blue sky, the red sand and sea lions basking on the beach.  Right down the end there was a rock full of water iguanas, probably around 20 of them all sunning themselves and spitting salt water out of their noses at us.  I do have to say that they are ugly creatures and they are right up there with the wildebeest from Africa.  They are U-G-L-Y. 

We had plans of snorkeling here, but as the afternoon wore on, the sun moved around the headland and the temperature dropped a little and the water was lot colder here than this morning.  We had also really run out of time, as it was nearly time for us to head back to the ship.  We spent some more time with the seals and they really couldn’t give a toss about is being so close to them.  In total I rekon there would have been over 120 of them all on the one beach and they are a pretty easy going animal.  We hopped on the next available zodiac and headed back to the ship in time to see a wonderful sunset and my first one of the Galapagos.  We had some free time till dinner, so I decided to pump out some more blog, as I was 2 days behind and get some Facebook’ing done as well.

Dinner was ala’ carte this evening and we had the ‘team’ back together again.  Charles and Lada are amazing people and I am going to miss them when they leave in a few days’ time, as they are only doing the 3 nights.  As usual the dinner was amazing and we were tired as again. 

So it was goodnight from me and good night from Amy and we were tucked in bed and lights off at 10pm.  What an INCREIBLE day as I fell asleep with a smile on my face…….