We're home! Home, sweet, home!!! So this is the last update... at least until next year! We still need to write our summaries. Thanks to all of you for all your newsy emails and words of encouragement. Though we write the updates as our journal to savor when we get home, it is nice to get your comments and feedbacks! Hope to see many of you soon!!
Day 4 - Isabella Island
We began exploring the largest island--50% of Galapagos land mass--Isabella Island. We went on land and traveled by bus to see the world's 2nd largest crater part of which erupted last in 2005. Johan pointed out the large number of non-native guava trees and blackberry bushes which now cover almost 40% of the island--as he said--a big problem. Next we visited the Turtle Breeding Center...so necessary as only 2% of tortoises survive as there are now so many eggs are destroyed. It is a success story as the population has gone from 3000 to 15, 000. The center has received millions of donated money thanks to the recently deceased famed Lonesome George ..last of his species. Since "Galapagos" was named after the saddleback tortoise--their survival is important to the park. ElNino has also been very hard on all the animals. 75% of the flamingos died in the last one. We had a bit of beach time and also walked about the tiny village. The open church doors pulled me in and to my delight there was a detailed wall sized painting of the Galapagos which included so many animals we'd seen...right behind the altar made of drift wood...and above it all was a glorious risen Lord! The stain glass windows were also the Galapagos animals: tortoise, blue-footed boobie, penguin etc. As I knelt for a prayer, I realized that being in the Galapagos has actually reaffirmed my love and admiration of our world's masterful Creator! To actually hear and see evolution happening ...Just one example is the Darwin finch. Originally was one species...now 13...and two more are in the early stages...each changing as they are forced to migrate due to lack of food...and slowly adapting to eating the new food available to them! What a marvelous and miraculous plan!!! What an Awesome God!!! We jumped back in the dinghy and headed back to our boat...passing lots of playful sea lions...some jumping on and off a marooned boat...the budget cruise. After we got out of the dinghy, one sea lion crawled in for a free ride. The ok was given to dive off the top of our boat and so several younger ones, our guide & the captain enjoyed that thrill as Rog & I enjoyed the show from the deck as we did the rest of the evening loving another spectacular sunset.
The Galapagos Gang
As always, it is often the people that make or break the trip...and our gang certainly made it!! Here for our records:
Brian & Ann Marie-45- from Calgary Together for 3 yrs. Each with a 20 yr old daughter. He an electrician & formally dive & rescue team member...that was comforting to know...she an dialysis nurse.
Jordan & Jemma-23- from Australia. Both recent grads.
Anya-35- from Ireland. Army colonel
Connie-40- from Switzerland
Britta-40- from Germany. Recently lost engineer job. Did 15 dad cruise.
Britta-24 from Germany. Student
Tom-35 from England. Just quit his job as airline steward and now living with
Monica-35 from Switzerland. Just quit her job as project manager
Ron-65 from Texas. Businessman whose s/o is a workaholic and not traveler
Doug-60 from Scotland. The only "snag" in the bunch
Linda-60 from Canada. The loud, attention seeker who hooked up with Doug.
Joleen-25 from Holland. Whose heart was recently broken when her boyfriend of 5 yrs broke up with her
Most were traveling from 6 to 12 months. We spent many hours visiting and learning about each other and our countries. One example was while discussing the feeling between what use to be West/East Germany, Britta said "You know why the Chinese are always smiling? They still have their wall!" And Joleen told us Holland had recently slapped a sales tax on products with sugar or fat. She'd love to come to USA just to see our "super sized plates and drinks"--what does that say about what others think of us! Jordon said we all suffer from FOMO--Fear Of Mission Out. I agree. While talking under the millions of bright stars, Jemma summed it up saying, "When I spend time with others on trips, I don't even think about their age...we are all just fellow travelers!" See why we loved this gang!
Day 5 - Elizabeth Bay and Urbina Bay (Isabella Island)
Started the day with a dinghy ride into small inlets so we could find sea turtles gliding by, penguins twirling around and flightless cormorants in search of breakfast. One found an octopus which we watched wiggle all the way down his long throat. On land we trekked through a mangrove where we came upon 20 humongous, dome tortoises and 9 land iguana ..two staging a fight and two others courting. We spotted a few short eared owls who hunt in the day here, fly catchers and a friendly yellow warbler who sat on someone's boot. It is simply unreal how the animals don't even blink an eye or move away an inch when we get close. The water was too rough to snorkel so we got back to our boat in plenty of time for the evening party. The crew joined us for drinks and dancing. Jonah showed us how to do the salsa and the blue footed boobie dance. The Ecuadorians sure know how to move when they dance!
Day 6 Tagus Bay (Isabella Island) and Fernadina Island
The blue footed boobies provided my early morning excitement as by the dozens, they took air from about 200' and dove straight as an arrow into the water...it was like watching rapid firing war bombing! Boom, boom, boom! Later we'd get closer and see their robin egg colored feet almost glowing as they perched on the black rocks. We spent several hours today below the water surface, swimming with sea turtles, rays, score of fish over the fresh green urchins. Sea lions again came out to play with us--it is so hard not to laugh out loud and thus swallow seawater!! We even saw sea turtles mating. Their young only have a 1% survival rate. On land, we watched the alpha male sea lions fight over the females and territory. So what is different in the human world??? Many of the females patiently laid still as their pups nursed...sad to think that only 30% of their pups will survive. It was nearly impossible to keep the 2M distance required from the playful older pups who waddled up to you...so curious. Our land hike was literally walking through 100's of marine iguana all facing the sun or enroute to the sea for a swim. On our climb to see Darwin's Lake...a crater lake...we admired the mighty Galapagos hawk...top of the food chain. Jonah told us a story about the Judas goat. Years ago farmers brought goats to the island, a few escaped & soon their wild population grew causing lots of problems. So the rangers put a tracking device on one...they named him Judas...let it go and followed it by helicopter. Since goats are social animals, Judas would lead them to others and bang...all shot but Judas...who would soon lead them to another bunch & bang, etc, etc, etc. It took ten years to eliminate the goats. We all felt bad for poor Judas and hoped he'd at least got shipped to the mainland and freed so he could join a group that didn't get shot! Just before 6, we spotted a 4-5' spout of water--a whale! Rog saw the hump of it's back and we saw a couple more spouts but our imagination had to do the rest. Around 7, wearing my wind breaker, I stood on the bow as we crossed the equator at 0 degree latitude at sea level. Who'd thought you'd want a wind breaker!! And by the way, there is no red line on the ocean marking the spot!!
Day 7 - Buconeer Cove and Espormilla Beach (Santiago Island) and Rabida Island
At 6:30 a.m. we plunged into the chilly water though within minutes, the sight of string rays the size of our kitchen table and white tip sharks about 5-6' made me forget about the chill quickly. Massive #'s of small fish gave you the impression of a brick wall though driving in the middle of them created a hole just bi enough to fit through. A dark lavender octopus floated over the mustard colored, deep red and lilac colored starfish. All this while tiny glowing red and blue plankton were everywhere. Gorgeous! Later we'd snorkel again...in a different area...with another unique view of the fascinating sea. Just jumping in and out of our dinghy between the crashing waves was a blast. On our land hike on Rabida Island we felt like the temp soared to 120 degrees. We watched baby pelicans spread their wings as tiny streams of sand flowed down from the tall cliffs...erosion in action. Baby sea lions played in the waves. Made us think of our grandkids playing as they crawled over each other and seemed to kiss! We took a long dinghy ride to get a closer look at those bombing blue footed boobies and find storm petrels bird hiding along the tall cliffs. Also cheered for a struggling Galapagos hawk chick trying to escape from the crashing waves. He made it!!! Just before dinner, Jonah rand the bell & yelled "Dolphins!" We all crawled up on the bow and watched the dolphins perform high jumps and flips...dinner had to wait. We had our final evening briefing. Johan had listed all the major animals we'd seen--over 60 species ...not counting the endless fish... and most indigenous to Galapagos!! And we'd only visited about half of the places allowed to visit. We took turns talking about our week. Spectacular! Amazing! Best Week Ever! Unbelievable! Fantastic! etc. Praise for Johan over flowed to which he responded by telling us we had been a great group, eager to do what he loved best...snorkel and find animals! With teary eyes, he said, "I am living my dream! My Dad (also a guide) would be proud of me." No one wanted the day to end so we just hung over the side of the boat watching...and as usual....the ocean came alive. Five huge sharks were circling our boat and sea lions started racing and catching flying fish. Jonah pulled out a spotlight and it was just like Hollywood. In spit of knowing what was under our boat...we slept well.
Day 8 Mosquero Beach
Sunrise found us walking quietly along Mosquero Beach and saying good bye to the Galapagos. We walked on the black & white speckled beach thinking back on the black, brown, red and white beaches we'd visited. We stopped to gaze out at the sea...so many shades of blue and so full of life. Sea lions were everywhere waddling close to us as if they too were saying goodbye. We'd taken over 1000 pictures and hope together with the updates, we can relive this most incredible trip again and again. It truly deserves the name the locals call it...the Enchanted Islands.
