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volcano daphneWowza! What a day it was today. I'm currently sitting on the top deck of our boat sailing back from Santiago Island. The afternoon swells have arrived and its a little choppy so hopefully I don't make too many typing errors let alone get sea-sick!! Unfortunately its been quite overcast here today and after our little snorkling trip, Rach is huddled next to me wrapped in anything available to keep her warm!
Our day started with a 5.30am wake up call. The bus collected us right on 6am and after making a few more stops at various hotels to pick up our fellow gringos, we travelled north to the boat dock that will take us out for the day. After an hour, we arrived at the boat dock, swapped wheels for waterproof jackets and took the little dingy out to our waiting boat. They fed us 'breakfast' as soon as we got on board which consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich, an apple and a fruit box. I'm pretty sure it was apricot juice however Rach overruled me given her knowledge of Spanish words for various fruits. After knocking back breakie and finishing our peach juice, we settled in
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pinnacle rock up on the top deck to get the best views on our way out to the islands.
The water was exceptionally flat on the way out, so thankfully no chance of getting seasick to start the day. We saw numerous manta stingrays leaping up out of the water, before doing a little spin and splashing down into the water. Each ray that we saw doing this would leap out of the water maybe 2 or 3 times before disappearing down into the depths of the ocean again. Unfortunately there was no telling where or when they would leap out. Even with my 'at the ready' photography attitude I couldn't capture this creature doing this odd ritual. Our guide told us that each time the female leapt out of the water, they would release their eggs in some bizarre reproduction show.
On the way, we passed Daphne Island which is basically a volcano rising up out of the ocean. We could see numerous sealife calling the shores of this island home, including boobies, sealions and penguins. The boat couldn't get too close to the shoreline however so it was difficult to get great shots.
We continued onwards and
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seal just blocking our path arrived at Bartolome Island around 9.30am. We took the zodiac into the little dock which had been taken over by these bright orange crabs. We had to be careful where we put our feet so we didn't stand on them! Once on the little dock we had another obstacle to contend ourselves with. A sealion had decided that right in the middle of the path was a good a place as any to sunbake. So we each had to take it in turns and tip-toe our way passed the animal. We started our walk across the island which is as barren as barren comes. It basically is similar to Daphne in the fact that its just a volcano sticking up out of the ocean. The landscape is just red volcanic rocks created by lava flows some 100 million years ago. The only vegetation that grows on this rocky outcrop are a couple of weedy looking things, and the Galapagos lava cactus that apparently thrives without water, sprucing up out of nowhere on the side of a rock face.
The walk up the volcano was relatively easy as they had installed this wooden walkway and staircase all the way up.
We walked by a pelican minding its own business and our guide showed us various parasite craters that acted as pressure valves when the volcano was still active. He also showed us lava trails and on some rocks it looked as though the lava had only set yesterday with the way the rock was shaped.
We had almost reached the summit when this massive grey hawk came swooping down out of nowhere. It floated right above Rach for a bit, causing her to freak out meanwhile I'm yelling stay still, I'll get a cracking photo! The bird had a ridiculously big wingspan and was quite frightful as it just hovered about 3m above the ground. It came to land on the wooden railings and like the paparazzi we swooped in to get a better photo.
We looked out at the ocean far below us and saw a group of about 30 birds diving into the water looking for the catch of the day. As I was watching, I saw this massive fin appear out of the water, followed by a spray of water. At first I thought it was a dolphin but our guide informed us that it
was probably a killer whale. We zoomed our cameras in as far as they would go and captured some grainy photos of 2 killer whales, probably fighting over a baby sea lion with the birds circling around waiting for some off cuts.
We reached the summit (about 400 steps from the bottom) and the view was spectacular! Our guide pointed out all the different islands and landmarks that we could see, including Pinnacle Rock, Bartolome's famous volcanic ash tower which reaches up out of the ocean for over 50m. It leans a little to one side caused by it been battered with ocean winds that will eventually erode the tower away causing it to crash back down into the ocean. Thankfully it didn't today and we got some great shots.
We strolled back down the volcano and got back to our boat around 11.30am. With a birds still circling not far out in the ocean, our captain headed in their direction to see if we could do a spot of killer whale spotting. We pulled in nice and quietly, switched off the engine and waited while the birds circled around. Not before long, a fin appeared, then the
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isla bartolome whale's head with the noticeable white spot around its eye, followed by its body as it came up for air. It spurted out some water from its blow hole and went back down again. Then the second whale appeared, and the two would take it in turns surfacing and disappearing again. They finally timed it right and came up together with us photographers snapping away crazily trying to get the best shot. So cool!!
We then sailed over to Santiago Island which is quite a large island which only recently had a massive volcanic eruption. 100 years ago, its volcano erupted sending massive amounts of lava across the island, turning the landscape into jet black rocks. The island has a white sandy beach so we all jumped in the zodiac and headed into shore to investigate. We packed the snorkel gear too in case we wanted to jump in and take a look. The weather was still overcast and the water was absolutely freezing when we jumped off the zodiac into knee deep water and onto the beach. That was when I saw a little penguin swimming close to the rocks and thought 'bugger the cold, I'm going in'.
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lava lizard Rach decided it was a little too cold and sat on the beach trying to warm up, taking photos of sea iguanas as they paddled their way across the water. I went into the water, the hardest part being over the initial shock of just how cold the water was. I started swimming around, seeing quite a number of big and small fish and then my heart skipped a beat (don't worry, it wasn't a shark). This massive object was just paddling along under the surface. I swam after it trying not to make any sort of splash or noise in case I startled it. There, swimming just a metre or two away, was a green sea turtle! It was about the size of a car tyre and it didn't seem to mind me (and a couple of other snorkelers) following it as it just went about its business, effortlessly waving its fins/legs and gliding through the water. It just looked so peaceful and every now and then it would come to the surface to gulp down some air. Completely unbelievable!! And then, believe it or not, a second one appeared! I followed this one for a bit and he
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lava cacti only in galapagos stopped right near the rocks and begun feasting on the vegetation that grew on the rocks under the ocean. If you had of been looking above the surface, you would have no idea that he was even there.
I was just thinking to myself how can it get better than this when a little grey flash went passed me. I was swimming in the middle of a school of tiny little fish and the grey flash was a penguin! I saw him return to the surface before diving down again, darting this way and that to try and catch his lunch. I turned around and a whole family of penguins were heading my way. I think there was about 6 of them that came hurtling towards me, only to steer clear at the last minute and continue their fishing exercise. The little buggers where moving so fast that I was getting twisted into circles just trying to watch them.
I was so amped after what I saw that I needed to get Rach into the water. I got myself to shallower waters and could see her sitting on the beach. I yelled and waved my arms, hoping to
attract her attention. She initially thought I just wanted a photo but finally my frantic ocean-based chirades telling her to 'get the hell into the water' worked. I swam back to meet her, and all I could excitedly say whilst bobbing up and down was 'turtle...penguin...'. We swam back to where I last saw my turtle feasting but he had moved on. We swam a little further on and that is where I saw him. Rach had stopped to re-adjust her mask however from the frantic excited underwater arm-waving that I was doing, she got the picture that there was something she should be looking at. Initially she thought it was just a sting-ray however on closer inspection we found the sea turtle!! We got in really close and watched it as it devoured its lunch. Rach had the bright idea of bringing our disposable underwater camera with her so hopefully when we get them developed some will come out!!
We were starting to get cold so we ventured back to the beach. All up, I had been snorkeling for an hour and when I stood up and out of the water my skin was blue! Hmmm, time to
warm up. We jumped back in the dingy and headed back to the boat. Lunch was served shortly after, chicken and mushroom sauce (not grilled penguin as I had presumed). We set sail for home and that's when I decided to write this blog (I do admit though I did need to take a break at one point cos the ocean was super rough!!). We are almost back on Santa Cruz now so I'll finish this blog later on!
We arrived back on Santa Cruz and jumped on our mini-bus back to the hotel. We took a quick shower to get out of our wet togs and got ready for dinner. We decided to try the Isla Grill for dinner thanks to trip advisor, finished off with an ice-cream from the Galapagos deli. We wandered around town for a bit afterwards, buying a few more figurenes including a sea lion, turtle, penguin and iguana. Here's hoping for a few more yet!...
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Mum 'n Dad
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Gee, you are having a great time on this Island, you wont want to leave. It certainly is an adventure of a life time. Great photos of all the wildlife, you were lucky to see the Killer Whales and get pics of them. Take care and we'll talk soon.