Saturday, January 24th
We began our journey at the Nomads hangar at 5:30 am. The flight was very smooth, although quite long. The one problem we encountered was in the Grand Caymen Island where there was some dispute about which fuel company was allowed to refuel the plane. After much posturing, a ride or two in an airline van by our pilots and the flight engineer standing under the wing observing the fuel transfer, we were on our way once more. The hour and a half it cost us in time caused considerable concern at our final destination. Our plane needed to fly in, drop us off and fly off the island of Baltra by dark since the the landing strip (and the building for that matter) has no lights. Sunset is at around 6 pm and we arrived at 5:30! It was dark by the time we made it through their customs with the attendants using flashlights to check off our names and passport numbers on a long typewritten list. That was followed by a 15 minute ride to the dock where we caught a Zodiak (aka rubber dingy) that took us in groups of 15 out to our ship the Polaris. Again, these rafts had no lights, so the tenders moved fast through the water splashing and bumping up to the side of the ship. We checked in, had orientation and a late dinner at 8 pm and finally settled into our cabins around 10 pm. For a day that started at 4:30 am, we were pooped! During the night we cruised to Espanola Island for the next day’s activities.
Sunday January 25th Espanola Island
To say this day was amazing is an understatement! The day began at 6 am with a wake up call from Carlos, our trip naturalist and leader. We had breakfast followed by a Zodiak ride to Punta Suarez where we hiked an awesome trail on boulders and stones, seeing the most astounding wildlife we have ever seen. We were greeted (literally) by sea lions, bright red/orange HUGE crabs, multicolored iguanas and reptiles, and birds only found here on the entire planet. It was hot and very humid but well worth the 3 hour trek. I was a little nervous since there are NO facilities on the island. You can take nothing onto the island and leave nothing behind.
We saw Nazca boobies in mass nestings, blue footed boobies with their chicks, iguanas sunning themselves on breezy cliff walls, magnificent cliffs with tidal swells blasting misty fountains high into the air through blow holes, lava lizards, mockingbirds, a pair of Galapagos hawks, and large-beaked cactus (aka Darwin) finches. There are not enough adjectives to describe what a glorious place this is.
After lunch, we visited another part of the island, Gardner Bay where we strolled along a dazzling white beach and used our new snorkel equipment in the shallow crystal clear aqua waters offshore. We had to step around and through the sea lions basking on the shore. The juveniles would swim right next to us, rolling and playing in the water while paying no attention to us whatsoever. This was a new experience for us—walking and swimming near large groups of reptiles, birds, and large mammals as a visitor to their world and not to a zoo. Shows how really insignificant we truly are in the big picture!
The skies were cloudy until about noon today and remained clear into the night. Tom was awed once again by the beauty of the southern Milky Way, a fond memory from our trip to Australia in 2001.
Tomorrow we spend the day around Floreana Island, with more opportunities to snorkel and to see the relatively rare green sand beaches made from olivine, a volcanic mineral. If we can wake up in time we’ll take a trip before breakfast to a site which served as a post office for ships in the days of sail.
Sunday January 25th Espanola Island
To say this day was amazing is an understatement! The day began at 6 am with a wake up call from Carlos, our trip naturalist and leader. We had breakfast followed by a Zodiak ride to Punta Suarez where we hiked an awesome trail on boulders and stones, seeing the most astounding wildlife we have ever seen. We were greeted (literally) by sea lions, bright red/orange HUGE crabs, multicolored iguanas and reptiles, and birds only found here on the entire planet. It was hot and very humid but well worth the 3 hour trek. I was a little nervous since there are NO facilities on the island. You can take nothing onto the island and leave nothing behind.
We saw Nazca boobies in mass nestings, blue footed boobies with their chicks, iguanas sunning themselves on breezy cliff walls, magnificent cliffs with tidal swells blasting misty fountains high into the air through blow holes, lava lizards, mockingbirds, a pair of Galapagos hawks, and large-beaked cactus (aka Darwin) finches. There are not enough adjectives to describe what a glorious place this is.
After lunch, we visited another part of the island, Gardner Bay where we strolled along a dazzling white beach and used our new snorkel equipment in the shallow crystal clear aqua waters offshore. We had to step around and through the sea lions basking on the shore. The juveniles would swim right next to us, rolling and playing in the water while paying no attention to us whatsoever. This was a new experience for us—walking and swimming near large groups of reptiles, birds, and large mammals as a visitor to their world and not to a zoo. Shows how really insignificant we truly are in the big picture!
The skies were cloudy until about noon today and remained clear into the night. Tom was awed once again by the beauty of the southern Milky Way, a fond memory from our trip to Australia in 2001.
Tomorrow we spend the day around Floreana Island, with more opportunities to snorkel and to see the relatively rare green sand beaches made from olivine, a volcanic mineral. If we can wake up in time we’ll take a trip before breakfast to a site which served as a post office for ships in the days of sail.
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