GALAPAGOS 3

Nic looking oh so attractive in her snorkel gear

Juvenile sea lion enjoying the water

Galapagos penguin - these little guys are so fast, am surprised this was captured on camera at all

Beautiful star fish

Green sea turtle

Sunday 12 December

Scored BIG time in the snorkelling department this morning! While it was ridiculously cold (Nic couldn’t feel fingers or toes by the time she was done – they were yellow/white!), the snorkelling was simply magical. We saw so many green sea turtles, both below us and swimming amongst us, that we couldn’t keep track. A highlight for Nic was a huge old turtle swimming right up to her with his face only about a foot from hers, and they hovered, staring into each other’s eyes for about 10 seconds. Perfect. Unfortunately, the resident photographer was too far away, capturing some other magical moment on camera. Oh well. There were also curious, juvenile sea lions checking us out, and a few Galapagos penguins, flashing torpedo fast in front of us. Another highlight was watching the flightless cormorant diving for fish, swimming quite deep, and under overhanging rocks, to get its meal. One of the top experiences of the whole Galapagos excursion.

Penguins and blue-footed booby

Flightless cormorant on her nest...see the crab trying to get into the nest on the right?

Mr Cormornant next to nest...no wonder they can't fly - check out those tiny wings! But, man, can they dive and swim!

Brown pelican

The afternoon activity was a walk on Fernandina Island with our trusty (and favourite) naturalist guide, Henry. His sense of humour and obvious love for his job and the animals has made him a joy to have as guide (his adorable accent sounds more than a tad like Hank Azaria’s ‘Agatha’ in The Bird Cage!). Throughout the trip, a group of 10 of us have gravitated towards each other and Henry – he calls us his ‘blue-footed boobies!’ The last few days have been our group waiting to see which panga Henry will be in so we can enjoy his company and lessons about the Galapagos!

Our yacht, Isabella II, and a panga

Galapagos penguin

Amazing shot of blue-footed booby. LOVE these birds!

Henry's little group of 10. Don't we look fabulous?

This walk took us amongst yet hundreds more marine iguanas, as well as some oyster birds, sea turtles and the simply adorable sea lions. They really are like dogs, not lions – even the poop looks like gigantic dog turds! (which the iguanas eat, by the way). Afternoon was made complete for Nic when, as others walked away from shore, a sea lion came out of the water to have a chat with her. Gorgeous! Her ability to attract stray dogs seems to extend to sea lions as well!

Amazing shot of crab

Bliss!

The photographer and his subjects

Volcanic landscape of Fernandina

Nic and her new mate

Fernandina Island

George and Mildred

Field of Galapagos cactus...

Comfy?

Marine iguana in action

How's the serenity?

Leering iguana

Maaaaate!

Monday 13 December

Another wet landing at San Salvador Island (Santiago Island) this morning (at Puerto Egas). We saw some very interesting geological formations, but, honestly, we are both more drawn to the wildlife and plants, rather than the rocks. (They even have lantana here – bloody pest!) However, we did find the grottos quite interesting – a combination of a tidal wading pool and a blow hole! Pretty impressive!

More turtle action

Besties!

Another cute lizard

After our morning walk, we snorkelled from the beach, but once again, clarity was an issue. We did manage to see some more sea turtles and sea lions, and some others saw a manta ray, but Nic chucked it in early and sat on the beach, while John persevered with a new ‘buddy,’ and caught some more interesting footage of swimming marine life. (Would've loaded some of these snippets of footage, but the files are too big and haven't yet learned how to shrink them - am too busy having a holiday!)

Volcanic island - Bartolome

Approach to the top of Bartolome

Nic posing nonchalantly

The afternoon excursion was to Bartolome Island where, apart from the usual wildlife, we saw rusting torpedos from WWII – the Americans used the island as target practice and STILL haven’t cleaned up their crap! The geologist, Theo, has actually notified the US Embassy about them (some time ago), and they are still there. Quel surprise!

View from the top

Walter, Marcelo, Henry & Carlos (front) - our guides and doctor

Tonight is our last night onboard Isabella II. The food has been quite sumptuous in its quantity and quality, but we have certainly strayed from our path, and the indulges in carbs and protein has left Nic with blocked sinuses and expanding girth! Oh well, when not tempted by endless buffets, she may go back to normality. It was lovely meeting interesting people and swapping email addresses at the end of the cruise. Many were not happy to be leaving, as they were going straight home, but we were excited to be embarking on our next leg of an amazing journey. Stay tuned for another update.

Sunset on Bartolome

GALAPAGOS 2

Beautiful orchid in the mountains of Santa Cruz

Barn owl in a lava tunnel

Magnificent giant tortoise

Friday 10 December

No snorkelling today. We had a full day excursion ashore on Santa Cruz Island, landing at Puerto Ayora. From port we took a bus up into the hills to see the twin sink holes, caused by some kind of big bubble left by the volcanic eruptions of millions of years ago. On the bus to and from the sink holes, we saw many giant tortoises in the paddocks, grazing amongst the cattle and horses. At the way back to the port, we stopped at the Tortoise Farm where we could wander through a paddock snapping pics of giant tortoises to our heart’s content – but walking ever so carefully to dodge the gigantic piles of tortoise poop.

Isn't he fabulous?!

I am ready for my close up, Mr De Mille!

Plants on trees, pathetic caption, I know, but am ignorant of more detail!

The rare land iguana

Protected baby tortoises

Galapagos brown pelicans waiting for a feed...and just after this moment, John was shat on by the pelicans hanging out on the roof!

Back in port, we took a panga to the Finch Bay Eco Hotel for a delicious lunch and a snooze by the pool, before ‘panga-ing’ back across the water to bus our way to the Charles Darwin Research Station. There we saw in pens the saddle-backed and domed shelled giant tortoises, as well as Lonesome George (the last of the Pinta Island sub-species of the saddle-back), and lots of baby tortoises being reared in predator-proof pens, until they are about 4 or 5 years old and are large enough to survive in the wild. We also saw some land iguanas, no longer in the wild. There aren’t many left, and sadly, there is no ‘rescue/breeding program’ in the pipe line. Very nice looking iguanas, though – quite a bright yellow!

The pool was so lovely, even the heron joined us!

After our visit to the Research Centre, we strolled back along the shopping strip into port (about 20 minutes) being tempted by many ‘Double Bay-looking’ shops with exclusive designer jewellery, clothes, tapestries and woodwork. Found a vibrant, stunningly beautiful tapestry by a Peruvian artist Maximo Laura for…wait for it…only $3200!!! We resisted! Would like to check his stuff out in Peru – bound to be cheaper there!

Sprinkled amongst the flash shops were the usual, ‘made-in-China’ t-shirt places, where Nic was tempted by an $8 t-shirt and was promptly ripped off $2 by the merchant when he saw that she didn’t have change, but only $10. The irony is that she would’ve been happy to pay $10 in the first place, but NOT be told $8 and then have the price change. Not cool.

John relaxing by the pool...after this was taken, he fell asleep!

Saturday 11 December

With each new island visit, we continue to be amazed and in awe of what is spread out before us. Today was Genovesa Island (or Tower Island) and there was such an abundance of red-footed, blue-footed, and Nasca boobies, as well as frigates, that it was overwhelming. The juvenile red-footed boobies were particularly endearing – a huge bunch (twenty or more) on low lying branches following our every move, with an arm outstretched like a conductor, they followed our movements as though in a trance. So very curious and so very adorable! The swallow-tailed gulls (the only nocturnal gulls in the world), were nesting, and determinedly, if subtly, protecting their young from the testosterone-driven and cranky Nasca boobies. They are a very pretty gull, with a dark smoky head on a pale grey and white body, red legs, and huge dark eyes rimed in red – almost like a fashion accessory to the feet!

Unidentified cool fish!

Nic looking, oh, so attractive in her wetsuit!

Our beloved naturalist guide, Henry, with juvenile red footed booby attached! - They were flying so low, that Henry put his arm out and one decided to land on him!

The morning deep-water snorkelling didn’t yield much – the water was murky, polluted with feathers and bird poop. But that was ok – yesterday was such a feast in that department that we were quite sated by the experience.

The colours are just stunning!

Nasca booby feeding her chick

Juvenile red footed boobies all in a row

Crested heron

The afternoon included a panga tour around the edge of the caldera (Darwin Bay) with more sightings of sea lions, gulls, herons, finches and mockingbirds – interspersed by the marine iguanas lying on the warm volcanic rock. This tour led us to the Prince Phillip steps (the guides have no idea why they are so named – we will have to investigate at another time!). This was a short climb up some stone, unevenly carved steps to the top of the cliffs where we walked amongst yet more boobies (a large colony of Nasca boobies), and saw frigrates and storm petrels as well. This walk culminated in our search for a short eared owl against the huge expanse of rock of the same colour. One of the guides said he saw one, but no-one else had that luck. John took a photo of the area the guide was talking about, then blew up the photo when he got back to the ship and found the owl – he hadn’t been pulling our leg!

Blue footed booby and chick in their nest

Dozing sea lion

Ground finch

Swallow tailed gull protecting her chick from the Nasca booby