Day 54: The Gorgeous S.Plaza Island!

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Another amazing day today! We had a bit more of a sleep in today as we werent getting picked up till 8am! I am starting to get used to these early starts! Not that I am really functioning much better! Thankfully we just have to get up and put clothes on then go sit on a bus and then boat for a few hours! We woke up and opened the curtains to a gorgeous morning! Clear skies and sunny! Wahhoo! Good start! Up we got, had breakie down in the restaurant and waited out the front for our pick up. There was about 7 people from our tour yesterday so that was nice cos we all knew each other, and a few other older ladies. We had a 50 min drive on the bus to get to the northern dock of Santa Cruz. Once arriving we hopped on the boat and Ben and I decided to go and sit on the front of the boat and get our tan on for our 15min journey to our first stop to snorkel at 9am! We usually snorkel in the afternoons so this was a lil different but thankfully it was warm and sunny and so we were happy to just jump on in. They pulled up and anchored at the base of a cliff just off Santa Cruz . We were told there was sharks and they were vegetarian so it was all good! So we jumped in and followed our guides around in the hope we would see them! We saw hundreds and hundreds of fish, big and small. And Ben and I almost swam through a giant school of big fish! Then we heard a grunt underwater as our guide had found a shark!! We swam across to meet him and he was pointing down a hole in the coral so I swam down first and sure enough there was a reef shark! Pretty big actually and could see him really clearly! So cool! Ben went after me to catch a glimpse but he was pretty cautious and didnt go right down to the hole so said he saw the shark but not very clearly. So we continued on perusing through the water gazing at different coloured fish and our guide started motioning to us that he had found another shark. Unfortunately all of us had turns to go down deep in the water and see it but no-one else could!! We took a pic of the first one with our trusty disposable underwater camera so we really hope it comes out! We wouldnt even know where to take cameras to get developed these days!!

After about 45mins snorkeling we all came up on board again and Ben and I decided to go back on the front of the boat to enjoy the sun and dry off. As we were taking off our guide came up and told us that it would get a lil wet up there for the next hour so just to be careful of digital equipment – ie our camera. We were like yep yep and lay down in the sun. Next thing we know we are getting absolutely saturated from all directions! I was yelping and Ben was laughing in hysterics! The hole in the front of the boat then pops open and one of the crew pops up and rescues us telling us to climb down into the boat! Everyone down there was none the wiser and couldnt understand why we were so wet! It was pretty funny and thankfully our camera survived the expedition! Ben went up top and I stood downstairs in the sun for a bit to warm off before changing out of my wet togs.

We had about an hours drive to get to South Plaza island which isn't actually far from Santa Cruz but right around the other side so it took a while. I got a blog typed up on my phone ready to post tonight and we were both on the lookout for Mantarays (a type of stingray that leaps out of the water really high), which we havent managed to capture yet! Ben captured a splash today which was the best effort yet! After an hour we pulled into a really pretty tiny lil island! There were baby sea lions playing in the rock pools as we got onto the dock and they were so adorable to watch! I could have sat there for hours watching them! After many many pics of them playing we walked up into the island and got taught about the flora on the island which is red at this time of year and is only on this island. There are heaps and heaps of land iguanas on this island – yellow if they are male and black if female. They feed on cactus leaves and therefore the island om one half is full of cactus trees and the iguanas sit underneath them like stone and dont move and wait for the leaves to drop. The other half of the island is much newer and therefore doesnt have much vegetation on it so there are not as many iguanas to see. We wandered up to the top (which wasnt far) and stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking Santa Cruz island and Santa Fe. It was gorgeous! Up against the cliff is where the birds all mate and court each other. There were hundreds if them swooping in and it was realy funny watching them catching fish too! Ben spent a long time trying to capture the birds in action but they were pretty fast! We came across a male sea lion perched up on top of the cliff and got told that the adult sea lions literally climb (and they are such awkwardly slow climbers) up the cliff after feeding and lie up there for about 3 months before heading down again! So we saw one up there and one half way up having a rest on some rocks on the cliff. We spent about an hour and a half wandering around the tiny island and I just couldnt stop taking pics! It was such a cool island and possibly one of my favourites! Unfortunately we werent allowed to snorkel down near the rock pools with the sea lions.

We reluctantly hopped back in our boat passing the sea lions playing again and it was a 2 hour trip back to Santa Cruz, after eating lunch on board. We had fish again which unfortunately was a lil overcooked but still tasty! We chatted to some of the other passengers about our travels and theirs. Before we knew it we had arrived at Santa Cruz island. We were really wanting to get to Seymour island in the next 2 days as that is where the red ridiculous looking frigate bird is and I realllly wanna see it! And Ben wants to watch the blue footed boobies do their mating dance which also happens on this island. So, we asked our guide and he took us to his boss' house to see if we coud book on a trip for tomorrow. He dropped us off and unfortunately it was all booked up! He told us to try different travel agents so we tried about 6 and they all said it was booked up till about the 17^th June!! We couldnt believe it and were so gutted! Ah well, not meant to be. So, we ended up booking in to go to Floreana island tomorrow to at least see something else. We spent about 45mins I the tour agency teaching this man little bits of english. He was very funny!

After eventually getting back to the hotel we were starving and decided to flag showers and just head down to our local pizza/icream joint – Galapagos Deli! They didnt fail us once again. We shared another pizza. This time we asked for pineapple on it also and there was literally a whole tin of pineapple all over it! A bit of overkill but still yummy! We also had our nightly homemade icecream fix from the same place! Mmmm sat-is-fied! We had a nice early night again after editing our pics and catching up on a few blog postings!

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Photos

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our hotel hehe

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laxin out on the front of the boat

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glad we arent on that boat!

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2 sealions just hanging out at the pier

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ready set snorkel

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our snorkel spot

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post snorkel pre soak on the front of the boat!

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trying to get warm!!

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arriving at plaza