Galapagos -- Day 3
Today we awoke to find ourselves at Rabida Island, a small island with red sandy beaches. After breakfast, we transported to the island, where we began our walking tour. Lots of reptiles and birds, and beautiful vistas from every part of the island. We really enjoyed watching the pelicans and boobies diving for fish. You might say we had a “bird’s eye” view (yuk, yuk --sqwaaaak, sqwaaaak).
After our walk, some of us chose to do a deep water snorkel. We were taken around the island to the dive site. On the way, we saw some turtles, but they were too shy to let us get too close. Our guide, Lola, led our group along the coast, where the island dropped into the sea very rapidly. We were able to see a couple of Iguanas under the water eating plants, swimming to the surface, and climbing onto the rocks. It was a pretty amazing sight.
We also had a sea lion come and join us for a while. We saw two huge manta rays, one of them swam right up under me. He must have had a wing span of at least eight to ten feet. He was magnificent! He moved so slowly and gracefully, that I was able to swim along on top of him for a while until he disappeared into the deep water. There were also huge schools of sardines, yellow tailed surgeons, and angelfish. There is such an abundance of life in these waters, it’s like nowhere else we’ve seen. We only had 45 minutes, and the time ended all to soon. Back to the ship for lunch.
It’s amazing how tired you can get hiking and swimming in the sun all morning. After lunch, we all took naps and slept the sleep of the dead. It was only an hour and half nap, but it felt like much more. We were ready at 3:00 for our next adventure, North Seymour Island, where the Boobies and Frigates make their nests.
The terrain here was very rough, with boulders all over the trails. But there were Boobies and Frigates on every branch and all along the trail. The male Boobies danced and strutted for us as well as for the females. We saw females sitting on eggs and feeding small babies. The females lay a ring of guano in a circle, then sit in the center of it. They don’t gather anything to make a nest. The males gather in one area and all whistle and strut and dance to try to attract the females. It’s pretty comical to watch them tapping their big blue feet.
We also saw lots of sea lions lounging among the rocks along the trail. In fact, we had to be careful not to step on them, they look just like rocks. Along the coast, we watched them surf. They looked like they were enjoying themselves and were pretty good at catching waves and riding the curls. We finally ended up back at the boat landing just as the sun was beginning to set.
Back on the ship, we were invited to the upper deck for a sunset cocktail. At 7:00 pm we had our nightly briefing about tomorrows activities, then off to dinner at 8:00. After dinner, it was such a clear night, we were invited to the upper deck for a bit of star gazing. You can see every constellation in the sky from the equator. The only thing you can’t see is Polaris, the North Star. Our guide, Vanessa, had a laser pointer and showed us all the constellations. It was pretty amazing and beautiful. A wonderful way to end the day.
Today we awoke to find ourselves at Rabida Island, a small island with red sandy beaches. After breakfast, we transported to the island, where we began our walking tour. Lots of reptiles and birds, and beautiful vistas from every part of the island. We really enjoyed watching the pelicans and boobies diving for fish. You might say we had a “bird’s eye” view (yuk, yuk --sqwaaaak, sqwaaaak).
After our walk, some of us chose to do a deep water snorkel. We were taken around the island to the dive site. On the way, we saw some turtles, but they were too shy to let us get too close. Our guide, Lola, led our group along the coast, where the island dropped into the sea very rapidly. We were able to see a couple of Iguanas under the water eating plants, swimming to the surface, and climbing onto the rocks. It was a pretty amazing sight.
We also had a sea lion come and join us for a while. We saw two huge manta rays, one of them swam right up under me. He must have had a wing span of at least eight to ten feet. He was magnificent! He moved so slowly and gracefully, that I was able to swim along on top of him for a while until he disappeared into the deep water. There were also huge schools of sardines, yellow tailed surgeons, and angelfish. There is such an abundance of life in these waters, it’s like nowhere else we’ve seen. We only had 45 minutes, and the time ended all to soon. Back to the ship for lunch.
It’s amazing how tired you can get hiking and swimming in the sun all morning. After lunch, we all took naps and slept the sleep of the dead. It was only an hour and half nap, but it felt like much more. We were ready at 3:00 for our next adventure, North Seymour Island, where the Boobies and Frigates make their nests.
The terrain here was very rough, with boulders all over the trails. But there were Boobies and Frigates on every branch and all along the trail. The male Boobies danced and strutted for us as well as for the females. We saw females sitting on eggs and feeding small babies. The females lay a ring of guano in a circle, then sit in the center of it. They don’t gather anything to make a nest. The males gather in one area and all whistle and strut and dance to try to attract the females. It’s pretty comical to watch them tapping their big blue feet.
We also saw lots of sea lions lounging among the rocks along the trail. In fact, we had to be careful not to step on them, they look just like rocks. Along the coast, we watched them surf. They looked like they were enjoying themselves and were pretty good at catching waves and riding the curls. We finally ended up back at the boat landing just as the sun was beginning to set.
Back on the ship, we were invited to the upper deck for a sunset cocktail. At 7:00 pm we had our nightly briefing about tomorrows activities, then off to dinner at 8:00. After dinner, it was such a clear night, we were invited to the upper deck for a bit of star gazing. You can see every constellation in the sky from the equator. The only thing you can’t see is Polaris, the North Star. Our guide, Vanessa, had a laser pointer and showed us all the constellations. It was pretty amazing and beautiful. A wonderful way to end the day.
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