Sea to Sky
 Day 14 - Galapagos expedition continues Usual 6:30 hola, hola wakes us from our slumber. Shower, dress and down to breakfast, which is tasty & satisfying as usual. This holiday may have been very active but thoughts that I may come back trimmer are put paid by the constant feeding throughout. We're soon loaded into our dinghies and shipped off to Gardener Bay in Espanola Island, a beautiful little spot full of sea lions. It may sound like all we've seen is sea lions (and we have seen lots of them), but it never ceases to amaze you as you wander through their groups and see what the chubby little aquatic mamals get up to. Walk down the beach for some more crab & iguana action, then a bit of island leisure time. There's an option to go swimming off the beach but it's bloody cold so everyone sits and basks amongst our furry friends. Back on board for a little break before deciding what morning activity to take up. After much debate about how bloody cold the water was yesterday, Jo & I decide to go for snorkelling again. Due to the water being bloody cold the snorkle group has shrunk to Robert, Miriam, Charles & ourselves. Jump off the dinghy and shhhhh.... its bloody cold! Swim around the rocks, see plenty of fish then a sea lion swims right underneath me, then back to have another look. Try to get a picture but he's quick, was a great experrience though. See some more rays and big shoals of fish, lots of turtle sightings where we frantically flipper from one spot to another, not much luck though. The water isn't too bad in the end & we're the last two back in the dinghy. Get some good photos this time (adjusted the exposure to allow for the extra light reflected underwater). Back on board there's just enough time to get showered before our Equadorian lunch extravaganza on the upper deck. Exchange stories with Tony & Jill over lunch then it's time to have a little rest before our afternoon activities. We're off to Punta Suarez in Espanola Island this afternoon, so it's back in the dinghies. Fabien said to us yesterday we must wear tennis shoes tomorrow, I said "are we playing tennis then", he's called them trekking shoes since which is a great shame because it was so amusing hearing him say "for tomorrows tour you weel neeed teniiiiis shoes" all the time. Anyhoo, it's a dry landing with rocky walk so weeee ave our teniiiiis shoes on. More sea lions on the beach, never have too many sea lion pictures so squeeze a few off before moving to the iguana orgy. The scally little prehistoric fellas are everywhere, in the sea, on rocks, in big piles by the path. Very interesting, I like them, they're very photogenic, they look mean & agressive but they're as tame as a little puppy. We set off on our island tour and soon we've found a baby albatros. Anywhere else in the world you would swear the guide has run on ahead and planted the albatross chick, but that's just what you see in the Galapagos (or Galapagous as Fabien would say). Now albatros chicks are huge, they look twice the size of the adults as they're all furry, cute too, in a goofy way. We continue walking to the cliffs on the far side of the island where we see albatross taking off, landing and generally flying around as birds do. Have a little stop there then back along the cliffs, see a big blow hole and lots of courting boobies and nesting albatross. Then down & along the rocky shore & back to the dinghies. Back on board we're allowed a short break before dinner, which is good and chat with our new Germanic-Aussie friends. Then follows Fabien's briefing on activities for tomorrow, which is actually more of a lecture on the geological history of Galapapous. Which actually turns into a lecture on geology in general, the composition of the earths crust, tectonic plates etc. Bless Fabien for trying but we didn't sign up for this and people are falling asleep all over the place and he's not pleased. With the lecture finally over we're allowed to go back to our cabins. Jo is unconscious within minutes (as she was during the lecture), I have a little potter & play but soon enough I can't keep my eyes open so it's lights off at 10 o/c. Varieties of finches spotted - 4
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Diary Photos
| 17th Oct 2010 Sea Turtle off Espanola Island |
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