The proximity to the sea lions was incredible. They are so awkward, but cute, on land, and so graceful and playful in the water. We saw lots of pups this morning.
After a nice breakfast, we took the Zodiac to the beach and visited the Post Office barrel, where we had fun learning about the days when whalers came to the Galapagos Islands and established the first post office. This old tradition has continued over the years; people now drop post cards off (we did too) and sort through the hundreds of cards to see if any were near your home.
If so, we were to take those post cards back home with us, hand deliver the postcards to the recipient and tell them "this is from the Galapagos islands". We actually took 4 postcards that were to be delivered to London, Ontario as we were going to see Abby in a week or so... more on that later.
The activity-packed day continued as we repositioned the boat to a small offshore volcanic cone named Champion Islet to prepare for snorkeling. This is one of two tiny islets where a remnant population of the Floreana mockingbird, which was driven to extinction by cats, rats and other introduced predators on the main island, still exists. Biologists are actively running rat eradication programs (I know... sniff...) to protect the endemic species. The islet’s rocky shores are home to colonies of Galápagos sea lions, and the underwater cliffs are swarming with colourful fish species. As Socrates said "currents occasionally sweep around the island, so it is important to always remain within the designated snorkelling area where our Zodiacs will be on patrol and to keep track of your “buddy”.
Abe, the boisterous New Yorker dressed in high tops and a Reggie Miller Jersey (a thing only a self admitted shit-disturbing New York Knicks fan would wear) said "You don't want to be my buddy. If you're my buddy, I WILL leave you at the earliest sighting of a sea lion. That's why Joyce isn't coming today... heh heh". Lol
The snorkeling was fantastic. The sea lions were so engaging, and the giant schools of fish were all over the place.
Lunch? It seemed like we ate 5 meals a day... mostly because we did! All the food continued to be amazing.
We lifted anchor again during lunch and sailed a short distance to a beautiful site called Punta Cormorant (named after a boat wreck – no cormorants there!). Fernando took us for a nice walk on a dark sand beach. We headed inland and up a hill for a view over a large brackish lagoon where saw wading flamingos.
Over the hill, we descended to a beach that look like a scene out of a WWII landing on Normandy.... hundreds of craters in the sand stood out fifty meters above the coastline. This was a nesting area for Green sea turtles, and sure enough, the water was full of them. We also saw quite a few small rays near the water's edge.
Someone pointed out a large frigate flying above us with something in it's mouth. Suddenly, the object dropped down on the beach right in front of us - a baby turtle! We stood around it... willing it to come back to life. After a few minutes, it started moving, and soon it was paddling it's way in the sand slowly towards the water, surrounded by cheering and encouraging giant tourists.
It made it to the water, to the relief of most, though we could hear Socrates say "a turtle lives, and a baby Frigate goes hungry... the circle of life" - always the philosopher.
We watched as the turtle swam out to see on the surface of the water. There was suddenly a bunch of birds, circling the are - Frigates and Pelicans, with their eyes on the prize. The Frigate dove a few times, but most of us didn't think he got the turtle. Hilariously, CSI Alex later confirmed on careful video replay that the Frigate did snatch the little turtle - this time swallowing it whole. Ahhh, the circle of life.
Before dinner, we had a few briefings. Alexa did a presentation on the rise of Galapagos artisans, turning waste and recycling into pieces of art (all for sale in the commissary of course) - a program funded by Lindblad to boost sustainability. Then Javier, marine biologist (who actually rode for a year with 10 friends from Brazil to Chile) gave a talk on the Green sea turtles. Socrates gave his usual professional briefing on the activities planned for tomorrow, then it was off to dinner.
We had dinner with Dave and Lisa, Bill and Robin. Bill and Dave are cousins and the eight of us get along very well. It was nice opening up the dinner to more people and interacting with others. It's amazing how well traveled some of the people on the ship were.
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