Oldies On Tour

Monday 6^th May 2013

After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to the engines being switched on, we are off to Sombrero Chino, which is a little island shaped as a Chinese hat.  We stopped at one of the

Stacey making friends with the sea-lions

islands and tried looking into a volcano crater at flamingos, I just caught a glimpse of them, not too worried as there are 100’s near where we live.

Penguins on the rocks

Then breakfast was taken, eggs with onion and tomato sauce, very unusual, but it tasted nice.  After we went for another walk, after first looking for the penguin’s again, they are very cute, and the smallest in the world, we saw sea-lions lazing on

Sally lightfoot crabs

the beach; we sat down and just watched the waves cracking over the rock laver, with the crabs crawling all over, very pretty.

This was going to be our last snorkel, so we were all looking forward to it, the sea was a bit choppy, but I had two wet suits on, as one was so thin, it had lots of holes in it, so I was not going to get cold.  We all jumped in, and we saw many kinds of fish, then someone spotted a marbled sting-ray, then the penguin’s jumped in, also a sea-lion, lots of parrot fish, it was fantastic, what a way to go! The penguin’s just kept playing with us, and we managed to catch them on a cine film, a marine iguana swam along at the end, just to make our day.

A lonely flamingo

After lunch we did some navigation, to another Island it was called Cerro Dragon, which is located on the north west coast of Santa Cruz Island, we hiked up through Palo Santo and Opuntia Cactus forest, past a couple of lagoons where we saw one solitary flamingo, and two stilts.  It was a lovely walk, with a few land iguanas, but not much else.  Geoff was not really impressed, but I enjoyed.

Back on the boat, we had rum and lemonade, which I really enjoyed, then showered, and started packing, we have one more trip tomorrow before we leave to go into a Hotel, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself here.

Sunday 5^th May

We were let “off the hook” this morning as we only had a short boat trip therefore the Beagle’s engines didn’t fire up ‘till 0545hrs, much better. The strange thing was most of us woke up around 0100hrs as this is the normal start up time!  Unfortunately this morning is very overcast and those who got up early to watch dawn breaking were disappointed, still I am sure it won’t rain.

0700hrs up for breakfast again, but this morning seemed a little dull as we missed the affable Larry and Pam; they left us yesterday evening; still another excellent breakfast with a good plate of fresh fruit, omelettes, spicy ham and of course the usual cheese and bread/toast and jam.

Male Frigate bird trying to find a mate

At the appointed hour, 0800, we were booted, fed, watered and waiting as instructed for our dingy trip to the island of North Seymor, a dry landing though as we approached the landing zone which was amongst the rocks, it looked far from dry!!! Still we all disembarked and stayed reasonable dry as we clambered

Frigate birds on nest

across the rocks and started our trek. Here we enjoyed the beauty of the spectacular male frigate birds with their red puffed up chests, trying to seduce the female frigate birds into their nests for a little “hanky-panky” and hopefully produce their one egg every two years.  Because of the Frigate bird design” they are very lacking until fully grown so the chicks are about two years old before they can fend for themselves. Additionally and to add to the confusion, there are “great Frigate Birds” and “Magnificent Frigate Birds”, here Duncan went to great lengths to explain the differences though it all sounded too complicated for most of us!

Land Iguana

Wandering around we had the usual sea   lions near the sea and lying across the rocks, we saw the mandatory blue footed Boobys, and the local sub species of the Iguana, the males here on North Seymor are the largest we have seen so far.  This is a

Mother and baby

very flat Island, fairly barren but covered in numerous species of sea birds etc., etc., etc.

After 2 hours, when the circumnavigation was complete, we were picked up by the dingy, again we crossed the rocks expecting to get very wet, but no, we managed to board and stay fairly dry.  10 minutes later we were aboard the Beagle where there were fresh “Passion Fruit” drinks and Chocolate

Pelican looking for fish

Chip Cookies waiting for us.  Duncan told us we had 15 minutes to get ready for snorkelling, well most of us are so “knackered” only 4 went out, and we all stayed on board and chilled.  With the weather being overcast, the sea was choppy so I doubt if much would have been seen below water.  When they arrived back on board, they confirmed things were murky so we made the right decision, again!!!

We weighed anchor and headed towards Bartolome Island, observing the odd Manta Ray, a Whale, several Turtles and a few Dolphins on our way, we also enjoyed a leisurely lunch as we don’t have another activity ‘till 1430hrs when we were due to go snorkelling off a sandy beach.

Bartolome is a very bleak island, very little vegetation just looks like volcanic rock everywhere, not pretty like most of the other Islands in Galapagos but with a high peak and a light house on top.

When we arrived at the designated beach we were met by 3 Galapagos Hawks who had

Hawk eating baby turtles

discovered a Sea Turtles nest and was dining on the baby turtles, very sad but that is nature; it keeps the food chain going.

Christine and I, yes I went snorkelling this time but was the only one without a wet suit but I have to say the sea wasn’t too cold.  We stayed in for about ½ an hour, saw several kinds of fancy fish and also a small sea snake slithering along the sea bed, I managed to video it as well!

Back to the boat for a shower etc then back into the dingy for a short boat ride to see if we could spot any penguins.  It is quite funny, not only does Galapagos have the only giant tortoises in the world; they also have the smallest penguins in the world, quite a contrast, anyway we spotted several which made our day.

We were now due to walk up to the top of the mountain (mentioned above), 375 steps to

Bartolome Island

get to the top and when we arrived, we would have a good view all around.  This trip has been go, go, go, and both Christine and I were still knackered so declined to walk up; after all we have been up to Shirley Heights in Antigua many times, and we don’t think there are many better views than that, so stayed on board and enjoyed “Pina Coladas” for me and Red Wine for Christine soaking the sun that had now come out.

When everybody returned, we had our normal briefing followed by our evening meal, again very good.  This was followed by a stupid game around the table that had us all in fits of laughter.  The party eventually broke up around 2130 hrs as we have to be “up-and-at-em” for 0630hrs to view Flamingos.

Saturday 4^th May 2013

We were travelling through the night, so we all had a disturbed sleep, but we were still all up for breakfast by 07.00, I enjoy the food on the boat, as they never seem to duplicate things, we had banana pancakes today, plus bacon, toast and fruit.

Our first trip out is at 08.00 am and we are going to Santa Fé Island, we have a wet landing so no shoes until we get there. Once on the island we saw the normal Sea-lions lounging on the beach, with their babies, some were swimming.

Land Iguana

We walked all around looking at the land iguanas,  these are much bigger than the marine species, and mostly they are brown, we saw cactus that looked more like trees, a Galapagos

Opuntia Cactus

Hawk, pelicans, and frigate birds.

We returned to the boat, to be told it is snorkelling time, it was a bit of a rush, but I am so glad I went, we were swimming with the sea-lions for about half an hour, they would come up to you, and then suddenly change direction, it was brilliant, there were six or seven of them all playing with the group, fantastic. We saw lots of fish as well, but it was the sea-lions that we really enjoyed. Sadly they did not have a big enough suit for Geoff so he has missed all this fun, the water is quite cold, so he did not bother.

Back on board, we rested before lunch, after lunch we did the mating call of the blue footed boobies, and bought sticks and stones to Larry and Pamela, sadly they are leaving today, so we will miss them, as they are great fun.

Suddenly the ships bell rang, and there was a school of dolphins, followed by sea-lions, they swam with the boat, we reckon there were about 100 altogether all around the boat, it was an amazing spectacle, we watched for some time before they left.

Sheer cliffs of southern shore of South Plaza

At 14.30 pm we lined up ready to leave for the South Plaza Island, which had sheer cliffs of the southern shore, where birds nest, we saw some Shearwaters, and red billed tropic birds, at

Mother and baby doing well

one point we saw some tiny babies sitting on the nest with its Mum.  There are iguana nests scattered all over the hill, so you have to be careful where you step.  There were plenty of land iguana’s walking around, and basking in the sun.

The Opuntia cactus is a smaller version of the ones we saw in Santa Fé, but sadly they are dying out, the scientist are trying to find out why?

Back on board, Larry and Pamela prepared to leave us, which are a shame as they were great fun, and whilst we were waving farewell, a Galapagos Shark or black tipped shark, kept us amused by keep circling the boat, it was quite a big one, and it stayed for a while.

Duncan gave a spontaneous talk on the stars, and we discussed American and British Politics with Donna, and then went to bed, knowing we were not moving in the night.

Friday 3^rd May

We were lucky this morning; breakfast was not ‘till 0700hrs, we had a lie in, wow!  More importantly, we had fried eggs, spicy sausage and ham together of course with slices of cheese and fresh, but sweet, bread, though the brown is more what we are used to.

The good news from my point of view is I had an excellent and full night’s sleep so felt much better today; the extra blanket helped.

Duncan our Guide showing us the way!

At 0800hrs sharp we were being loaded into the dingy ready for our “wet landing” on the beach.  We had been warned this would not only be wet, but deeper than our knees so we were recommended to put everything serious into a plastic bag.  We were also advised to wear strong shoes as we would not only be walking up the mountain, we would also be walking up a narrow dried river bed, as you can imagine, we were riding the Zodiac with trepidation!!!

As we approached the beech we were fortunate that the sea

Duncan Larry and Geoff before we started up the hill behind

was calm and as we slid over the side we were pleasantly surprised as the water only came up to our knees but in Larry’s case his ankles.  Larry is a giant, very tall with size 17 size shoes, but a very nice guy all the same.

After donning our walking boots we started the climb and all seemed well then we hit the steep parts, good job we had decent shoes on our feet.  Duncan (our guide) is very good, he didn’t rush us and we all emerged at the top to magnificent

View from the top.

views all around us. It was here that filming took place for the Galapagos scenes in that excellent film “Master and Commander”.

After resting and admiring the views, it was down the other side but as they would then have to return this same way, I declined this next step and enjoyed the sun, sights and cool

The other side of the hill was carpeted in red.

breeze at the top.  At one point I did have a rather magnificent lizard to keep me company, we had a chat though his vocabulary was limited or perhaps my Spanish accent was too poor for him!!!!

About an hour later, the party returned, chattering about the red footed Boobies and the baby chick they had seen also the

Red footed boobie

fact the landscape was much greener.  I was pleased for them but very happy to stay where I was.

After a short rest we started our descent, we didn’t realize how

Baby boobie

just steep it was coming up, going down seemed much more daunting: Anyway after several stops for a rest we hit the beach again.  The sea lions were still sunning themselves, the water was still blue and our boat looked peaceful at anchor in the bay.  It reminded us of Anam Cara, waiting to take us to the next beauty spot. Oh those days!!

Back on board, a couple of the youngsters took to the water, though with wet suits, and I took to the shower, it was very refreshing.

Kicker Rock

The “Beagle” then weighed anchor and we were off again to circumnavigate “Kicker Rock”. This rock is about 10 million years old, stands alone and about 500 ft out in the sea, and from several angles it looks like a lion, lying down. Christine and

Kicker Rock

I thought it reminded us of the Sphinx that we saw whilst visiting Egypt.

A good lunch was followed by snorkelling in Punta Lobos lagoon

Sea Turtle

where they saw a few sea turtles and sea lion pups darting about and playing with them.  Three of us stayed on the boat and had our own show; we had the largest sea turtle I think I have ever seen visit us, we also had some sea lions and a school of white and black striped un-identified fish, all very exciting.

Snorkelling party

The snorkelling party returned back to the Beagle in one’s and two’s and once all on board, dried and changed, we were off again!  This time we were to make a dry landing though this nearly became

Sea-lions blocking our way forward

impossible as there were several Sea Lion mothers with their pup’s sun bathing on the landing steps.  We gave up on this set of steps and went to the backup steps, but again these also had mother and pups across them but something had to be done, as there was nowhere else to land as the coast line here is nasty with jagged rocks.

Mating call of the Blue footed Boobies

After much hand clapping the sea lions reluctantly moved and we all landed.  We then followed a narrow path but had difficulty passing several pairs of blue footed Boobys going through their courting ritual.  Naturally being in the Galapagos everything is protected so we had to find a way around them, but not until we had spent quite a lot of time watching this very fascinating courtship ritual where they stand on one foot then the other, touch beaks, flap their wings and the male whistles and the female grunts and if this is not enough the male picks up a small piece of wood and drops it at the female’s feet.  Apparently this can go on for a number of days or weeks before they actually get to “mate”.  We also spotted several male Frigate birds displaying their red

Baby blue footed boobie

chests and a couple of nests in the trees.

After an hour or so we returned to the steps and guess what, yes you ere right, the sea lions were all back again, blocking our way.  This time we all clapped in unison and they moved.  Once we were all aboard the Zodiac and started our trip back to the Beagle, these sea lions returned straight back to the steps. Whilst all this was going on these sea lions made a dickens of a racket, protesting about us moving them.

After showers etc we all sat down to dinner and being Friday night, Christine and I enjoyed a bottle of red.  Larry, the “Father” of the group suggested tonight’s topic for discussion, so the  after dinner discussion was, ”how everybody proposed to their respective wives”, we all had a great laugh and eventually us oldies went off to bed around 2130 hrs, exhausted, leaving the young ones to party!!!

Thursday 2 May 2013

Up early this morning, just for a change, breakfast was at 6 am, we manage it quite easily now, as we are so tired at night, we are going to bed about 9 pm.

A quick breakfast, then in the dinghy for 6.45 am today we are going to Espanola Island, we motored through the night, and arrived here about 2 am this morning.

Sea-lions on beach

We are off to Punta Suarez, we were supposed to be having a dry landing today, but the sea-lions have taken over the landing, so instead we had to go to the beach.

On arrival we saw lots of sea-lions just resting in the sun, there were a variety of babies up to three years old, they do not worry about people, it is fantastic, and some even pose for you.

Marine iguanas

Mingled in the rocks were the marine iguanas, lava lizards and Sally light-foot crabs, everywhere you go, or walk there is something to look at.

We continued around the cliff tops, the views are amazing, we

Blue footed boobies doing their courting

had to stop at one point as there was a pair of blue footed boobies (yes it is their name!) doing their courting ritual, they did not seem to worry about us, we slowly walked passed them, whilst they just carried on!  We saw mockingbirds, Darwin finches, and swallow tailed gulls.

Further around the coast we came to an impressive blow hole,

Blow hole

which squirted large amounts of water, as it did so you could see a rainbow, we stopped on the rocks and just watched it for a while.

We have been out for about three hours, but unlike the jungle it was fascinating, I just love it here,

The zodiac picked us up, and as soon as we were back on the boat, we set sail for Gardner Bay, just the jib and the staysail, everything we could wish for; trouble is Geoff will want a boat again!!

Lunch with the crowd

We had our lunch, which was squid, not as good as we get in our favourite restaurant in Pillar de Horadada, but it was tasty.  We had our normal laugh at lunchtime, everyone is great, six of us have birthdays within a few months of each other, and for a change I am not the oldest.

After lunch it was snorkel time, which I enjoyed, but did not see much, trouble is we have been spoilt in the Caribbean.

Back on board we motored a bit further, when it was back in the zodiacs again for a lovely

Beautiful sandy beach with a colony of noisy sea lions.

walk along the sandy beach, and go for a swim if we wanted, which Jane and I did, after we had watched all the sea-lions and an iguana playing in the water. The beach was beautiful here; it reminded me of Barbuda in the Caribbean.

It is all go here, but not tiring or stressful, it is very very enjoyable. We had a lovely dinner, and then after Larry produced a piece of paper and we each had to name what we had seen today, there were 25 living creatures/insects, and 2 suspect ones, we included the blow-hole and the rainbow!

Tired so most of us retired early again, ready for another full day tomorrow.

Wednesday 1^st May

Being 7 hours behind the UK, having breakfast at 0700hrs local time seemed much more civilised bearing mind the un-godly hours we have been getting up!

Sea-lion resting on the seat

Anyway, best breakfast we have enjoyed since the Liberator hotel in Cusco, very nice and our travelling companions are all very sociable with no apparent peculiarities, well that we have seen so far!!!!

So following breakfast we were off in the dingy to Puerto

The Chiva we used to go up to the top of the hill

Velasco on Floreana Island for our first trek, upon landing firstly we had to help push start our “Chiva”, that’s a converted lorry that had rather hard seats built in the back, before it could take us to the centre of the Island, and then we trekked up the mountain.

After a rather bumpy and bone jarring ride we arrived at the drop off point, at which point we walked.

Tortoises being fed

Our first stop was a very natural enclosure where they have placed a number of mixed breeds of giant tortoises and fortunately for us, being Wednesday, it was feeding day.  These animals only get food 3 times per week though they can go up

Tortoises

to 6 months without food and water, quite extraordinary; this was one of the contributing factors for their demise.  In the 19^th century when Pirates, Whalers and any other passersby used to load these giant tortoises onboard, and as there was no need to feed them they were quite happy, and when the crews wanted fresh meat, it was to hand!

The Galapagos administration is trying to re-introduce the correct giant tortoises to the respective islands; yes over the thousands of years, each island has its own particular strain of tortoise.  The ones above have dubious pedigrees, so have been isolated, neutered and can now live their lives in comfort without expanding this “mongrel” population.

Caves we trekked through

We also walked through the nearest thing they have to caves which were as close as you can get to one of only two natural springs on Floreana.  Years ago people adopted these “caves” for living in.

Floreana is very short of natural water so there is a very small population though the vegetation and food crops have adapted very well.  It has a bit of a chequered history as far as humans are concerned.  Back in the early 19^th century it became a penal colony for Ecuador and then it was abandoned until a couple of German “unusual” people inhabited the Island early in the 20^th century trying to get away from it all in their country and these were followed by another German family whose off spring, through several generations, are still here today. Our guide told us some fascinating stories about these early inhabitants and what they got up to but they are not for here!!!!

We then made the return journey by the same Chiva to the dock, then onto our Zodiac dingy and back to the Beagle.  Prior to lunch we were exposed to “boat drill” to ensure we all knew what to do in the case of an emergency.  We then had a very nice fish lunch followed by a short “nap” for those who wanted one.

At 1400hrs we were loaded back into the Zodiac’s and taken to some rocks jutting out of the sea for our first snorkel. It was recommended we had wet suits on but alas they didn’t have large ones so I went without.

We arrived at out snorkel site and they all went in but the water was cold so I took a rain check, besides, Christine said afterwards that I hadn’t missed anything, which was lucky!!!

Back to the boat, a quick shower then off to the beach for a wet landing and to see another aspect of Floreana. We were accompanied to the beach by several young sea lions, playing around our dingy, fascinating.  We landed, walked around then over the hill to another, white sandy beach.  Behind the beach were sand dunes and we were warned to stay well away from these dunes as they were where the sea turtles had laid their eggs.  Above, flying around were many frigates just waiting to catch a baby turtle that had just hatched.

The animals are so tame, it is amazing

Normally nature takes a hand and these baby turtles “pop” out of their buried nest during the hours of dark, but on occasions, something goes wrong and they “pop” out in daylight and the frigate birds are there to pick them off for their tea.  This was an amazing beach as we saw 3 species of Sting Ray, sea lions, 1 shark, red crabs and blue footed Booby’s, we saw much more here in one day than we saw over the four days we were on the Amazon.

We were off the beach just after 1800hrs and back on board for tomorrow’s briefing followed by dinner.

Dinner tonight was a jolly affair, everybody gets on well with each other, the party has bonded well in the short time we have been together, and we all had a great laugh, though tomorrow is a 0600hrs start, oh dear, back to normal!!!