Sunday - Floreana Island

Floreana - Punta Cormorant

On Sunday morning, we had a wet landing on the olive green sandy beach on Floreana. The trail was much easier today, which was a relief for me. It was mostly compressed gravel or dirt, with slightly rolling hills. The first stop was to a slightly muddy area, where we saw flamingos, black necked stilts, and sandpipers.



You could also see the volcanic cones on the island reflecting in the water of the ponds.



There was only a small section that required any scrambling over rocks, and that led to an overlook over a pond, where we could watch flamingos and other waterbirds, along with watching the red billed tropic birds.

Coming down from that area, it was up another hill, then down to a white sandy beach. At this beach, we shuffled through the ocean water, trying to find stingrays. There were a lot of them.The water was a bit too sandy to take a decent picture of them. Standing among dozens of stingrays was pretty fun until one of them glided over my foot. That feeling creeped me out, so I shuffled back out of the water and onto dry beach. Actually, I jumped first, then the guide yelled at me for jumping, and then I shuffled out of the water - quickly!

Champion Island
After returning to the boat, we had lunch and then were supposed to change into our snorkel gear and head out to snorkel at Devil's Crown, a cluster of rocks just off the shore. The current there was too strong, especially since several in the group were novice snorkelers. Instead, the boat moved about 30 minutes away to Champion Island. It was back into the pangas, and we got closer to the island before we jumped out of the pangas to snorkel.

The snorkeling here was amazing! In addion to lots of fish and urchins, there were also sea turtles and pelicans. But the most incredible part were the number of sea lions. They would swim right up to you as you were in the water.

If you dove under the water, they would playfully chase you, and do all sorts of flips and spins. That was really fun when in a group of snorkelers, but a bit frightening when I suddenly found myself completely surrounded by sea lions - with the pups tugging at my flippers.

Post Office Bay
After the ever fun task of pulling ourselves out of the water and back into the panga, we headed back to the yacht for a post-snorkeling snack. Once we were all back on the yacht, it moved for another 30 minutes until we reached Post Office Bay. It was then back to the pangas for a wet landing on the white sandy beach of Post Office Bay. We had about 2 hours of free time on this beach, to either explore the beach, watch sea lions and crabs, or to snorkel. I spent most of that time in the water, but after 1.5 hours got a bit chilled.

I went back on land to dry off, to be greeted by a welcoming party of very hungry horse flies. We were instructed that this was one animal that we were allowed to touch (and even encouraged to kill!)

Once everyone was back on shore, we walked the 100ft or so to the "post office". In the past, ships would drop off mail in a bucket here, and passing ships would pick up any mail that needed to go to destinations on their itinerary and deliver it. The tradition continues with tourists dropping off their postcards here, and other tourists picking them up to hand deliver once they get back home. A couple people dropped a few of theirs off. I hadn't had time to shop for postcards or write any, so I didn't drop any off. Mauricio read through the stack of postcards, calling out cities. Several people took some.

As this dragged on, Lincoln and I went to stand under a tree in the shade. He didn't have any shoes on and his feet were burning in the sand. I teased him for not knowing to wear shoes. By this time, Lincoln had started making fun of me (usually for being cold all the time), and started refering to Arizona as "Volcania". We were laughing because none of the postcards were addressed to Brazil or Volcania (or Arizona) so we weren't able to take one..... not that we really wanted to anyway.

Santa Cruz

After leaving Post Office Bay, the yacht turned on the engine and started back to Santa Cruz. On the way, we were told that we might see whales or dolphins. As we got close to Santa Cruz, there were several groups of dolphins just off the bow of the ship. Most of the time they were so close to the ship I wondered how they didn't accidentally get run over!

We also saw a lovely sunset from the ship as it headed back into the harbor. We had dinner, and then had the option of heading into town. Of course, all of us took advantage of this opportunity. We did a bit of shopping (I didn't buy anything since we would have tomorrow to shop too) but Lincoln was on a shopping mission since this was his last night. Klaus, Hildegard, and I were sad about his leaving, since he was so much fun (and also acted as a translator for us!).

At 10pm, we headed back to the dock to get picked up by the panga. George (the bartender on the ship) was at the dock instead of working the panga. We asked what he was doing on shore. It turned out that he had tonsilitis and made a quick trip to shore to see a doctor. Great! Will we have any crew left by the time this trip ends?

I wasn't sure if I would see Lincoln in the morning before he left, so we exchanged email addresses and hugged each other goodbye. I promised to send him three of the bad pictures I took while snorkeling (since he seemed to thoroughly enjoy making fun of my lack of photography skills) - a half a shark, bubbles, and an arm. I'm really going to miss him!

Monday - Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz -Puerta Ayora
I woke up early on Monday morning and sat down and talked to Lincoln as he was eating his early breakfast. We said goodbye again, and he was escorted off the ship to visit the Darwin Foundation Research Station before his flight back to Quito.

About a half hour later, everyone else woke up and came out for breakfast. It was a dreary day, with the seasonal Garua (mist) hanging over the island. It looks like I will need my raincoat today.

After breakfast, we headed into the port, then caught taxis to the Darwin Research Station. This station hosts a breeding area for the tortoises and some of the land iguanas. Eggs are collected on the various islands, and then when the tortoises are 5 or so years old and big enough not to be eaten by much of anything, they are released back on their native islands.

One of the most famous tortoises at the center is named Lonesome George. He is said to be the last of his species, from the island of Pinta. They have tried to get him to mate with females that are similar to him, but at first he wasn't interested in mating. A veterinary sexologist (who would have thought to major in that!) taught George the mechanics of what to do, so now he attempts to mate with the females, but alas, he produces no sperm. Since he's only 50-60 years old, he's got another 50-100 years to get the job done right.



A few large tortioses that people had as pets or that zoos donated are also kept at the center. There is a large feeding area, and you are allowed to get up close (but no touching) to them.






In addition to the tortoises, there are lots of finches flying around.

We saw quite a few different ground finches, and even a woodpecker finch.

As the morning wore on, I started to feel cold and clammy, and then got a really bad chill. The mist was burning off, and I was burning up. I also was experiencing "land sickness". I kept getting the sensation that the land was rocking back and forth like the boat.

After leaving the center, we had time to walk the mile back into town and do some shopping. I walked straight to the docks to wait for the panga to take us back to the ship. I sat on a bench and tried not to pass out. When it was finally time to leave, I had a fever and chills.

Santa Cruz Highlands
Just after lunch, two new people joined the ship to take Lincoln's room - a mother and daughter from London. They headed out with the group for the afternoon tour of the highlands of Santa Cruz. I didn't.

I felt miserable by this time and decided that if I missed this afternoon's activity, I would probably be healthy by tomorrow. I stayed on the ship and took a couple of aspirins, and then it was straight to bed for me. I blame George (the bartender, not Lonesome George) for this!

After sleeping off the fever most of the afternoon, and drinking plenty of water in case I was dehydrated, I felt almost ok by dinner time. The fever had broken, although I didn't have much of an appetite. As I picked at my dinner, the other people at the table told me that I didn't miss too much. They explored a couple of lava tubes (not much in them), and traipsed across a muddy pasture to see tortoises in the wild. They said it wasn't really that much different from seeing them at the Darwin Research Station. By then end of the day, several people said that they were "tortoised out". I was still a bit disappointed that I probably missed my only opportunity to see wild tortoises.

After dinner, we had the opportunity to go back into town for a couple of hours before we left port and headed to Isabela. A few people headed to town; I headed back to bed.

Tuesday - Isabela

Punta Moreno
On Tuesday morning, we arrived at Punta Moreno, on Isabela. During the briefing before landing, Mauricio warned us that this would be a dry landing on very jagged and uneven lava. (The boulders on Espanola would seem easy compared to this.) As the pangas pulled up to the island, I wasn't even sure how I was going to scramble up the cliff. Usually there is something that at least resembles steps - this time - no. I almost considered getting back into the panga and going back to the yacht, but it was even scarier turning around than going up. Once I reached the top, I looked out and saw a vast expanse of the same rough, brittle, pahoehoe lava. In my mind, walking across lava was going to be like walking across blacktop with lots of cracks. Boy was my mind wrong!

After a few minutes of struggling with trying to figure out where to step, Mauricio decided that it would take a month for me to walk the trail on my own. He told me to grab his hand and stay to his right, and he would lead me through the trail. On one hand I was very thankful that I had his help, but on the other hand I kind of felt like a dork. Like a blind dork. I even commented that I felt like I was blind, with him leading me by the hand and my walking stick clicking against the lava in the other hand.

There were a few areas where the lava flattened, but most of the time, my ankle and knee were at weird angles. There were also quite a few ledges and crevices. The crevices usually weren't more than a foot wide, although they were really deep.

The ledges were on edges of cliffs filled with sharp pointy lava - and sometimes pools of brackish water filled with sharks! Mauricio kept steering me towards the ledges and I kept trying to follow behind him, rather than beside him. Every now and then he would "yell" at me for not walking where I was supposed to, since he claimed the edge of the ledge was more solid than where he was walking. I knew I should trust him, but I really didn't want to end up at the bottom of one of those cliffs!

While there wasn't that much to see on the surface of the island (a few small plants and cactus), there was a lot to see at the bottom of the cliffs. Those areas often filled with brackish water (salt water from the ocean running up fissures in the lava, and fresh water running down from the volcanoes). Small fish and sharks would get into these pools through the fissures with the salt water, then grow too big to escape back to the sea, getting trapped.

Lots of plants grew along the edges of these pools, and the water attracted flamingos, stilts, martins, and other shore birds.

After the walk was over, came the part I was dreading the most. Getting back down the cliff and into the panga. My descent was less than graceful, and I basically fell into the boat. I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to get back on the yacht!

After we were all back on the Beluga, the captain turned on the engine and we started moving to Elizabeth Bay. We ate lunch while the yacht was moving, which was quite an experience in itself. Most of the time, meals were served when the yacht was anchored.


Elizabeth Bay, Isabela
Shortly after lunch, we dropped anchor and went snorkeling at Elizabeth Bay. There were a couple of penguins zipping by, but they were very difficult to capture on film. There were also a few flightless cormorants, which were equally quick swimmers. As we moved closer to the rocky/lava shoreline, there were all sorts of inlets to explore.

There was one narrow channel that led to smaller pools surrounded by lava. Getting through that was difficult, since the tide was going out, and you really had to swim against the current (and push off against the rocky bottom). Once it that area, there was a mix of brackish water - it almost looked like we were snorkeling in oil, since the mix of fresh and salt water caused a filmy cloud. This made taking pictures rather difficult.

As we moved further inland, there was one area that Mauricio told us not to miss. He made it all very mysterious, saying that we couldn't wear our flippers or kick our feet in that area, and only 3 people could enter at a time. He then swore the leaving people to secrecy, so they couldn't tell anyone else what they saw. In order to get into this area though, you needed to take off your flippers, and walk about 3m across the same sharp, uneven lava that we walked across earlier in the morning. Sheesh! I could barely walk across that with shoes - let alone barefoot. Several other people were equally hesitant to walk across that lava, so we problem solved and made a path with our flippers. That way, even though the sharp lava was underfoot, our feet were actually touching the rubber flippers. Mauricio assured us it was worth the effort. IT WAS! In addition to all sorts of fish, there were about a half dozen sea turtles in an area about the size of my bedroom, gracefully swimming along beside us. What an incredible experience.

After hauling ourselves back out of the water and into the pangas, we headed back to the yacht for a warm snack and to change clothes. We had about an hour to dry off and warm up, before we hopped back into the pangas for a ride through the mangroves. The crew also brought the kayaks out, so people could use those if they wanted (there were 2 kayaks for everyone to share).

It was amazing how close we could get to the wildlife in the pangas. Once we got into the mangroves, the motor was cut and the driver pulled out oars, so we could paddle silently in the water. Through the water, we could see sea turtles and a few sting rays, but the real interest was on the shore.

At one point, we came across a group of penguins on the shore. I was close enough that I would have been able to touch them! In fact, I ended up holding onto a branch of the tree they were under in order to keep the panga still, and stop it from bumping against the shore with each wave. It was amazing to see the amount of wildlife hiding in the mangroves. There were pelicans, sea lions, and lots of different kinds of shore birds.


We also stopped for a while to watch heron catching small fish.
There were several kinds of heron present.



As the sun was starting to set, we left Elizabeth Bay and headed back to the ship, where George was waiting for us with hot appetizers and drinks. Most of us got a glass of wine and went up to the sun deck to relax before dinner and enjoy the view of the setting sun. And we were rewared with a spectacular sunset!

Wednesday - Isabela and Fernandina

Urvina Bay - Isabela
You can't even imagine how relieved I was to learn that the trail today was going to be easy! In fact, we were told that it was going to be so easy that we could even wear flip flops! I decided to play it safe and wear the tevas, since I would probably kill myself in flip flops. After the wet landing on the beach, we dried our feet and started on the trail. This was a nice easy trail, consisting mostly of sand or small gravel. There were a few rocks interspersed, but most of it was relatively flat and smooth.

Along the trail painted locusts hopped in and out amid the arid vegetation. One of the first trees we encountered was the Manzanillo tree (poison apple). The fruit of this tree resembles a small apple, but is highly toxic, resulting in stomach cramps if eaten. In addition, the sap in the leaves, can cause burning and blistering of the skin and eyes. We were warned that it was much worse than poison ivy.

The first time we encountered this tree was actually at the Darwin Research Center. We had stopped to look at finches, and as we waited, Klaus got antsy and started playing with a nearby tree. When Mauricio saw that, he nearly lept across the trail and tackled Klaus, and then warned all of us not to touch that type of tree. We all laughed - Klaus had a way of getting into things!

There were also some nice yellow flowers along this path, which attracted quite a few carpenter bees. Mauricio also told us a story about galapagos cotton which grew there (and how the genes were being used for some type of hybrid cotton), and said something about how cherry tomatoes were a result of selective breeding between traditional tomatoes and a Galapagos tomato. He then went into a long speech about how the Galapagos was being exploited for the genes of some of the plants and animals, but Ecuador was not being compensated for this "gift" to the world. I'm not quite sure how accurate this information was.

Not too far along the trail, we spotted a tortoise in the path. Woo hoo! I got to see a wild one! Now I don't feel so bad for missing the walk through Santa Cruz's highlands on Monday afternoon. It was a small one - probably only around 7-10 years old, but wild nonetheless. We probably spent a good 15 minutes standing and staring at it, although it didn't really do anything. As we approached it, it pulled its head into its shell about half way. After about 10 minutes, it poked its head back out, then wandered off into the vegetation on the side of the trail.

A little further along the path, there were a few land iguanas. As we came around the bend in the trail, the amount of vegetation really decreased, and we saw a land iguana digging a burrow. We spent another 10 minutes or so watching it dig the burrow.
We walked further down the trail to a lagoon. We had hoped to see rays and sharks, but didn't have any luck in that regards.

We were able to see a few shore birds, but there wasn't much in that area other than mocking birds and finches. Each time somebody pulled out their water bottle for a drink the mocking birds would fly in closer, hoping to steal a drink. Unfortunately for them, none of us were willing to share.

Fernandina - Punta Espinosa
During lunch, the yacht headed to Punta Espinosa on Fernandina Island. We were told that this would be a dry landing, with a fairly easy trail. Because of the tide (and my clumsiness), we landed in the mangrove area rather than on the lava outcroppings. I was quite happy with this landing. There were nice concrete steps at the mangrove, and after chasing the sea lions off of them, the landing was very smooth!

After a short walk out of the mangroves, we reached a sandy area surrounded by nesting grounds for marine iguanas. Mauricio stressed how important it was to stay within the boundaries of the trail markers, so we didn't accidentally step on or destroy and iguana eggs. From the numbers of iguanas that were there, I'm not sure it really would have been a problem if we had! There were thousands!

As we were starting to take pictures of the iguanas (and more sea lion pictures) we spotted a Galapagos Hawk further down the trail. Mauricio told us to see the hawk while it was still there. We were able to walk within about 10 feet of it (and a sea lion was peacefully slipping at the base of the tree where the hawk was perched).

On this island more than any, you could really see how multiple types of animals all shared the same living space. It was amazing to see iguanas, sea lions, crabs, hawks, and flightless cormorants all right next to each other -without anyone attacking anyone else! Absolutely incredible! Even more incredible was that humans were added to that mix!

At this point, the trail turned from gravel to lava. This was the kind of lava I expected yesterday. There were big (mostly) flat slabs of lava, resembling walking over flagstone or across asphalt that barely survived expanding and contracting over a particularly rough winter. You had to watch where you were going so you didn't stub your toe, but you didn't have to worry about twisting an ankle. This is my kind of lava!

The highlight of this island was the flightless cormorant. When I originally booked my cruise, I decided that I would rather go to Genovesa and see the red footed boobies, than go to Fernandina and see the flightless cormorants. While I still am disappointed that I didn't see any red footed boobies, I think the afternoon on Fernandina was one of the most spectacular visits during the cruise (at least so far). Words can't even describe how incredible it was to watch the cormorants dive into the water, then get back out and dry out. They went through this little ritual of drying their small atrophied wings. Watching them thermoregulate was also interesting. In their beak, they would have a little water bubble, and then they would pant. It was quite interesting.

The island was absolutely beautiful. There was black lava, white sand, blue sky, green mangroves. There were lots of interesting animals, including frigate birds and blue footed boobies, hawks, crabs, cormorants, sea lions. There were interesting geologic formations, including some giant uplifted areas. There was even an old whale skeleton on the beach.

Once we were back on the ship, they immediately started the engine, since we were going to go up and around Isabela tonight. In doing so, we would cross the equator (twice). To celebrate the crossing of the equator, we all crammed into the bridge so we could see the GPS change from 0.00.00 degrees S to 00.00.00 degrees N. Woo hoo! We celebrated with a rum and tonic (blech!). Good thing we don't have to repeat it when we cross back in about 6 hours. Actually, we were treated to quite a nice sunset in the process and saw a few whale spouts and a few sunfish.

Each day, Mauricio ended the evening briefing by stating that "tomorrow will be even better than today".

This was the first night that I went to bed wondering how that would be possible!

Thursday - Santiago and Bartolome

Santiago - South James Bay
This morning we woke up to the Garua mist, which by the time we finished breakfast had turned into a fast drizzle of rain. We put on our rain gear and hopped into the pangas for a wet landing on the black sandy beach of Puerta Egas on Santiago Island (Also known as South James Bay). After landing on the wet sand, we walked up a slight hill that took us off the beach. The trail followed the black lava coastline, filled with algae covered grottos and tidal pools.

We had the option to walk at the coastline, over the wet slippery lava, or to stay a little further in the shore, where the lava was flatter and while wet, was not algae covered. I picked the latter. The two trails often overlapped at the flat lava areas, so it wasn't as though I was on my own. In fact, I felt like I had the best of both worlds. I was closer to the grassy areas further inland, so I saw lots of finches, yellow warblers, and Galapagos doves. Plus, I could wander onto the lava (just not all the way to the very edge) to see the lava herons, oyster catchers, and Galapagos fur seals. Within the little lava outcroppings were small blowholes (nothing as grand as on Espanola Island). There was one area that Mauricio called "Darwin's Toilet". The water would fill a rather large hole in the lava, then get sucked out again, making a flushing noise.

As we were leaving the shoreline and walking further inland, the mist started to lift and we could see the rest of the island better. This part of the island was very arid, with lots of palo verde trees, acacia, candelabra cactus, and lava lizards. We flipped over a few rocks and found lots of Galapagos scorpions.

After a nice walk back, the mist started rolling in again. That was ok, because our snorkel gear was waiting for us on the beach. All of the crew came over to the island to play soccer, and brought our gear with them. It didn't matter if it rained while we were in the water.

Despite the rain and waves, the visibility in the water was pretty good for snorkeling. Because it was overcast outside, there wasn't glare on the screen of my underwater camera, and I could actually see what I was trying to photograph. I think I got some of my best snorkel pictures this morning. I was engrossed with watching fish and a large green sea turtle for a while and kind of lost perspective of what was around me.


Suddenly I heard a loud barking in my ear. A male sea lion's mouth was less than a foot from my head, and he didn't seem like he was in a good mood. I backed away from him, freaked out, and headed back to shore.



I used the rest of our snorkel time to explore the beach from dry land!



Bartolome
After snorkeling, we headed back to the yacht for hot soup and lunch. We were told not to unpack our snorkel gear because we would be snorkeling off Pinnacle Rock after lunch. This would be the last snorkel of the trip.

But first, we had a dry landing on Bartolome. The surface of Bartolome is covered with a delicate crust of volcanic ash and very small, low ground cover plants called tequilia. In order to minimize erosion and damage to the island, a wooden boardwalk was built that creates a path most of the way to one of the summits on the island. This boardwalk consists of approx. 350 steps. The last 50 or so steps have a railing that is really really low (about mid-thigh height), which makes it very difficult to use the railing. After walking up to the top of Bartolome, you are rewarded with this spectacular view!

After going back down all the steps, it was back to the boat to change into snorkel gear. We then headed to snorkel on the back side of Pinnacle Rock (the large pointy rock formation on the right side of the picture). One of the bigger (100 passenger) cruise lines was there are the same time, so you were more likely to see another snorkeler than anything else. There were a few penguins in the water, and some sea lions, but the visibility was not all that good. This probably wasn't the best snorkel to end with!

I caught a chill, and it was back onto the boat for some hot tea. We had a great goodbye dinner, and were given instructions for the next morning. Instead of heading out after breakfast, our excursion would be at 6 am! Almost everyone called it an early night to pack and get some sleep.