Seventy

We were awake early because the ship weighed anchor and throttled up the engines to reposition for the day. And a beautiful day it was! Clear blue skies, light winds, and pleasant temperatures. I enjoyed my first cup of coffee sitting on the fantail of the second deck, just enjoying the ideal morning.

Breakfast, as usual, was overly abundant. We are all starting to feel fat after almost a week of three large meals every day, plus snacks served every time we return from hiking and snorkeling.

We made a wet landing on a beautiful, sugar sand beach at the base of “Sombrero Chino,” the Chinese Hat. Aptly named, if one simply looks at the shape. Sombrero Chino is a separate island, its own unique volcanic cone, but it is only separated by a matter of yards from the island of Santa Cruz.

The water here was a gorgeous aqua blue and so clear that we could see bottom at least 30 feet or more down. The walk was along black basalt, with sea lions, water iguanas, lava lizards, and the ever-present Sally Lightfoot crabs — not to mention the usual birds, pelicans, penguins, and frigate birds. We were surprised not to see boobies fishing here.

The waves crashing on the shore and the red vegetation (it turns green in the spring when it gets more rain) made an enchanting scene, even if the sun was already getting quite hot.

One group member, Nischala Joy, opted to stay on the beach as the rest of us followed our guide along the well-marked trail by the shore. However, two more, the father and son, Srinivas and Skanda, turned back early on. Alejandra, our tour director, led the other six of us part way, then told us to continue at our own pace to the end of the trail and back. She turned back to see to the others.

 

When we returned to the beach, we could see the other four standing in knee-deep water as two sea lion pups were playing very near to them. Alejandra urged us all to get our shoes off and wade in, too. We did so quickly.

Park rules are clear that one is not to approach or touch the animals, but the animals have been given no such instruction about us. Alejandra told us to simply stand still and let the sea lions do what they would do. They continued wrestling with each other, but then to break apart and swim very close to us. We were doing nothing to encourage them.

It was almost as if they were inviting us to join in their play. One came up and tickled my ankle with her whiskers, then shot away, as if playing tag. When I didn't give chase, she came back and sniffed my legs some more, and moved between others with similar behavior.

At one point, she even raised up out of the water to sniff the pockets of my shorts, and even wrapped her front flippers around my knee to hold on. When she finished that, she circled around in the water and came back to put her teeth on my opposite ankle — not to bite or break the skin, but very much like a dog plays.

I decided that things were getting a bit rough, so I got out of the water. But the sea lions continued to play with some of the others who remained. The big bull “daddy” sea lion swam close, checking on the situation, but apparently decided that the kids were alright and having fun, so he moved on.

The zodiac picked us up on the beach and we were to do a very quick turn around to get out of our hiking clothes and into our swimsuits and wet suits to go snorkeling. We couldn’t wait to get into that warm, clear water, and we were a bit impatient when Alejandra and the boat driver stopped to pick up some plastic that had floated in from the sea.

The zodiac took us back to the same stretch of water, but this time on the Santa Cruz side of the narrow channel, less than 100 meters across from the beach and path we had just walked. The water was much warmer than we’d experienced the past few days, but we were still glad for our wet suits.

But the water was exceptionally clear — we must have had at least 40 feet of visibility, sometimes more. There was very little current or wave action.

There were so many fish! Probably thousands, in all sorts of bright colors. A school of large fish would swim right at us, ducking under us, and the swarm of fish seemed to go on and on. Sometimes three different schools of fish — three different species — would intersect, each school going it’s own direction, but all of them weaving among the others to stay with their respective groups.

We saw trumpet fish, which we at first thought were eels. We also saw a couple of good-sized sharks — probably 5 or 6 feet in length. They were pretty close to us, but not at all interested in picking on something their own size when there were so many other fish to feed on. One generally treats sharks like this the same way one treats a large, strange dog — you don’t panic and run away, but you keep your distance and don’t try to pet it, either.

There were very large starfish, and even one rather good-sized sting ray — probably 18 inches across or more. I really wanted to see the ray swim, but he was just sitting in the rocks, not going anywhere.

This was an absolutely outstanding snorkeling experience. Some group members who have snorkeled a lot in the Caribbean or Hawaii said that this was way above average, if not the best snorkeling experience they have ever had.

We didn’t mention to anyone that today is my seventieth birthday, but I don’t think I could have had a better birthday gift than this experience. I would have stayed in the water another hour if Alejandra had let us.

Once back aboard the zodiac, and heading back to the boat, we encountered a flock of at least a dozen penguins, clustered together and just floating on the surface of the water. We’ve never seen so many together in one place, and Alejandra said it was quite rare to do so.

After lunch and a siesta as the boat re-positioned, we prepared for an afternoon hike at a spot called “Cerro Dragón” on the northern side of the island of Santa Cruz. The landing was barely dry, because the tide was high and the usual landing spot was submerged. We got off the zodiac onto very wet sand.

On this very hot and sunny walk we saw various cactus, land iguanas, and in a brackish lagoon, three flamingos. The flamingos have been hit hard by global warming, with the El Niño effect having wiped out much of their food source. Alejandra was surprised to find them here.

We also encountered a number of nasty, biting horse flies — the first insects that have really bothered us while we have been here.

 

Our walk ended with us very hot and sweaty and looking forward to the second shower of the day. But we discovered that the crew, while washing the side of the boat, had sprayed our balcony with a hose and soaked the clothes that we had hung out to dry! We showered, but had to wear some damp stuff.

At 6:30 p.m. we met to have a farewell toast with the crew. We will be sleeping on board tonight and again tomorrow night, but tomorrow’s activities will be in town, without much assistance from the crew. Also, while in port, the crew is very busy re-stocking supplies and preparing for the next group to board. So this is the best time for a farewell.

Mary let the cat out of the bag at the toast, so I got a double shot of aguadiente, roughly translated “fire water,” with my toast drink, which was a hot fruit “infusion,” sort of like a hot cider. It was quite good, especially with the extra booze in it.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic birthday.

Santiago and Bartolomé

We slept very well and didn’t even wake up to hear the anchor drop. I didn’t wake up until about five after six, and Mary didn’t awaken until I made too much noise. We found ourselves already anchored near the island of Santiago. We made a wet landing shortly after breakfast.

“New” black volcanic basalt lies next to much older sedimentary layers of compressed volcanic ash along this beach. A baby sea lion was crying for its mother, and the mother was answering with her own calls so that the two could find one another. 

Sea iguanas left lines in the sand with their dragging tails. And blue-footed boobies rested on rocks just off the shore. 

We also spotted several “ghost crabs,” so called because they are white, and because they so quickly disappear into crevices and sand holes as anyone approaches.

Our hike took us along the black basalt where we eventually spotted a Galapagos fur seal, almost perfectly camouflaged against the rock. Check off one more new species sighted! There were a couple new birds to add to the list, as well.

This area has several natural arches or bridges, including some famous ones that have recently collapsed — as they all eventually do.

Dominating the horizon inland is “Pan de Azucar” or Sugarloaf, a volcano that looks the part.

The morning sun became very hot. So we were glad to get our feet a little wet getting back onto the zodiac to return to the boat. As soon as we were aboard, the engines started and we were on our way to Bartolomé island.

After a bit of a break to clean up, Alejandra gave us a bit of a history presentation in the briefing room. It was quite interesting to learn that the first record of these islands dates all the way back to 1535, when a Panamanian priest on his way to Ecuador got lost and stumbled on them by accident. Attempts to commercialize the islands over the centuries have failed, primarily due to the lack of fresh water here.

Lunch today was served outdoors, up on the sun deck, just for a change. Frigate birds were circling the boat, and perching anywhere they could catch a ride — including the railing near where we were eating, on the roof above our heads, and on the rigging just outside our cabin.

Following lunch and a bit of siesta, we got ready to go snorkeling. There was quite a bit of wave action near the rocky cliffs of Bartolomé, and at one point we sort of got banged into the rocks. Visibility was OK, but the waves did stir up some sediment and created some foam.

We spotted penguins shooting under us, moving fast as torpedoes, as always. A large bull sea lion swam under us, as well, taking his time. Mary got out after a bit, but I continued and got the chance to swim in formation with a smaller (perhaps 2 foot diameter) green sea turtle, who seemed unperturbed to have the company.

At 4 p.m., six of the nine members of the group boarded the zodiac once again to head back to Bartolomé for a hike to the summit of the extinct volcano. 

There were almost 400 wooden steps to climb, but the view was spectacular. A small, automated, solar-powered light house sits at the top.

On the way back, the zodiac took us back to the area where we had snorkeled earlier, so that we could photograph the area. iPhones do not serve well as underwater cameras, so it was good to capture the surface, at least. (All of the underwater videos here were shot by our tour guide, Alejandra, on her GoPro)

The area included a huge rock known as the Bartolomé Pinnacle.

A family of penguins and a couple of sea lions — possibly some of the same individuals we had seen in the water earlier — posed for us on the rocks.

Our briefing before dinner included a video on all of the plastic pollution that washes up on these islands daily, some from as far away as China. It was rather depressing to see what we are doing to the planet — even to places as remote and as protected as this.

At dinner, having three large meals each day began to catch up with us. The meal was good, just too much to eat.

Alejandra was showing a movie in the briefing room after dinner, but we knew that we wouldn’t be able to stay awake for it, and decided to skip it.