Speechless

We started the morning with a dinghy ride to view the birds. Although Gustavo was trying to provide information, no one was listening, as we were distracted by the boobies diving like missiles into the water around us. We were floating above a million sardines, so the birds would take aim, bring their wings in tight, and explode into the water. With a splash, the would hit the water, then pop again. The lucky ones came to the surface with a fish secured in their beak.

We motored over to a rock outcropping, where we saw more blue footed boobies up close; many booby jokes quickly followed. (Did you know that 67% of the creatures here are endemic to the Galapagos? But, many of the birds are not, since it’s much easier for them to get here.) Besides boobies, we also saw Galapagos yellow warblers, frigates, and swallow tailed seagulls.

Following our birdwatching, we were served up a once-in-a-lifetime snorkel trip. The water in Buccaneer Bay is stunning. It is crystal clear, and you can easily see down 30 feet, as though you were looking through a window. I was slipping on my fins, when Gustavo pointed out a sea lion by our dinghy. I quickly slid into the water and within minutes, the sea lion was approaching me. I powered on the GoPro, and he came straight for me. About 18 inches from my mask, the sea lion dove under me, encapsulating me in his bubbles. I’m sure you can hear me giggling with glee on the video. For 40 minutes, the sea lion dove, circled, and flipped all around us. It was incredible. Then, Gustavo yelled, “Shark!” while pointing behind me. I kicked just a bit and saw the shark slowly swimming along the rocks toward me. As it approached, the coloring of the dorsal fin gave it away: a white tip reef shark.

We had lunch then sailed to Egas Port, named after Mr. Egas. He was a naughty man. He set up an illegal salt mining operation that ran undetected from 1960-65. Back then, there were only a handful of park rangers, so he was able to live and work on the island for quite a while. His modest home still stands, sans a roof, as a reminder of the park’s past. A walking trail skirts the home and led us to the volcanic shore just over the hill. There, we saw little, baby sea lions. The mothers leave the babies on shore, while they go out to fish for a day or two. Since there are no natural predators, the babies are safe on their own, but we did see one mother with about five pups surrounding her. It was a sea lion nursery. So cute! Farther along the shore we found a big, yellow land iguana. He (or she) stood like a statue, while we took pictures, videos, and the obligatory selfie with the reptile posing in the background.

Upon returning to our starting point, we unpacked our snorkeling gear and got into the water. The visibility wasn’t as good here , but fish were bountiful. Again, we came across sharks. All three were black tip reef sharks, lazily piloting through the area. Kim and I decided to turn in a little sooner than some; the sun was getting low on the horizon, and the water was starting to give us a chill.

After a very hot shower, we wrapped up our day with a briefing on tomorrow’s itinerary. Gustavo guaranteed that tomorrow’s snorkeling will outdo today’s. Is that possible?Lue lisää