NEWS # 006
Hi everyone!
The Galapagos Islands ..... part 3
Am woken in the middle of the night by small insects falling off the bunk
above! These keep me awake for most of the night as another army falls on me
just as I fall asleep again. Will use my mozzie net tonight to stop the same
thing happening again. Mind you, most of the others are woken by the engine as the
boat moves off at 5.00am!!
Up at 6.00 am on Monday morning to a breakfast of scrambled eggs and tomato,
fresh fruit, toast and herbal tea which fills me up nicely.
We have arrived at a small lagoon between the islands of North and South
Plaza and are surrounded by loads of fish and pelicans and a small colony of
sealions sits on the beach watching us. There are four or five other small
boats in the lagoon with us, each with its crew and passengers breakfasting
together.
We are going to visit the southern island and after a short dinghy trip, we
'meet' the sealions, more iguanas (this time both land and marine species),
Frigate birds, an owl and the first few 'blue footed Boobies' (a type of
feathered bird, before you ask!).
Along the shoreline, each large male
sealion, or beachmaster, has his own territory, which he swims up and down,
together with several pups and females. He does not have it all his own way
though as the females can go to the territory of whichever male they fancy
and the beachmasters earn their affections by looking after their pups as
they go to sea to fish. Added to this is the fact that the beachmasters
don't get chance to eat and therefore become weak and are challenged by
other males anxious to steal their territory. If they lose they must go to
the bachelor sealion colony to recover and so it goes on ...
After this we snorkel in the lagoon and see stingrays and loads of
multicoloured fish, then it's back to the boat for lunch of fish soup and
chicken salad.
I settle down to study Spanish during the trip to Santa Fe, whose towering
cliffs appear out of the mist several hours later. We visit the island and
see more sealions and at the top of the island see large land iguanas, each
wearing their own camaflage outfit of yellow and brown, who appear to spit
salt at you if you venture too close!
Aside from these, a Galapagos hawk, lots of cacti and what appear to be dead
trees, all the island holds is a large case of sunburn for all of us! We
were hoping to swim on our return but are told that this would be
inadvisable as a large (3 metre plus) shark had been patrolling earlier, in
search of food!!!
After dinner, the boat leaves for Isla Espanola and we all sit on the
foredeck as we motor through the calm waters in the moonlight. I crash out
at 8.30pm.
The next morning, after a good night's sleep (especially good after the engine is
shut down at 2.00am and shielded by my mosquito net from the army of dropping
insects), I awake at 6.00am to shave.
I'm up on deck early and discover that we are at anchor in the lee of
Espanola with the same five small boats (it appears that we all follow the
same route, more or less) and a small perfect righthander peels around the
point into the bay. Shame that my surf board is in Puerto Ayora! Mind you,
large bull sealions patrol the beach and would, perhaps, be less than keen
to see me in the line-up. Valuing my arms and legs, I am not so depressed
after all!
The morning's hike leads us up through the island to an area where twenty-five thousand albatrosses can be found during the breeding season, though none
are evident today. We head towards the cliff (60 feet) and on looking over
the edge see marine iguanas swimming in the rock pools below. Seems that
they feed off green algae and have to throw themselves off the cliff face
into the sea. They have sharp claws and have no problems scaling the rocks
having done so, despite the raging surf.
Moving along the cliffs, we come across Masked Boobies, so called because of
a band of black pigment around their heads which makes them look like
highwaymen. The real robbers of the air are Frigate birds, expert fliers,
who prey on other birds and harrass them in the air making them drop their
food, which is then eaten by the Frigate birds.
The Boobies have fluffy chicks and there are also blue footed Boobies,
famous from 'The Trials of Life', with bright blue feet.
Back on the boat we move off to another beach and snorkel again. Am admiring
the fish when I am joined by two five foot long white-tipped reef sharks!
They seem well fed and not tempted to eat me, thankfully.
Chilled after
forty minutes in the water, we sunbathe for a couple of hours, then it's
back to the boat for dinner. The full moon is up when the boat leaves for
the trip for Isla Floreana.
Am slowly working my way through the Spanish book but will probably be
fluent in Dutch, German and French as well, by the end of the trip!
Seeya,
Halesy
