During breakfast, Lincoln asked if I did ok without the motion sickness pill, since practically everyone else took one. I told him I was a little green last night and got sick. He assured me he would keep it a secret, then went around telling everyone that I had a secret. It was pretty funny. You can bet that I took the pill Saturday night!
After breakfast, Mauricio repeated what he told us last night about the island that we would be visiting, including reminding us of the types of shoes we need to wear. He also told us that the reason we were still moving was because the yacht had to turn around last night. The captain got appendicitis and had to return to port to go to the hospital for surgery. We were then introduced to the new captain.
Gardner Bay - Española Island
The morning visit was a wet landing at Gardner Bay on Española Island. We were going to land on a white sand beach, so we should plan to get into the panga barefooted. There wasn´t an official trail there - just time to wander around on the beach, relax, or practice snorkeling. About half of the people on this cruise had never snorkeled before, so Mauricio provided instruction to those people.
The beach was littered with sea lions. It was amazing how close you could get to them. You could get close enough to pet them (but that wasn´t allowed).We were warned to keep our distance from the male bull sea lions, in that they might bite if they felt like they needed to defend their territory. No problem there! I had no intentions of finding out if their bark was worse than their bite.
I
n addition, there were a bunch of sally lightfoot crabs and marine iguanas too.
After strolling on the beach for a while, I decided to brave the cool water and snorkel. The ship didn´t have a wetsuit that fit me, but luckily I brought my own "skin". It wasn't as warm as the wetsuits, but it did an ok job of providing insulation from the cool water. I also had a chance to try out my new underwater camera. Because there wasn't a viewfinder, it was a bit challenging to know what I was taking a picture of, since it was too bright for the screen.
After the newbies had a chance to practice snorkeling off the beach, we got back on the panga to snorkel in the open sea, away from the beach. The water was much cooler there. If there weren't so many incredible animals to see, I probably would have hopped right back on that panga. (Although getting back into the panga from the sea is much easier said than done!)
During the snorkel, I saw lots of different fish, sea turtles, starfish, and sea urchins. A few of the pictures turned out, but I really need more practice using that camera.
Afternoon - Punta Suarez
After lunch, we got back on the panga to visit another area of Española - Punta Suarez. This was a dry landing, and I was warned that it was rockier than North Seymore, so wear sturdy shoes and bring my walking stick. The landing wasn't as tricky, but it still started on rocky "steps" before transitioning into a sandy trail.
During other times of the year, this is a major breeding site for bluefooted boobies. Unfortunately, we missed the bulk of that season and only found a few nesting adults and chicks, rather than the 1000s that can be found earlier in the year.
The marine iquanas were big and colored red with green. We had a few minutes to watch them swim into shore before continuing along the trail.
As we moved along, the trail transitioned from sandy beach, to gravel, to small rocks, then to large lava and stones. Much of the trail was spent scrambling over large stones and a few boulders, periodically separated by short parts of gravel or small rock trail. While much of the path was fairly flat, there were rolling hills as we approached the blow hole. The picture to the right shows Mauricio explaining something as we took a break along the trail (large rock section). I don't know how he walked this section in flip flops; I was doing all that I could to avoid breaking my ankle.
Along the way to the blowhole, we saw Nazca boobies, which were so close you could have touched them. There were mostly adults, as we missed the main breeding season.
Lots of red billed tropic birds flew by, although they were very difficult to photograph.
More amazing was watching the waved albatross going through courtship rituals. As juveniles practiced, it was like watching a fencing match. As we stood and watched them, several other groups trotted past us, pausing just long enough to snap a few pictures. I´m glad we aren't rushed like that. We had the opportunity to watch them waddle around as they tried to take off and land.
Once we got to the blowhole, there were quite a few hood mockingbirds, especially each time a waterbottle was pulled from a bag, they would show up to beg for water.
We sat and watched the blowhole for a good 15 minutes before starting the walk back.
On the way back, we saw a Galapagos Hawk,
eating some kind of meat. A little further along the trail, we deduced that it was from a dead baby sea lion, since there was a sizable chunk of it (freshly) missing.
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