30-07-2011
Morning was spent at the Santiago island. Saw loads of sea lions and a few fur sea lions. The cutest was a baby sea lion that was recently born, placenta still attached, trying to suckle. The mother looked exhausted. More marine iguanas, crabs, pelicans , American oyster catchers ( beautiful bright red beaks),doves and yellow
Warblers. Was shown a few intact crab shells that had been molted off, on my own I would have thought they were dead crabs. Also saw the Darwin's toilet, the water rises and then gushes out of this hole with a noise that sounds pretty much like a flush in a loo.
Lucky day today, snorkeled in the morning and again the afternoon. In the morning saw a few turtles, sea lions and small rays.The second outing was deep sea snorkeling, it was a lovely afternoon for it. The sun was shining and the water was crystal clear. There were a variety of fish,at one point of time everywhere we looked we could see nothing else but a massive shoal of smallish silver fish. Sea lions swam along side and it was lovely watching them frolicking in the water, especially when they twirl. A huge Manta ray came close to us and then sadly swam away, obviously we weren't interesting enough. Then the best bit of all was seeing the shark , I have finally swum with the sharks. Spotted a few marine iguanas clutching on to the rocks below and feeding on the sea weed, still managing to look menacing.
Went for a walk to the Rabida island in the afternoon. The sand here is red and the incense ( smells good) trees along with the cacti cover a large part of the ground. Spotted a Galapagos hawk, seen them before but this was more up close and personal. Went for a panga ride to spot some bobbies ( love saying it). Spotted them along with frigatebirds, pelicans, herons, nardees and sea lions( a few fur ones were peeking out of caves).
Ice cream festival at the boat followed by dinner and the Neptune party in celebration of the fact that we have crossed the equator four times in this trip. Tonight sharks decided to join the sea lions in the hunt for the flying fish along the boat . We got to see quite a few sharks along with the sea lions and the poor flying fish as well as the shadowy presence of the rays.
Another amazing day.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment