At 6:45
this morning a sweet voice came over the loud speaker in our
room.....ladies and gentlemen, buenos dias, this is
your wake up call. Breakfast will start at
7 o'clock. After a very nice breakfast
buffet, we headed up to the moon deck to
collect our wet suits and snorkel
equipment. At 8:15 we started
out in the pangas (dingy or zodiac) and took a short
trip to Santiago Island. This one had volcanic
activity about 200 years ago
and we walked on the volcanic rock. Wow,
everywhere you can see how the lava
flowed, the crust cooled and the most
wonderful designs were created that hardened into
rock. There are lots of places, big
and small, where the gases were
trapped beneath the crust, then erupted to
the surface. There are also fissures of all
sizes. We did a dry landing, they
drove the panga up to the shore and we climbed
out on the rocks and walked around.
We saw lava herons and sally
lightfoot crabs. The crabs were named
for a famous Cuban fan dancer. We saw
a couple marine iguanas and 2
penguins swimming. We walked
all over , saw a small ground
cover type plant that was one of
the first to appear on the volcanic
rock and a lava cactus.
The cactus lives on the minerals in the
rock, produces a flower and a small fruit
but only lives 2 or 3 years before it exhausts
the nutrients in the
rock face and dies. We went back to
the ship, got our snorkeling gear and went back
to Santiago. We hopped off the panga
and swam along the shore. I saw a
small shark, some star fish, sea
urchins and lots of smaller fish. We
saw a pretty good size sea lion settling
down for a nap in the sun. After
snorkeling, back to the boat for
lunch. The naturalists work so hard to
minimize the impact of people on the islands.
They only take people to about 5% of
the total area of the Galapagos. The pangas
hold 16 people and each group has a
naturalist. We were told not to touch or
get too close to any of the animals, not to take
anything away and not to leave
anything behind. Even if you NEED TO
PEE, they will take you back to the
ship. They work very hard to
keep things pristine, on the ship
we each get one water bottle that
we use and refill for the whole
trip. No paper goes in the
toilets, they have a water treatment
facility on board. No paper
towels or napkins. The food has
been pretty good, this morning our
waiter Javier found me some peanut
butter. We've had lots of fruits
and veggies and good breads.
A Magical
afternoon. Friday
afternoon we took a dingy ride to Rabida
island, lots of silica and iron ore
in the volcanic soil so the rocks and
beaches are very red. Indira, our
naturalist, explained about the tectonic plates
in the Galapagos. The islands were all
created by volcanic hot spots that are
still active. Last eruption was
3-4 years ago. The first islands were created millions
of years ago and the early ones have drifted east
on the tectonic plate and newer islands were created in
the west. The older ones have
developed vegetation and support more wild
life. The newer ones support less plant and
animal life. But unlike tectonic
plates that rise up when they
collide (like the Rockies) ,here the
plate that the Galapagos ride on is sliding under
the plate to the east. So in
more millions of years the eastern islands will
begin to disappear. Riding in the
dingy along the coast of Rabida we saw
several Blue Footed Boobies, some were fishing
and a few were in nests in the
trees. There were prickly pear cactus
, yellow warblers , marine iguanas,
nazca Boobies, pelicans, and a great
blue heron. We landed on the
beach to do some more snorkeling and
the most marvelous thing happened. There
was a large group of sea lions on
the beach. Because no one disturbs
them, they just hung out and pretty
much ignored us.
We walked among
them, mostly they were snoozing, some with
their heads laying on another one BUT several
females had young with them that were nursing.
We were able to get so
close, it was amazing, I
got a little verklempt. Some
people had brought their snorkel gear
(I was too pooped) and there
were sea lions in the water
that swam and played around them.
There were some marine iguanas and
sally light foot crabs on the
shore, I got to observe a couple
very close up.
While we were on shore
with the sea lions I noticed holes
in the sand surrounded by little balls
of sand. I asked Indira and she explained
that the ghost crabs dig the holes
and hide in them, then when the tide
comes in they scoop up the sand in
their claws and turn it
around to eat all the little
organisms and it creates these perfect little round
balls of sand.
At one
point a fairly large male sea lion
came up out of the water squawking at
us. We learned that he is
probably the dominant male in that group
and the sea lions we had seen on
their own in different places are the
adolescent males, who got chased off and
will hope to create their own little
harem next year. I got so close to the nursing mamas
I could see their navels. They
had 4 nipples and the pups went from
one to the next until they seemed
satisfied. Their fins are incredible, they have
bones or cartilage that resembles fingers
that support the webbing. They have
short tails that look almost prehensile. To
be that close to such a large group
is beyond explanation. I am thankful that
everyone works so hard to maintain this treasure
and that I have gotten a chance to see it.
2 more days to go.
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