More experiences in the Galapagos

Remember all photos on the left can be clicked on and enlarged.
One of the first things you experience when you get off the plane on Baltra Island in the Galapagos is color. Dry brown brush enclosed by black volcanic rock floating in turquoise waters hit the eye immediately. Then you start to notice the wildlife. While waiting for the ferry to take us from Baltra to Santa Cruz the Frigate birds started flying overhead, colorful fish sliced the water and gorgeous Sally Lightfoot crabs scuttled across the rocks. We were definitely in exotic territory already.
Now I know that there are those of you who just think we have been on a perpetual vacation, okay that's not far from the truth, but don't hate, appreciate. I hope that if you had the time and ability to go into debt that we have been afforded, you would not think it a waste of either of those things to come to such an amazing place. One of the fantastic aspects of being on these islands is that the wildlife is so placid. They don't fear human contact and you can get some great photos. You are directed not to touch the animals because it could change the space/time continuum. But Captain, it sure is tempting. Yet, even Lizzie managed not to touch a single animal, we did leave behind some sea urchin shells that she desperately wanted to take with her, and I wanted to hold an abandoned Albatross egg. I think that my mother can attest to my desire to touch things, simply because they are there, but come on, an Albatross egg! The eggs are left behind when the giant birds crash land head first onto the rocky airport after hunting for food, and die. Good thing that the our guide, Ivan, was able to distract my attention from the eggs with a blowhole. The surf bangs up against the crevices of some rocks and the water rises up geyser style through a hole.
The crazy thing is the amount of sea lions that are on the various islands. We first began to see them in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. We were taking a water taxi from our Yacht, Yachte Fragata, back to the island after unpacking our bags when we noticed a couple of the cute creatures lounging in one of the small motor boats in the harbor. At first I didn't believe they were in the boat, but the zoom lens on our camera doesn't lie. Then we saw a few more on our walk to the Charles Darwin Research Center. They were hanging around the fish dock along with one of my favorite birds, the Pelican. Santa Cruz is the most populous island with lots of inhabitants and tourists walking around, but these guys didn't mind. Our first close up encounter with a group of sea lions was on the second island we visited, Santa Fe. They filled the beach of this small island. Apparently, there is one bull for each group of adult female sea lions along with the various offspring. If we were shooting the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition these gals couldn't have posed better for us. They were working it, baby, and so were we. Their barks and cries could be somewhat surprising at times, especially if you walked too close. When they worked at clearing out their airways of salt water, it reminded us of a loud cat coughing up a hair ball. We saw so many sea lions on every island we visited I had to remind myself not to get jaded about seeing them by the fifth day. They really are awesome animals both in and out of the water.
The Giant Tortoises at the Charles Darwin Center didn't seem to mind our presence either. They let us in the pens with the ladies and later with the gents, but we couldn't spend time inside the pen cheering up Lonesome George, the last of his species of Giant Tortoises. He probably isn't lonesome at all and we humans are just dying to anthropomorphize him. If he doesn't want to fertilize, he just doesn't, right ladies? The guy is 80 years old and has about another 70 years to go. Lizzie practically bust a gut muscle while filming two female giants fighting over a piece of lettuce. One kept biting the other on the neck.
If you spend enough time around Lizzie, you will find that her laugh is infectious. She used to have these laughing attacks at dinner time over nothing and Julian and I would end up cracking up too. Norm is good about not encouraging silliness. Anyway, this came in handy on our last full day on Santa Cruz Island. We met up with some friends from Cuenca who are independent film makers from NYC. They were doing some filming for the Darwin Center and a hotel there in the Galapagos. They had finished up their work and suggested that we go to Tortuga Bay for the day. Norm was feeling a little under the weather, so we left him back at the house we were staying in. It was about a 40 minute walk to a gorgeous lagoon filled with placid turquoise water and mangrove trees. Our friend, Jessie, suggested that instead of walking back to the town since she has a 4 year old daughter, it would be better to ask one of the water taxis to take us back for a reasonable fee. This sounded like an outstanding idea. What does this have to do with Lizzie's infectious laughter? I'm getting to that. We boarded the 15 foot boat and set out for the docks, this was honky dorey when we were in the nice lagoon area, but as soon as we got into the ocean waters, things got dicey. The 4 year old was moved to side of the boat with Lizzie, Julian and I. But that didn't seem to matter much, the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew... Ok, it was sunny and the water was Tidy Bowl green, but the swells were about 7-8 feet and the captain had to cruise at an uncomfortably fast speed on the top of the waves which made the boat slam down hard. Everyone in the boat got really quiet and just tried hard to smile, except Jessie who wanted to get out of the boat right then, and Lizzie-- here comes the Lizzie part. She was maniacally laughing her head off. "This is great," she screamed, "just like a roller coaster. I was hoping for a ride like this." Her laughter was the only thing that kept me sane and free of vomit. That was the scariest boat ride I was on since the 4th of July evening we spent in Joe's boat where the boat kept running aground and it was so dark we couldn't find our way back into the Brigantine inlet.
As you can see from the pictures, Julian really loved snorkeling. He took a few of the pictures of the sea lions and the rays with our disposable underwater camera. One thing he didn't like so much was the result of a game he and Lizzie started playing on a beach in Espanola. They had been wading in the water after frolicking with the sea lions and came out to dry off. Lizzie started playing a game of hiding Julian's shirt from him. As usual Julian went along with it and even decided to hide the shirt himself and ask Liz to find it. He dug a nice hole and buried it well. He buried it so well that Lizzie couldn't find it. In fact he buried it so well, he couldn't find it! Some day some archeologists on the island will be digging around for some sea lion bones and come across the remains of some synthetic material. What is this weird lettering on the back "JULES"? We know you are not supposed to litter, but we had to leave the beach without it.
I would be remiss to leave my blog without mentioning one of my favorite sights, that of the male Magnificent Frigate Bird during mating season. These grand birds had a huge colony on the tiny island of North Seymour. The adult males have a red sack under their beak that they blow up once a year during mating season to attract a mate. The guide told us the sack could stay inflated for up to 3 weeks, and this without Viagra. Our guide told us that it wasn't the size of the blown up pouch, but more the bird's movements and noises that attracted the mate, ...right, once again, size doesn't matter. Additionally, once they get a mate, they deflate the beautiful red sack. I guess if I was the mate, I might be a little disappointed by that.
Well it's hard to say the word disappointed when talking about a trip to the Galapagos, because it is impossible not to be awestruck almost the entire time you are there.