Saturday and Sunday

Fernandina Island (30 Nov. 2008)

We're at a point now where it's really difficult to write about what happened today because so many things have happed. I'm writing this at 6:30 pm, and we've already enough activities to fill half a week.

We started out this morning on Fernandina Island, where marine iguanas, sea lions, Sally Lightfoot crabs, flightless cormorants, and Galapagos hawks were to be found in abundance.

One of the most awe-inspiring aspects of this trip is the way that the animals are largely indifferent to human presence. Some of the other high points were getting to watch marine iguanas eat algae, seeing a whale skeleton, and watching a Galapagos hawk eating an iguana. Geologically speaking, this was also an interesting outing. Lava flows and lava tubes and crevices were everywhere. The ground was buckled as if shattered by a wave.

 

Snorkeling at Ecuador Volcano (30 Nov. 2008)

Okay, so I was totally freaked out by the phrase "Deep Water Snorkeling." However, it was one of the best experiences of the trip.

We rode a panga along the coast to a cove out of the sight of the Santa Cruz. Turning and jumping out of the boat for my second snorkeling experience was great. I had the breathing down, the mask was good, excellent start. From there, we swam along the cliff face looking down at schools of fish and flowing locks of algae. Cutting across the channel, we rounded a corner and came face to face with a sea turtle that swam directly to us. It was less than a meter from our faces when a sea lion swam by and diverted its attention. Swimming on, we saw several more sea turtles and at least 17 Golden Rays. I saw a school of five swimming and then with the rest of the group there was a group of eleven.

Back in the panga, we boated along the coastline looking for Galapagos penguins. We saw many Galapagos penguins, flightless cormorants, sea lions, marine iguanas, blue footed boobies, and fur sea lions.

Back on the ship by 5pm , I'm not sure what else we could possibly pack into today.

 

Random Observations (30 Nov. 2008)

Stendahl, in his descriptions of travelling in Venice, described a situation where a person could be so totally enticed, surrounded, and taken in to a piece of art that they could lose track of everything outside of the art. The enormity and scope and fullness of the beauty sublimely and serenely terrorizes us.

 

 Espanola Island (29 Nov. 2008)

This morning we disembarked from the boat for Espanola Island, also known as Hood Island. This was the first place we went to that was literally crawling with marine iguanas. Walking around the island, we saw nazca boobies, blue footed boobies, waved albatross, lava lizards, marine iguanas, Galapagos hawks, lava flows, sea lions, and Sally Lightfoot crabs. Tons of stuff.

One of the high points was getting to see the waved albatross. It gave us English nerds a great Rime of the Ancient Mariner moment, which led to a pre-dinner recitation of the poem.

We also got to see the albatross courtship dance. Very cool.

Scenery was fantastic. Pictures can say so much more than I ever can (so they'll be posted soon).

 

Floreana Island (29 Nov. 2008)

On Floreana Island we had a wet landing and then hiked around to see pink flamingos, some sea turtles swimming in the ocean, and a baby ray.

In this case, there are no pictures because I thought I was going to be snorkeling instead of hiking, but ended up not snorkeling.