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Tuesday, March 27th—Santiago and Bartolomé Islands |
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Galapagos Islands March 23rd To April 1, 2007 |
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Possibly the most magnificent wake-up call one could hope for! Kristen, Kathie, and I were out on deck around 5:30 (yes, AM!?!?!). As I came out on the top deck, I saw a pod of about twenty common dolphins (smaller and less playful than bottlenose dolphins) swimming right next to the boat, but heading in the opposite direction from where we were heading. A little while later, Kristen and I noticed a similar pod swimming about ¼ mile of the side of the boat. Our dancing and pointing MUST have alerted the crew members on the bridge that we saw something because next thing we knew, the ship’s doctor had the bridge’s powerful binoculars up and was as excited as we were. The second mate turned the boat about ninety degrees to take us into their midst. It looked like it was feeding time. The dolphins seemed to be doing just like some whales will do – swimming in a circle to create a water vortex that traps the fish inside, giving the dolphins a veritable buffet to dine from. By now, the crew had woken up everyone who was interested in seeing the show and we spent the next thirty minutes or cris-crossing the area watching over a hundred dolphins. As I said, a neat way to wake up. |
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Spotting and watching the dolphins was easy. Taking a photograph of them was a different thing altogether. Boli got the picture below which gives you a pretty good idea of how many dolphins there were. |
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After breakfast, we made a wet-landing on Santiago (James) Island. Our first task was an two-hour hike across the tip of the island to see the island’s fur seals. While the entire island was volcanic, it was really neat seeing how different parts had evolved. Where we landed was a sandy beach, but the sand was all black, volcanic sand. Then, the part of the island we were crossing was primarily made up of ash-fall from the centuries of eruptions – you could literally see the layers stacking up on each other from century to century (see right). This made for some very easy hiking until we got to the coastline where the seals were. At that point, it turned back to a combination of ash-fall and lava flow – one smooth and one anything BUT smooth! |
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Shedding our snorkeling gear on the black sandy beach of Santiago Island |
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Victoria and Kate exploring the island |
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While there weren’t as many seals as when we saw sea lions, they were absolutely adorable, with their teddy bear-like faces and furry bodies. The landscape was REALLY neat, as well, with a number of natural bridges that allowed the beautiful waters in. We explored the area for about thirty minutes before heading back to the lava beach, seeing literally hundreds of sea iguanas stretched out in the sun as we went. |
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When we got back to the beach, we all put on our wetsuits (even Victoria - above right) and headed into the water. This was a treasure trove of sightings! Aside from being spooked by a five-foot long white-tipped reef shark, we were joined by a sea lion who swam circles around us as well as a sea turtle. Kathie even had a blue-footed boobie do a dive-bombing run after a fish right in front of her. We explored the lava-formed reef for about an hour seeing literally of thousands of fish before we headed back to the Evolution.
Much to our relief, we had a three-hour cruise ahead of us before we reached Bartolomé Island. This meant that not only did we have time to have lunch, but we were able to have a siesta to rest up. When we arrived, we all suited up in our wet suits for a LENGTHY snorkeling trip. Our panga took us half-way around the island to where we were dropped off. Within in seconds we were all either REALLY excited or REALLY nervous – we had jumped in the water in the midst of four or five white-tipped reef sharks! Fortunately, they were more interested in hanging out below one of the rocks than in investigating us. In fact, when one of the men ventured down to get a picture of them, they took off!
We started our roughly one-mile swim back to the boat and saw TONS of exciting sea life along the way. Between the different people in our group, we saw MORE sharks, rays, huge starfish (see below right), flounders, penguins, and even another sea turtle. Although the sharks were completely none-threatening, I have to say it was VERY disconcerting to be swimming along looking at beautiful tropical fish and then have the dark shadow of a shark come looming out of the water, not five feet away from you before it swam off. Even Victoria had a good time on this, even though she didn’t get out of the boat. Her job was to help us as a spotter, showing us where things were (see below left)! |
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Even though we were quite exhausted from our swim when we got back, the crew had something else already lined up for us to do on our return. The two pangas went back out – one to ferry people to the island for a hike to the top of the volcano for a magnificent view. The others went on a boat cruise around the island to spot the island’s penguins (cute little buggers!). For the Schroeders, we let Victoria choose what she wanted to do since she had been such a good trooper all day long. Her choice was to simply stay on board the boat and play cards on the back deck. Turns out to be an excellent choice as it was extremely peaceful and relaxing for us all amidst a beautiful setting!
Tomorrow: Genovesa Island |
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↑ More of Boli’s underwater pictures of the sealife we came across. ↓ |
