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Published: July 30th 2005
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Leon Dormido
We went snorkeling in the channel between the big rocks. Day 3 started out with a whole new outlook. We had got reconciliation from the tour company and we were ready to enjoy the last 6 days of our land-based Galapagos tour. Unfortunately, we forgot to get the point across to our tour manager (who still was not fond of Ryan).
We had a later start with breakfast at a cafe on land. Carlos, the Bolivian, had been out to the disco the night before and missed breakfast. Frederique, his roommate, tried unsuccessfully to wake him up. At least Carlos got an hour's sleep before the day's activities. After breakfast, our group was split among two boats, a dive boat and a regular boat. The Canadian family all went on the dive boat. The rest of us (Carlos, Frederique, Mike, Caroline, and the two of us) went on the other boat.
Both boats headed out to Leon Dormido (aka Kickers Rock) for snorkeling. Here, the guide told us that we could see lots of fish and possibly hammerhead sharks. They positioned one boat at each end of the channel and had us snorkel in between. The weather was warmer and the water was cold but very calm. Good snorkeling.
Even Ana enjoyed it. We (Ryan and Ana) did not see any sharks, however other members of our group did. The Canadians and Frederique saw over 40 Galapagos shark and Mike was the only one to see a hammerhead. We did see a Manta Ray, though, and coral along the rock wall. After about half an hour, our boat moved on.
We drove past Isla Lobos, where normally one can do a small walk to see the wildlife. However, we did not have a guide on our boat. We waited near the shore for the dive boat to catch up. In the meantime we went snorkeling again. This area had many sea lion pups that came up and swam around with us. We (might?) have some neat pictures with the underwater disposable camera, but we haven't developed the film yet. When we couldn't stand the cold any longer, we got back in the boat. We then headed for Playa Ochoa, where we continued to wait for the dive boat without going ashore. When the boat finally arrived (over an hour and half behind the scheduled rendevouz time), we found out that no one was going onto Isla Lobos since
the birds were nesting. Then we were told the day was over and we went back to port. It was only 1:50 pm and everyone was disappointed in not seeing very much that day.
After showering at the hotel, we took off with Mike and Caroline to entertain ourselves for the afternoon. As we walked along shore, we saw a boat that looked suspisciously like the Sarah Dayuma up on the sand. It was obviously not going to be ready to sail anytime soon. Mike estimated at least 2-3 weeks before it'd be ready. We saw our tour manager near the boat, but got no look or wave of recognition. We'd been promised an updated itinerary for the rest of the trip and wanted to inquire about dinner and possible activities for the afternoon. We waited for about forty-five minutes for our tour manager to acknowledge us. He definitely saw us as he'd look in our direction every few minutes, but he seemed intent on ignoring us. Finally, we decide to approach him. Ryan inquired if the boat was the Sarah Dayuma and was told, "No, this is the Victoria I, the Sarah Dayuma is over there (indicating some
place in the distance)." We then asked if the manager had some time to talk later and he agreed to talk later that evening.
In the meantime, we headed over to the Interpretation Center just outside of town. We spent a pleasant 2 hours going through the center and walking some of the nature paths. It was nice to be on our own. We learned about the human history of the islands.
We then headed back into town to find out about dinner. We went by the regular dinner restaurant and were told our dinner was some place else that night. We stopped by the dive shop, but no one was around that might know our itinerary. As we stepped back outside, we ran into Frederique who said dinner was in about 10 minutes and we were supposed to get picked up at our hotels. Since it was so close to dinner time, it made more sense to walk to the restaurant (it would take us about 10 mins just to walk to the hostel and the Germans longer). If we could only find out where dinner was supposed to be. Luckily, we ran into Carlos´ friend Byron (aka Fifi) and he knew where dinner was. He even gave us directions. Since he seemed to be a fountain of information, we asked if he knew where the Sarah Dayuma was. He said, "Sure, it´s by the Capitanía, just across from where you´re having dinner." This described the exact location we had seen the "Victoria I" being worked on earlier that afternoon. More disappointment at the lack of information (four of us had no idea when and where dinner was) and misinformation (tour manager lying about the identity of the boat).
Dismissing this as typical for the tour so far, we headed to dinner. We were ready to put on our happy faces since it was the groups´ last night together. The Canadians and Frederique would be leaving the Galapagos the next day. On our way to dinner, we passed by the Sarah Dayuma again and ran into our tour manager. The tour manager exploded at Ryan telling him that he was fed up and thought it would be better if we (Ryan and Ana) went back to the mainland the next day. He continued, saying how difficult Ryan was making his job. He even said he´d ordered a cake for that evening to apologize for all the inconveniences all us had experienced so far. Then he stormed off. We were all a bit taken aback, but headed on to dinner anyway.
Dinner was fine. We got to watch the tour manager flirt some more with the Canadians eldest daughter (by the bar because he didn´t want to sit with us). The cake turned out to be for the Canadians´youngest daughter (she was turning 15 in two days) not an apology cake. Maybe the lies were what our tour manager thought we wanted to hear. Too bad he didn´t realize we just wanted the truth.
We asked the Canadians if they´d had any problems with the tour manager. They said, "No, he´s been fabulous. Very attentive. Whenever we need anything, we have our eldest ask (she speaks Spanish). He even helped set up dives for our eldest daughter (she´d booked several on the cruise). They (the dives) even turned out to be less expensive than they would have been on the cruise." Aha! No wonder we weren´t getting any information. None of us was a petite blonde that the tour manager was flirting with. The petite blonde scuba diver was usually the only one that knew what was going on.
Obviously, something had to change. And fast. The Canadians were leaving the next day. We could not rely on them for information. So, after dinner we approached the tour manager and explained that we did not have a problem with him. We told him that we were not upset and wanted to have new start on the new island. We explained that all we were looking for was accurate information about our schedule. He seemed to understand. Then we asked about the rest of the itinerary. He explained it and upon request wrote it down on an index card for us. The tour manager lightened up a bit when Ryan said he was happy with the itinerary. Too much drama! Looking forward to a fresh start on Santa Cruz Island.
WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS: Frigatebirds (in flight), Brown pelicans (in flight), Blue-footed boobies (in flight), Elliot's Storm petrel (in flight), Sea lions (on land and in water), San Cristobal Lava lizard, Sea turtle (seen from above), Rays, Fish, Coral, Anemones
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