Had another great night sleep, ate breakfast and then got my gear ready for this mornings outing. My legs got seriously sunburnt yesterday snorkelling so I made sure I put on loads of sunscreen today. Again it was the South Africans, Sue and Chris first in line along with me. We seem to be the first ones off every time, unlike some people who are here purely to chill out on a cruise and aren’t that interested in getting off on land. We visited Cerro Dragon on Santa Cruz Island with a dry landing. The main feature of this area is the Land Iguana’s. They live entirely on land, unable to climb or swim. Because it’s so dry here at the moment, there weren’t many around but we were fortunate enough to see one lying on the footpath. I managed to get some good shots of it before it headed off into the bushes. It was quite large, about 1.5m long, fat and quite yellow. There were a couple of Mockingbirds as well but not a great deal more in terms of wildlife. The vegetation and geology on the walk changed as we went up /the hill and the temperature away from the beach were very hot. I still find it bizarre seeing Prickly Pear growing along the waters edge. And to see ground finches feeding on the algae on the sea rocks. The walk ended on a lovely beach with fine yellow sand. I watched a couple of Blue Footed Boobies diving for food and a Brown Pelican that was hunting as well. The water is so amazingly clear at this bay and lovely shades of greens and blues, enough to make the underside of the birds’ wings look blue/green.
We returned to the boat and todays snack was chocolate and almond balls with cream – YUM! I reclined on the upper deck on a sun bed (in the shade…I’m the only one except for the 88 year old Swiss man that sit in the shade) and downloaded my photos. I sat in the Jacuzzi for a little while, but it’s not the same when you are sitting in on your own (with all your friends!). And it was set at 36⁰C which was a little too hot (and it was a little too full and I was too short to sit on the seats in it so was paddling to keep my head above water.
Just before lunch we had a demonstration of how to make fish ceviche. It’s actually really easy and very tasty. Then it was lunch which was an American theme today – pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers and ice cream sundaes. We had a couple of hours to relax after lunch so I had a nap. Then it was time for the afternoon activities. I was originally going to just sit on the beach, but Javier told me the deep snorkelling at this particular spot we were at, at Rabida Island was the best. So I quickly changed into my wetsuit and grabbed my snorkel gear and jumped on the panga. It now appears that the same standard groups do the same thing which consists of 6 British, of which 4 are travelling together (brothers and their wives and they are hilarious), the South African couple, an American guy and Rose and Jen from Oz. The water was absolutely freezing but the Captain also came with us because it is such a nice spot. The visibility was much belter than previous snorkelling trips and you could see about 20m. We swam with a turtle and sea lions; saw a couple of Marine Iguanas feeding on algae underwater and there were tons of fish – all different sizes, shapes, colours. It was so beautiful. There was also a lot of star fish, sea anemones and urchins. There were quite a few penguins on the rocks above us and a Frigget bird perched on a tree branch (they usually fly for 4 days straight and only occasionally sit on land based things.
Once back on land I had a brief nap before we disembarked and went for a walk. The sand at this island beach is red. We walked past loads of sea lions sunbaking on the beach before heading up a hill to a great view on the other side of the island from where we docked. There were lots of sea birds fishing. On returning to the beach it was almost covered with sea lions so we had to very carefully manoeuvre ourselves between the incoming tide and the sea lions. There were so many babies and they are very cute.
Our pre dinner meeting was on the underwater life of the Galapagos. I didn’t eat much for dinner, just a salad. I think I have hit my food stuffing intake so have dropped back to what I would normally eat. At dinner I got stuck next to this Austrian couple. Paul is ok, but Heidi is a nightmare. She is one of those people who just don’t seem to get it – any of it! Her English is fine so it’s not a loss in translation but she is so pushy and almost rude and she is one of those people who just never does what we are told to do. We ended up having a discussion about Global Warming to which she told me there was no such thing and that there was an ice age 1000 years ago and everything died?!?! I couldn’t be bothered continuing the conversation so readdressed her husband, who is apparently friends with all the high up people in Austria. I think they must be an incredibly rich couple, like most of the people on this cruise. But why is it they are still miserable and complain non stoop. One British guy was complaining that his cabin wasn’t as good as what he expected. I think mine is like luxury! The animals haven’t been in abundance like I was expecting, but some of these people have complained at the lack of animals to see…do they think that because they have paid more for their cruise that they will be guaranteed at seeing more animals? The guides have been trying to explain why there are fewer animals and the impacts of feral animals on the islands, increased tourism etc. but these people just don’t care – they expect more. I think the Galapagos is just on their things to do before they die. Maybe it’s why the guides have been giving me, the Aussie girls and the South African couple so much attention because we want to see anything and everything and think everything we do is great.
After dinner Javier took me up to the top deck and pointed out all the star constellations before the moon came up. I saw Orian, Pegasus, the Seven sisters, Taurus, Gemini and about 5 others whose names I can’t remember. I then headed downstairs to my cabin to finally go to bed.
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