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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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First thing in the morning we went ashore Santiago Island at James Bay (known locally as Puerto Egas). We saw a variety of birdlife including a Galapagos dove, a beautiful hawk, herons & finches.
The dove was sitting atop a wooden post onto which were nailed a couple of goat skulls... Goats are one of the mammal species previously introduced to the islands by man - sadly, to the detriment of the endemic wildlife. Due to the isolated location of the islands, there are very few endemic mammals there - because in order to reach the islands they have to be able to withstand being immersed in seawater for long periods of time. [Because reptiles can withstand such difficult conditions, they are much more prolific.] Anyway, there are efforts now in place to rid the islands of the destructive introduced species - including the goats, which have now been successfully eradicated from a number of the islands. Hence the skulls nailed to the wooden post!
On Santiago Island we saw more sealions - one of which came & sat on my feet (thankfully just a baby one & not a 400 pound adult - ha ha!). We also got visited Darwin's Blowhole around which were more marine iguanas & red crabs.
Following our pootle around the island we headed back to the boat for breakfast. I still didn't feel like eating which was a shame as Walter had made the most amazingly tempting pancakes - boohoohoo!! Anyway, afterwards it was time to head towards Rabida Island where we went for a short cruise in the pangas & got to see some blue-footed boobies (with their crazy blue feet!). We landed on a gorgeous red sand beach from where some of us went for a snorkel. I got to see some sealions in the water & also a turtle. Yey!
After lunch we headed on towards Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, via Pinzon Island where we had the opportunity to go snorkelling with sharks, sealions & stingrays. We got to see about 7 or 8 white-tip reef sharks in all - up very close & personal, & also spent ages playing with the sealions. They are just like puppies & their favourite game seems to be playing chicken... they swim straight at you & just when you think they are about to collide with you they make a swift last-minute turn & are off again. It never seems to fail to amuse them, although I never quite got used to it & kept waiting for them to barge into me at full force.
Later in the afternoon we reached Puerto Ayora, a lovely town where we stayed for a couple of nights. It felt good to be back in "civilisation" for a while, despite only have been aboard the boat for 3 days thus far! After dinner we all headed into town, where we were able to go shopping, drink cocktails & eat ice-cream, before heading back to the Pelikano to go to sleep.
previous travel blog entry
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