Galapagos

Flamingo
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Galapagos was fabulous!!

We have been home a month and a bit and I have finally got round to completing this blog and adding the photos - a small selection as it must be. If you want to see more you must either come and see us or ask for a cd!!

March 7 Arriving on Baltra, the old US air base on the Galapagos, was interesting and we were introduced to Aura, our naturalist, guide and mother hen for the week. By public bus to the dock where we were greeted by sealions lounging on the welcome bench, blue footed boobies, pelicans, marine iguanas and sally lightfoot crabs, not to mention the wondrous frigate birds soaring overhead. The Panga (dinghy) was brought alongside and we carefully practised the embarking and then the disembarking, not realising the shape of things to come! Safely on board our lovely sailing yacht, Sagitta and she immediately set off for North Seymour where we had our first real taste of getting off the panga as the waves crashed against the rocky shore - fun? The island has colonies of Frigate birds and Blue footed Boobies(BFBs), is one of the earlier islands and therefore well colonised with plant life though the lava is still obvious. The air was hot and steamy and we had quite a lot to learn about what to wear and how much sun protection to use! By the time we got back to the boat I had a pounding head and the motion of the boat soon had me heading for the loo and the sea sick pills, closely followed by Peter - what a pair!!

Aura - our naturalist
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March 8 We are already getting used to early mornings - could be the motion of the boat, or the bunk beds, or the tiny cabin, or... On to Santa Cruz and a bus to the highlands where there is a farm where the Giant Tortoise is allowed to roam. Only the males were in evidence as the females were off on a jaunt to the lowlands to lay their eggs. They are the most awe inspiring critturs! How they manage to heave those huge shells around beats me - they have no gym! The afternoon saw us visiting the Darwin Research Centre where the tortoises are looked after and studied. Here we met lonesome George - the last of his kind (probably) and Diego who they brought home from San Diego zoo so that he could teach the youngsters all about sex! They also have some incredible land iguanas - they are bright yellow!

Blue Footed Boobies
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March 9 Espagnol Island is todays venue, and Gardner Bay where we swam for the first time. Later we snorkelled off the panga and saw some fabullous stuff. but Peter found the water too cold and suffered badly later, retiring to bed early. Meanwhile back on deck some of the rest of us were given a lesson in astronomy! We discovered the bulls eye in Taurus - a lovely red star between the Plaides and Orions belt.

March 10 Punto Cormoran - to see the flamingos - always magical! A beautiful mirror lake reflecting not only the pink birds but also the amazing volcanic landscape. Our embarkation point was back on the green beach - olivine crystals from the basalt. The usual marine iguanas, sealions,etc and far too many other people bathing. Still, while Peter sunned his poor bones, I snorkelled, without fins and for the first time without Peter at my side. I was therefore delighted to see a good array of fish including parrot fish. After lunch we sailed into Post Office Bay where the old whalers used to leave letters for home to be picked up by boats homeward bound. We left our own mail and checked to see if there was anything there we could deliver. Back on board we sailed off to try to see some whales. We saw a pod of false whales or pilot whales but though that was good was not what we were hoping for.

Sally Lightfoot crabs
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March 11 Isabella Island - the largest of them all with 5 volcanoes. The lava fields are endless and quite spectacular. Its hard work hiking for an hour and a half across the craziest, crumbliest landscape in the humid heat. We saw a lot of features of the laval landscape including lava tubes (which you may remember we missed in Queensland). Last eruption about 200 years ago and there were some patches of life where the tubes had collapsed and lakes had accumulated, but still vast areas of black convoluted lava flow. Peter felt able to snorkel again having been loaned a wet suit top, and we had a mega time in the water - leopard fish, trumpet fish, marine turtles etc etc After a typical Ecuadorean lunch we went for a panga ride into the mangroves - penguins(yes, on the equator!), green heron, suckling sealions, schools of grey mullet, and turtles.

Flightless cormorant
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March 12 Orbine Bay in rough seas! We found evidence here of uplift - rain coral 10s of feet above sea level - apparently it happened one week between 2 visits from the same ship some years ago. And all this exercise before breakfast!! Later we sailed up the coast of Isabella and Fernandino, the youngest of all the islands and still growing. We saw bottlenose dolphins - magic. We landed here after lunch to visit the most extraordinary spectacle - marine iguanas in their thousands all piled up on the rocks trying to warm up after feeding in the cold Humboldt Current. They constantly spit salt to rid their systems of it - slightly yukky! We also saw the flightless cormorant - more evidence of the speciality allowed by the particular environment of the islands. It is sad to see so many young sealion pups apparently abandoned and close to starvation.

Frigate Bird
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March 13 A black beach this morning ( not sure if we saw it but there is also a red beach somewhere) and on our walk today we saw blow holes, a strange heron, the usual suspects and oyster catchers, but it was very hot and we headed for the beach as soon as we were able. Peter, in his wet suit went off in pursuit of the fishes and saw a shark amongst other things. I was too hot and pooped to care - and then obviously regretted not donning the snorkel gear - ah well! We gave the climb to the summit of Bartolomy Island a miss but went snorkelling later off the panga and that was perhaps the jjaunt of the week! We saw so much stuff including a bubble riddled penguin come shooting past at a great rate of knots - we didnt realise til later that he was getting away from a 6ft shark that passed right by us!! A farewell cocktails and dinner was an enjoyable way to end the week and we realised that we had made some new friends - people diverse and interesting, and not necessarily the people we would have chosen to spend the week with - but it had worked and worked well!

Giant Tortoise
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March 14 An early panga ride into the mangroves where we saw the usual as well as a herd (?) of cow rays that were stately and quite beautiful. Then we were off to the airport and the flight back to Quito where Peter made another visit to the Doctor and had more of his special electro treatment