Check out these snacks we got for Dave's nephews!!

(if you do not know Spanish, you can google it)

They come in two flavors:  Lime and Spicy!!

Last Day & El Chato Tortoise Reserve

Tues Feb 18th

We have traveled a total of 287 nautical miles for this boat ride. 

This morning we had one last activity with Walter & The Beagle and it was extra special.  We took off around 6:15am to go for a panga ride into Black Turtle Cove which is surrounded by mangroves.  We saw tons of pelicans floating and flying and fishing.  We saw a pair of MATING SEA TURTLES!!!  (giggle giggle).   Walter turned off the boat motor and we floated quietly towards the busy couple.  It was odd to watch but hey, it’s nature.

We also saw a steady stream of BABY SHARKS (do do do do do do) coming from a small channel.  Walter said it was like a shark nursery in there.  Sea turtles were also coming from that same channel.  And a heron was standing there watching it all while occasionally spearing a fish in the water.  Wow.  It was so peaceful and serene.

As we motored out there were several flocks of seabirds flying around and diving into the water including frigates, boobies, and pelicans.

It was hard to believe that this was our last journey together.

After that we head to Isla Baltra where we took a short trip on a bus to the airport.  As we left the boat we handed out two envelope with cash tips (as is the custom here).  One went to Walter our naturalist and guide, the other went to the captain that gets split amounts the sailboat crew.  Interesting note, besides the cost of the cruise itself, these tips were our biggest expense for the trip (it was one of the reasons we had to haul so much cash with us).  We got some advice from our travel agent about how much to tip so we were prepared.  We tried to be generous yet not absurd.   It was worth EVERY penny.  I hope Walter and the crew knows how much we appreciated them...we know it's not an easy job.

But WAIT!  The adventure was not quite over yet.  It was only 9am and there were 7 of us that did not fly out until after 4pm.  Now, that GPS airport is super tiny with only four gates so instead of wasting the day waiting we decided we’d take two taxis ($50 per taxi round trip) up to the highlands of Santa Cruz Island to El Chato Tortoise Reserve ($5).  There you can walk around in this large area to check out GIANT TORTIOSES!!!  Oh Lordy they are massive!!  These are the largest tortoises in the Galápagos.  This reserve (and an adjacent one) is a place where the tortoises can roam about “freely” enjoying life while being protected.  We saw them eating  the grass/plants, roaming around, and hanging out in small ponds.  It seems like a good life to me.  

Appreciate List:
-- How much effort and planning it must take to keep these islands protected and natural...they’ve done a phenomenal job
-- No Litter (especially plastics)
-- Walter and the crew on the sailboat (it must be tough to be away from your friends & family for so long...and have to hang out with tourists)

Beagle Day Seven - Chinese Hat & Cerro Dragon

Mon Feb 17th

I woke up early to catch the sunrise; very beautiful.  It’s our last full day on the boat...we’re exhausted but bummed that it is all coming to an end.  Boo hoo!!

After the sunrise, I saw a pair of flamingos flying by.  Flamingos look gangly and slow when standing in the water but they when they fly they look quick and graceful.  

Today was very water oriented.  After breakfast, I made sure to apply a good layer of waterproof, reef-safe sunscreen.  My first activity was kayaking (Dave decided to join others on a walk on Chinese Hat Island or Sombrero Chino).  While kayaking I saw reef sharks, sea lions, herons, pelicans, and a penguin.  We kayaked along an island made of black jagged volcanic rock and some sandy shores.  Me and the gal in my kayak spotted a plastic bottle cap in the water and decided to do our part to Save The Earth and retrieve it.  Well...in the process of retrieving it, we accidentally tipped over.  It was quite a scene.  I was able to pop back up into the kayak but the gal with me had to wait in the water while the panga with the attached ladder came up from the Beagle.  And while we waited a few reef sharks swam around us!!  It wasn’t scary as they were relatively small.   Afterwards I jumped in the shower to rinse off the salt water, condition my hair, and re-apply sunscreen.

Next was snorkeling and we saw reef sharks, tons of colorful fish, sea cucumbers, and several rays including one MANTA RAY!!  It was enormous!!  It was 10+ feet across...no kidding!!!  It was huge and reminded me of a gigantic super-slo-mo moth.  And so graceful. We had just crawled back into the panga to head back from snorkeling when it was spotted so we all quickly threw our masks & flippers back on and caught up with it with so we could jump back into the water to get a better look.  Wow wow!!!   After this, I jumped in the shower to rinse off the salt water and condition my hair again.  At least I didn't need to put on any sunscreen for a while (so I thought).

Later when we were just about to lift anchor and head out, someone spotted a pod of Common Dolphins in the distance.  Some of them were jumping super high completely out of the water.  Now everyone gets excited each time we see dolphins even the Walter the guide, captain, and crew.  We watch from a distance.  Walter then says “Do you guys wanna swim with the dolphins?” and we’re all like HELL YES!!!  So we all scramble to pull our still-wet swimsuits from the clothes line, put them on, grab our gear, re-slather on some reef-safe-sunscreen, and jump on the panga a head to the pod!!!  OMG <insert high pitched squeal here> it was super exciting!  We were all whistling and clapping and talking to the dolphins.  The dolphins swam alongside the panga as we were getting into the right spot and Walter told us exactly when to slip into the water to swim with Los Delfines!!  It was fantastic!  When we were in the water we could hear the dolphins communicating with each other with their high pitch calls.  After they swam by, we got back into the panga, got back in the right position where the pod was headed to us, and jumped back in two more times.  Even the cook from the crew joined our dolphin adventure.  Wow wow wow!  After that we jumped back into the shower and rinsed off and conditioned my hair again.  I decided on principle I wouldn't put on any more sunscreen today though.

Before dinner Walter did a recap of all the islands and places we visited, animals we saw, and adventures we had.  Everyone got a chance to share a highlight - I couldn’t even select just one!  Was it the Galápagos Sharks circling around the Beagle?  Or the Hammerheads?  Or the frickin Sea Turtles coming up to the beach to lay their eggs?  Or swimming with dolphins???  Soooo much happened on this trip it’s just mind blowing.

Appreciate List
-- Life Jackets

Beagle Day Six - North Seymour & Bartolume

Sunday Feb 16th

Today for the first time during our cruise we saw crowds of the most invasive species of all...human beings.  Walter pointed out that the places we are visiting today are very accessible for day tours so there could be crowds.  Also, we happened to land on North Seymour at the same time as passengers from the Endeavor II ship (a 96 passenger National Geographic cruise) so when we walked the loop trail on the islands we saw 4 other groups of ~10 folks each.  I laugh to myself when I see other tourist groups because we all look alike with our goofy hats and cameras.  It’s a wonder our guides can tell us all apart!  A note about the guides here in the Galápagos...they are all naturalists and well trained and most all are from the Galapagos (hiring preference goes to Galápagos residents).  The national park service requires a guide for every so many tourists (I think it’s 15).  There are very few places you can go on these islands without a guide.

Previous to this we’ve mostly been the only group at location...we even had whole beaches to ourselves.  Lucky!!

Ok back to our morning trail adventure...North Seymour is a very small island that you can walk all around in about an hour.  It is one of the top spot in the Galápagos for birding.  We saw tons of flying frigate birds.  While both the Magnificent Frigate and Great Frigate both live on the island, the Greats are the most active this time of year.  Male frigates have these crazy red balloon-like sacks on their chests that fill up to about the size of a volleyball.  It’s crazy to see!  The chests are bright red and I guess the lady frigates just love it because they fly around checking out the males’ balloons deciding who to mate with.  We saw several dozen flying in the air at any given point and as many on the ground.  We saw nesting pairs.  We even saw some frigate chicks.  The frigates were nesting in these scrubbly little trees and build rather large nests to hold their fat chicks for about a year.

We also saw more blue footed boobies.  We even saw some pairs doing their funny little mating dance where the male sticks his face & tail up and shows off his blue feet.

We saw lots of sea lions and land iguanas.  Some of the female iguanas dug holes so they could lay their eggs.

After we got back to the boat we hurriedly got ready to go snorkel so we could beat the crowd to one of our guide’s favorite snorkeling spots.  While we where waiting for everyone else to get ready, Dave & I saw three sharks off the back of the ship!  There were two dark ones (reef sharks) and a bigger, lighter colored one.  

When we snorkeled,  the water was a bit choppy, however it was crowded with loads of fish.  We also saw two HAMMERHEAD SHARKS!  Those things are real odd looking with their eyes on the edges of their wide heads.  And about a dozen reef sharks.  And a whole school of rays.  Wow wow!  Oh and at one point we snorkeled over five scuba divers!  I only noticed them because of the bubbles.  They were about 50 feet down right next to those Hammerheads.

It takes about two hours to navigate to Bartolume so while we motored,  I took a nap on the deck of the ship.  The breeze feels great.

At the next location, Bartolume Island, we walked this neat boardwalk across the Island and up 378 wooden steps to get to a very spectacular (and famous) viewpoint. This island is very unique as one part is like the moon in that it is all volcanic rock that barely has any vegetation yet (some white weed-like plants and the small Lava Cactus is all) and at a narrow point in the Island is a green area (mangroves) surrounded by pretty beach.  And there is a very distinct giant rock called Pinnacle Rock.

After the hike we jumped on the pangas and motored around the shores of the island.  From here we were able to see PENGUINS!  They're such cute little fellows and a real treat to view.  We also saw more pelicans and a lava gull.

Beagle Day Five - Santa Fe & South Plaza Islands

Saturday Feb 15th

In the morning we landed on a beach and saw sea lions including teeny tiny ones.  These still had fur and were learning to use their muscles by playing in little protected pools of water near the beach. Walter called these little areas “kindergartens”. 

We hiked into a forest of Prickly Pear cactus. We saw our first land iguanas in the wild...they are lighter in color than those black marine iguanas.  The species we saw here are the Santa Fe Iguanas which, as you may guess, can only be found on this island.  As they evolved, they lost their ability to climb too so now they hang out at bottom of the big cacti waiting for the bright yellow flowers to drop!  We watched this in action a few times...see flower...see flower fall...see iguanas run to flower...see iguana eat flower.  Cool.  

Later we snorkeled and kayaked in this beautiful cove area.  The beach sand was made up of crushed coral and was so white in the sun...especially against the backdrop of the volcanic rock.

Back on the sailboat, we saw a school of flying fish around the time we started motoring away from Santa Fe to South Plaza.

In South Plaza, we took another short hike through another forest of cactus...this time Opuntia Cactus.  We saw lots more land iguana (different species than the Santa Fe ones). We even saw one that was a hybrid of a land & marine iguanas.  They are pretty rare.  They are sterile.  Other birds we saw were Noddy Gulls, frigates, pelicans, yellow warbler, finches, Nazca Boobies, Blue Footed Boobies, and Swallow Tail Gulls (aka Night Gull as it hunts at night with these special red eyes).  We even saw a swallow tail gull chick!!  It was pretty with its fluffy white & grey baby feathers.

As we started motoring away from South Plaza Island, we saw a bunch of frigate birds behind the sailboat.  They followed the boat for a while diving into our wake snatching up tasty treats.

Oh!  This super neat thing happened during dinner.  The boat was anchored, it was dark, and there were some lights on (so we could see while we were eating) and three big pelicans perched on the panga boats that hang in the either side of the boat.  The pelicans sat on the edge looking down into the water watching for the fish that are attracted to our lights.  They repeatedly dove down into the water, grabbed fish, and then came back up to perch again.  And poop.  A lot.  It was quite a show to close out the night.

Appreciate List

— Health!  Getting on/off the boats isn't easy and some of the walking is rough...I appreciate being able to tackle these activities