We got dressed to have some breakfast (buffet style with an eggs cooked to order station). Our seat mates for our dining room meals are John and Norma from Melbourne. They are very lovely people and we have enjoyed sharing our meals them.
We head back to the boat and I snap this picture of the dramatic rock formation on the island of Bartolome. The hill in the background is the one we hiked up.
The first excursion of the day begins to leave at 8:30. We are called up by groups as only so many people fit not the staging area to board the zodiacs. This morning was a "wet entry" meaning that there is no wharf or rocks to climb onto from the boat. We are to exit from the rear of the zodiac about knee deep into the water and make ourselves into the beach.
Before we leave for the shore excursion, Judith and I decide to take up the snorkelling option which means that after breakfast and before we leave for Puerto Egas, we need to get fitted for snorkels, masks and fins. Since the water has cooled off a bit from the summer, we elect to rent some wetsuits -- an add on option. It turns out it was a good choice because the water would have been too cold to stay out a long time without the extra insulation.
Puerto Egas is where you can find marine iguanas. When we land, we share the beach with 3 sea lion mothers and their pups. The pups are very cute; Judith is successful at finding a way to stop herself from running up to pet them.
The iguanas live near the shore, eating algae off the rocks. Their teeth have adapted to scrape off the algae. Alex, our guide, showed us the dried out remains of a marine iguana lying near the path. Alex indicates this would have happened because the food source ran out. Looking at the shore rocks, I couldn't see any algae. Alex indicates that the amount of algae goes through cycles. There have been periods that the the marine iguana population has suffered when the amount of algae as fallen off.
We see several of these prehistoric looking creatures. Like the animals we saw yesterday, they are not perturbed by humans being nearby as long as you're quiet and don't make sudden movements. We see serveral of them this morning along the beach.
They need to lie in the sun to warm up their core. If there aren't any algae on the exposed rocks, they need to enter the water to feed.
We see an oyster catcher. We have lots on the west coast but they would never let me get close to them to be anything but a very small speck in my photos. This picture has her (him?) guarding her (his?) eggs and I didn't break any park rules to get this picture. Oyster catchers are funny looking birds. They're often described as a bird smoking a carrot.
Here is a brown pelican diving into the water. They are large birds so there is always a large splash when they hit the water. An egret stands undisturbed by the splashing.
The area has many grottos that fur seals (a type of sea lions) like to hang out in.
After the walk we go snorkelling. I had a faulty snorkel which filled with water instantly. One of the other guides came to my rescue and switched his mask and snorkel for mine. Then he takes me around the bay pointing out all the cool marine life. One of the sea lions darted past. I recorded some of my snorkelling on my GoPro--I'll need to edit it before I publish it.
We finished snorkelling and went back to the ship for lunch. It's a barbecue on the outside back deck. After lunch there was a lecture on the Galápagos but admittedly, I was pretty tired and fell asleep for about half of it. That's what you get for feeding me lunch and then making me sit still for a while. The few parts I did hear were interesting and informative.
After the seminar (and my nap) we went snorkelling again, this time to another island, Bartolome. I manage to take some more video of several species of fish. Then it was back to the ship to get ready for a hike up to the lookout point on Bartolome. We guess that the average age of the passengers is between 65 and 70. The climb to the top of the hill is difficult for some of them, even though the path up is smooth with stairs built into the steeper sections.
The island is a barren volcanic landscape. There is little vegetation. We see collapsed lava tubes and open cones of past volcanic activity.
At the top of the hill, it's windy!
We climb back down the hill and return to the zodiac. On our way back from the island we see a lone penguin. This species is one of the smallest and is the only one that can be found north of the equator. The water was a little choppy and this picture was the best of an awful lot of blurry takes.
We're back on board around 6:00 for dinner at 7:00 pm. Prior to that is a presentation explaining the next day's activities.
The stargazing seminar didn't happen as it was too cloudy. I went to bed. They seem to pack a lot of activities into a day.
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