Day 13 in Ecuador

Saturday in the Galapagos Islands

I entered the dining room at 6:55 a.m. and I was the only one there! Must’ve been a rough night for everyone and they were all sleeping in! Strangely empty and quiet. Sergey, the Ukrainian, arrived at 7 on the button, and then the others started showing up.

Tatiana called us all together before breakfast and announced the news: Chile had just had an 8.8 earthquake and the Navy had ordered all the ships to leave coastal areas and head for deeper water until further notice. Our yacht was underway as she was speaking. We all had breakfast and discussed the possibilities of a tsunami and what it would look like to us. After about an hour she said our Captain had heard that we could follow our regular itinerary, so we all got ready for the first snorkel of the day as the yacht headed for the coast.

Once the yacht was back nearer to shore of Isla Champion (a small islet just off the coast of Isla Floreana), we donned our life jackets and boarded the "panga" for a ride to the cliffside of a large outcropping of lava rock. There was a fair amount of current at this area, but once overboard and into the water, we had visibility of at least 100 feet. There was not as much particulate matter in this location, and it was stunning. Saw so many fish I can’t remember all the species, but there were parrotfish of every color, sea turtle, tube fish on some sort, electric blue fish, and many that are in the fish guides and many that aren’t. It was truly wonderful! Also saw both a black-tipped and white-tipped reef shark. The white-tipped shark was probably at least 7’ long, whereas the black-tipped was probably only about 4’ long. Saw tons of star fish on the bottom, plus a bright purple skinny legged one. I tried to remember every fish I saw, but when looking through the guide books for pictures and names, they all looked so different.

Back onto the yacht via the "panga", we showered and freshened up while the yacht motored down the coast of Isla Floreana to a place called "Post Office". This is where, during the years after Charles Darwin, travelers would leave post cards (sans stamps) and other travelers coming by would check the postcard stash to see if there were any to be delivered in the direction they were going. If there were, those secondary travelers would hand deliver the previous traveler’s mail. The tradition has continued, so we "panga’d" over to the area, landed, and walked into the unique “Post Office” area. We were each handed a stack of post cards to look through and see if there were any we could hand deliver, or at last resort stick a stamp on and send once we’re home. Somebody from California had just left tons of postcards for all their friends in CA, so I ended up with probably 12 postcards to either hand deliver or stick a stamp on! What a hoot! Of course I left one at the post office, too – for Mom! I have more postcards for the rest of my family, but I wanted to make sure everyone really got one, so those I am sending from home, including another one for Mom.
After the postcards, we jumped into our snorkel gear and dashed into the lovely water. We saw a penguin swimming around right near us, and a small sea lion, and a good-sized sea turtle, and many more fish of every kind. There was also a blue-footed boobie watching all our antics. The water is such an azure blue that you feel like you’ve really entered an ideal heaven. Except for the king-size horse flies that think you are the best thing they’ve tasted since the last touristas. One of our group, the Italian man, got bit three times very badly, and one of the welts swelled up to two-inches in diameter!

I finally tired of snorkeling – the visibility was not as good here as during the earlier morning outing, so I swam in to the beach and started exploring by foot the side areas to the cove. Believe it or not, there is a soccer field and a bench and quite a bit of litter just behind some bushes from where we snorkeled! What a shock! I told Tatiana later, and she said it is where the crews of some of these tourist boats play in teams against each other when they have the time and no tourists on board! I mentioned they should at least pick up their litter, but she didn’t respond. Sheesh! It’s so typical of what one sees everywhere. Sell the front, don’t check behind the curtain.

Back on the yacht, we freshened up again and had lunch – starting with spinach soup and popcorn, then shrimp and pepper steak and lots of veggies, finishing with a bowl of sweetened peaches (probably canned) for dessert. Pretty delish!

The yacht changed location again and was positioned just off Punta Cormorant. Around 2:30 we all panga’d to the green silica beach and hiked inland to see the flamingos. The inland shallow lake is brackish – part fresh water and some salt water influence from the tides. The flamingos originally flew here from Florida, and decided they liked it, and stayed. Tourista Flamingos! It happened a long time ago, so now they’re considered indigenous.
Tatiana gave us some human history of Isla Floreana, regarding the first people who came here (Germans), and the intrigue that occurred during their stay (murder by poisoning, etc.). We hiked on around the small lake, and the path headed downward and we were back at the ocean again – a lovely white sandy beach where the sea turtles lay their eggs. There was one lone bachelor sea lion, and we also saw several golden rays and sea turtles as dark shapes in the water. Lots of colorful orange, red and blue crabs scurried over the beach and lava rock, and frigate birds winged overhead checking for buried eggs.

We turned around and headed back up the same trail and were met by another tour group coming in. Tatiana took us on another short trail to an area right on the side of the lake where the flamingos were within a stone’s throw. After a short time there of photo opportunities and gawking, we went back to our snorkel bags at the beach edge and donned our gear – this was my last snorkel for my Galapagos trip. It was excellent!

The water started off with not much visibility, but as we got further out along the cliffside we got up to about 70’ visibility. Saw a sea snake digging its way into the sand until it disappeared, puffer fish, trumpet fish, sea turtle, incredible star fish, camouflaged fish, and so many more – I am in the process of IDing them.

Finally, we had to head back – the rest of the group had already returned to the beach and Kristina and I were the last ones out. We headed back and saw a two baby flounders, and lots more interesting fish. Loaded into the "pangas" and got back to the yacht. We were met with snacks and juice. This time in the snack department there were meat and cheese in fried pouches. They were delicious.

Took yet another shower and this time washed all the salt out of my hair – it’s the last time I’ll shower before returning to Quito. And it’s such a great shower – the best I’ve had my whole time in Ecuador - better than any in hostels I've stayed. Took a cervesa up to the top deck and started getting eveyone’s email address while the most spectacular sunset was under way.

The view of Isla Floreana as we were leaving just got better and better – the sun has been out all afternoon and now we could finally see the whole island. It is a very old island, low in profile, but very beautiful in character with many ancient lava cones throughout the surface, and many with hollow craters inside. At the same time the sunset was putting on a glorious show of orange and pinks against the turquoise blue evening western sky, whiole on the other side of the boat the full moon was rising against the deepening blue eastern night sky – wow! Truly spectacular. These are the kind of moments you want to live in forever, and that remind you how perennially majestic is this planet called Earth.

Tatiana gave us a briefing again before dinner regarding tomorrow’s activities, especially for those of us leaving, and we had a complimentary cocktail again from the bar. We toasted everyone – Tatiana, the crew, the bartender, and each other. What a great group it’s been! Then dinner was brought to the buffet! A beautiful roast Turkey, quite well decorated with carved colorful veggies, and lots of yummy hot dish vegetables and potatoes and even green beans that were excellent! I was very impressed and we all ate quite heartily. For dessert an incredible chocolate cake with chocolate icing was served! What a great way to end this trip to the Galapagos – the “last supper” was superb!

The rest of the evening was taken up with the details of preparing for Sunday’s departure. There was tipping the crew and guide, paying off the bar bill, catching up the journal, packing, checking flight times and making sure I still had all the proper legal paperwork to fly and pass customs, of which there is a bit. And we had to set our clocks early as we have one more hike tomorrow - Sunday – before those of us leaving must depart. We have to rise at 5 a.m. tomorrow and be on deck ready to board the "panga" by 6.

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Day 12 in Ecuador

Friday in the Galapagos Islands

It was quite a night with the ship rolling to and fro and at one point my stainless steel water bottle went flying to the other side of the room with a crash, right off my night table. Fortunately I cultivated sea legs back when I was younger and crewed on racing sailboats, so it doesnt usually take too long to adapt to this type of movement, but still it was a bit intense.

After breakfast we got prepared for our morning excursion to the west side of Isla Espanola. We boarded what they call “Pangas” – which are rubber Avons – and did a dry-exit onto an old concrete staircase leading up to the beach. There were sea lions literally everywhere – you had to be careful where you stepped. And then there were the Christmas iguanas everywhere – named for their red and green coloration. And then the little lizards everywhere, and then the gulls and natural boobie birds (their feet are gray, not blue) and many other birds. We walked very slowly along this path shooting pictures left and right, and at least 6 other tour groups were already ahead of us or following us behind. There were a lot more people using this area than I had expected to see. At least 6 other tour boats were anchored in the water near ours.

We had no rain but high overcast, which was actually a blessing. Tatiana was highly knowledgeable on all the animals and birds and their life cycle, etc. She’s truly an amazing young woman. She pointed out many different birds who were hiding their chicks or egg underneath them, and taught us much about each animal we saw. She pointed out the natural “blow hole” created by a crack in the lava along the edge of the island, and we all happily snapped pictures.

Coming out the trail the same way we went in, the sky cleared off and the sun became quite intense. We caught lots more pictures and then finally boarded our “Panga” for the return to the yacht. They have a warm water hose on the stern boarding deck where we showered off sandy feet and packs, then placed our shoes in the shoe rack outside the main deck dining entrance, and THEN partook in our mid-morning snack of unhealthy food they had waiting for us. The bartender is amazed I won’t drink the artificial drinks they serve. I stick to my water, but I do munch on the fava beans they offer – all the rest is garbage in my opinion.

Our yacht quickly pulled anchor and motored over to the east side of Isla Espanola, and after lunch we had the opportunity to kayak, so I didn’t miss it! I love to kayak! The Ukrainian man, Sergey, and I went together. Apparently he had never kayaked before, but he did quite well. We paddled over to the base of the large point of land where so many other tours were already snorkeling and went the opposite direction from them. We immediately spotted about 4 or 5 blue-footed boobies. Apparently they’re not supposed to be around this time of year, so it was fantastic to see them. There were also a couple of young seals rolling and playing in the water, and it was a hoot to watch their antics. Many crabs of every size and color were scaling the rock walls, and we had to be careful because all of a sudden you’d round a corner and there would be a cave that would try to such you into its cavernous depths with the water’s current. It was truly a beautiful paddle, but after about 20 minutes we headed back to the yacht so we could go snorkeling. Most of the rest of our group was already out seeing the underwater sights.

As soon as the London couple returned with their kayak, the four of us headed over to the Cliffside and began snorkeling – this time we were in for a real treat! The visibility was about 80’ though there was still a slight amount of particulate matter in the water column. The fish were so plentiful you could look in any direction and see 10’s if not 100’s of them, in every shape and color imaginable! It was snorkeling at it’s finest! We meandered along the splash zone enjoying fish in large schools, small schools, rainbow colored, camouflage green colored, you name it we saw it, until we snorkeled almost past the end of the large point and were getting fairly close to shore. Our tenders picked us up in the “pangas” and shuttled us back to the yacht.

Lunch was served as our yacht motored its way back to the western part of Isla Espanola where we all boarded the “pangas” again to head to the perfectly white sand beach, where the sea lions were lazing around in droves and one young babe was hunting for its mother. Walked the beach for about 20 minutes, then decided to go snorkeling. Donning snorkel gear I headed out to the large rock just offshore, and saw 5 Manta Rays and a host of sea cucumbers, as well as many of the same types of fish we had seen earlier on the day’s first snorkel.

Came back to the beach and stretched out with a towel on the white coral “sand”, and fingered the coral powder. It has such an amazing feel and texture to it – quite different than sand. Kristina, of the Toronto couple, came and joined me, and from our vantage point we could watch all the snorkelers and boats, gaze at the ocean’s incredible turquoise water, and see the sea turtles and rays swimming below the surface. What a spectacular afternoon!

Finally, we boarded the “Pangas” and went back to the yacht, and the hot tub was ready!!!! Talk about living the life! The hot tub is on the top deck, which is an open air deck except for the canopy which covers about 2/3rds of it. The maximum capacity for the tub is supposed to be three people, but we squeezed 5 people in, laughing hysterically and waving wilding to the other tourists in other boats as our yacht motored away into the sunset with us in the hot tub on the top deck. We felt sorry for them as we were living the life and they had no hot tub on their boat. Talk about being on the other side of the fence…it felt very strange to be with, for the moment, the group that seemed to have it all!

Showered the salt stickiness off and joined everyone in the communal area of the dining room for a briefing on Saturday’s itinerary, and then a celebratory toast to Kristina and Alan for their 10th Anniversary, and a special dinner in their honor. I sat with them at their table and Sergey joined me there. After dinner and visiting, the Holland couple were watching part 3 of the BBC documentary on the Galapagos Islands. I watched a part of it with them, but then turned in for the night. The seas are really rocky and I was starting to feel slightly nauseated, so decided it was time to lie down.

With one hand crammed in between the wall and my mattress and using that as an anchor, I rode through the night fairly well, waking once early in the wee hours (aroud 3:30 EST) when a large wave tossed the yacht so violently that it knocked over the heavy wooden desk chair (was that a shock wave from the Chilean earthquake?), which I decided to leave lying on the floor for the night because it couldn’t fall any further.

Tomorrow we go to Isla Floreana – which means “Charles”, and which is supposed to be the only island to have the last living mockingbirds that gave him the insight into his theory of evolution.

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