Day V- January 6th, 2oo7
6.30AM breakfast, 7.15AM departure for Espanola Island for a nature hike. We saw a sea lion nursery where all the baby sea lions bathe on the rocks , learn how to swim, catch fish and play fight. We also saw hundreds of marine iguanas (dead and alive), lava lizards, thousands of birds and even sea turtles in the distance. Our hike started on one coast and hiked to another. Along the way we saw lots of blue-footed boobies - and considering it is the beginning of mating season, they were giving us some interesting performances. They had large duck like feet- bright blue because of a high concentration of oxygen. The males would whistle and the females had a quack-like call. The first two we saw mating had an interesting little dance where they very slowly lifted one foot at a time like a penguin waddling, synchronized, touching beaks, then making their respective noises. Another two reversed roles and the female was trying to pursue a male (he wanted nothing to do with her).

Marine iguana and a Darwin Finch



A cute little sea lion pup and a ton of marine iguanas



How cute is he?!


Some more tough-guy marine iguanas


Cool shot featuring marine iguana, Galapagos sea hawk (?) and our ship!


The Blue-Footed Boobies mating dance:

This guy apparently didn't make it

Nasca Booby watching her egg

We also saw Nasca Boobies, many taking care of their young. The baby boobies were fluffy and scragly and overall pretty ugly looking. So many different species- finches, boobies, marine iguanas, crabs, and various other creatures- all shared the same territory. It was just so amazing to see such a concentrated area teeming with diversity. It almost felt like something out of Planet of the Apes and the animals had taken over the island and eliminated the humans.
We continued our walk to a side of the island that had mostly large, high cliff. The water rushed so hard against it, holes in the cliff would shoot the water upward having a "blow-hole" effect- spraying water up on the rocks below. This would happen every 1-2 minutes.
Below, we could see tide pools with marine iguanas swimming around, fish, and crabs. Out in the open ocean, sea turtles were relaxing in the current, birds were diving nose first into the water to catch their dinner.

One of the "blow-holes"


Marine iguana taking a bath in the tide-pools below


Nasca Boobies nesting and the cliffs beyond


Another pretty view

We finished our walk at the same place we started. The time though, we found a baby sea lion about 15 days old. He was relaxing in the sand and making fun little goat-like noised.
It takes so much to not touch the animals- they look so cute you just want to play with them! The sea lions especially. All of the creatures are so different- birds with bright blue feet, crabs with vibrant colors of crimson, teal and various speckles and spots of beautiful colors, marine iguanas (unique in general- andemic to Galapagos) with rainbows of bright colors.
The entire island was positioned so you could see about 75% of the entire horizon line. I felt like I was standing in the center of my world. It also perplexes me as to how someone could believe that the world was flat. Everywhere you looked, ocean was surrounding. The crystal blue waters were absolutely stunning.

Darwin Finch



Lava lizard



Little baby pup



Crabs!


The sea lion pups like to taunt the crabs and play with them



Another little pup- doesn't he look so soft and fuzzy!?



Galapagos hawk

Once our hike was done, we loaded back on the boat and relaxed for awhile before lunch. the boat took off for our next destination- Floreana and dun dun dun...DEVIL'S CROWN.
Here was my big decision- glass bottom boat over Devil's Crown and the beach or deep sea snorkeling with a 4-knot current and sharks, then the beach.
After I hopped in the water at Devil's Crown, I knew without a doubt that I had made the right decision. The water was crystal clear- hundreds of thousands of fish, urchins, sharks (!), sea lions- I missed the sea turtle though! I saw hammerheads, a white tip-shark, dozens of different exotic fish, coral, sponges, sea lions (they would swim directly under my feet, play with eachother and pose for pictures). We saw under-water caverns, reefs, boobies nesting in the rocks, exotic cacti. The entire thing was probably one of the most exciting things I've ever done. It was also one of the quickest hours of my life.

Devil's Crown- the small group of rocks off to the right

View from the inside of Devil's Crown (forgive the water mark blur)



Sea Urchins



Under-water tunnel - some old guy had a heart-attack trying to get through, so I opted not to try it


School of exotic fish- I got too close trying to take a picture with them, so they started biting my butt




Fatty sea lion



Quite possibly my favorite picture of all time- two sea lions playing together



Another sea lion who kept swimming right beneath me



Another beautiful fish



Another sea urchin

After the guides gathered us all back into the boat, we headed to the main island, Floreana. There we took a short walk to a lagoon where we saw flamingos wading in brackish water. The smell was pretty horrible with piles of feces and mud on the shore line of the lagoon-eew! We quickly headed back to the beach and of course, I immediately threw on my snorkeling gear again, seeing that hour was not nearly enough for me. The beach water was so murky and only a couple fish were swimming around- it made me realize I had made the right decision. It also sounds pretty "bad-ass" to say "I snorkeled at Devil's Crown...dun dun dun." But I really don't blame the fish for not hanging out at the beach- it's so much pretty out at Devil's Crown!

Flamingos

After I decided my snorkel time was done, I hopped back on the panga and back to the boat.

Devil's Crown at sunset- view from the boat



Adios, Floreana

I took a quick shower and hung around until our 19.00 briefing for the next day and dinner. We hung out in the lounge for a bit, then headed up to the sun deck to star gaze. The boat was rocking so much, but the water still seemed so serene with the glow of the moon on the ripples. Matt went to bed and I stayed out watching the stars with some of the other girls on the trip. All but four of us decided to retire early- myself and three others stayed out back and talked with one of the Naturalists (crew members)- Socrates. It was interesting to compare Americans (us) versus Ecuadorians (Socrates- born in Guayaquil). Also the differences between Ecuadorian Spanish and Spain Spanish. Some words are completely different- not only in tone and accent, but completely different words altogether. I got a compliment on my Spanish speaking abilities- which is kind of sad because I still have so much more to learn!
Ecuadorian words I have learned:
Guayguay- hija, hijo - son, daughter
Ceviche- raw sea food, marinated in lemon (never vinegar- as per cruise director, John Voight)
Panga- Dinghy
Panguero- He who drives the Panga
Sanduches- Sandwiches
and of course....CUY!