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Published: July 13th 2006
Is this my good side
who knew iguanas could smileDAY 4
Day 4 in Galapagos started with Heather discovering that she couldn´t read her watch when she woke up in themorning. She had discovered that my advice not to use medication unless you really need to is pretty good. She had prophylactically used one of my scopolamine patches to prevent sea sickness from starting...and had a reaction to the anticholinergic effects. HUGely dilated pupils and diplopia...we removed the patch and 24 hours later she was ok.
We headed onto Santa Fe island this morning for a small hike. Sea Lions were all over the beach again and one did growl at Heather when we tried to get a really close photo. She jumped...but probably more scared due to the lack of focusing...! We found a bunch of endemic Iguanas - a species specific to this island. There were lots of Boobies again...and lava lizards. This place was pretty dry...but not as dry as one island where the finches are called vampire finches since they have adapted to the lack of water by having the ability to get water out of blood they suck from the bigger birds!!
The views from here were amazing...but the best bit of
Barren Landscape
the whole island looks like this the trip was to come. We went snorkling...with the baby sea lions. It was sooo much fun. They dive bombed at us before veering away at the last minute. We went under the wanter and looped around and the copied us. One of them kept trying to steal my flipper by chomping down on it .Boy was he strong...I think I have a photo of this on my underwater camera so fingers crossed. There was about 4 or 5 of them and I didn´t want to leave. I don´t know who had more fun- them or us! Then we snorkled opver to a small peice of coral (most of the Coral disappeared during El Nino a few years ago) and we found a giant sea turtle. We swam with him. He was so graceful. We also saw a giant ray...thankfully from far above. What a great morning.
We then sailed for South Plaza island. This was an increadible landscape barren with red shrubs, there were scattered huge cactus trees and the crystal clear blue waters behind. We saw Iguanas fighting each other for a piece of cactus...and some of them bright yellow to breed. Their nests are just holes
Dinner Time
The iguana eating the cactus pod Roberto knocked down for him dug in the earth. One of them was just sitting quietly in his nest.
We also saw a hybrid animal (like a mule) between a land and a marine iguana. This is only one of 3 anywhere in the world.
We saw yellow mullet fish just below the surface from the cliff that were huge. There were sea lions on top of the cliffs - we discovered that sea lions can climb...its true, really! There is one dominant male with his harem in each group and the other males either have fight him or climb the cliffs at the other side of the island.
Some don´t make it and we saw some dead bodies scattered around - almost mummified.
Day 5
This was our last morning in Galapagos and we had a quiet night on the boat since the generator broke down. We were docked at an area called black turtle Cove. We took a Panga ride around the mangrove forest. These trees grow right on the edge of calm salt water and have salinising glands. The thickness was amazing with roots trying to reach down to the ocean. It was very peaceful in here and
They can climb
This is the cliff the Sea Lions climb. Wow! very shallow. We saw baby sharks, big turtles and rays. There were fish everywhere and the herons were very happy. After this we all headed back to the boat and got off at the airport island of Baltra.
The funiest thing was there were 2 park benches at the dock - with 3 smelly sea lions sleeping on each them...a good use of available resources we thouight. We then flew back to Quito and had a typical Ecuadorian meal of potatoes and cheese. We passed on the guinea pigs this time...saving them for later!!
Got up bright and early the next day and flew to Manta on the South Coast of Ecuador. We then spend 4.5 hours on buses and a short ferry ride heading for a small surf town of Canoa. Actually, we´re very luck we got here. We never knew where we were going. People would just rush up to us, we´d say the name of the town we wanted to go to they´d say ¨No¨and then put us on another bus. It worked though, we always got closer to our destination. The journey was interesting with few tourists around. The houses are all bambbo/straw and
Our Crew
That´s Roberto on the bottom right. are on stilts. Clearly there must be flooding. They do not look very safe, especially with the knowledge that there was a large earthquake here in the last 10 years that destroyed a whole town. We have found a great hotel here right on the beach complete with our own hammocks. All we see is sand and blue waters. This morning we body boarded and both got a little sun burnt. The water was so warm we didn´t want to come out. One of us is pretty pink (again...). Its been nice to relax for a while. We plan tomorrow to go further down the coast.
We must go soon, since it will be happy hour! Hopefully I´ll get the galapagos photos working soon.
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Brian Roche
non-member comment
great to hear about your adventure
Hi Shelagh and Heather...Frances and I arrived home safely...an early start and a long day...we finally got in about 6 pm after starting at 4 am...kids had made a banner that read Welcome Home Mommy and Daddy...I can't believe we were just there and that we were having dinner with you guys on Tuesday!! Its seems so far away already...my digitial pics turned out great...it will be weeks until I get the slides...drawback of film... I hope you enjoy the remainder of your adventure...keep me posted with your Blog...By the way it was a real pleasure meeting you both... Sincerely, Brian Roche