Blogs from Española Island, Galápagos, Ecuador, South America

I was thinking about starting the blog with a saccharine sweet story of having been lulled to sleep by the rocking of the ship from the gentle waves. Cool ocean breezes would have danced over me as I peacefully slumbered. The reality is that I hit the bed and crashed like a frat boy after Homecoming Weekend. I was shattered and the death-like sleep I enjoyed was the cure I needed. After a nice breakfast buffet and meeting some more of the fellow travelers, it was time for a wet landing at Gardner Bay on Espanola Island. Into the dinghy we went. Life jackets on, Ecuadorian Handshake executed, and off we sailed over the turquoise water towards to most pristine white sand beach. The point of this excursion was to enjoy the beach, which I did ... read more

Up early, coffee and then stretch class on the Sun Deck led by Hilda. Breakfast and then a short orientation before we took the Zodiac boats to go deep water drift snorkeling. No coral here and not many colorful fish. Did spot a big school of fish, over hundred I would say but the water was not very clear so could not get pictures. After about an hour took a ride to the white sand beach of Espanola. Lots of sea lions were scattered about the beach, they live in colonies with one dominant male and 15 or so females. One male was very persistently approaching his females on the beach and tried like a soldier to interest any one of his harem, alas, there was no interest from the girls. Poor guy was repeatedly snubbed. ... read more

As promised, here is a blog on our 2nd day in the Galapagos. We have a pretty good internet connection here, so there´s a good opportunity to upload photos, which I have done. We awoke Wednesday morning moored off Española Island. After breakfast, we went for a two hour walk on Punta Suarez, where we saw more sea lions, hundreds of marine iguanas, crabs and sea birds up close. Among the many interesting facts about the wildlife that our guide Roberto provided was this gem: Marine Iguanas can survive drinking salt water - they have glands that remove the salt from the water and they sneeze out the salt. Staying on the path here was critical, as the iguanas were busy digging nests everywhere. Because of their dark colour, and the black volcanic rock, it was ... read more

More walking, snorkelling and generally being awestruck by the beauty and wildlife... The water is freezing which I didn't expect and on some of the beaches with really fine sand the visibility has been less than great but there are no complaints from this crew, even Wayne trying not to complain about seasickness - poor thing - wondered why he would book a cruise when standing on a jetty can make him feel queazy but he will tell you its totally worth it and he's coming back to do it again as soon as they build bridges from island to island. Next day Post Office Bay on Floreana where we left postcards and picked one up to deliver to Mermaid Waters. We also explored a pirate cave (a lava tube that is deep and dark and ... read more

Española bietet Heimat fuer eine Kolonie von Albatrossen; wir beobachten die Voegel beim Brueten und tolpatschigen Landungen. Die Albatrosse muessen vom Innern der Insel bis zur Steilkueste watscheln, wenn sie starten wollen; dort stuerzen sie sich von den Felsen und werden vom Wind aufgefangen. Beim sogenannten Blowhole spritzt - abhaengig vom Seegang - eine bis zu zwoelf Meter hohe Wasser(staub)fontaene empor. Daneben fuehren Blaufusstoelpel ihren Paarungstanz auf, begleitet von merwuerdigen roehrenden Geraeuschen. Bevor wir heute ins Wasser duerfen, muessen wir eine Notfalluebung ertragen - offensichtlich hat vor einigen Jahren ein betrunkener Kapitaen ein Touristenschiff kentern lassen, wobei einige Reisende ertrunken sind. Da Todesfaelle schlecht fuer das Geschaeft sind, wissen wir nun, wie man Schwimmwesten seemannsgerecht anlegt. Dann Schnorcheln mit Rochen in der Gardn... read more